MISSION IMPOSSIBLE

Sometimes the littlest things can yield the biggest excitement.

In October, I was on a road trip in the Canadian Rockies. I had come to Banff hoping to get photographs of moose, bear, and elk, and although I did enjoy some moderate success, I didn’t really see as much as I was hoping for.

Still, the scenery was absolutely jaw dropping incredible. I’d drive around all day shooting the inspiring mountainscapes while being on the lookout for wildlife.

On this particular drive alongside the river in the Columbia Valley, I stopped to take some panoramic shots of a magnificent distant view of the mountains rising up against a deep blue sky, with fall coloured trees and bushes blazing in the foreground, all perfectly reflected in the quiet waters of an immense wetland pond. The scale was unbelievable.

I’d been working the shot for quite a while when I began to notice, a small rustling going on in a nearby bush. Investigating, I spotted this chipmunk scampering around the branches feeding on berries.

I forgot about the vista and spent the next hour trying to capture a clear shot of this little guy. The bush was dense and he was fast so it was a challenge to track him and then there was always some leaf or branch blocking the view. Finally he dropped down in the clear stretching for his prize just long enough for me to get a shot off.

Well you’d think I’d come across Bigfoot himself, I was so excited. It was the first wildlife I’d seen all day. And when I think about how far I’d traveled to get out west, all the planning and grand expectations, and the grandeur of the locations, it was pretty silly to be so excited by a chipmunk.

Still, I was.

EMERALD CASCADES

SERENITY

DUCK ATTACK

This has to be one of the most photographed ducks in all of Canada.

I shot this mallard family every chance I got - from Spring to Fall - under all kinds of conditions. I camped on the island to be on the pond before they arrived. I shot them in the rain from under tarps. I hid under the bridge in leaky waders to get an eye level perspective from the dam. And I sat in a blind for hours, recording their development from their first trips around the pond to their departure in the fall.

You’d think after all that time being around them, after all the fish chow they stole from our trout and bird food that they’d waddle up on shore to feed on, after the many times I protected them from the dogs and chased away the mink, you’d think they’d accept me. But to the very end of their time on our pond, they never once let down their guard and made me work for every pixel.

It’s a thankless job.

STARDUST DELIGHTS

I had spent the better part of the late afternoon taking pictures of a sandpiper from the cover of my floating camera rig. He was feeding; flying back and forth between mud flats. I wanted to get a shot of him just as he was launching that showed off his beautiful wings. I kept trying but had little success, until he launched one last time and flew away and left me on the quiet end of the pond, all alone.

Rather than call it a day and exit the pond, I chose to wade over to the far shore where the young mallard family was feeding. It took fifteen minutes to slowly creep my way near them only to be spotted by the mom who immediately shepherded them out of the pond, up the bank, and northward up the creek.

Apparently out of subjects I was ready to give up and head in when I noticed flashes of light above the tall grass of the center island. It was dragonflies darting about in the last rays of the sunlight. And when I observed them through the long lens, I could see tiny sparks of light from the insects they were feeding on. With the backlight, the dark shadows, and the arc of the lens flare, the dragonflies appeared to be floating in space above a ringed planet against a star-filled sky.

I shot until I lost the light, then just floated around and enjoyed the rest of the sunset.

Bosque Sunrise

FLEW MAN CHEW

Robin gathering tiger lily leaves.

TRIUMVIRATE

In the evening, thousands of sandhill cranes gradually wing their way back from the farm fields where they’ve been feeding all day, to the big central pond of the Bosque del Apache Refuge to spend the night.

DOWN TO EARTH

A TEACHING MOMENT