Glacier National Park thumbnails only

When all comes together, the rewards are worth every ounce of effort required to get the shot.
 
Getting to Glacier National Park is a modest challenge for much of the world - it is at best two flights away from most of the us - and three for many of us. For me, it started with an early bedtime and a 2:30 AM alarm setting. Actually, I set two of alarms for insurance. One was on my phone which was on the nightstand beside the other.
 
The phone went off first. I shut it off and tried to wake my wife (the family was joining me on this trip). After several attempts over a few minutes, she rolled over and in a somewhat unfriendly tone, said "WHAT?". That should have been my first clue.
 
I said "How much time do you want to get ready?" (I thought I was giving her the amount of time she requested the evening before). My next clue - She said "It's 12:30 AM!?" That's when I realized that I had an actual call - the alarm had not gone off. And that's when I learned that my trip to Glacier National Park had just become much more complicated.
 
A voice mail informed me that our first flight of three had been cancelled. I then spent an hour on the phone with someone from half way around the world trying to figure out how I was going to make one of the few daily flights into Kalispell. And one that returned to the same originating airport (don't ask).
 
A 3.5 hour drive put us on an afternoon flight that put me at the St. Mary Lodge at 1:00 AM PDT (3:00 AM in my EDT time). This of course resulted in a missed evening shoot - and required a sleep-in the next morning, so I missed an AM opportunity also.
 
It didn't take me long to get over the travel exhaustion. This national park is worth every ounce of effort and cost it takes to get there.

This was the longest-lasting rain-caused rainbow I've ever seen. It was visible from mid-morning until the sun rose high enough to put it into the ground in the afternoon.
 
The weather in Glacier National Park, especially at higher altitudes, can be unpredictable. It is wise to have packable rain gear with you when hiking in this park. This storm was hanging over Glacier National Park but dissipating as it moved out the eastern side of the park - allowing full sun to shine through.
 
The foreground in this picture is a forest fire regrowth area showing fall color.

Long focal length lenses can make great sunset photos from even mediocre sunsets. This sunset at Two Medicine in Glacier National Park was above average and offered these interesting wavy cloud patterns.

One goal for my Glacier National Park photo trip was to shoot a brilliant turquoise glacier lake. Mid-day sunlight on Grinnell Lake nicely met that goal.
 
This photo was taken on the Grinnell Glacier Overlook Trail. Layers of color from rock, flora, water and shadow form the basis for this simple composition.
 
Grinnell Glacier Trail is typically rated moderate to difficult. Being used to off-trail hiking in Pennsylvania's (much shorter) mountains, I find most national park trails to be very easy to hike. The difficulty comes in the distance and overall elevation change.
 
Blisters can be the most difficult part of the trip (try duct tape).
 
Bears can also add to the difficulty. Plan on having bear spray immediately accessible when hiking in Glacier National Park. We met a park ranger on this trail and asked him if he ever used his spray.
 
His reply was something like "I've been a ranger here for 11 years and never used my bear spray until 3 months ago." He had come upon a mother grizzly with her two cubs on the same trail near where we were hiking at that moment. The grizzly huffed and charged full speed down the mountain toward him.
 
The ranger immediately unholstered and released his spray. The charging bear was at about 10' when hit with the spray. It abruptly turned and ran away. The $50.00 spray is priceless if needed.
 
We did encounter a mother grizzly and two cubs on this trail, but were not approached by them.

St Mary Lake with a glassy reflective surface was an unusual occurance during my time in Glacier National Park. This was one of my first images captured in this park.
 
St Mary Lake is very beautiful and quite accessible - especially from my base lodging in St Mary. I was not far from Going to the Sun Highway, but took a short hike to position Wild Goose Island with a water-only background - to make it stand out.
 
Wild Goose Island is the most photographed island in Glacier National Park. I forgot to ask if it is the only island, but it is definitely easy to find.
 
This shot was timed so that the clouds moved off of the tip of Divide Mountain.

This location along Swiftcurrent Creek is just downstream (east) of the bridge to the Lodge at Swiftcurrent Lake. The low cut in the mountains at this location allows sight of the early AM sky lighting up.
 
