2109_1285 Fresh Snow on Bow Peak
From yesterday's close up of lapping water to a telephoto view of fresh snow on the mountains, there's never a shortage of subject matter in the Rockies. Usually I don't like this type of shot - reaching out across a valley bottom to select some detail of a mountain peak - but I do it anyway, because... ya never know. On the prairie I often use a wide angle and put lots of sky in the frame to show immensity. This is the opposite approach. Is it possible to show immensity this way? This is the smallest glimpse of an enormous mountain. Can you feel it?
The fresh snow, of course, was critical to making this shot work, if it works. It provides contrast where otherwise we'd be looking at dark sedimentary rock; it reveals contour, shape. Any shot that takes its subject out of context needs strong graphic elements to succeed. Scale? It is implied, rather than obvious, but anyone who has spent time in the Rocky Mountains must have at least an inkling. A human being on that apron of talus and scree at the bottom right would be ant-like, and probably in trouble.
I see that Flickr maps has renamed Banff; it is now known as Stephen. Well, at least we are out of the terrifying Improvement District No. 9, ie. the Twilight Zone. But. How do they come up with this stuff? There is no Stephen. It does not exist. What's next, Bob? Fred? Starting tomorrow I'll have a set of images from Jasper. Jasper exists. But will its name be recognized? I have no idea.
Photographed along the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2109_1285 Fresh Snow on Bow Peak
From yesterday's close up of lapping water to a telephoto view of fresh snow on the mountains, there's never a shortage of subject matter in the Rockies. Usually I don't like this type of shot - reaching out across a valley bottom to select some detail of a mountain peak - but I do it anyway, because... ya never know. On the prairie I often use a wide angle and put lots of sky in the frame to show immensity. This is the opposite approach. Is it possible to show immensity this way? This is the smallest glimpse of an enormous mountain. Can you feel it?
The fresh snow, of course, was critical to making this shot work, if it works. It provides contrast where otherwise we'd be looking at dark sedimentary rock; it reveals contour, shape. Any shot that takes its subject out of context needs strong graphic elements to succeed. Scale? It is implied, rather than obvious, but anyone who has spent time in the Rocky Mountains must have at least an inkling. A human being on that apron of talus and scree at the bottom right would be ant-like, and probably in trouble.
I see that Flickr maps has renamed Banff; it is now known as Stephen. Well, at least we are out of the terrifying Improvement District No. 9, ie. the Twilight Zone. But. How do they come up with this stuff? There is no Stephen. It does not exist. What's next, Bob? Fred? Starting tomorrow I'll have a set of images from Jasper. Jasper exists. But will its name be recognized? I have no idea.
Photographed along the Icefields Parkway in Banff National Park, Alberta (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2021 James R. Page - all rights reserved.