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The Landscape and Wildlife Photography of Darcy Monchak

Nature Photography and Painting of the Canadian Rockies and British Columbia
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You have to know that here is one little bear that did something wrong. Though, in their world there are no big arguements between parent and offspring. A few body gestures and the occasional vocalization usually does the trick, and all is well again.

On this occasion, I took around 20 images, but liked this one best due to the interaction between sow and cub.

For a number of years now I've wanted to get back into the Amethyst Lakes area of Jasper National Park. Last summer, things finally came together for a backpack trip during a 5 day non-stop-clear-sky period.

To capture the real essense of this place in one image meant including morning light with the lofty Ramparts and Amethyst Lake. But the real challenge was to get a photograph combining those two geographic elements with the iconic animal of the area - the mountain caribou.

As long as the forecast for clear weather held true, the hardest part of capturing that mountain-lake-caribou trilogy image would be the last part - having a mountain caribou ever so kindly walk into the frame of the image. Having been in the area years before, I had an idea of the habits of the caribou, but it was still a real guess as to where they would be.

The evening before, I had walked all over the part of the valley near my tent camp, looking for the most ideallic foreground with which to get at least the two geographic elements in the image.

The next morning I arrived at my chosen location near some small ponds before sunlight started reflecting off the Ramparts. Quite often, early morning means calm water, and that is exactly what occurred - resulting in great reflections. Being pre-occuppied with composing the scene through a wide angle lens, I only noticed the caribou in the distance after looking up from the camera. At that point, I was sorely tempted to abandon the wide angle image and break out the long telephoto lens that I had painfully (and insanely) carried into the valley. While the lure of caribou close-ups was strong, this wide angle image which included all three elements (albiet with the caribou far away) was stronger. Close-up images of the caribou would have to wait for later.

We think that having the caribou as just a small part of this grand landscape adds a bit of subtle magic to the scene. If you wish to order a print, w'd recommend an image size of 16 x 24" or larger in order to best see the caribou (click here to see a crop of the image showing the caribou).

Infinity works both ways - smaller and larger. I find it difficult, as a nature artist, to look both of those ways consistently. Most of the time, it's the grand landscapes with ephemeral light, or it's the silent lives of wild animals that draw my attention. However, occasionally, one trips upon a small piece of mother earth that opens the blinders to that other side of nature photography.

The close-up photographs that I like the best are the abstracts - the compositions that have texture and patterns, and make the viewer try and piece together what is happening in the image. For "Ochre Patterns" the viewer has to sort out whether this is indeed a close-up of something, or if it is a vast landscape of some river system of a lost world.

Well, it is a river system, but in the finer sense of the term. A clue to the scale can be found via the small tuft of grass at bottom right. That's right...rivulets of clear water are flowing by orange-coloured soil. It's the Paint Pots of Kootenay National Park. Lots of people walk meters from this very spot each day of the summer on their way to see those Paint Pots. Argueably, the best viewing is right here, down below, on that other side of infinity.

Our Print of the Month for January/February 2012 is "White on White"
Click here to see available print sizes and pricing. Prints do not have the copyright logo


White on White
In the next couple of hours snow will cover the ground for good. Winter is on it's way in. The next day I would have trouble spotting this pair of mountain goats high up on the mountain slope. White on white.

It can snow on you at any time of year in the Canadian Rockies. As a photographer, that's a good thing. It not only forces you to be prepared, but it can add another element to the composition and essense of an image. For this image, it tells the storyline of the next six months for these goats.

By early evening, after spending most of the day on the mountain with this nanny and kid, I had all my spare clothes on. That means everything. The problem with putting on spare long underwear is that you have to put it on underneath everything else. Sorry about the mental picture...but just having to go through that reinforced what I already knew - that before me were two incredibly adapted creatures going through the day seemingly indifferent to the snowy cold weather.

Back in 1983 Douglas Chadwick wrote a book entitled "A Beast the Color of Winter". It's highly recommended reading for anyone curious about how this animal lives in some of the most inhospitable weather and terrain that the mountains of North America have to offer.

                                                                       Yoho Power Pond

When out in the backcountry doing nature photography, I used to only occasionally run into others doing the same thing. We could recognize each other immediately; the tripod was the give-away, the piece of equipment that said "I know you". It's the same today, except there's more tripods than ever out there - and those toting them are quite often informed, dedicated, and an inch shorter than if they did not carry all that photo gear.

With more photographers out there, things have changed - for the better I think. It has helped push the envelope - forcing one to work harder and think more to get unique images of the wild. Take the Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park, for example. I've hiked up there many times, taking lots of images of this classic Rocky Mountain area. But do a quick search on the web today and you can see many great images of the Iceline Trail.

So, with all those images out there, to get photographs that are unique, one has to do more unique things. Sometimes, just changing the way you look at nature works well. For instance, go macro, seek storms, or use the new digital tools to your greatest advantage. Another way - and something for the explorers out there - is to spend time in more out of the way areas. I'm not necessarily referring to places like Namib Park in Africa (I wish), but maybe just getting off trail a bit more. This image called "Yoho Power Pond" is one such example.

