Frozen Athabasca Falls

[Kyle Jones]

I debated whether I should save these for another waterfall Wednesday thread, but decided to post a bonus waterfall today instead. I shared my self portrait at the "trailhead" in the signs contest here. Normally Athabasca Canyon is filled wall to wall with beautiful turquoise water (example), but during the winter it is possible to walk up the canyon on a (hopefully) solid layer of ice and snow.

I made that trek during my visit a couple of weeks ago. Near the falls themselves there are some large pools and an ice shelf you can use to capture a shot of the frozen waterfall itself. The weather wasn't very good (cloudy skies with no definition) so I did my best to minimize the open sky. I've seen better shots from here, but this was the best I could do that day. Any thoughts are welcome.

1) Wide view of Athabasca falls and the pool at its base

2) Tighter view of the frozen waterfall trying to avoid the sky

 

[BarryHamilton]

Nice! Love the water color!

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Shot these during summer/fall but never in winter. I like the second one with a tighter composition and foreground snow.

 

[AlanLichty]

The second one without the sky is the one that keeps me looking. The water color is seriously amazing.

It would be truly frightening to have that ice shelf break up while you were out over that river. That does not look warm.

 

[Kyle Jones]

The second one without the sky is the one that keeps me looking. The water color is seriously amazing.

It would be truly frightening to have that ice shelf break up while you were out over that river. That does not look warm.

We were trying to do traffic control to limit the number of people out there at once and to keep them somewhat spread out. Certain visitors had no interest in playing along and clearly had no idea what the dangers are. If you get swept into that pool, you are going under the ice and not coming up for miles.

 

[MonikaC]

I prefer the 2nd & think you could crop it even tighter.

 

[Kyle Jones]

I prefer the 2nd & think you could crop it even tighter.

I'd love to see any good crop ideas

 

[Ben Egbert]

I like both of these, great shots and not you ordinary waterfall shot.

 

[JimFox]

These are super cool Kyle! I like both of them, finding that open moving water adds so much to the shots. Not sure I can pick a favorite, though maybe leaning toward that wide view in #1.

I can imagine the danger there, and I am glad you guys were conscious of it. That others were not so thoughtful is not surprising. It's sad, but not surprising.

 

[MonikaC]

I'd love to see any good crop ideas

I PM'd you