Winter Workshop

with No Comments

 

Abraham Lake has always been one of the few places, easily accessible from either Edmonton or Calgary that I’ve always wanted to visit. The massive man-made lake covers some 50 km2. The decaying plant matter in the lake bed releases methane bubbles year round but in the winter – gets caught under the frozen surface and freeze into the ice. This has become quite the phenomenon for photographers.

This was the inspiration for the first University of Alberta Outdoors Club (UAOC) Photographically Minded trip. The two typical semesters in Universities in Canada are Fall and Winter, which would be more accurately stated as Pre Winter and Winter. Typically, there is often a shortage of unique trips to run during the school year – especially in the Winter Semester. The Canadian Rockies Photographic Workshop is aimed at new photographers looking to learn how to use a more advanced camera system on their adventures. The workshop puts an emphasis on pairing new and advanced photographers in a blended lecture/hands-on environment.

The demographic of UAOC trips are typically university aged individuals so a small amount of hiking and long days are expected of it’s participants.

You can watch one exchange students experience here.

The trip place took place over three days. We based the trip out of the Rampart Creek Hostel along the Icefields Parkway. This hostel is in fair proximity to some major attractions including Bow and Peyto Lakes. This opened up a number of opportunities for individuals to experience a great deal of the Canadian Rockies with only a minor (~5 hour) drive from Edmonton. Our itinerary was as follows;

 

Friday

17:00 Leave Edmonton (400 km, 4h 11 minute drive)

21:30 Arrive at Rampart Creek Hostel

22:30 Camera Controls Made Easy Lecture  (Exposure Lesson)

23:30 Lights Out

Saturday

05:45 Wake up, Breakfast (44 min drive to Abraham)

06:30 Leaving Hostel

07:30 Arrive at Abraham Lake

08:25 Sunrise

09:30 Crescent Falls Hike (1/2 hour hike) (BIG Lunch + Compositional Lesson)

12:30 Leave for Bow Lake

14:30 Peyto Lake

17:10 Sunset

17:45 Leave Peyto

18:00 – Waterfowl Lakes

19:00 Astrophotography

20:00 Return Hostel

 

Sunday

08:00 Wake up

11:00 Clean and Prepare for Liftoff

12:00 Siffleur Falls

17:00 Abraham Lake for Sunset

17:10 Sunset

18:00 Leave for Edmonton

21:30 In Edmonton

 

It felt like such a success that the trip (at least for the few coming years) will be an annual trip. If you’re interested in being a part of next years trip, please contact us through the contact page or contacting the UAOC at outdoors@ualberta.ca.

 

Leave a Reply