I'm lucky enough to live within a few hours' drive of the Rocky Mountains of western Alberta, Canada. As a result, one of my absolute favourite locations is along (and on) Abraham Lake.
For those who don't know of it, it is a large lake formed by the Bighorn Dam. Being on the edge of the mountains, it gets its share of cold, ice, and snow, but also, because of the dropping water levels and decay underneath, it is known for its incredible ice patterns, including the famous ice bubbles.
On this day, a group of us went down to the ice to shoot the views and the bubbles. I stayed at the highway along the lake because it was late afternoon, and the beautiful low light illuminated Mount Michener (across the lake).
As usual, the wind was howling, causing the blowing snow on the mountain. I took a series of images, and this is my favourite, consisting of two images side-by-side, stitched together in Photoshop.
I was using my 70-300 lens on a tripod, and I have discovered over time that it is very sharp at f/7.1, so that is what I shot at. I also bracketed three images, not for HDR, so I chose which images to use without worrying too much about over or under-exposing the pictures, especially with the bright snow.
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Dimitri Vasileiou • Editor