The best of North America 2011

3 months after arriving home I have been through all the photos I took on the 7 month trip and have selected my best from the trip.
There are 29 pictures, which at a trip cost of £15000 means each image cost £500. Obviously I took more than 29 shots, but would you want to put those on your wall?

Here they are in date order -

Downtown Vancouver, Canada

Douglas Fir Trees, Capilano Woods Canada

Whistler Coastal Mountains, Canada

Whistler Peak, Canada

Washington State Field, USA

Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, USA

Geyser Sunset, Yellowstone National Park, USA

Waking the Byson, Yellowstone National Park, USA

Doublet pool, Yellowstone National Park

The Devils Tower, USA

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA

Chicago, USA

New York Brooklyn Bridge, USA

Washington Monument, USA

Jefferson memorial, Washington DC, USA

A night in Toronto, Canada

A Day in Toronto, Canada

Up, Canada

Mount  Rundle, Banff Nation Park, Canada

Waterfowl Lake, Banff National Park

Jasper National Park

Athabasca River, Jasper National Park, Canada

Mount Edith Cavell, Jasper National Park

Sunshine, Olympic National Park

Sol Duc Creek, Olympic National Park

Ruby beach, Olympic National Park

Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park

Desolation Sound, British Columbia, Canada

Shore Life, Pacific Rim National Park, Canada

Toronto on Film

CN Tower, Toronto Canada

Downtown Toronto

Toronto Skyline

Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park on film

If you have been following my blog you may (or may not) recall I spent a week in Olympic National Park at the end of July and every evening I went back to my favourite spot on Ruby Beach to attempt at getting the perfect sunset shot. I had explored most of the coast in the park and this was the spot on Ruby Beach that I thought was perfect for a panoramic and worth going back to again and again.
I shot all the sunsets on film so until now I hadn't seen the outcome and it wasn't until the 5th and final evening I was there that I got what I was looking for.

Sunset 1, Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park

The first evening I thought was a going to be a waste of film, it had been cloudy all day but there where some openings in the clouds that shone a little colour through as the sun set, I had already set up my camera so I thought I may as well take a shot. I knew that if I over-exposed a little and shot for 4 minutes I may get something interesting and moody happening in the clouds passing through the frame. I'm very glad I took this shot, I can't decide if it's my favourite or not. The clouds almost perfectly mimic the rocks below them and creates an atmospheric image.

Sunset 2, Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park

Day 2 was a very clear day so I knew I wouldn't get something unique, but again since I was there and ready I took this 4 second exposure with the sun glowing behind the middle rock before it set.

On Day 3 I thought I may have missed the best sunset. I was waiting nearby taking a nap after a long day exploring with my radio on and some batteries charging in the lighter socket, I fell asleep for longer than I intended to with 60 minutes to spare before sunset when I woke to find my car wouldn't start, I had drained the battery. So I sat and watched as the sunset came and went with some pretty colours. 5 minutes after the colour in the sky had gone a police man puled over and kindly gave me a jump start and I was on my way annoyed with myself I may have missed the only sunset on my visit to the park.

Sunset 4, Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park

Day 4 at the time I though for sure was the best one, the sky had a magnificent pink glow, but I didn't quite get the waves as I wanted to -  in motion as the fell away from me. This was because at this point it was very dark meaning with my ISO 50 Velvia film I had to  expose for 16 seconds giving me very blurry waves. At the time I didn't really know how it may turn out and thought it may be a winner, but I still found myself back here for my last night, just in case.

Sunset 5, Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park

This is my favourite for colour and the waves, but now on the 5th day you can see a big difference in my position from day 1 where I was quite close to the rocks. Sadly the tide had risen higher in the 5 days. Even in this spot I got soaked from the waves which were rising with every minute I waited, thankfully they weren't strong enough to knock over my camera.
This was a 1 second exposure on Fuji Provia Film. The only thing that would have made this shot better would be the closer position I had on day 1.

The Canadian Rockies on Film

Here is a selection of the best shot I took on film in the Canadian Rockies for the 2 weeks I was there in July this year.

Athabasca Falls, Jasper National Park, Canada

Mistaya Canyon, Banff National Park, Canada

Mount Edith Cavell, Jasper National Park

Pyramid Mountains, Jasper National Park

River Stones, Jasper National Park

Falls, Kootenay National Park

Avalanche Tunnel, Yoho National Park

Jasper National Park Sunrise

Back to the UK

Hello and sorry for the long delay since my last post. I am now back in the UK having finished my trip through Canada and the USA, so I thought I would post some stats from the trip which lasted 7 months in total.

Total Spend - £14'592
Total KM driven 34'489 (thats 2 solid months of 10 hours a day driving!)
Cost of Fuel (I've started to call it gas) £3000
Accomadation & hotels £2900
Parking £95 (I love amercia!)

Total Great shots taken 271

It was a great trip but doing that on your own can be lonely at times, but it also mean as a photographer I can be very flexible and do exactly what I want to do, there are few people that would be happy to come along and sleep in a car for 5 nights running so I could stay up late for sunset and get up at 4am for sunrise, but when I look back at my shots it was certainly worth it.

Since I've been back I have been scanning all the shots I took on film on my Fotoman 617 camera during the trip so over the next week or so I shall post all the great ones.

To begin where I started my trip on the west coast of Canada, here is a shot I took on the 19th March 2011 when we had the "Super Moon". That night it was so bright it over powered my headlights and it was an almost perfectly clear night to get this start trails shot of the Tantalus Mountain Range. Due to the moon being so bright the stars are very faint and it also makes it look like daylight.

Tantalus Mountain Range by Moonlight, British Columbia, Canada

Vancouver Island

There are many places in BC I haven't visited, but one I must see is Vancouver Island, mainly to visit Pacific Rim National Park as currently I only have one other park on the coast for my planned National Park book. 

My first stop once leaving the ferry was  Cathedral grove, an amazing old growth forest with huge trees everywhere.
The busy trails meant I was waiting most of the time for people to pass but also for the wind to die down so all the leaves and plants wouldn't be blurry.  

Next I drove straight for the coast looking to find a great sunset spot, which I found but sadly I wasn't given a great sunset to go with it. 
The weather didn't look good for my whole time here so I needed another plan which was shore life. I found this the next day on a hike down to Halfmoon bay clambering over the rocks. 

The best time for these shots is at low tide so I ended spending all day here to get 2 low tides and maximise my time which I needed to get the water flow just right. I would spend almost on hour at each spot. 

The park also had lots of old growth forest around so a hike along some of the trails found these gems. It's tough to get the scale of these trees to come across, especially in a panoramic. 

On the way back to the ferry to head back to Vancouver I visited Juan de Fuca Park, not much shore life could be found as the tide was high but the bays had some rock and I also finally got a sunset!