Lake Channels

This is the last scan from the recent batch of Kodak T-Max 100 developed in 510 Pyro Developer.  Like many of the others, this shot was taken on the Monochrome Guild Fall Photo Weekend in Jasper National Park.  This shot was taken in October of 2022 with my Ebony 4x5 view camera and a Fujinon 400mm telephoto lens.  A #25 Red Filter added even more contrast to what was already a very high contrast, backlit scene.

This is Medicine Lake.  Before the arrival of the white-man there was a rockslide in the Maligne River Valley.  The rocks came down off the face of the Colin Range and partially dammed the river.  The evidence of this remains obvious as boulders are strewn across the valley and partway up the other side.  The natural dam created by the rockslide is somewhat porous.  In the spring, when incoming water levels are high due to the mountain snow melt, a lake forms behind the dam.  This lake is called Medicine Lake.  By late summer and into the fall the incoming waterflow is reduced and the lake drains away.  In fact if you stand down near the edge of the lake, on the natural dam, you can hear the sound of water draining, much like in a bathtub.  The lakebed is left with just the braided channels of the Maligne River flowing through it.  By October and November, just before everything freezes, these channels are at their lowest.  Then in the spring, when the thaw begins, the whole process repeats and Medicine Lake is formed once again.