Photography
Where to point a camera in British Columbia and, for a handful of pages, Banff. Every spot lists the light that makes it work, the season it peaks in, and exactly how hard it is to reach with a bag of gear on your back.
Banff
Banff National Park in snow, photographed from the Lake Louise lakeshore in November. The Fairmont Nordic shop, the Parks Canada kiosk, and a forest so loaded the mountain disappears. Not the turquoise Victoria Glacier postcard. A winter walk from the Chateau.
Banff
A Banff National Park roadside stop on the Lake Minnewanka loop, photographed in late November. The frame I have is the curve of asphalt, three people, and a mountain face filling the sky. Not the picnic-area lake from the postcard.
Banff
The classic Banff roadside lake, looking at Mount Rundle's tilted limestone across still water. Photographed in November, overcast, snow on the peak, brown brush on the shore. Not a hike. A five-minute stop on Vermilion Lakes Drive.
North Shore
A ticketed rainforest park in North Vancouver with a 137-metre suspension bridge, Cliffwalk, and Treetops. Not a hike. The photograph is the bridge through cedar, and the honest free alternative is Lynn Canyon.
Whistler & Pemberton
Highway 99 east of Pemberton, the high forested road people mean when they say the Duffey, with lake and peak pullouts that are the trip as much as Joffre is. Not a trail. A driving photograph with a winter asterisk.
Sea to Sky
A ticketed gondola above Shannon Falls in Squamish to a summit lodge, a suspension bridge, and views of Howe Sound. Not a hike unless you walk Sea to Summit. Winter snow on the bridge is the photograph most people actually want.
Whistler & Pemberton
A Highway 99 pullout above Seton Lake on the drive to Lillooet, looking down a switchback to glacial-turquoise water and dry-side mountains. Not a hike. A five-minute stop that is the photograph of this corridor.