Banff and Jasper Photographic Workshop

Along the Icefields Parkway

I have just returned from a Naturescapes Workshop in Banff and Jasper Canadian National Parks in Alberta Canada.  The workshop was led by Greg Downing and E.J. Peiker. We photographed for six days, three and one half days in Banff and two and one half days in Jasper.   The half days was spent traveling from Banff to Jasper up the Ice fields Parkway.  Banff National Park and Jasper National Park are adjacent on the Parkway.  Around every turn is a new scene, mountains with snow, pristine bodies of water, many with a turquoise color due to the runoff from the glaciers, and waterfalls.  The Banff portion of the workshop was mostly landscapes and scenics and the Jasper Portion was about wildlife with some landscapes thrown in.

Except for the drive to and from Calgary and the journey from Banff to Jasper, we carpooled, which gave people a chance to know the other participants in the workshop.  What made this workshop excellent, was that Greg and E.J. have made many trips to the area and know the best locations in the best time of the day to photograph them.  E. J. uses Nikon equipment and Greg uses Canon equipment, this gives us the best of both worlds and they both understand the other systems.  Both leaders were extremely helpful answering questions and improving everybody’s knowledge of this system and their techniques.

The hardest part with one of these workshops is nature itself.  We cannot control the weather, and at times when we wanted clouds, we had bright blue skies and of course animals do not appear on cue.  One of the days and Jasper we searched most of the day for Bighorn sheep and not a one was anywhere to be found.  The next day, it started out the same way, but, along the side of the road, we found Bighorn sheep.  The herd size was approximately 47 animals, mostly ewes and lambs and a young male Bighorn was in charge.

Bighorn Sheep Ewe

This was my fifth workshop with Naturescapes, and I have immensely enjoyed every one of them.  So if you want an incredible experience, join one of the workshops that Naturescapes runs.  You will not be disappointed.  Naturescapes offerings can be found at http://www.naturescapes.net/workshops/or click the ad on the right side of the blog.

 

Johnston Canyon Waterfall

Over the next few days I’ll be posting more photographs on what we saw and did during this workshop.