Spring 2011 Canadian Rockies Photo Tour — Blow Your Top
Blow Your Top, Kootenay Plains
The Kootenay Plains area of David Thompson Country has a number of open spaces where the flat land is surrounded by stands of trees and mountains in virtually every direction. The cluster of jagged, pyramid-like peaks of Ex Coelis Mountain are a favorite subject of mine to place above the plains. Weather patterns sometimes make a dynamic element to work with, and here that was true in spades! This day, unsettled spring weather systems generated some wild cloud patterns, whipped along by characteristic winds at high elevation. The clouds interacted with the tops of Ex Coelis, putting me in mind of an eruption.
Our small group on the Spring 2011 Canadian Rockies Photo Tour happily spent awhile capturing the spectacle before moving on to other fascinating subjects at the location. It was a very satisfying morning. With drama like this, who needs the “golden hour”?
Blow Your Top II, Kootenay Plains
So this is a circumstance where I believe the B&W works better than full colour. The contrasts are what make this photo appealing to me, rather than the almost disjointed feel that the true colour photo provides. The full colour gives too many focal points for the eye to rest on, whereas the B& W allows the eye to sweep the photo without glaring jumps of colour.
Great work. Wonderful photos…
Good note, David, not just because I agree in this case. 🙂 I included both renditions here to show the variation in impact between vertical vs. horizontal framing, and color vs. monochrome treatment. I personally favor the horizontal mono combination; the other was done up as a candidate for a forthcoming magazine article, where the requirement (this time around, anyway) was for all images to be in color. Some scenes definitely call for color, some can work either way, but my feeling is this is definitely a scene for B&W treatment…