Fall Tradition

Back in 2001 my friend Jon and I started the tradition of taking a fall trip out to the mountains.  Jon figured out that October and November was shoulder season out in the mountain parks.  The summer tourists had long since packed up for the season.  The european hikers had returned home, and winter ski season was not yet underway.  As a result the hotel accommodations were really cheap.  In Jasper in particular it was like they rolled up the streets and shut down the town.  Many of the restaurants were closed for their annual cleaning and maintenance.  This made getting around and exploring the park really easy.  Some years it was very mild and relatively snow free, while other years, particularly if we pushed the trip a little later, conditions were more winter like.

That first year Jon and I headed out to Jasper and spent a weekend photographing.  We scouted out and photographed many locations that would become our annual destinations in years to come.  A year later, in 2002, I founded the Monochrome Guild and Jon was the first to sign up.  We made it an annual tradition after that to head out somewhere for a fall weekend of photography with the group.  Mostly it has been to Jasper National Park though on a couple of occasions we have also explored Banff/Kananaskis and the badlands around Drumheller.

Jon gave up film photography and the darkroom a few years back when he was diagnosed with cancer.  He has since recovered and come back to film to a certain degree, but mostly shoots digital these days.  Though we remain friends after all these years it is with a certain sadness that I realize that we have drifted apart to a degree.  Many a weekend day trip ended with a stop a small town tavern somewhere for a beer.  Lots of stories to be remembered of our adventures out make photographs.  We have to make a point of staying in better contact and getting together on a more regular basis.

This year was the 15th Annual Fall Photo Weekend.  There was limited interest from the members of the Monochrome Guild so I reached out to Jon to see if he wanted to head out again.  He was all in favor of the idea so we reserved a suite at our favorite hotel in Jasper.  Shortly before our departure our friend Steve, also a long time member of the Monochrome Guild, decided to join in.  It was like the good old days when the three of us hit the road for Jasper on the weekend of November 14 and 15.

Jon and I both had lucky Friday the 13th off from work, and Steve is recently retired from his position as medical photographer at the UofA Hospital.  So we hit the road on Friday morning.  Weather conditions were less than ideal with heavy snow and white out conditions pretty much from Edson west.  By the time we arrived in Jasper the snow had let up a little and we had a chance to do a little scouting around and make plans for the upcoming weekend of shooting.  By evening we headed over to a local pub and attempted to put a dent in the local beer supply.  This continued with some reminiscing over a bottle of fine Irish Whiskey back at our suite.  

The next morning we arose, a little groggy, but our experience with such endeavors soon put an end to any lasting issues.  We went out for a day of shooting and enjoyed our time in the mountains.  What a great way to celebrate the 15th anniversary of adventures such as this.  Future blog posts will include snapshots from several of the locations that we visited and shot at over the weekend.