I’ve been delayed in writing this blog post, because it took me soooo long to figure out how to get my developed images DIY scanned to a level that I was satisfied with (i.e. I tried scanning all the rolls of film myself, and it was a major learning curve – read all about it here).
Nonetheless, I’m now very excited to share the film experiences I had in the Canadian Rockies ! Get ready, here we go ! 🍁
Location = Equipment Choice
As usual I had to face my usual dilemma of deciding what film equipment to bring … only this time, the pressure was on … a 2.5 weeks, once in a lifetime trip to the Canadian Rockies and Vancouver Island. I would be jumping from mountains & lakes over to oceans, cityscapes & dense forests !
I’m an honest person, and I’ll say that on this occasion I decided that both analogue and digital were necessary – I didn’t want to risk visiting such a magnificent location and only have one medium to record the experience.
However, I didn’t want to be carrying tonnes of equipment neither … and this is where Nikon have the winning formula: you can shoot modern F mount lenses on almost every film camera since 1960 (within reason) !
To that end, I brought along the following which I could easily swap between film and digital:
- Nikon F80 x 2 (two film bodies to seamlessly switch between film types)
- Nikon D610 (the predecessor to the superb D750, a high quality 24mp full frame that doesn’t break the bank)
- Nikon 28-80mm f3.3 G (walk-about lens)
- Nikon 18-35mm f3.5 G VR (ultrawide)
- Nikon 70-300mm f4.5 G VR (telephoto)
- Nikon 50mm f1.8 (low light rescue)
The next issue, as always, is what film to bring. I was anticipating dark forests, glaring mountain scapes, bright city reflections and everything in between. So I packed along the following:
- Kodak Gold 200 x 1 (sunsets & sunrise)
- Fujicolor C200 x 4 (general purpose, mountains & forests)
- Kodak Ektar x 1 (contrasty cityscapes)
- Kodak Ultramax 400 x 1 (low light)
Having tried Kodak Portra for landscape before, I knew it just doesn’t work for me, while B&W film wasn’t going to be in the running at all, especially when those Canadian glacial lakes are famous for their gorgeous light blue colours.
So I was sincerely hoping these film choices would cover all eventualities, especially since most of the trip would certainly be far away from a shop selling a roll of film !
Canmore & Kananaskis
Basecamp for Week 1 / Part 1 of this Canadian adventure was to be the quaint & tranquil town of Canmore, Alberta nestled at the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. The town is a hidden gem, providing everything you need – restaurants, bars, retail outlets and tourist niceties.
It was a pleasure to go rambling along Bow River taking in the fabulous sights of the Three Sisters (iconic 3 peaked mountain range), Ha Ling peak, while also grabbing a day pass to visit Kananaskis District, and exploring its beautiful open roads, through winding breathtaking valleys.
From a film perspective, photographing the area around Kananaskis relied heavily upon both my ultrawide and telephoto lenses, and lots of ISO 200 film. Something I only really noticed afterwards, when I got back to Ireland, was how much blue haze there was in the sky.
When walking along the old steam engine train-line, it was a bit disconcerting as myself and my wife happened upon a sign warning us of a mother bear and cubs being in the immediate vicinity, and to take care ! Yikes !
Banff & Lake Louise
Hitting the Icefield Parkways highway, the most scenic road you can possibly imagine, to head to famed Banff, and the fabled Lake Louise was the definitely going to the highlight of the Canadian Rockies … or was it …
Word of warning: you can’t simply drive to Lake Louise and go rambling, instead you will need to book in advance, both a car park space a shuttle-bus ride that brings you to two stops: Morraine Lake and Lake Louise.
So as we wound the 4×4 car rental through one jaw-dropping mountainous scene after another (Castle Mountain is spectacular – see below) , getting closer and closer … the excitement was building up !
Hitting the shuttle bus queue around 10am, an interesting twist of fate was. in store for us … the bus we jumped on was Morraine Lake first, and only then Lake Louise
This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as Morraine Lake was almost devoid of tourists, mirror calm, and absolutely STUNNING – I quite literally stood on top of ‘the rockpile’ looking out over the lake and I was SPEECHLESS !
The water colour really is that shade of blue, it’s not a photoshop trick!
Fortunately all the images I was taking on my Nikon F80 so far required shutter speeds that enabled handheld photography = fantastic, no tripod !
A big shock awaited us when we hopped on the shuttle bus and arrived at Lake Louise around 12:30pm … it was jam packed, with literally hundreds of people along the lakeshore bustling for selfies and group photographs.
It was a horrible experience, particularly compared to having the beautiful and serene Moraine Lake so quiet 😳
Not only that, but an hour later forest fire smoke started to drift in over the choppy waters of the lake – which I managed to transform into an opportunity for simple landscape shapes & colours.
Stunning Glacial Lakes … Everywhere
Beyond the ‘famous’ two lakes mentioned above, I found endless photographic beauty among Petyo Lake, Lake Minnewanka, Cascade Ponds and Spray Lakes Reservoir (nestled above Canmore town)
What made it all the more intriguing was that there was hardly a whisper of wind blowing, making for gorgeous water reflections, especially at Spray Lakes.
As the forest fire smoke thickened over the next few days, it cast an interesting blue hue on the sky during the day, lending itself to some of the most beautiful simplistic landscape images I had ever taken,
If anything the challenge was to ensure that my Nikon F80 didn’t get fooled by the unusual atmospheric conditions, and so I was very mindful of exposure compensation.
Meanwhile Lake Minnewanka just had me in awe, standing there on the jetty with my mouth wide open, amazed at the reflections and sky.
Week 1 Wrap-up
As a first-timer, the Canadian Rockies was mind-blowing – in every sense. The sights, sounds, smells and tastes were simply unforgettable 🤩
The running joke at one stage was how many times myself and my wife were hitting Tim Hortons – good coffee, fresh food and free reliable wifi = a winner 😁
I also have to mention that the locals were exceptionally friendly and helpful, which made all the difference when exploring and going off the beaten track occasionally. This was a recurring theme throughout the entire 2.5 weeks whether it was in the Rockies or the shoreline of Vancouver Island.
Stayed tuned for Part 2, where my rolls of Kodak & Fujifilm hit Vancouver city & Vancouver Island, and how I almost dropped my camera into a bay upon seeing an Orca for the first time …
In the meantime, keep shooting film ! Paul
Instagram :: #irishanalogadventures
