“Waning Light”

As we begin to head North on the Stewart- Cassiar Highway we will be going from Northern B.C. into Southern Yukon. As I had mentioned before, we have been encountering a lot of weather and not really getting the continuous photo opportunities that we had been hoping for. Never the less, when we encountered a break in the clouds, and the continuous deluge of rain paused for a moment, we made the best of it. Sometimes coming up with the unique images only rendered from exactly these types of situations. Sun pouring through dark and moody clouds, glancing off the distant lakes reflective surface, highlighting the far shore with saturated color. This is the type of situation I wait for, camera ready, for it usually doesn’t last long.

I make sure my camera setting are set to shoot for the current light, so I won’t have to fuss once a good opportunity comes. Use the poor light time to your advantage to make sure everything is ready. Check your ISO, shutter settings and F Stop. Also wipe your lens one more time. I can’t tell you how many times I have took what I thought was a great photo, only to have a big smudge on my lens. I use Lee ND Grad filters, so I make sure they are clean and ready to go. Also make sure the filter mount is secure. If you read the last blog series  ”Columbia Ice Fields, A Ravens View”  I mentioned losing my filters out of a Helicopters window! Hard to recover from that mistake…they just missed hitting the rear tail rotors……… Yikes!

 

“Perfect Reflections”

Immediately upon entering this unique highway heading to the Arctic regions, you get to see an abundance of wildlife, often seeing a Black Bear every few hours lunching on the remains of the berry bushes. They are attempting to fatten up enough to survive the winter holed up in a den somewhere. Unfortunately some seasons don’t seem to produce enough berries for the bears and they are forced to wander the whole winter digging deep into the winter snow banks to forage or make meals from hunted prey. But more likely managing to find a dead carcass of another animal buried in the snow. Their sense of smell is phenomenal.  They can smell prospective food from miles away. This looked like it might be one of those seasons. There were very few berries in our travels, unlike pervious seasons where there was plenty for all. As we drove north the locals were saying this was one of the worst summers in memory with snow falling at some point in every month of the year till now, well into late September. I guess the cool weather wasn’t the type of climate to generate berries. It also made for cold camping nights in the tent!

 

“Hungry Black Bear”

Some of the other fairly apparent wildlife that we encountered frequently would be the prolific beavers. With muskeg and small ponds everywhere you looked, it is heaven for them. The great thing about beavers making all these ponds from a photographer’s point of view, is that they really clear the brush out and open up spaces, making access into the bush just a bit easier. The ponds they create are an excellent opportunity to capture unique reflective images. If the pond is combined with a sunset, you can get these great warm saturated colors that just scream “photo op” as you drive by. With so many potential photos to be had, it is sometimes difficult to make it very far down the road before stopping once again for a trundle into the brush at the side of the road for the next alluring photo possibility.

 

“Storm is coming”

 

Skeena River B.C.

I guess the slowness at which a landscape photographer progresses down the road, can drive any non photographer/ passenger coming along for the ride to absolute madness. Sure, at first it is interesting to hop out and try to see what the photographer finds so inspiring, and maybe even snap a few shots with the point and shoot. But then there comes a time when you the photographer feels the cloudy looks over the passengers shoulder that say “hey lets goooo!!!”…. lol ….Yes, make sure the partner you travel with is a photographer, or the off-spring of Buddha, with the patience of Job.  Or your trip of a lifetime will be hindered by sidelong glances rendering a guilty feeling for wanting to take the time to capture just about everything. I guess we can be a focused lot to the detriment of some of our relationships. But hey, we absolutely love taking photos!

“Middle of Nowhere,” Yukon

“Walking the Beaver Damn”

I have to say that traveling with Debbie is fantastic. If I didn’t get out of the truck fast enough I would trampled by her enthusiasm on the trail. She is a trooper. When she was little, her Dad and Mom quite often took her on hunting trips on Vancouver Island B.C. She had to learn to to camp in crappy weather and cook from a fire and like it. Hauling the deer down the logging road for miles was just part of life. I guess she grew up to appreciate the outdoors and that interest hasn’t faded to this day. I was lucky to have such a excellent traveling partner. If you are inclined to tramping around in deep wilderness, then Canada is really the place to travel. It still has truly wild areas yet to be explored.  

“Kinaskan Lake B.C.”

“Beavers Wonderland”