Banff

You have to get up early to get a sunrise shot, but it is well worth it. Yesterday, I was a little late for sunrise at Wedge Pond. This morning I left the hotel a little earlier to make sure I would get the entire sunrise. I succeeded quite well in that part. When I arrived at Vermilion Lake, it was still pitch dark. I set up my tripod and camera with the help of a flash light. The reflection of nearly full moon in the lake in front of a snow covered mountain looks impressive.



Don’t forget that that the photo above is shot with a shutter speed of 25 seconds. When you are actually there, you don’t see anything. From the display at my camera I could determine whether or not I aimed my camera in the right direction. Shooting in the dark is a special experience, because these spots are listed a many guides and in total darkness more cars pull over and persons get out (but you can’t see them). When in the moon light you see the reflection of a tripod, you know they are OK.



After the sunrise shot, I returned to the hotel for my breakfast and subsequently continued to Lower Bankhead. This former city was a mining town, but it was closed in 1922 after an eight month strike. The poor coal quality, labor unrest and high operating expenses made the Canadian Pacific Railway company decide to permanently close the mine.



The pockets of methane gas throughout the mine only non-electric mining equipment could be used. Like the compressed air locomotive above. The coal cars, last used in 1922, were still in reasonably well condition.



In 1922, the Bankhead mine (AB) was closed and the Canadian Government ordered that the buildings had to be moved out of Banff National Park. Today, only a few foundations remain in Lower Bankhead. After 1922, when the steam engines and generators were removed someone put back the washer and nut on the thread. Were they hoping that the mine would be reopened one day?



I’m really puzzled why the clouds in the photo below look like they’ve cut by an egg/tomato slicer.



For photographers there are two useful hours a day. One at sunrise and one at sunset. The others hours you might as well sleep. I used the other hours to do some shooting for locations where the light was not so important or I scouted the locations for the evening shoot. Today's wind gusts went up to 35 km/hour, therefore I selected Lake Johnson to do a sunset shot because this lake is enclosed by mountains.



When I parked my car at Lake Johnson, I noticed a park ranger who was wearing green vest. This vest looked like a bullet proof vest. When I spoke to him, he confirmed that it was a bullet proof vest. I was a bit surprised because I was not aware that a bullet proof vest was part of their daily uniform. I assumed they would only wear it in high risk situations. Then I remembered the series Due South where the main character’s father (Bob Fraser, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer) was shot to dead by a hit man.