Alexandra Falls in Winter

Hello! So first of all I would like to apologise for not updating my blog after my Canada trip! I have been busy working on several projects at the same time.

My major second year project has taken a lot of my time recently which is based around the red fox, but more on that one later! I have also been doing research into timelapse photography since my girlfriend gave me an intervelometer for my birthday. Timelapse photography requires massive amounts of patience but the fantastic night sky Cornwall has to offer makes it all worth while.

So first of all here are some shots to wrap up my Northern Canadian adventure!

It really was that cold, here’s a video of me doing the old trick of turning boiling water into snow:

One of the highlights of the trip for me was the ice falls walk – a snow shoe trek to one of the most spectacular sites I’ve ever seen and one of the best burgers I’ve ever eaten!

Two minutes into our trek to Alexandra Falls and a playground appears in what felt like the middle of nowhere, covered in snow. No playing here.

Getting down to the river wasn’t as easy as I first thought…

At some points resorting to sliding down on ones bottom was the only way down!

On our way to the falls the cliffs made for some unreal landscapes.

Huge icicles metres long hung down from the cliffs which was a little unnerving.

Photographing the landscape in snow was challenging because of the lack of contrast. I was blessed with beautiful mackerel sky which I managed to get the most out of by using a graduated filter on Lightroom 4.

The walk to the falls seemed to take forever, the frozen Hay River was difficult to get any scale as there are no landmarks – as you can see the snow was rather deep too!

At this point my camera’s memory card was having a hard time coping with the extreme cold. Something I have never witnessed before happened where the data couldn’t write itself to the memory card fast enough. My Canon 500D Paige was using also felt the cold where the standard 18-55mm lens stopped auto focusing, mind you it was a brisk -35.

It’s only when you get people in the photo that you get any sense of scale, everything here is big.

The foot of Alexandra Falls! Huge bellows of ice “pour” out from the cliff and brown sediment can be seen as it freezes over the ice.

Adam Hill stands at the base of a large pile of ice. He has some amazing images of the waterfall both in winter and in summer, check them out here: http://www.adamhillstudios.com/portfolio-page/portfolio/north-and-western-canada/page/2

A panoramic shot of the waterfall in the high -30′s! Few times has my breath been taken away from me (or was that because of the cold…)

Walking on the frozen Hay River up to the falls was a privilege and not for the faint-hearted – as the river freezes the top layer of ice forms a crust over the running water below, as the river stops flowing further upstream, caverns can open up underneath the thinner parts of ice.

I can honestly say that this was the wildest and most incredible place I’ve ever been. After the long trek back a burger and hot chocolate in a truck stop diner was the answer!

The Aurora Borealis

The Aurora!! This year is the solar maximum or solar max, which is a period of the greatest solar activity in the 11 year solar cycle of the Sun. Although its a very quiet solar maximum so far, we were really hoping to witness the event. The forecast from astronomy north  predicted a quiet night for Friday however, we were at the Hay River Ski Lodge for a music night when our friend Adam Hill came running to tell us it was out albeit faintly! Then a mad dash to get out and get those shots.

These are the first shots of the aurora. unfortunately the flood lights of the ski lodge have interfered with the shots and even snow shoeing down to the river it was visible. Nevertheless to be there was just incredible!

Tried portrait to capture the natural form of the aurora.

The lights started to “spike” above us and create these amazing shapes, meeting with another part of the aurora on the opposite horizon.

After a great evening of music food and aurora at the ski lodge, I captured this moment as we were driving back to Beth and Matt’s apartment. I wasn’t planning on getting a car in the shot but I like the light trail it created – something different from the usual aurora photo.

Seeing the aurora borealis really did make me feel small, just like when you see the night sky on a really clear night. It also gave me an “otherworldly feeling” where the possibility of other life forms didn’t seem too distant. I have to thank Beth and Matt again for letting us stay and experience the beauty of the north.

Ice Fishing on the Great Slave Lake

Ice fishing on the 8th largest lake in the world! We went out a couple of kilometers onto the frozen lake in these tank like vehicles called bombardiers. The ice on the lake is around 4 ft thick but as temperatures change, the ice moves and creates rifts where the ice pushes together. The lake, at its deepest point, is just over 2000 ft and is the deepest lake in North America.

Paige and little Kjel inside the Bombardier

Waiting to go out onto the lake at the home of Shawn and Francesca in -44 conditions.

Traveling across the frozen lake, Buffalo Airways flies over head.

