This past summer, for our first vacation since COVID, I traveled to Banff National Park with my family. Banff, located in Alberta, Canada, is famous for its mile-high granite mountains, crystal-clear lakes, and endless conifer forests. 

There is such an indescribable vastness to Banff. 

It is a strange feeling to be driving along the Trans-Canada highway with your family, where the only sign of humanity is the slender, winding road that cuts neatly through the trees. Then, it disappears beyond the bend, and you are alone again. On both sides of you there is forest, and beyond that, there is sheer, gray, cliff. Above that, there is sky. 

Armed with my dad’s camera and a very rudimentary knowledge of photography, I attempted to capture this feeling of emptiness. Because I know I could not do Banff justice in 700 words, here are a few of my favorite photos from that trip. 

As close to desktop-wallpaper worthy as I’ll ever get, this photo was shot at Banff-adjacent Yoho National Park’s Emerald Lake. The lake owes its brilliant aqua color to the sunlight reflecting off the finely powdered rock deposits suspended in the water. As the glaciers on the neighboring mountains each spring melt, they erode the mountains, carrying this “rock flour” with them as they feed into the lake.  On sunny days, the water is clear enough that it will perfectly reflect its surroundings, but it was a cool, foggy day when we went. Still, I like the soft, purple mist that swallows the tops of the mountains. 

 

Pictured here: The Banff Springs Hotel, arguably one of the most famous hotels in Canada. Built in 1888, the Banff Springs was one of Canada’s earliest railway hotels, a series of luxury hotels constructed alongside Canada’s expanding railway system as a way to encourage tourists to travel via train. Photography-wise, I like this photo because it feels like a still from a dramatic movie; it reminds me of the hotel from The Shining. The hotel itself, built in a Châteauesque architectural style, provides a visually interesting subject – the steep roof, spires, and red-brick give it quite a European renaissance feel, and as a result, it looks a lot older than it actually is. 

 

My favorite photo from this trip, not for its vastness, but for its intimacy. To me, there is something really special about its framing, almost as if we’re peeking in on this secret slice of life. It has a hazy, dream-like quality, like it’s a distant memory; for some reason I can’t explain, it makes me nostalgic. 

 

Perhaps not the most visually stunning couple of photos, pictured here are a baby bighorn sheep and its mother. We were fortunate enough to see quite a few wildlife during our trip, including an adult bighorn sheep, a black bear, and a mountain goat. Beyond the novelty of the wildlife, however, I must admit that the bighorn sheep is quite an ugly animal.

 

I wanted to capture the sensation of feeling very small in this photo. I hiked my fair share of trails in Banff, and in all of them, nestled against the pines and the sky and the mountains, I noticed the quiet. Save for the rustling of the trees and the occasional whisper of the earth, in the forest, it is still in only a way nature can offer.

 

I couldn’t decide which photo I liked better between these two, so I’m including them both. This was my first time shooting moving water, and since I don’t have the equipment to shoot long exposure (a technique involving a drastically slower shutter speed that is often used to show movement), I thought that they turned out well enough for a first attempt. It’s not immediately obvious from the photo, but the water here is moving quite quickly – so much so that behind where I was standing, the force of the rapids has carved through the cliff spanning the river, forming a “natural bridge”. The blue and red jackets also offer the photo a bright splash of color – although I intended for the water to be the focal point of the photos, I’m finding that my eye is drawn more to the people. 

Whatever the case, no photo, however well-shot, will ever replace the feeling of actually being somewhere, especially a national park. While I doubt I’ll return to Canada any time soon, I’ll be taking advantage of this bizarre climate-change-induced seventy degree November weather for as long as it lasts. There really is no substitute to spending time outside. 

As always, let me know which photo was your favorite!