Shooting sunrises is often best done before the sun actually rises. After sunrise, turn to the side and even directly away from the sun. Vice versa at sunset.
 
This is an HDR image. One exposure was used for the bright sky and another longer exposure was used to pull detail out of the foreground shadows - and to add motion blur to the water.

Lake Sherburne is a man-made flood control lake at the east side of Glacier National Park. The lake has a great turquoise color and the color of the foreground foliage is not bad either.
 
My travel time period for this Glacier National Park trip was very carefully planned. Due to strong winter weather, the GNP travel season is short - about four or five months at best. There are not many services available in and near the park - and most are closed over 6 months of the year. Snow can shut down Going to the Sun Highway, the only road traversing the park from west to east, in October.
 
Not wanting to camp also locked me into the in-service time of the year.
 
Loving fall color (it comes very early at GNP), I booked this trip at the absolute end of the in-service season - the end of September. Additional benefits to this time of the year include no crowds and active wildlife - including bears actively feeding in preparation for winter.
 
The downside to GNP travel at this time of the year is the lack of services. We ate the last breakfast served at the Park Cafe on the day we arrived and had one of the last meals served at Two Sisters cafe (definitely visit this one) a couple of days later. The St Mary Lodge remained the last gas, grocery (very limited supplies) and restaurant open for our trip. Restaurant prices encouraged us to get creative with the limited supplies available in the grocery store.
 
Even in season, you will want to plan your gas tank fill ups.

The rugged mountains above Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park are impressive without any help from the sky. The dramatic clouds made this one of my favorite GNP images. The photogenic-ness of the scene meant running the last mile of this nearly 10 mile trail in near darkenss. Being the last bear bait on the trail in the dark does not give one a comfy feeling. Sorry if any of you heard me singing!
 
On hikes of this length, elevation change and duration, after hiking many other similar hikes in the days before, the Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens became my sole carry lens. Its focal length range and image quality left me wanting another lens only infrequently. And most often those occassions were for wildlife encountered deep into the high country.
 
Image stabilization was extremely helpful for shooting between segments of trail running - and allowed me to leave the tripod in the SUV.

A mid-September snow storm blankets Reynolds Mountain in Glacier National Park.
 
This picture was taken from near the Hidden Lake Nature Trail that leaves from Logan Pass. This is an easy-to-hike trail through must-see high altitude meadows amid high mountain peaks. Wildlife is abundant here.

The moon sets over the mountain by the Swiftcurrent Pass Trail in Glacier National Park. Unfortunately, the mountain goats remain hidden in the glacier.
 
I typically like to use an f/11 or wider aperture on the 1Ds Mark III DSLR - to avoid diffraction-causing image softness. But in this case, the additional depth of field f/16 provided was more important to me. To capture this perspective, I was sitting directly on the ground - bringing the plant life up into the frame.

A firiery sunrise lights the clouds enveloping the mountains at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park.
 
Logan pass is a good location for your Glacier National Park sunrise photography . The mountains there are huge, but the pass is high enough for a more-level perspective that can result in a more brilliant horizon sky.
 
Shooting at higher elevation locations such as Glacier National Park often means dealing with very strong winds. Strong wind is a definite anti-sharpness condition that must be dealt with. On this day, I could not even keep a tight reversed ball cap on my head when facing the wind.
 
Here are some strategies to battle the wind:
 
A strong tripod and tripod head is the first defense against wind, but a strong wind can setup vibrations in even a solid tripod system.
 
Hang weight from the tripod. Many tripod have a hook for adding stability through weight. I sometimes hang the Lowepro Toploader AW I usually have with me - with another camera or a rock in it. Make sure that your tripod is rated to support the weight that you hang on it.
 
Shoot from a low-to-the-ground position to reduce wind load on the setup. But do this only if your composition allows.
 
Block the wind. Unzipper your jacket, move close to the camera and tripod and hold the jacket around it. Shoot from behind a structure or your vehicle if the situation allows. Note that shooting from or against a vehicle may not work as it also moves in the wind. Opening a vehicle door can block more wind, but make sure the door does not blow shut on you or your gear.
 
