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

GREAPER

I love the moose. I am jealous. Editha and I tried so hard to find a moose and came up short. Nice work.

Ann McRae

Brian, Nancy, Stephanie

Thanks for the comments about the moose shot. This shot was actually purposeful (kind of rare for me) - when I saw the tracks he was making I knew I wanted to be able to show it as a high key, silhouette shot. Then, after Mark and Andy's advice during the critique session, I was sure I was on the right track with it.

Brian - moose sightings are pretty rare. I think I can count all moose sightings in my life on one hand despite living and travelling through moose country all my life. When skippy told me moose was on her list, I gave her 10:1 odds in favor of bear. Wouldn't ya know it, we saw this moose on day 2, and no bear til day 6!

ann

gluwater

Hey I've actually got something to post now but wouldn't you know it SmugMug is in read only mode. Guess you'll have to wait for tomorrow.

Phyxius

gluwater wrote:

Hey I've actually got something to post now but wouldn't you know it SmugMug is in read only mode. Guess you'll have to wait for tomorrow.

Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!! I need to post process my shots for real, so I shouldn't really talk. I just have quick edits from the laptop while on the road. So, while we're waiting I'll post a couple more from Jasper.


Up on Whistlers this is the view down into the valley. You can see two lakes, one is Patricia where we shot the first sunrise and the other one, just behind the first is Pyramid. You can see the little island we were on for the second more sunrise...ish.


And, me up on Whistlers before we started back down...just to prove I was up there. (Taken with the "self portait mode on the Olympus 725)

I also started smugmapping pictures... I don't do this much but here goes...
http://maps.smugmug.com/?feedType=geoAlbum&Data=3517517
but, you have to stop on number 14 becuase the rest are on a different day. :heh

Awais Yaqub

Great photography !

Ann McRae

Okay, while we all wait on Nick to get home from the bar...I mean work, I found one more from day 1 that is worth sharing:


ann

I am done all non panos from Day 1 and 2, and they are posted here

Nikolai

Ann McRae wrote:

Okay, while we all wait on Nick to get home from the bar...I mean work, I found one more from day 1 that is worth sharing:
ann
I am done all non panos from Day 1 and 2, and they are posted here

Great shot, Ann!
Now I see more clearly what you were trying to shoot at that lake...

wxwax

Ann McRae wrote:

At Maligne Lake the storm rolled in:

Oooh. The power of the upswept clouds!

Ann McRae

Sid, Nik, Awais

Thanks for dropping by!

Nik, are you saying that our dusk shots of the other end of Medicine do not appeal to you? I find them so serene and peaceful, and love the simplicity/complexity of the single color/multiple tones.
I also love the contrast in the Tamarack shot above - the orange vs. the blue/purple is dramatic, and the reflections of the rocks is crisp, so it it a more dynamic shot for sure.

Now, I am ready to go past day 2, so 'GLUWATER: Post your photos!!!!!'
ann

gluwater

OK, I've been absent from this party for long enough. Here's a couple I've processed and like so far. All from the first morning at Patricia Lake in Jasper.

D*@# photographers getting in the frame! (8 images stitched with PTGui)


Same image but my final crop. What do you think of the right side? Lose the shoreline or keep it?


A view of the west side of Lake Patricia. I love the morning mist.


That's all I've got for now. Maybe I'll post some from day two tomorrow.

schmoo

Hooray Nick!

Beautiful sceneries here. I think you guys had a perfect pre-vacation in your trip up to Canada. I love the stillness that morning mist over water always makes you feel, no matter how busy you are when you view it.

I like the crop without the people, although the people lend a completely different feeling to the scene. I'm torn about the shoreline - love the pebbly river rocks but the angle of it doesn't seem quite natural. Cropping would lend a sense of symmetry to the whole thing.

Thanks for sharing with us who couldn't make it!

Phyxius

Your post processing is VERY cool, but I know that's not what it looked like because I was behind you, not infront/next to you. PT Gui is neat!

I'm okay with the shore line in the second shot.

Ann McRae

Well, FINALLY!

