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Banff National Park

We visited the Banff, Jasper, and Yoho National Parks in the Canadian Rockies in September of this year. Due to a wildfire in Jasper, we spent most of our trip exploring Banff National Park. The extra time gave us the opportunity to visit many places more than once and at different times of the day. We also didn't have to rush, so we could really take in the scenery at places like Moraine Lake, Lake Louise, and the Peyto Lake overlook.

I’ve been wanting to go to Banff National Park since we went to Waterton Lakes National Park in 2018. I remember seeing photographs Moraine Lake and being drawn to the turquoise water and snowcapped mountains. As beautiful as the photographs were, they still didn’t prepare us for seeing these glacial-fed lakes in person. The colors were simply amazing and unlike anything else we had ever seen.

Even though we had to make some changes to our trip due to the wildfire, we still had a wonderful time. I can’t recommend Banff National Park enough and I truly believe that everyone should see the sights in this park in person at least once. If you do decide to visit the park, be sure to plan ahead and book early. The accommodations in the area fill up early in the year and the months when the lakes aren’t frozen over are limited.

Grouse Mountain in Velvia

We spent a long weekend in Vancouver in March and found some time for a day trip to Grouse Mountain. I brought my Fujifilm X100T on the trip so I was able to get some images from my first visit to Grouse Mountain. On the Fujifilm cameras, the Astia preset is my favorite so I almost always end up processing my images using that preset. This time around, I decided to try something different and processed my images using the Velvia preset. I really like how the images turned out and this exercise was a good reminder of why I love shooting with the Fuji cameras so much.

Stanley Park Long Exposures with the Fujifilm X-T1

Stanley Park is a beautiful destination in the heart of Vancouver that is frequented by visitors and locals alike. During our time in Vancouver, we explored the park in our car, on foot, and by bike. The fact that the park is mostly surround by water made it an ideal place for me to shoot long exposures. Having the luxury of time also meant I could scout the locations I wanted to shoot and return later with my tripod and other long exposure gear. Here are three of my favorite long exposures from Stanley Park shot with the Fujifilm X-T1 and XF 14mm lens.

Siwash Rock - 125 seconds at f/16

Siwash Rock - 125 seconds at f/16

Lions Gate Bridge and North Vancouver - 90 seconds at f/11

Lions Gate Bridge and North Vancouver - 90 seconds at f/11

Stanley Park Seawall - 85 seconds at f/11

Stanley Park Seawall - 85 seconds at f/11

Scenes from the Steveston Fish Market

Vancouver and the Fujinon XF 27mm

I ordered the Fujinon XF 27mm pancake lens at the beginning of April when Fuji was having their latest round of lens rebates. Unfortunately, the lens has been backordered since that time and I wasn't going to have it for our trip to Vancouver. Since I was hoping to use the XF 27mm in Vancouver as a general purpose, walkaround lens, I decided to rent one.

Having read numerous reviews, including this one at photozone, I knew that the XF 27mm was a well regarded lens amongst Fuji X users. Now having spent a week with it, I must admit that I too am quite impressed with this nifty little lens. In fact, the XF 27mm was on my X-T1 most of the time during our trip. I only switched to the XF 14mm or XF 35mm when I needed to go wider or wanted images with a more shallow depth of field. Essentially, I used the X-T1 and XF 27mm combination in the same way I normally use the X100S. 

In all honesty, I didn't really miss the X100S (which my wife was using) during our trip. On a few occasions, I would've liked to have the built in ND filter on the X100S or to be able to shoot at f/2. But in general, the X-T1 and XF 27mm worked out very well as my light, general purpose, walkaround kit. To give you an idea of what I used the XF 27mm for, here are some of my favorite images shot with it from Vancouver. If you'd like to see more, check out the images in my Granville Island and Lynn Canyon Park posts, which were all shot using the X-T1 and XF 27mm.