Hemlock Grove

Sometimes things just work out. At the end of September, I traveled from Calgary to Vancouver Island in the hope of capturing some large-scale photos of old-growth forests. Vancouver Island with its frequent wet and foggy seasons is the home of cedars, spruces, and hemlocks that are truly gigantic in size and can be 800 or more years old. Long story short, due to rain (lots and lots of it), poor roads, protestor blockades (trying to prevent the logging of ancient trees), and other complications, I came away with no VAST photos. Sure, I had a nice collection of “normal” sized photographs of some magnificent trees but nothing “big”.

As I planned my return drive back to Calgary, I discovered that the TransCanada highway between Golden, BC, and Lake Louise, Alberta was closed due to construction. The required detour would add 2 hours to a drive that was normally 13 hours long. The new drive time seemed like just too much for a single drive, so I made plans to split the drive up over two days. Given my lack of success creating ultra-high-resolution photos of trees on the Island, I knew exactly where to spend the night.

To the east of Revelstoke, BC are two stops that feature old-growth trees; The Giant Cedar Walk in Mt. Revelstoke National Park and Hemlock Grove Boardwalk in Glacier National Park. The forests there are not as ancient or as large as on Vancouver Island, but I knew they had the potential for a great photograph. I had visited both spots before but those stops had always come halfway through a long drive to or from the Coast which meant mid-day arrival times (poor light) and a travel schedule that did not permit a long stay. But now, due to highway closures, I could spend the night in Revelstoke and get to the locations in good light.

I woke early and headed out towards The Giant Cedar Walk. As I drove along the highway there were large patches of fog that had me worried that my destination might be completely flogged in. But when I arrived, the area was surrounded in moody mist, and everything was wet, but it was no longer raining. As I set up the special equipment that I would need to capture a VAST image, I noticed how incredibly still it was. Not a breath of wind. This offered up a high-risk opportunity. I could attempt to pull off an image with incredible detail & depth of focus but once I committed, if the wind came up and started moving the vegetation, all my work would be lost, and I would come away with nothing. Given my lack of success on the West Coast, it was a big gamble, but I went for it. In the end, there were just a few brief moments with raindrops and a touch of wind but nothing that was not manageable. I came away with my fingers crossed that my assessment of the conditions was correct and the images I captured did not contain any movement. Side note: It is not possible to do a detailed review of almost 3000 photos while shooting, especially when time is of the essence in trying to capture the scene before the light changes.

In the end, the conditions were perfect, my technique was sound, and my gamble paid off. I then moved on immediately to the second location, the  Hemlock Grove Boardwalk in Glacier National Park, and repeated the process there. I hope you enjoy looking at the immense detail in both images.