Folks - ya got to know Nick - perfection start to finish - he really is a master of his craft! So, knowing that, I guess I should expect no image to be posted before its time!!!!

So, since it is turkey day here in the great white north (and it was plus 18C today - whoo-ahhh), I'll let Nick perfect his shots.

And FWIW, I like the shoreline included.

ann

davev

Nice shots Nick.

gluwater

schmooo wrote:

Hooray Nick!

Beautiful sceneries here. I think you guys had a perfect pre-vacation in your trip up to Canada. I love the stillness that morning mist over water always makes you feel, no matter how busy you are when you view it.

I like the crop without the people, although the people lend a completely different feeling to the scene. I'm torn about the shoreline - love the pebbly river rocks but the angle of it doesn't seem quite natural. Cropping would lend a sense of symmetry to the whole thing.

Thanks for sharing with us who couldn't make it!

Thanks Steph. The pre-shoot was amazing, great sites and awsome traveling partners. I was thinking the exact same thing about the second crop. I think I'll play with it a little more and see what I come up with.

gluwater

Phyxius wrote:

Your post processing is VERY cool, but I know that's not what it looked like because I was behind you, not infront/next to you. PT Gui is neat!

I'm okay with the shore line in the second shot.

Since I don't have CS3 PTGui is a lifesaver since CS2 Photomerge blows. That's exactly how it looked through a Canon .

gluwater

Ann McRae wrote:

Well, FINALLY!

Folks - ya got to know Nick - perfection start to finish - he really is a master of his craft! So, knowing that, I guess I should expect no image to be posted before its time!!!!

So, since it is turkey day here in the great white north (and it was plus 18C today - whoo-ahhh), I'll let Nick perfect his shots.

And FWIW, I like the shoreline included.

ann

I'm not a perfectionist as Ann would have you believe. I'm just lazy so it takes me a long time to post my shots. Ann I really miss the Canadian weather. It was 88 the last two days. I want my fall weather. All the leaves here are just drying out and falling off the trees withough changing color. It's pitiful .

gluwater

davev wrote:

Nice shots Nick.

Thanks Dave. Some day I'll be good enough to shoot jpg.

gluwater

How about some more pictures?
Here are a couple from the top of Whistler in Jasper. Still on the first day of the pre-shoot. Here's a link to all the images I've processed so far.

Pyramid Mountain - I really like this mountain. 4 image stitch


Pyramid Mountain and the top of the tram from Whistler.

schmoo

Nick,

Let's just say that you're making it very hard for me to focus at work here.

grimace

Really beautiful work Nick!!!

grimace

Ann McRae wrote:

Okay, while we all wait on Nick to get home from the bar...I mean work, I found one more from day 1 that is worth sharing:


ann

I am done all non panos from Day 1 and 2, and they are posted here

Wonderful shot Ann!!

gluwater

Day 2 shots
OK. I finally got some day two shots I was happy with. Here they are. Then we can move onto day 3. Do you all realize we have 4 more days of the pre-shoot to post. Maybe I'll even get around to processing some Glacier shots.

First tip about hiking with me. Don's let me lead. I'm sure Ann will fill you in on why.


One of two shots I liked from the hike and it was taken about 5 minutes from the car. You can see the other in the Montana Portraits thread. Baby pine tree in IR.


I'm not sure about this one, what do you think?


Drum roll please.....finally my moose shot. I have a closer shot but I like the comp on this one better. Same moose as Ann's at Medicine Lake.

schmoo

gluwater wrote:

I'm not sure about this one, what do you think?

Nick I LOVE this shot. It's my favorite of your set, I think! Dramatic, scenic, craggy, wild, geometrically pleasing... what's not to love?

(The Oops Did I Do That? look on the moose makes it a tough competitor, though)

Phyxius

schmoo wrote:

Nick I LOVE this shot. It's my favorite of your set, I think! Dramatic, scenic, craggy, wild, geometrically pleasing... what's not to love?

schmoo wrote:

(The Oops Did I Do That? look on the moose makes it a tough competitor, though)

That look was probably more like "What the heck are those little things with long pointy boxes attached to their heads, following me around."