Remove the lens hood to reduce the wind load on the camera itself. You may need to hold your hand over the lens to prevent flare.
 
If shooting without a tripod, use image stabilization. Additionally, sitting in a three-point position or leaning against something solid - such as a rock - adds stability.
 
Increasing the ISO setting or selecting a wider aperture are the two ways to obtain a faster shutter speed. A faster shutter speed is the only technique that both reduces camera motion blur AND subject motion blur (unless you can somehow block the wind from reaching your subject). Often flora is subject to the wind and will become blurred even with a stationary camera.
 
Attempt to time your shutter release with the extents of the pendulum motion flora often has in the wind. Or, you can just roll with the conditions and try to capture pleasing subject motion blur.
 
As always, overshooting adds insurance to your anti-wind technique.

This is East Flattop Mountain as seen from Going to the Sun Road near St Mary in Glacier National Park.
 
Moving in close to the grasses provided a diminshing size to the same through the image. A very narrow aperture was used to keep everything sharp - and to allow a shutter speed that at the same time permitted some motion blur.

I often drag the family along to experience the amazing places I get to shoot in. But, they are not able to keep (or interested in keeping) the exhausting pace I set. What typically happens is that I get up early for an AM shoot and return late morning to pick up the rested rest of the family. We then hike/explore (actually scouting for the next photo location, but don't tell them), shoot more seriously somewhere in the late day golden hour (they often read in the SUV), eat a late meal, return to the lodge, backup/clean up and hit the bed exhausted. Then do it again the next day. There are very few things I would rather do.

The perfect sunset was unfolding in front of me. I was setup in plenty of time on the shore of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park. The bright opening in the clouds promised to allow the low setting sun to perfectly illuminate the bottom of the storm clouds that filled the balance of the sky.
 
Unfortunately, the cloud hole was obscured by more distant clouds when the sun reached this location. Using a Singh-Ray 82mm Slim Vari-ND Filter on a step-up ring caused mechanical vignetting at focal lengths wider than 32mm, but allowed a water surface-smoothing 30 second exposure. I like the cloud reflections in the water.
 
Manual HDR was used to control/balance the brightness of this image.

The moon is a great element to include in your landscape images. Use one of the many moon calculators available to time your trip for ideal moon positioning.
 
Another take away from this shot is that clear skies can produce very colorful landscape images. But, you need to be out well before sunrise or long after sunset to get the most color.

Under a mid-day sun, Grinnell Lake glows a beautiful turquoise blue color. Shadows are another subject I love to work with - and it was easy to incorporate a huge shadow into this image.
 
It is true that many of the most dramatic landscape photos are taken early and late in the day, but when traveling long distances, I'm not going to shoot only within these short windows of time. And sometimes, especially when shooting colorful water (such as in this example, carribean waters, etc.) or in deep canyons, mid-day can be the best time of the day to shoot.
 
When shooting during mid-day hours, you will usually find a circular polarizer filter on my lens (it gets used at other times too). When the sun is directly overhead, the uneven sky effect of polarized wide angle focal lengths is often minimized due to the most-darkened sky being near the horizon - 90 degrees from the sunlight path.
 
With no close foreground subjects in this image (not needing as much DOF), I opened the aperture to f/8 to gain some shutter speed (I was probably shooting in strong winds).

The very warm (color temperature) light from a rising sun lights the mountain over Swiftcurrent Lake.

Fall comes early at Glacier National Park. This picture of brilliantly-colored foliage reflecting in the St Mary River was taken on September 23rd.

This is an HDR image manually composited from two exposures - one for the sky and one for the rest of the image.
 
You may remember seeing a telephoto image of the same sunset earlier in the Glacier National Park gallery. It takes a lot of time, effort and cost to get to places like this. Sunrises and sunsets do not last long and often yield the best images of the trip. So, I often have two tripods and cameras setup at these times. Especially when exposure times get long, I can nearly double my take-home from a shoot.

