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Cascade Pond

Cascade Pond is just on the outskirts of Banff in Alberta Canada. I don’t keep track of the moon phases as well as I should so it was a happy coincidence that the full moon was rising as I showed up at sunset. Also happy were the mosquitoes as they feasted in my arms while I waited for the moon to come out from behind the scattered clouds. In the end I was happy to get the shot and happy to get back in the car. All in all it was a happy occasion. Happy 2014 everyone!

Cascade Pond is just on the outskirts of Banff in Alberta Canada. I don't keep track of the moon phases as well as I should so it was a happy coincidence that the full moon was rising as I showed up at sunset. Also happy were the mosquitoes as they feasted in my arms while I waited for the moon to come out from behind the scattered clouds. In the end I was happy to get the shot and happy to get back in the car. All in all it was a happy occasion. Happy happy happy.

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Passing Train at Dawn

Last summer I took a rail trip through the Canadian Rockies. It was nothing short of spectacular and a great way to travel, I highly recommend it. As we travelled through the night I kept waking up every hour or so, I was too excited to sleep and didn’t want to miss a thing. I think it was around four or five in the morning that dawn started to break and as it did I grabbed my camera to capture the rich colors as they broke over a valley. This is the shot of that dawn and, just by chance, another train going in the opposite direction. More proof that half of photography is just showing up, or in my case, waking up.

Last summer I took a rail trip through the Canadian Rockies. It was nothing short of spectacular and a great way to travel, I highly recommend it. As we travelled through the night I kept waking up every hour or so, I was too excited to sleep and didn't want to miss a thing. I think it was around four or five in the morning that dawn started to break and as it did I grabbed my camera to capture the rich colors as they broke over the valley. This is the shot of that dawn and, just by chance, another train going in the opposite direction. More proof that half of photography is just showing up, or in my case, waking up.

Follow link to obtain a limited edition print of this photo.

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After the Storm

This summer I was in Banff Alberta and captured this shot over the Bow River one morning. About a month before we arrived this river overflowed it’s banks and the town (not to mention others downstream including Calgary) was virtually shutdown as the residents and business owners worked to cleanup, restore power and prepare for the summer tourist season. The early morning calm and stillness of this scene belies the catastrophe and Herculean efforts that proceeded, and when we arrived it was as beautiful as you see here with no signs of what just happened a few weeks before.

This summer I was in Banff Alberta and captured this shot over the Bow River one morning. About a month before we arrived this river overflowed it's banks and the town (not to mention others downstream including Calgary) was virtually shutdown as the residents and business owners worked to cleanup, restore power and prepare for the summer tourist season. The early morning calm and stillness of this scene belies the catastrophe and Herculean efforts that proceeded, and when we arrived it was as beautiful as you see here with no signs of what just happened a few weeks before.

Follow link to obtain a limited edition print of this photo.

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Edith Cavell Meadows

This was taken from Edith Cavell Meadows in Jasper National Park. It’s hard for a photo to convey the proper perspective but the peak is about another thousand meters above my position. From the top are a couple of glaciers running down the slopes and like everything in the Canadian Rockies, scales are quite large and hard to convey. For this I set my camera down on some rocks to capture a bit of the moraine in the foreground. In any case, Edith Cavell was a nurse during WWI who was credited with saving the lives of soldiers on both sides and then executed by Germany. This great peak is a monument to her courage and humanity.

This was taken from Edith Cavell Meadows in Jasper National Park. It's hard for a photo to convey the proper perspective but the peak is about another thousand meters above my position. From the top are a couple of glaciers running down the slopes and like everything in the Canadian Rockies, scales are quite large and hard to convey. For this I set my camera down on some rocks to capture a bit of the moraine in the foreground. In any case, Edith Cavell was a nurse during WWI who was credited with saving the lives of soldiers on both sides and then executed by Germany. This great peak is a monument to her courage and humanity.

Follow link to obtain a print of this photo.