There is a little travelled route adjacent and to the west of the Iceline Trail that I was always curious about, where the glacier has recently retreated. This summer I finally got up there. Here, was new ground, literally - where the recently retreated glacier had left behind bare mountain, boulders and best yet, rock grooves with water pools from a recent rain. With no one else's tripod around, I waited until evening and took a number of images that I hope show the raw beauty and power of this area.

Nature photographers often make repeat journeys to certain areas each year. The reasons for doing so include to continue to get to know a favourite area well and capture a more diverse range of images, or to continue a quest to get an ultimate image that matches their vision for a place.

I'm a real fan of these photographic vision quests. The better one can get to know an area, the better opportunities arise for photography. That's why the first time I photograph in an area I don't expect to get any "Canadian Grade A images". But after immersing yourself in a landscape, ideas start in your mind's eye - maybe some time later - that help you lock down possibilities to take your photography to the next level.

Along the Icefields Parkway we are fortunate to still have glaciers big enough to dominate broad mountainous landscapes. These landscapes are populated in specific areas by megafauna. That's right, I said megafauna - "giant", "very large" or "large" animals, roaming wild. All this mixed together has been the brew for many a photographer's vision quest (along with other frothy brews inbetween). Get it all in one image and maybe you've got something.

As a photographer, I've been drawn to these landscapes for some time. Every spring, my now 20 year old van has seen me through trips in seach of images of these glacially-active areas. Feels like I've lived in these areas. Some trips were a write-off for images. Diary reads: "snowed out", "where'd the wildlife go?", "bum leg", "photographs suck", etc. etc. But sometimes it all comes together.

For this image, I waited, hopefully, for the bighorn sheep to move between myself and the glacier, letting the contrast between the ice and their bodies emphasize their presense.

Our Print of the Month for July 2011 is Dawna-Lea's "Free Spirits".
Click here to see available print sizes and pricing. Prints do not have the copyright logo.

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Our Print of the Month for June 2011 is "Approaching the Icefield".
Click here to see available print sizes and pricing. Prints do not have the copyright logo.


Approaching the Icefield

Here's the story behind the image:

I love topographic maps. Truly, they are what dreams can be made of for nature photographers. Doesn't matter whether we are talking about paper or digital maps or Google Earth composites - all can serve to spark an active imagination. Blame it all on David Thompson...He started it - but I digress....

One can locate certain focus points or ideallic locations for photography based in part on winter topographic map dreaming. Making a list of how to get to those places and when to be there has turned out to be the easy part. Getting the time to make it happen, and then having the weather and circumstances fall into place - well, that is the tough part.

One such ideallic location for me has been Snowbird Pass, which is a remote spot right on the border between Jasper National Park and Mount Robson Provincial Park. For some reason I never got there until last summer. It's a 1 day backpack, followed by a good day hike to get to the pass. The plan was to be up at the pass and photograph twilight over the Reef icefield, and then hike out by headlamp back to my tent. Nice idea, but I'm no psychic.

It seemed like a beautiful full on sunny day as I crested the mountain plateau that leads to the pass. I was going to hunker down for a bit out of the wind, and share the plateau with some of the biggest marmots I have ever seen - about 1 million of them it seemed. Then, looking to the west, all bets were off. Coming in slow but sure was the smoky result of forest fires burning in B.C. This was not some small bit of smoke , but something like the size of Brazil in the air - a real game changer for photography.

To the east, towards the pass and the icefield, it was still pretty clear - but knowing that would not last long, I started up the last 500 meters to the pass in hopes of at least capturing the Icefield before the smoky haze arrived in force. About 200 metres from the pass, two cream coloured mountain goats came into view on the far side, moving in the same direction as I was. They knew where they were going, without maps.

We did a bit of a dance, the goats and I, as we approached the pass together. I gave them their space, and in return they gave me this image. No result of winter dreaming here - no intense visualization. Just composing what nature gave. And what a gift it was - a pair of mountain goats in a sublime Canadian Rockies setting. It's what getting into the wild is all about - the opportunity of capturing the essense of an area and/or it's wildlife in a special situation. During that evening and for the week after, the air was filled with acrid smoke, and visibility was poor.

Can't wait to get back there. If you do go, see if Chris Zimmerman is around. He's a Park Ranger and a great guy who knows the area as good as the goats do.

APR
28
2011

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Throughout May, Darcy has an exhibit at the Art Gallery of Golden. Almost all the images being shown are new. We're excited about this show. It's called "Mountain Time". The opening is at 7 pm on April 29th. The exhibit includes 10 big prints (2 x 3 feet), and we will have a number of smaller editions available as well. Hope to see you there. For a preview of many of the images, click here

APR
01
2011

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Our Print of the Month for April 2011 is "Tangling Elk".
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