Jennifer emailed me last month to let me know one of my images from her wedding won in the Nashua Telegraph contest won in the Candid/Funny Category. This is one of my favorite pictures from their wedding, it actually made my slideshow:) You can see more pictures from Jennifer and Scott’s wedding in my blog post **here**

Brendan and I had a long day of traveling yesterday, up at 4 am and we didn’t get home until 10:30 pm!  I’m exhausted, but back in the office catching up:)

One picture for our last day at Banff National Park. Today we went on a nice hike to Sundance Canyon right outside of Banff, had a nice picnic along the shores of the Vermillion Lakes, drove up to Lake Minnewanka and stopped along the way at the remnants of an old coal mine before heading back to Calgary. We have a 6:45 a.m. flight in the morning and a long day of travel tomorrow, but I’ll be back in the office on Monday. We had the most amazing vacation!

I am rested and relaxed and so psyched for all my weddings coming up!!!

Brendan and I went on an amazing hike today to Bow Glacier Falls off the Icefields Parkway.  This hike was much less crowded and took us along the shores of Bow Lake, through a moraine covered in gravel and glacial debris and we got all the way to the bottom of the falls.  Although the hike was relatively flat, it was tough because of the all the rocks and we ended up hiking about six miles.

Just as we were leaving Banff, we spotted a herd of elk trying to cross the road.

This is Bow Lake, you can see on the right hand side of the picture the trail we hiked.  Off in the distance is Bow Glacier and you can barely see the waterfall we hiked to which is just to the left of the pine tree in the center of the picture.

Another view of Bow Lake.

Bow Glacier Falls.

This is the view of the valley looking down from the falls.  100 years ago this entire valley was filled with a glacier!

A slot canyon on the hike.

One of the many glaciers on the Icefields Parkway.  Isn’t it amazing!  It looks like a frozen river.

Today was a pretty easy day, after 2 days of strenuous hiking, I needed one! We headed to Lake Louise which has to be one of the most popular spots in the park. We got there early to try and avoid some of the crowds and did a short hike along the shore of the lake. Lake Louise is known for its beautiful green color which is caused by the glacial silt in the lake. At the far end of the lake is Victoria Glacier, its glacial melt is the source of Lake Louise. The Chateau Lake Louise is also located on the shores of Lake Louise (a little bit out of our price range, $600+ per night). Tomorrow we are off to the Ice Fields and a hike to Bow Glacier Falls.

Wow, what a gorgeous day! It was a little chilly when we woke up, in the mid 30’s, but warmed up quite a bit throughout the day. We finally get outside of the town of Banff to explore the national park and went for a hike in Johnston Canyon. On our drive to the hike we encounter a small traffic jam on the road because of this majestic elk having his morning breakfast. He is not at all concerned with all the cars parked next to him.

Johnston Canyon is a popular hike in the park, and you definitely know it is going to be crowded when a tour bus pulls into the parking lot. Luckily most people just hike to the lower falls, which is about 1/2 a mile from the parking lot. Some venture on to the upper falls, a mile and half from the parking lot, and very few venture to the ink pots which are 3.5 miles from the parking lot. Brendan and I searching for solitude so we venture on to the ink pots, which are cold springs…and they are very cold! But in the winter they never freeze, which I thought was interesting.

The canyon has some beautiful waterfalls, one of my favorite things in the wilderness to photograph besides wildlife.

Brendan and I are completely exhausted!!  Today we hiked up Sulphur Mountain which is a 3.5 mile (7 mile round trip) hike with an elevation gain of 2,200 feet.  Whew!!  Banff is at around 5,000 feet elevation so both Brendan and were pretty winded hiking up, especially in some of the steeper sections.  Coming down wasn’t easy either, although we weren’t winded, but our quads were killing us.

Look at these views on the way up!

We saw lots of chipmunks on the hike.

After the hike we drove the Tunnel Mountain Road looking for wildlife.  There is a beautiful view of Banff Springs Hotel on the drive.

The hoodoos along the Bow River.  Isn’t the color of the river amazing!

Brendan and I made it to Banff after a long day of traveling yesterday. Up at 4 in the morning for our 6:30 flight from Bangor to Atlanta, then Atlanta to Salt Lake City, and then Salt Lake City to Calgary. We arrived 5:30 pm which is really 7:30 our time, and then it’s an hour and a half drive to Banff. Now I’m sure you’re wondering why we flew all the way down to Atlanta to get to Calgary way up in western Canada. Well they were free tickets and of course they never put you on the most direct flights. You can’t really complain though when they’re free.

The town of Banff is actually located inside Banff National Park which means you have to pay a fee to go there. The Canadian National Parks entrance fees are different than United States National Parks entrance fees. In the U.S. the fee you pay is per vehicle and allows you access for an entire week while Canadian National Parks fees are per person and daily.

Banff is breathtaking! We spent our first day just getting the lay of the land in Banff, and recovering from our long day of traveling! We hiked to Bow Falls which is just outside of town and then to the top of Tunnel Mountain which overlooks the town of Banff. I was a little winded from the higher elevation we’re at here.

Caitlin and Josh got married right on the coast of southern Maine on the campus of Southern Maine Community College.  What a gorgeous setting and the weather was perfect, although a little windy!  Caitlin had the most beautiful full length veil, which was a real challenge in the wind, but fun to photograph.  Congratulations!!

I photographed Caitlin and Josh’s engagement session last February.  Everyone loved the guest book!
Caitlin loves the vintage look and I think her wedding dress was perfect!

Look at what a beautiful day it was…

First look…

Caitlin’s beautiful flowers…

The wind…

Figuring out how to bustle the dress…

I photographed Caitlin and Josh’s amazing wedding in Portland, Maine today which I will blog in the next few days.

Brendan and I fly out tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. for our trip to Banff National Park.  I can’t tell you how excited I am for this trip:)  I will be out of the office for the next week, but will be checking email, so feel free to email me.   I’ll obviously be posting pictures from the trip, so check back often!