I shot this last weekend when out and about early in the morning. I arose at 4:30am and decided to take the 30 minute drive to Kootenay National Park. I'm glad I did because the light that morning was beautiful.

This area of Kootenay was burnt out late summer 2003 as a result of several fires that were ignited by lightning. The fires burnt for 40 days and left a path of destruction. I am unsure how long it will take for the area to return to its former glory but with such long winters, and short summers i'd imagine it would take a while.

back to the morning of last weekend...... It was fairly overcast but the sun managed to burst through every 20 minutes or so. I took a few shots around Marble Canyon which is a short walk from the carpark, I then decided to wander up the creek for a while to see what was on offer.

After walking a little further up the creek the light broke through the clouds and lit up the scene in front of me, it was amazing. Unfortunately by the time I set up, the sun had disappeared behind the clouds again. I figured now that I was set up I would wait, in hope that the sun would present itself again. I could see a small gap in the clouds slowly moving in an easterly direction. So I watched and waited....... After about 15 minutes the sun shone through, hitting exactly where I was hoping for. It lit up the trees and the creek while leaving the mountains under the shade of the cloud.

This image is a 7 image stitch shot at 85mm. I used my spiffy new Singh-Ray Vari-ND to slow things down a touch, along with a 2.5 stop Lee grad ND for the sky.

Kootenay National Park
British Columbia
Canada

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