The Most Excellent Adventures of Ann, Christina, Nick, and Skippy

Phyxius

So, eh...y'all wanna see some pictures from our journey through the Canadian Rockies on the 2007 preshootout?

What happens when you put a Canadian, an Ozzy, and two American in a minivan for a week covering 3300 kilometers?

A helluva good time, that's what! :wink

Here's our route, which will be broken down day-to-day (this is for you Nick, since you didn't take notes :rofl ). The four of us will add photos we took along the trip.

Phyxius

Days 1-3
Day One:
Ann and Skippy picked up Nick and I at the airport in Edmonton and we headed out to Jasper. Here our route is highlighted from Edmonton to Jasper National Park.



We spent 3 nights in Jasper.

Phyxius

Our first morning in Jasper brought a nice, chilly sunrise at Patricia Lake with Pyramid Mountain as a backdrop. The mists and winds behaved creating a nice smoke-on-the-water effect and colorful reflections.



We also saw our first wildlife of the trip...elk!!! This one was kind enough to pose infront of the beautiful Athabasca River.





We also rode the tram up Whistler's and then summited with all of our gear. In order to do that we had to walk along this very safe, and not at all scary trail... The summit was around 8000'.

Andy

:lurk

GREAPER

Keep em commin, love that first one

By the way, it was great meeting you.

It was fun seing the great stuff you were getting every day. I cant wait to see them all.

davev

Christina, it was great to meet you.
Your shots are great.
Just think how much better they would have been if you'd have been using Canon gear.:D

Can't wait to see more.

Nikolai

Christina,
Great shooting, keep them coming please!

Lee Massey

I agree... This is great. I wish I could have attended...

Andy wrote:

:lurk

jdmphoto

Looks beautiful, despite living about 60 mile from Canada I've never been there. Great photos, I'm anxious to see more.

schmoo

I can't wait to see more! I know you guys are all extremely talented photographers and even the few shots we got a taste of in the critiques were stunning.

Ann McRae

Ann's Day 1 Selections
Thanks everyone for dropping in. We are all going to post our shots here, and Maxine doesn't get home for two more weeks so it could take us a while!

The preshoot started September 18 - my 45th birthday. It also marked two other significant personal events for me (and I didn't tell the others ahead of time!): 1. In 27 years(5 dating, 22 married), my husband and I have never been apart for more than a week. 2. I have never driven this many km, or in the mountains alone, before. I have to say that I am pretty proud of this accomplishment alone. And I didn't ever scare my passengers enough that they commented!

So, after a nice drive and a fairly good meal in Jasper on the 18th, we got up for sunrise the 19th. It was a bit chilly (probably about -2C) but really nice and clear without wind. Christina has shown the fabulous color show that we enjoyed on Pyramid Mountain, so I have chosen to show the other end of Patricia Lake, with the Pyramid bench in the background ( I will get rid of those other tripod legs in this shot - damn photographers - they were everywhere):




We came back to the cabin after this, had some breakfast and chimped away. Nick and Christina were at an advantage to Maxine and I, as they had laptops with them. The clear skies continued so we went up to the Jasper tram. The load limit in the tram cars is something like 40 people, so the 4 of us squished in with our gear for an interesting ride up. We were treated to clear enough skies that Mt. Robson was visible from the top - an event that actually only occurs about 12 times a year. We carried our gear around the southeast edge of the mountain, through about an inch of fresh snow but in clear skies. The air was a bit thin, I must admit, but the scenes were glorious. This is looking SE, and that is the Athabasca River. I liked the sunrays and texture of the peak behind. Still need to sort out how to edit this photo:


From the tram, we headed out in search of wildlife. I had told everyone that I could guarentee Big Horn Sheep and Elk. Usually, the big horns are on the road by the park gate, but they weren't there when we entered the park on the 18th. The gang was giving me a pretty hard time about NOT finding them critters, until we stumbled upon these guys:


We also found a herd of female bighorn with young, but the horns didn't impress the gang so off we went to Maligne Canyon and then to Maligne Lake, with the intent of being to Medicine Lake for sunset. Another photog had told us Medicine was great for sunset and to be there around 8 p.m. We hung out on the shores of Maligne Lake a bit too long, enjoying the sun and clouds. We reached Medicine after sunset but shot the dusk instead...I quite like this shot, my last of the day:



ann

Nikolai

I'm so envy with your reflections shots... Mountains and still water with a tiny fog layer... Why was it so windy in Glacier? :bash

Great shooting, Ann!

cwphotos

im so sad i didnt get to do that shoot with you all. Sounds like it was a blast. Great pics....even if they did come out of a Nikon.....

Ok ok. The obligatory Nikon Vs. Canon comment quota has been met.

aktse

I wished that I joined the pre-shootout! You guys are awesome and have a great eye for beauty! I can't wait to see the rest.

Dogdots

Really nice pictures. I think I need a road trip. I've never been in that part of Canada and the border is not far from me . Shame on me.

wxwax

Love it! Very striking.

greenpea

Next time I gotta go on the pre-shootout. These shots are great.