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Photo Art

I’m sure there is a name for this, a photo of a scene of an artist painting a scene. If nothing else it’s circular in reference and something that would drive someone like me mad, but this is art, or photography, …or something else, so no madness today. I was in Banff Alberta along the Bow River when I captured this. That was in summer and I imagine now that winter has hit it looks a little different, perhaps a bit more white in the frame. I like to call what I do Photo Art because in a way I paint with light. My pallet is the of light of various apertures, yet it’s a pallet nonetheless. I could go on but you get the idea. New forms of art, new mediums. Thank you unknown artist, from you I draw inspiration.

I'm sure there is a name for this, a photo of a scene of an artist painting a scene. If nothing else it's circular in reference and something that would drive someone like me mad, but this is art, or photography, ...or something else, so no madness today. I was in Banff Alberta along the Bow River when I captured this. That was in summer and I imagine now that winter has hit it looks a little different, perhaps a bit more white in the frame. I like to call what I do Photo Art because in a way I paint with light. My pallet is the of light of various apertures, yet it's a pallet nonetheless. I could go on but you get the idea. New forms of art, new mediums. Thank you unknown artist, from you I draw inspiration.

Follow link to obtain a print of this photo.

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Quiet Corner of the Castle

This is a piano I found in a corner of the Scottish castle otherwise known as the Banff Springs Hotel, in Banff Alberta. When I was there I took quite a few photos of the place which is a small measure of how impressed I was by the ambiance and architecture. If anyone ever invents a time machine, this is the place I’d like to visit fifty or a hundred years ago. From the looks of the furnishings I’d think little has changed, it’s as though the place was cut right out of a movie set and a playground for the rich and famous. Perhaps the only difference now is that people like me, not so rich and famous, can wander the halls and get lost in reverie and imagination.

This is a piano I found in a corner of the Scottish castle otherwise known as the Banff Springs Hotel, in Banff Alberta. When I was there I took quite a few photos of the place which is a small measure of how impressed I was by the ambiance and architecture. If anyone ever invents a time machine, this is the place I'd like to visit fifty or a hundred years ago. From the looks of the furnishings I'd think little has changed, it's as though the place was cut right out of a movie set and a playground for the rich and famous. Perhaps the only difference now is that people like me, not so rich and famous, can wander the halls and get lost in reverie and imagination.

Follow link to obtain a limited edition print of this photo.

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Moraine Lake

Moraine Lake is near Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta Canada. I haven’t been to enough lakes in Canada, but of those I have this one is the most beautiful. When I lived in Canada many years ago a painting of this scene was on the back of the twenty dollar bill. I always thought that was Lake Louise which you can argue is equally beautiful and a somewhat similar landscape. It’s hard to impress you with how impossibly high these mountains rise above the lake, this picture does little justice to the real thing. My inadequate words aside, I’ll just leave it to your imagination, because that’s probably the only way to fathom the scale and majesty of this scene until you go there yourself.

Moraine Lake is near Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Alberta Canada. I haven't been to enough lakes in Canada, but of those I have this one is the most beautiful. When I lived in Canada many years ago a painting of this scene was on the back of the twenty dollar bill. I always thought that was Lake Louise which you can argue is equally beautiful and a somewhat similar landscape. It's hard to impress you with how impossibly high these mountains rise above the lake, this picture does little justice to the real thing. My inadequate words aside, I'll just leave it to your imagination, because that's probably the only way to fathom the scale and majesty of this scene until you go there yourself.

Follow link to obtain a limited edition print of this photo.

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West Coast Cities

This is the underside of the Burrard Street Bridge I noticed while walking around one of the neighborhoods of Vancouver. Some of these little streets can be tricky to navigate unless you are familiar with the area. I think these neighborhoods have something vaguely reminiscent of San Francisco. It’s a west coast feel, an attitude that puts a premium on the environment and living healthy. I think there are other cities in the same category, Seattle and Portland come to mind. Vancouver places emphasis on it’s bike lanes and even if you don’t live here you can rent a bike and join the thousands that use it as a primary mode of transportation. Now that I live in a different part of the continent, the west coast attitude is more apparent whenever I come back. Perhaps you know what I mean.

