What an inspiration....

 

 

This is a photo of Lake Louise with Mount Victoria in the middle of the image just below the cloud. Lake Louise is located in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada.

 

Yesterday, on the internet I came across a story about a man named Trevor Sexsmith who died in a skiing accident on Mount Victoria. http://unofficialnetworks.com/2016/09/early-season-avalanche-in-banff-national-park-claims-the-life-of-trevor-sexsmith

 

Since I love the Canadian Rockies and have been lucky enough to spend time there photographing the wildlife and landscape over the years, I googled Trevor Sexsmith to see who he was and found his site http://perpetualski.ca/2016/09/

 

Getting to the summit of even moderate peaks is real work for me, so reading his trip narratives and watching the incredible videos of his adventures left me slackjawed.

 

I was inspired and awed by the places he chose to go, his ability to get there and then to willingly drop off the edge on skis.

 

The level of fitness, knowledge of snow and ice, climbing, navigation, and the comfort he demonstrated in such a seemingly perilous environment was really something.

 

The fact this young man chose to spend his time and energy scaling mountain peaks and then skiing back down seems like a beautiful way to live.

 

I'm thankful he documented his adventures in photos, videos, and words. His doing so allowed me to see views I would never see and go along on remarkable adventures I would never attempt or accomplish myself. 

 

My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

 

More color...

The weather was good and I had time, so I went back to capture a little more fall color.

 

The sun and a beautiful sugar maple tree.

 

 

 

This red maple still had some color.

 

 

 

I used wider lenses to capture more of the tree and I like how it turned out.

 

 

 

I really like the shadows as well as the branches and colorful leaves in this image.

 

 

 

By standing near the trunk and shooting up I was able to get a frame full of gold.

 

 

 

The yellow leaves look great against the blue sky.

 

 

 

As it got a little later in the morning I took a break under the maple tree. I left and ran a few errands and returned to see what I could do with the afternoon light.

 

 

Up north . . .

I was on my way to northern Wisconsin and noticed that lots of tamarack trees looked really colorful.

 

For years I had hoped to make some decent images of tamaracks and since the trees were looking so good and the sun was out I decided this would be the day. 

 

 

 

The cool thing about tamarack trees is although they're coniferous, their needles change to a beautiful golden color in the fall and then drop to the ground.

 

 

 

This particular tree was in a bog just off the road near Prentice Wisconsin. By using a circular polarizing filter I was able to capture the actual colors of the tree and sky.

 

 

 

I headed towards Clam Lake and found more great looking trees just off highway 77.

 

 

 

So I parked on the side of the road and spent the next hour trying to capture some of the beautiful colors,

 

 

 

and different perspectives and compositions.

 

 

 

Tamaracks like to grow in wet conditions so I was walking around in a bog of some type with lots of moss on the ground.

 

 

 

There was a small lake nearby and I was lucky to catch this image of the tree's reflection as light filtered through the forest.

 

 

 

I made several close ups of the beautiful golden needles against the blue sky.

 

 

 

The weather had been mostly overcast and rainy for the last couple of weeks, and I'm glad I made the time to photograph these distinctive trees while I had some sunlight and blue sky. It was a great fall afternoon in northern Wisconsin.

No pain in the aspen

Many trees had already lost their leaves by the time decent fall color showed up near Clam Lake Wisconsin.

So I was pleased to find this stand of quaking aspen

 

 

 

 

 

Looking resplendent in gold against the blue afternoon sky. 

 

I was near Clam Lake to try and photograph wild Wisconsin elk and finally found a lone bull just after sunset.