But, yeah I have to agree that the moody clouds w/sunlight is a very neat shot. Is that at Maligne where we saw the rainbow?

Nice shots!

Phyxius

Day "2", which in Chronological Time is actually Day 4
So, day four dawned early, but with little light so we decided to forgo sunrise. We head off south east on the Icefields Parkway, Route 93. Our destination? Banff...

Phyxius

I like waterfalls.


Athabasca Falls

The Athabasca River carries the most water of any Rocky Mountain river, and features Athabasca falls which measure 70-feet [21.3-meters].

*Eek, I'm getting yelled at...I'll post more later.

ian408

You guys make me jealous

The route you chose is a perfect motorcycle route (maybe a bit earlier in the
season tho ). And you did got in some great hikes along the way too.

Lot's of great shots along the way--too hard to pick a favorite. Beautiful though.

Ann McRae

The Icefields Parkway, 230 km from Jasper townsite to Lake Louise, an easy 2 1/2 hr drive in good weather. It was overcast in Jasper but not raining or snowing. We started out at about 8:30 a.m., with our first stop Athabasca Falls. We were at the falls with a couple of bus loads of tourists, but still managed a shot or two.

We (I) chose to skip past Angel Glacier and Mt. Edith Cavell, both spectacular places but we did need to make Louise by night. Our second stop was Sunwapta Falls.



The parkway passes along the backbone of the rockies, cresting both the Sunwapta and Bow Pass (the mini van had a bit of trouble with the Sunwapta Pass), winding up and down, to and fro, through 3000 m peaks. The Columbia Icefield, 200 sq km of ice and snow, feed three major river systems of North America, and flow water to the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic Oceans. The wind was howling, the clouds sitting right on the mountains, visibility of the glacier was quite poor.


Further along, and about 2 p.m., we stopped at a meadow for lunch. Here we saw goats - about 2 miles above us on a rock face.
I had planned to stop at Upper Waterfowl Lake, and hoped for a scene similar to the one I got in 2002. I did not find the right pull out to redo that shot, and in fact we ended up hiking along a creek for a while - a creek without many photo ops. We found the shore of the next lake along (Christina - do you recall its name?) and the clouds were so low the backdrop of mountains was completely obscured.



As we headed south, the visibility got worse, there was intermittent rain, and so the decision was made to skip Peyto Lake at the Bow Summit, expecting visibility to be null. We headed right on in to Baker Creek cabins, our accomodation for the night. Chimping, internet access (first since leaving Edmonton), barley snacks and an expensive (and less than fabulous) meal followed. A good nights sleep, and a plan to be at Lake Louise for sunrise.

Phyxius

I'm glad you posted your Sunwapta shot.

Ann McRae wrote:

I like that you included the river above the falls. I had a slightly problem with mine, that the picture makes the falls look small when really they were quite large.

See mine,

Hmmm.

Ann, it looks like Waterfowl is actually two lakes. But, if the one we went to wasn't either Waterfowl then it was Mistaya Lake.

When we walked down the trail we ended up near this bridge. We snapped a few shots and when it started to rain we took a trail to Mistaya Lake a bit farther up. Lots of cloud cover, mist, and rain prevented us from taking tons of shots of this gorgeous lake.


We stopped for a "quick" hike to the "easily accessible" Athabasca Glacier. This glacier covers an area of 2.5miles square and is between 270-1000' thick. Due to our warming climate the Athabasca Glacier has receeded more than 1.5 km in the past 125 years. They post signs along the trail for you to see where the glacier was over the course of the years. Now, it receeds at a rate of 2 to 3 km per year, but it also moves down from the icefield by several centimeters every day. Elevation is approximatly 6500' and when we were there it was WINDY and cold, perfect for glacier visiting. . I need to edit some shots from here, but I have two quickies I can post-


Canadian Ann stands on the glacier and she's not cold at all.

And, a quick self portrait with the glacier as a backdrop