Night Photography on the Banks of the Athabasca
Sense Memory from a Canadian road trip in September 2017
When: September 2017
Where: Wapiti Campground at Jasper National Park in Western Alberta
Road Trip: Canadian Rockies (Banff and Jasper)
What: night photography
Accompaniment: Wonderful Wonderful by the Killers
I was determined to try some night photography on our Canadian Rockies roadtrip. After smoke blocked the night sky in Banff, I was thrilled to get a view of the stars in Jasper. It’s a Dark Sky Preserve, so they work to limit light pollution.
I knew next to nothing about night photography. But sometimes, it's fun to do things for the sake of doing them.
The campground sits next to the Athabasca River, its milky waters flowing to the Arctic Ocean. A path meanders along the shore, leading down to a rocky bed spotted with grasses and stunted trees.
I decided I'd photograph from the river bank, curious whether the water's color would be apparent in nighttime photos. My partner and I scoped it out with a sunset walk and photoshoot, stumbling over the cobblestones and admiring the stunted conifers. As the sun set behind tall mountains, it cast rays of light over the river.
My partner's more outgoing than I am, and sometime when I wasn't looking he befriended the campers next door, a couple about our age on an ambitious road trip from Minnesota. He invited them to come hang out over local beers at our camp after dinner. As it faded to dark, I mentioned my goal to take some night photos. "Can I come too?" the woman asked eagerly. So we strapped on our headlamps, grabbed our cameras, and headed over to the riverbank.
Even though my photos are out of focus, and shockingly bright thanks to the moon I didn't consider - it seemed pretty dark to me - I'm glad I just went and did it.
Canadian Rockies Road Trip
We started the trip in Banff, where it was so smoky we couldn't see the mountains the day we arrived. After a few days camping there, we drove up through the jaw-dropping mountains towards Jasper. We passed where the Great Divide splits from the Arctic Divide, so water on the West drains to the Pacific Ocean, on the North drains to the Arctic Ocean, and the rest drains to Hudson Bay. Our campsite was just outside of the town of Jasper.
In Jasper, we visited Athabasca Falls (cool), the glacier at Mount Edith Cavell (you have to get a day-pass for an assigned time, which means showing up at the ranger station in Jasper at like 7am - afternoon had terrible light for photos), Jasper Lake (we saw bighorn sheep! and waded out deep in the water which is shallow for a long way), Maligne Canyon (very cool), Pyramid Lake (we saw kayakers, seemed like a great spot for it, a small little island trail but a pretty drive) and Maligne Lake (you can rent a boat there but it was gross and rainy so we passed).