(...and thanks again Christina for use of the D50...your a life saver!)

nwilkins

Beautiful shots, Ann!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looking forward to many more.

Phyxius

Thank you everyone, so much! This will be a long lived thread, as Ann stated as it'll be a while before Skippy is able to edit and upload; not to mention the fact that the rest of us are "back to normal" and working..ewww.

But, here are a few more from Jasper:
Of course the obligatory product shot from on top of whistlers, taken with the trusty olympus. This was posted in the shootout info thread, but I just had to include it again! Look at all those happy cameras/lenses.



My Nikons didn't even complain about having to be so close to all that Canon stuff.

One of the hikes we did was along the Maligne River and we walked down to get some slow shutter moving water pictures. This is near Fifth Bridge, if you do the Maligne Canyon trail.



Hopefully Ann & Skippy will post some shots from these falls at Third Bridge, I just took a quick handheld of Ann, Skippy, and Nick. Hey Davev, this one is 1/4 sec handheld. Of course it's only 20mm. I'm working on it though! You can't convince me to go JPEG or give up PS though.



I'm gonna let Nick, Skippy, and Ann post the special wildlife shot from Medicine Lake because I'm sure mine pales in comparison. Medicine Lake is quite neat, it fills up every year because of snowmelt and then drains almost completely. Researchers found that there is an underground river system that the lake drains into, but years ago the natives thought the draining and filling of the lake was magic or "big medicine", hence it's name. So, here's a just after sunset shot of Medicine Lake.


After our great success the first morning with surise at Patricia Lake we decided to give Pyramid Lake a chance. Windy, stormy weather decided not to show any colors and since I had a migraine I wimped out and shot a few long exposures away from Pyramid Mountain. Everyone else walked around the island and I can't wait to see what they got!!

Phyxius

Ann,
This shot is so cool!


The light, undulating hills, everything!

Nikolai

Christina,

Phyxius wrote:

Thank you everyone, so much! ...

Thanks for sharing, great photos! Love the still photo reflections!

aporia

Great travel commentaries and outstanding shots! Looks like the pre-shoot-out was a grand success.

Thanks for posting a taste of your experience for the rest of us to share. Hopefully I'll be able to join you all on the next adventure.

HoofClix

Great shots, Christina! Nice to see that you shoot things other than horses sometimes!

schmoo

HoofClix wrote:

Great shots, Christina! Nice to see that you shoot things other than horses sometimes!

And she does them INCREDIBLY well!

Can't wait to see the final versions of your shots from the entire trip.

Work? What's that?

Ann McRae

Hi Tom

Thanks - I think you and Maureen would have enjoyed the preshoot. How was Norway?

ann

aporia wrote:

Great travel commentaries and outstanding shots! Looks like the pre-shoot-out was a grand success.

Thanks for posting a taste of your experience for the rest of us to share. Hopefully I'll be able to join you all on the next adventure.

Ann McRae

Hi Nancy - Thanks! How have you been?

ann

nwilkins wrote:

Beautiful shots, Ann!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looking forward to many more.

Ann McRae

Ann's Day 2 selections
As Christina said, we did not get the same color show at Pyramid Lake as we had the day before. Wind and long exposures don't mesh really well either, so we can skip right on to the midday shots. Christina stayed in the room to get rid of her migraine, while Nick, skippy and I went out in search of waterfalls. We didn't really find any waterfalls, despite my friends excellent directions on where there was a good one. I am hoping Nick will chime in at this point with his photos of our walk through the woods. We saw lots of scat, and lots of tracks and basically walked in circles through really thick forest, trying to get to the other end of the creek.
The gang bought me a grad ND as a birthday gift, so I was thrilled to be testing it out - apparently upsidedown at first, but then I was trying to blur the water! This is what happens when a train runs through the scene you are trying to take a long exposure of:

We picked Christina up at lunch and drove the Maligne road again, the best bet for wildlife (in particular moose, which was high on skippy's must see list).
Maligne canyon, third bridge- amazing how an ovelooked spot can become completely crowded when you set up a tripod. Kind of like 'well, if they see something worth photographing, it must be'


At Maligne Lake the storm rolled in:


And we drove home, just before sunset, to find wildlife on Medicine Lake (which Christina has done a marvelous job describing):


Maxine has given the go ahead for us to finish posting before she gets home, but lets shout out for a few from that gluwater guy!!!!!



ann

nwilkins

Ann McRae wrote:

Hi Nancy - Thanks! How have you been?

Doing well! Been back to the UK and Hamburg, Germany and am heading off on an Alaskan cruise in August.

Looking forward to more gorgeous pix from your trip!

schmoo

Ann, I LOVE the moose shot! I've never seen real "moose tracks" but now I know.

The storm clouds over the mountain are so beautiful as well.

nwilkins

Ann,

Have to agree; the moose tracks are outstanding!!!!!!!!!!

Phyxius

HoofClix wrote:

Great shots, Christina! Nice to see that you shoot things other than horses sometimes!

Thanks!

Shmoo wrote:

And she does them INCREDIBLY well!

Can't wait to see the final versions of your shots from the entire trip.

Work? What's that?

Haha, work is a four letter word. Thanks :