National Parks are great places to view wildlife. On this 10+ mile hike, I did not have a telephoto lens with me. But, I still like the result my best-available 105mm focal length delivered. This image gives you a good idea of what the trail to Iceberg Lake (Glacier National Park) is like.
 
I think the two mule deer buck were saying "Mine" "Mine" "Mine" [Finding Nemo].

This particular alpine meadow is located along the Swiftcurrent Trail near Redrock Falls in Glacier National Park. A circular polarizer greatly improved the color and saturation in this photo.

Sparse trees rising from the dark base of this picture include one of character. I don't often center what might be the most eye-catching location in a photo (point of highest contrast), but in this situation, centering worked best.

Glacier National Park has extremely dark night skies. On my next trip, I hope to take more advantage of these. This shot is of the parking lot light-lit St Mary Lodge.

As I've said before, fall comes early in Glacier National Park. The brilliantly-colored undergrowth adds a great dimension to GNP landscape photos. This color was a major factor in my trip timing.

The mountains behind Hidden Lake show the results of the previous night's mid-September snow storm.

Some scenes can be shot with a wide angle lens and cropped for a wide format look. Others beg for a high resolution panorama. The latter of course allows for various still-high-resolution crops to be made from it later.

A bighorn sheep stands high over Lake Josephine and Swiftcurrent Lake near Grinnell Glacier. The bighorn sheep were still found at very high elevations in mid-September.

An abundance of clouds near sunset provided ever-changing views of the impressive mountains over the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park. Shadows are one of my favorite subjects. Clouds are another.

An amazingly brilliant rainbow hangs over the St Mary, Montana area just outside of Glacier National Park. The lake in the background is Lower St Mary Lake. Early fall brings on some color to the undergrowth that is predominant in this forest fire-burned off area.

My girls thought Iceberg Lake in Glacier National Park would more-aptly be named "15 Seconds Until Numb". They were of course referring to the water temperature of this awesomely-colored lake with icebergs still floating in it in late September.
 
For this composition, I attempted to sandwich the vibrant turquois blue water between the rough ice and mirroring rough shoreline.

Going-to-the-Sun Road is the most awesome drive in Glacier National Park. Your visit to GNP will not be complete without driving the only road that traverses the entire park from east to west. The road is closed a significant part of the year due to snow - and closed at other times for construction.

The moon rises just ahead of the sun at Glacier National Park. Simple, clean composition often work well.

If the night sky is clear, Glacier National Park is a great place for photographing the Milky Way. A 30 second exposure is just long enough to create tiny star trails visible at full resolution. 20 seconds or less would have been a better choice at 35mm, but I wanted to maximize the visible star details.

A small mule deer buck emerges from the Glacier National Park forest, alert for any signs of danger. Of course, in this park, people are not considered danger to these animals.

With 30 second exposures, it was not hard to be capturing this amazing St Mary Lake, Glacier National Park scene simultaneously with two camera setups - doubling my take-home. The Canon TS-E 17mm f/4 L Lens was used for capturing the ultrawide angle of view while a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM Lens captured tighter framing.

Once the pre-sunrise excitement I was capturing from the west end of St Mary Lake ended, I quickly moved to the east side of Wild Goose Island to catch the early morning light hitting the mountains. Sure, some dramtic clouds in the sky would have created a better image, but the smoth water nicely reflected the warm morning light nicely.

The first light of the day catches the top of the moutains in Many Glacier, Glacier National Park. The dark clouds overhead contrast the light and work well with the shadows below.

Lake Josephine is a beautiful sight as seen from the Grinnell Glacier Trail in Glacier National Park. A mid-day sun lights up the turquoise color of the lake.

With our lodging in St Mary, trips up to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada involved a beautiful drive up Chief Mountain International Highway (Rt 17). At this time of the year, customs does not open until 9:00 AM. So for us, the drive through this area occured as the sun was hitting the east side of Glacier National Park - lighting Chief Mountain. Because this border crossing closed for the day in the late afternoon, our return trip was through the Cardston, Alberta customs.

