My Favourite Photograph of 2018
When I started this photography journey I had no idea how much of a passion it would be. It started out as a simple hobby to pass the time. Three years later, I’ve photographed all over Canada.
This post is a year late but It’s great to reflect on the last couple years. Favourite shot of 2019 will be coming in January 2020.
In 2018 I took a lot of photos, some more impressive than others, but the one at the bottom of this post is my all time favourite shot. This is the story behind the photo.
I was in Calgary for a week for work and decided to rent a car and head up to Banff for the weekend. I'd never been to Moraine lake but i’ve seen tons of photos of it and I knew I needed to see it first hand. I left on Friday, drove the two and a half hours to the lake and found out the road to the lake was closed because it was too busy. If I wanted to see it, i’d have to drive 3km back down the highway to the Moraine Lake overflow lot, park my car, and wait for the shuttle to take me 4km back to the lake. I chose not to do that and went to check out Lake Louise while I waited for the lake to clear out.
As I pulled into the Lake Louise parking lot I was told the lot was completely full and I’d have to come back another time. At this point I was feeling pretty defeated but luckily I had other plans! My third option was to drive another hour to Emerald Lake just over the BC border.
I jumped back on the highway and drove to Emerald Lake. This place was also very busy but I managed to find a parking spot. As I walked up to the late I was blown away at how beautiful it was. The water was an amazing turquoise colour from the limestone, the mountains were sharp and lightly covered in snow, the sky was blue and the light clouds blocked out the harsh light making for great photography conditions.
This lake is surrounded by the President Mountain Range, as well as Mount Burgee and Wapta Mountain. There is a 5.2km hike around the lake which I wanted to do but sadly didn’t have much time to spend here as I wanted to get back to Moraine lake for sunset.
Next, I drove to Takakkawa Falls. This is a short drive from Emerald lake near the boarder of British Columbia and Alberta. The falls have a total height of 373 metres, making it the 2nd tallest waterfall in Canada. The main drop of the waterfall has a height of 254 metres. It was very hard to photograph the scale of this waterfall. If you look closely you can see a someone in a red jacket down near the base of the falls. They’re massive!
The falls are a short walk from the parking lot. As soon as I got out of my car it started to rain. I thought about waiting it out but decided to continue on and go to the falls. It only got worse as I got closer to the waterfall! When I got to this photo location it was pouring! I was trying to juggle keeping my gear dry/wipe the lens off/get the shot. The cloud finally broke for a second to snap this picture then the rain started up again. I packed my gear up and walked back to the car.
It was such a quick stop here but i’m glad it.
Then I headed back to Lake Louise. The parking lot was completely empty this time around and I made it just in time for sunset. I didn’t have much time to look around and scout for a spot for sunset so it was a very quick decision on this shot. Looking back on it now I wish I had a wider lens to capture the entire mountain in the water or zoomed in to make the cabin the focal point of the image. Some leading lines would be nice too!
Still, any photo you take here is beautiful. It’s such an amazing landscape. There are plenty of hiking trails around the lake. The activities at Lake Louise are endless! In the summer there is rock climbing, horseback riding, kayaking, canoeing, mountain biking, etc.. and in the winter there is heli-skiing and snowboarding, alpine, and cross country skiing, ice fishing, snowmobiling, etc..
Trying to save some money I decided to sleep in my car. I knew I wanted to catch sunrise at Moraine Lake which was around 530am so I didn’t want to make the drive back to Calgary just to get a few hours of sleep. Turns out cars aren’t the most comfortable to sleep in.. especially when it’s cold. I got a few hours of sleep then drove to Moraine Lake. I hiked to the top of the rock pile, found a spot to shoot and waited for the sun to rise. There must have been 20-30 people there for sunrise but everyone was quiet and respectful. As the sun peaked over the horizon and hit the mountains I was speechless. The colours, the water, the reflections, all of it was amazing.
It’s moments like these that I cherish. The peacefulness and silence you get to enjoy as you wait for the sun to rise is indescribable.