A few from a recent backpacking trip in the Canadian north. We did a fair amount of hiking over about a week or so, and what follows are my four favorites to date. More to come in subsequent posts.
Image 1 was shot using a D800 with the 16-35 f/4 VR. All of the others were through the 14-24 f/2.8. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
You have some sweet shots here. I quite like the first one and all of the aurora shots are good. Where in Canada were these taken? I would love to do a backpacking trip up North.
Well done. These are great and those aurora must have been awesome in person. That looks like Tombstone Territorial Park in the Yukon -- I would love to make it up there some day.
The night shots are fine, but the first shot is special. You could be the Albert Bierstadt of photography. You already have the luminous part down, so here's another pointer from Bierstadt's images: you don't need the big intrusive watermark as a distraction in your images. Let viewers just focus on your art.
---John
Steve Dublanko wrote:
You have some sweet shots here. I quite like the first one and all of the aurora shots are good. Where in Canada were these taken? I would love to do a backpacking trip up North.
Appreciate your comments! As Slam05 mentioned below, these were taken in Tombstone Territorial Park in the Yukon Territory. The nearest town is Dawson City, which already feels pretty remote. From there, it's about a 3d hike, or a helicopter flight in. The helicopter makes things far more manageable, though you have to do a fair bit of hiking on almost entirely uneven ground once you are in the park. Still, the sights are inspiring enough to justify a few days of wandering the wilderness; even when you don't see the most photogenic scene, it is a great feeling to be immersed in such beauty.
slam05 wrote:
Well done. These are great and those aurora must have been awesome in person. That looks like Tombstone Territorial Park in the Yukon -- I would love to make it up there some day.
dgdg wrote:
You've got me itching to get up there. Great photos. Post more!
You totally should. We may be going up there again in a year or so. Thanks so much for your kind words!
Rohanban wrote:
Awesome! How do I get to take pictures of the aurora ? (apart from being away from light pollution)
In my experience, going as far north as is reasonable is helpful. When far enough, you also end up being remote enough to be free of the kind of light pollution that would interfere with the more subtle aurora. When the lights are really going though, I would expect the aurora would even be visible through light pollution.
jdc562 wrote:
The night shots are fine, but the first shot is special. You could be the Albert Bierstadt of photography. You already have the luminous part down, so here's another pointer from Bierstadt's images: you don't need the big intrusive watermark as a distraction in your images. Let viewers just focus on your art.
---John
Well, if you're going to put it that way... Here's a clean sample. I also did a little landscape sketching on a watercolor sketchpad while I was out there.
Justin Grimm wrote:
A 3 day hike!...yeah ill be choppering in if I ever head here. Love the bigger size btw.
If you plan your transit well, it's actually pretty easy (if expensive) to get into the park. You can fly into Whitehorse and drive, or just fly direct to Dawson city for an extra $500 (worth it if you are traveling alone, since the car rental from Whitehorse to get to Dawson city will cost you about $100 per day). From Dawson, you can take a helicopter into the wilderness. Obviously, if you can get someone to come with you, it's ideal for both safety and cost reasons. It is true back-country out there, and the terrain is quite rugged and uneven. Even though I have some backpacking experience, I would not want to be out there alone with a sprained ankle.
The 3d hike in saves you the helicopter costs, but one can rein in those costs if you can get a group together and split that up. As I said, our group may do a reunion trip a year or two from now.
Here's a clean sample. I also did a little landscape sketching on a watercolor sketchpad while I was out there. 