The surface of the Great Slave Lake resembles the moon.

Inside a wooden hut, Shawn gets the gas light alight to drill into the ice for sport fishing.

I was very impressed with the haul of fish that was caught. Here is a shot of a pike caught in the line about 44 feet below.

Shawn Buckley is a 3rd generation ice fisherman.

Fresh catch: We ate this fish just half an hour later.

Shawn skillfully fillets the fish outside.

Francesca did a great job of smoking and frying the fish with locally made rose petal jelly and beet butter.

The bombardier and the hut provide the perfect shot against the milky way. Very faint parts of green aurora can be seen above it.

The moon rising was incredible.

It was time to head back as temperatures sunk into the minus 40′s

Snow shoeing in the taiga

We went to the local ski lodge at Hay River – a beautiful log cabin with a kitchen and a warm fire surrounded by sofas. There were clear blue skies and bird feeders had attracted about 7 different species all new to me. I was in heaven and I spent while with the 5D and the pin sharp 400mm f/5.6 check out the photos below.
We then went snow shoeing around the forest where the landscape was just unreal!

note: all images are unedited as I’m using a friends laptop.

Here is Paige messing around in the snow…

 

The amazing pine trees laden with heavy snow.

After hearing stories from various local people it seems that lynx are an animal that most people see around the area and wolves are often seen around the edges of the town. I had no idea they were sited this often! Lynx are trapped by people here and an Inuit man told us he’d seen a three legged lynx a few times last year, his friend shot it as “it wasn’t going to last”.

The stress from snow on the trees can clearly be seen here.

Aspen trees

Remains of a rabbit on the trails, potentially eaten by a fox or wolf.

The pine grosbeak Pinicola enucleator is a common winter finch found in boreal and taiga habitats throughout the northern regions of Canada, Scandinavia and Siberia.

A grey jay Perisoreus canadensis or whiskey jack was watching me photographing, they are surprisingly big!

A chickadee sat on my Paige’s hat!

We managed to hand feed the chickadees. This was an amazing experience but couldn’t keep my hands uncovered for long.

Hunting for Ptarmigan

We went hunting for ptarmigan around the residential areas of Hay River and after heavy snowfall a few weeks ago finding them was extremely difficult. This was made even harder as every breath would instantly freeze on the windows. After nearly calling it a day driving around the outskirts of the town Matt (who is kindly letting us stay with) caught the eyes of one sitting in the snow.

The view from Beth and Matt’s apartment, beyond the frozen Hay River is miles and miles of Taiga forest.

Down by the frozen river a fantastic sun dog could be seen, an atmospheric phenomenon which creates a halo of light around the sun.

 

Dressing up in our goose for the car became normal as air temperatures hover around -35.

 

Winter tyres are surprisingly good on the snowy roads.

 

Matt’s keen eye spotted this Ptarmigan on the side of the road in its snow cave

 

The same bird finding some nutrients from the twigs.

 

Yellowknife, NWT

Some shots Taken in Yellowknife, at Buffalo airways on our way to Hay River.

Inside the Buffalo Airways waiting room, feeling pretty nervous!

Old photos of the airports’ history cover the walls

 

 

 

 

 

Inside the aircraft, it was so packed there was one person standing for the flight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The frozen Taiga below us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My New Blog and Northern Canada

So, I have finally decided to start a blog to show you my photography and give a little context to what I get up to with my camera. I wont be updating this every day but I will be covering my photographic work when I have interesting stories and photography to share. This is a place for anyone interested in seeing what its like to be a natural history photography student at Falmouth University.

Check out some of my favourite photos I’ve taken from the past 2 years here.

I am currently staying in Hay River in the Northwest Territories, Northern Canada. Last night our friend and nature photographer, Adam Hill drove us out to the outskirts of the town to charge the battery and see the milky way, unpolluted from the town – the temperature hit -38. A couple of days ago it was -45 with windchill!

The epic trip included 6 different airports to get to our destination of Hay River, starting with a Boeing 747 and ending in a second world war plane at Buffalo Airways. Despite spending a very nervous 3 hours at Buffalo’s small waiting room, it was a surprisingly smooth flight piloted by the now famous Buffalo Joe, from the History Television programme Ice pilots.

The photography kit I choose for the trip:

My luggage including magfiber tripod.

The goodies include, a Canon 5D MKII, 400mm f/5.6, 50mm f/1.4, 17-40mm and 24-70mm