Journey complete

While all that separates the United States from Canada is a line drawn on paper, it feels light years away. My very first trip to Canada was wonderful but short. Juggling meeting new family and taking photos proved to be difficult, but fun. Not only am I leaving the country with lots of photographs, I am also leaving with a new family.  

What will I remember most from this journey? Apart from the fun family and friends I met, it must be the hike to the Panorama Mountain summit. What I knew was going to be a hard hike, became much more of a challenge when Ryan (other hiker) and I realized the gradient of the trail, almost 45 degrees the whole way. Over a 6000 foot increase in elevation added to that, made for a hell of a time. I am still sore while I am writing this, but as the image below shows, It was totally worth it.

Many photos where taken, many mistakes where made. Landscape photography is a new art for me, a photojournalist at heart. It is very technical, and takes a lot of time and patience to master. I like to think this trip helped me take steps towards mastering it. But landscape was not all I did while traveling, my love for portraits and travel photos also needed to be satiated. So below is a quick example of my beautiful Talia modeling for me.

So in the end this trip taught me a lot, and now I have lots of homework to do based of the hundreds of mistakes I made. So if you are afraid of failing, understand most of this trip was me failing at taking the photos I wanted. To much haze, waking up too late, forgetting to check shutter speed. Small mistakes, to very silly ones but now I am much more aware of them. So fail, and learn. I did and I know you can. Learn to become better, learn to love what you do.

Arrived + Excited

I just made it to the Panorama Resort after a long car ride through the Rockies from Calgary. Rain and fog greeted us and kept us company until the sun finally set below the horizon. We stopped a few times for photos and I hope to have more shared after a nights sleep. 

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Im both excited and nervous because this trip is where i prove to myself I have what it takes to do this. I don't care if I fail to take the next masterpiece, but i do care if I don't try. This means early mornings and late nights to catch the perfect light. Long hikes up steep terrain to get that perfect angle. No giving up when I want to go home. This is where I show to myself I love what I do and want to keep doing it.

A Journey to the Land Up North.

Tomorrow I start my travels to Canada, a place I have never been but, expect I will visit many more times. It is also where I hit the refresh button on my career as a photographer. Up until now, I have always kept myself open, taking photos of everything under the excuse I love to take photos. But the reality is while taking photos is fun, I was stretching myself thin. Now with this trip, I can start photographing what I truly love, travel and landscapes. 

Where in Canada am I going? While the main trip is a family reunion for my partner Talia, it's at Panorama Resort in South West Calgary. It is surrounded my mountains and beautiful trails.

So my goal for this trip is to spend every day I can photographing and building up my portfolio of work and to grow as a photographer. It won't be easy, especially when I have to juggle meeting new family whilst doing it.

I am going to try hard to write as much as possible during this trip, even if it is just a few words.

Stay tuned for more images and hopefully some good words :)

Below is an image of the gear I am bringing with me.

  1. Waterbottle
  2. Black Rapid Strap
  3. Lens Hoods
  4. Air blower
  5. Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro Lens
  6. Tokina 17-35 f/4 Wide Angle lens
  7. Canon 1.5x extender
  8. Canon 50mm f/1.8
  9. Canon 5d mark III
  10. Canon 70-200 f/4 (easy to carry)
  11. Coking Gradual Neutral Density filters
  12. Memory Cards
  13. Laptop
  14. Filter Holder
  15. Variable Neutral Density Filter
  16. Batteries (Including extra camera batteries)
  17. Battery Charger
  18. LED light
  19. Portable Hard-Drive
  20. Head Lamp
  21. Tripod and tripod Head (ball head)
  22. Lucky token from Talia
  23. Mountain Smith Lumbar Pack