With the sun shining upward to the Logan Pass, Glacier National Park mountaintops, shadows reach up into the clouds. This was one of the most fiery sunrises I've seen. An impressive sight. Of course, I was dealing with extremely strong winds in this location. I was using all of the wind photography techniques I could pull together.

The very-warm-toned first light of the day strikes Grinnell Mountain in Glacier National Park. Swiftcurrent Lake is the foreground and wispy low clouds light over Grinnell.

The area just downstream from Swiftcurrent Lake, Glacier National Park is a good choice for watching the sunrise. This is an HDR image with a longer exposure used to pull out the foreground details and to add motion blur to the water.

As the sun sets, the moutaintop and lower level clouds become shaded, leaving the still-lit clouds to shine brilliantly. A craggy moutaintop with interesting clouds over it is always a hit with me.
 
No tripod was used for this shot, but I took full advantage of the 24-105mm L lens' image stabilization feature. You may wonder why I say this as the 35mm focal length can often be handheld at the 1/40 shutter speed used for this shot. What you don't know if that I was trail running after having hiked over 8 or 9 miles already this day - and that the winds were strong. I was definitely not holding the camera steady. IS saved the day for this shot and many others on this trip.

A storm hangs over the large mountains of Glacier National Park in the background while the foreground undergrowth is painted red with fall faliage. The partially-shaded burned trees in the foreground adds yet another element to this unique scene.

Upper St Mary Lake in Glacier National Park forms a giant mirror - a very unusual event for my time in this park. Going-to-the-Sun Road travels along the north side of this highly scenic lake. The pull-offs (and area between them) between the northern shoreline seen beyond Wild Goat Island and the location this picture was shot from were my favorite St Mary Lake photography locations.

The rising sun is just beginning to touch the high altitude meadows of Logan Pass, Glacier National Park in this photo. Logan Pass is a great place to be any time of the day (or night), but sunrises are especially nice to capture here.

The Many Glacier Hotel can be seen just above the foreground rock in this image. Early morning light reaches the peak of Mt Grinnell long before reaching the Swiftcurrent Lake and valleys below.

The beginning of the Hidden Lake Trail leaving the Logan Pass Visitor Center is a boardwalk. Whlie there is some climb to the walk, this is one of the easier trails to hike in Glacier National Park. The views and wildlife found here make this a must-hike trail.
 
I like the simple composition and low contrast features in this image.

Grinnell Lake is beautiful, but the valley it lies in is equally spectacular.

You can see many amazing Glacier National Park sights from the road, but venturing into the wilds opens up many more. This view is from the eastern shore of Lake Josephine.
 
The small black blob above the shoreline rock about 1/3 into the right side of the frame is a foraging black bear. The fall foliage adds much more obvious intererst to this image.

Divide Mountain and its surroundings are mirrored in the still Saint Mary Lake below. It takes a certain composition to be able to run a dividing line through the middle of the frame. A mirror image is one such composition that can work.

Highline Trail is one of the must-hike trails in Glacier National Park. Hike at least the first mile or two (relatively level) of this trail to get a sense of awe for the place. But watch your step as any mistakes could be extremely hazardous. This is a handheld panorama.

There were a lot of possible framings for this scene. For this shot, I placed bright yellow fall foliage across the entire bottom of the frame and solid blue sky across the top. Blue water in Lake Sherburne completely separates the foliage from the evergreens above.

For this more-subdued Logan Pass, Glacier National Park landscape image, I formed a foundation using the grasses and wildflowers. The treeline travels through the frame just under 1/3 of the frame up and an opening in the trees reveals the top of two mountains. Differently-lit clouds provide the photo background.
 
The wildflowers were one of my goals for this morning, but the very strong winds made them a messy blur in the frame.

As I've shared a number of Grinnell Lake pictures in the Glacier National Park photo gallery, you probably figured out that I really liked this subject. For this image, I utilized the rule of thirds - 1/3 grass, 1/3 lake and 1/3 dark shadow as moving up the frame on the left. The lake also starts about 1/3 of the frame into the image with the stream flowing into the lake showing in this area.