Another Summer In Banff

Another summer has already come and gone in Banff National Park and once again I've failed miserably to blog as much as I'd hoped.

This was my third summer in the Canadian Rockies but unfortunately my least active by far. I didn't manage to get out hiking or photographing as much as I'd planned. Every week I worked full time at the store, and on one of my days off I ran a stall at the farmer's market. Eventually, after a lot of saving, I was able to move into my own apartment.

My girlfriend has been visiting for the past two weeks so I managed to get away from work and finally take some photos. We were lucky enough to watch an amazing display of the northern lights and I was finally able to get some shots of this natural phenomenon that I've been hoping to photograph for years now.

I'm going to try and go shooting as much as possible this month to make up for what I've missed. I've been out a few times already this week, and with the elk rut in full swing, I'm hoping to get some nice images of this spectacular event.


Here's a selection of photographs from this summer, including some new panoramas taken last week:

(click on an image to enlarge)

The northern lights reflected on Lake Minnewanka, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Sunrise at Buller Pond, Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada

 

Autumn aspens at Hillsdale Meadows, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Morant's Curve along the Bow Valley Parkway, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Grizzly 64 and her three new cubs take a stroll at sunrise, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Faint northern lights in the skies over Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Bull moose in autumn colours, Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada

Fireweed at Bow Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Grizzly bear cub, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

A grey wolf pup born this spring, Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, Canada

Grizzly bear triplets born this spring, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Autumn in Moose Meadows, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

I'm hoping that in the next couple of weeks or so, I'm able to get enough photos of the elk rut to put together another blog post by the end of the month.


All photographs are available to purchase. Please send me a message via my website if you have any questions.

Thanks for reading,

Cai

June In The Rockies

Hello everyone,

So it looks like my 'one blog post a week' plan has already failed miserably! I apologize for the lack of posts recently, but my time has been spent looking for a job as well as looking for bears and other wildlife.

After returning to Canada nearly two months ago, I've finally decided to get a job so that the basic existence that I've been living, can finally come to an end. I start training in Monod's, an outdoor store, on Monday and I'm going to have to get used to a productive routine again after over a year without working. I'm also very fortunate that my new manager has kindly organized my shifts so that I still have every morning free to photograph.


The last few weeks have been pretty amazing for me. I've spent a lot of time looking for a 22 year old grizzly bear and her three newborn cubs. Unfortunately, I've only managed to spot her once and didn't manage to get any photographs. However, I had a lot of luck with other wildlife in June. I finally had a couple of wolf encounters which is what I'd been hoping for this spring. Only one of these encounters yielded a photograph but it just happens to be my favourite wolf shot to date.

'Blizzard', a two-year old female wolf - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

It had been almost exactly one year to the day that I encountered 'Blizzard' last. To see her again and spent twenty minutes photographing her was one of then nicest feeling I've had in a long time. It's so great to see that she's still surviving and looking healthy as ever!

This recent wolf photo is a new favourite of mine, but I've also managed to photograph a lot of other amazing animals over the last few weeks.

Here's a few of my top images from the last month...

(click on an image to enlarge)

Black bear cub in a tree - Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Pileated woodpecker chicks - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Bighorn sheep ram - Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Grizzly bear grazing - Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Subadult grizzly bear in fresh spring snow - Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada

Large male grizzly bear - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Beaver eating along riverbank - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Great blue heron - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Black bear resting - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Black bear cub in a tree - Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Pileated woodpecker feeding her chicks - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Bighorn sheep ram overlooking Medicine Lake - Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Wet black bear - Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

Cinnamon black bear sow and cub - Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

July isn't considered a great month for wildlife photography, so I won't be getting out to shoot as much this month. I'm going to focus on work for a while and I've also got my summer stall to run at the Banff farmer's market every Wednesday. The recent postal strike here in Canada meant that I had very limited stock for the first market day of the summer. The wind and rain didn't help the situation either! I'm praying for blue skies next Wednesday and hopefully things will pick up.

If you're in Banff this summer, come along to the market and say hello! I also have a 'Save Banff's Wildlife' petition with me on the stall which I will be sending to Parks Canada, CP Rail and local MP Mr Blake Richards. Hopefully it will help put them under pressure to do something about the wildlife mortality rate here in Banff as well as spread awareness of the issue.


I've recently opened an account on the popular photo sharing website '500px'. You can view a selection of my most popular photos from around the world as well as vote for which are your favourites.


All photographs are available to purchase. Please send me a message via my website if you have any questions.

Thank you for reading,

Cai