This is the underside of the Burrard Street Bridge I noticed while walking around one of the neighborhoods of Vancouver. Some of these little streets can be tricky to navigate unless you are familiar with the area. I think these neighborhoods have something vaguely reminiscent of San Francisco. It's a west coast feel, an attitude that puts a premium on the environment and living healthy. I think there are other cities in the same category, Seattle and Portland come to mind. Vancouver places emphasis on it's bike lanes and even if you don't live here you can rent a bike and join the thousands that use it as a primary mode of transportation. Now that I live in a different part of the continent, the west coast attitude is more apparent whenever I come back. Perhaps you know what I mean.

Follow link to obtain a limited edition print.

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Rundle Lounge

No trip to Banff in Alberta Canada is complete without a visit to the Banff Springs Hotel. This is the Rundle Lounge where I imagine many VIPs have sat and discussed, well whatever VIPs discuss. My musings aside, the grandeur of the place is enhanced by the Canadian Rockies just outside. I took this early in the morning before it was crowded, but later that day a Royal Canadian Mountie in a red uniform and wide brim hat was in the lounge talking to some children. The children were wide eyed and I too was a little impressed. What a nice gesture to have these legendary officers come here and mingle with the guest and pass on a little legendary Canadian hospitality.

No trip to Banff in Alberta Canada is complete without a visit to the Banff Springs Hotel. I was there this summer and so availed myself with camera in hand. It's patterned after a Scottish castle and the interior exudes old world charm and architecture. This is the Rundle Lounge where I imagine many VIPs have sat and discussed, well whatever they discussed. My musings aside, the elegance and grandeur of the place is enhanced by the majestic Canadian Rockies just outside. I took this early in the morning before it was crowded, but later that day a Royal Canadian Mountie in a red uniform and wide brim hat was in the lounge talking to some children. The children were wide eyed and I too was a little impressed. What a nice gesture to have these legendary officers come here and mingle with the guest and pass on a little legendary Canadian hospitality.

Follow link to obtain a limited edition print of this photo.

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Memories of Lake Louise

If I had this view out back I’d never leave home. Nonetheless, this is the view you see from the Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta Canada. The last time I was here the lake was frozen and I was with a climbing party where we scaled a frozen waterfall towards the back on the right. It was an all day affair and since I was not qualified to lead I stayed below as the lead climber secured a route up the fall. If you can imagine being chained to a rock in subzero temperatures followed by brief periods of adrenalin rush, that would pretty much summed it up. Aside from that, my other memory is of how good the peppermint schnapps tasted once we finished. Our party must have been quite a site as we walked into the five-start hotel outfitted with ice axes, crampons and all manner of climbing gear. In fact, it was probably a common sight as this is a popular winter sport destination. Anyway, back to the present day. Winter or summer, the view here is about as good as it gets.

If I had this view out back I'd never leave home. Nonetheless, this is the view you see from the Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta Canada. The last time I was here the lake was frozen and I was with a climbing party where we scaled a frozen waterfall towards the back on the right. It was an all day affair and since I was not qualified to lead I stayed below as the lead climber secured a route up the fall. If you can imagine being chained to a rock in subzero temperatures followed by brief periods of adrenalin rush, that would pretty much summed it up. Aside from that, my other memory is of how good the peppermint schnapps tasted once we finished. Our party must have been quite a site as we walked into the five-start hotel outfitted with ice axes, crampons and all manner of climbing gear. In fact, it was probably a common sight as this is a popular winter sport destination. Anyway, back to the present day. Winter or summer, the view here is about as good as it gets.

Follow link to obtain a limited edition print of this photo.