Holiday road: Stunning Lake Louise, Banff Canada

Originally, when we booked our tickets from Australia, we were going to fly from New York to Vancouver, Cananda, where we were going to spend the last leg of our trip spread between the city and Whistler. At the time, I figured Whistler would be just as gorgeous (albeit different) to Banff – “mountains are mountains” or so I told myself. After talking to a couple of friends, I came to the realisation that I just couldn’t visit Canada and not make it up to the Rockies. Besides, Banff has been ‘number one’ on my travel list for as long as I can remember, so how silly would it of been if we never went ? Absurd, right?!. So, after a bit of negotiation (and a bit more money) I re-routed our tickets so we would fly from New York to Calgary, pick up a car and drive a little more than an hour out to the beautiful town of Banff. Wow!!! It was everything I’d hoped for and more. We had many, many highlights during our US-Canada trip but I have to say that for me, Banff takes the cake.

Lake Louise is about a 40 minute drive from downtown Banff. You don’t really see it from the road or car park, but you get those feelings of excitement and anticipation when you pull up (or at least I did). I remember walking up the little rise from where we had parked to be greeted with the most stunning vista I think I have ever seen. Ever. Lake Louise is just g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s and no photo can ever do it justice. The photo above was taken straight from the path that circles the lake – hardly more than 50 steps from the car!

I have been looking forward to sharing some of these shots with you ever since taking them. I realise now that its not because they are necessarily great photo’s, it’s because the experience was so significant to me – the lifelong realisation of a dream, and you as shared observers to one of my experiences of a lifetime.

Please click on any of these shots to see them larger; I think the view is worth it. 🙂

Canon 7D | EF 24-105L, EF-S 10-22 | Tripod & Handheld | Post: Photomatix (for the HDR images) & Lightroom

Above:. The two shots taken above are both from 3 bracketed images and processed as an HDR (High Dynamic Range). Even when done like this, its a pale imitation to what you see with your naked eye.

Above: Canoeists out on the lake. I’m pretty I sure posted this photo as a teaser while we where in Banff, but hey, I just love that water. Wish we could of done it.