Workshop Dates
January 21st to January 27th, 2025
January 11th to 17th, 2026
Spend a week with me exploring a frozen landscape chasing the aurora borealis on a lake stacked deep with mesmerizing patterns of frozen bubbles!
Details
Frozen bubbles, waterfalls suspended by winter, glacial ice caves, stalactites and stalagmites… Winter in the Canadian Rockies has it all! If you are up for an adventure, looking to sharpen your photography skills, and you are captivated by the beauty of ice and snow, the Canadian Rockies Photography Workshop: Winter Edition is for you!
The Canadian Rockies Photography Workshop – Winter Edition – will focus on the stillness of winter that comes with the January chill. Some of the highlights of January shooting include frozen, blue-green waterfalls, “frost flowers” blooming along the streams, the famous methane bubbles which get stacked like deep piles of coins in the layers of ice in the lakes, and the insane beauty of a winter night with the Orion constellation drifting across the frozen landscape, and the Aurora Borealis dancing from peak to peak.
Aurora Chasing!
This is an exciting year for anyone dreaming of seeing the polar lights dance across the dreamscapes of the Canadian Rockies as we are entering into solar maximum – the strongest phase of the sun’s 11-year cycle. The next 12-24 months will produce the most frequent and strongest aurora displays we are likely to see for another decade or more. We will NEVER pass up on an opportunity to capture the glow of the aurora!
Early January is the perfect time to photograph the famous methane bubbles at Abraham Lake. By late January, the entire lake is frozen, and the bubbles have had time ‘stack’ into deep layers as the ice freezes. We will spend at least two full days here, exploring the endless compositions this lake has to offer.
We will time our visit to the lake to get the best conditions for light at sunrise, sunset, and clear night skies, but there is sooooooooo much more to experience and photograph on this 30 km long lake.
Bring your drone! Drones are not allowed inside the boundaries of the Canadian National Parks. However, Abraham Lake sits outside of the park. Drone images and video from Abraham Lake are extremely unique. When the ice is clear you can see reflections of the mountains amongst the bubbles, and the ice is incredibly green from the vantage point of a drone.
January is the perfect time to capture the constellation of Orion dancing across the night sky. If you have an astro modified camera I highly recommend adding it to your gear bag. Modified cameras can bring out more depth of colour in the aurora, and can pick the gorgeous red tones of hydrogen alpha wavelengths of light.
You are also welcome to bring a star tracker. We can’t use trackers during aurora but we can use them while we wait for the northern lights. Tracking allows us to shoot at lower ISOs with longer exposures. This technique can preserve the colour in the stars and reduce noise.
Lodging
We will use the iconic Emerald Lake Lodge as our home base for the Canadian Rockies Photography Workshop. This is my favourite ‘home away from home’ in the winter months. The staff are warm and accommodating, the food is delicious, and you can step outside of your cabin to get a world class photograph of the Canadian Rockies.
Using the lodge as a home base means that we may have a bit of extra driving to get to locations (most shooting locations are between 20 minutes and an hour from Emerald Lake) but it also gives us the perfect place to sit by the fire, edit, and have classroom talks if the weather does not permit us to shoot.
Transportation
All transportation is included. I will pick you up from The Hotel 11 by Sonesta near the Calgary International Airport (typically at 10:00 am) on the first day of the workshop, and aim to have you back to the same hotel by 4:00 pm on the last day of the workshop.
Winter travel can cause delays in flights and on the roads. Therefore, I always recommend arriving the day before the workshop, and leaving the day after for ease of travel and peace of mind.
What you will learn on the Canadian Rockies Photography Workshop
I don’t hold anything back when I teach. You will learn how I plan my shoots, how I execute my plan, and how I edit. Some of the topics we will cover include creating compelling compositions, focus stacking, blending exposures, blue hour blends, understanding depth of field, manually shooting for high dynamic range, and capturing the night sky. I have also developed a curriculum of classroom lectures that will cover each topic we will explore on location.
I also enjoy teaching Timelapse for both daytime shooting and night shooting. If we are on location waiting for light, aurora, or the perfect alignment of Orion, we can use the time to learn how to Timelapse.
Recommended Equipment on the Winter Edition Photography Workshop
I have compiled a complete list of gear for winter workshops in the Canadian Rockies, To learn about weather in the Rockies, and how to prepare for variable conditions check out my blog article.
About Me
My name is Rachel Jones Ross. To say I love winter is such an incredible understatement! This is my season. It is the time of year that most inspires me to do more than just capture a scene; I want to create images that inspire the imagination. I am also a passionate astro photographer. In 2019 I embarked on a personal project to spend 100 nights under the stars. You can read a little bit about my adventures here.
I am a member of the Sony Alpha Imaging Collective, and fortunate to have the support of both Sony and B&H Photo on my workshops and personal projects.
More Details
The adventure takes place January 21st to 27th, 2025. The total cost of the workshop based on single occupancy is $4595. All transportation, accommodations, and park passes are included. Meals and drinks are not included.
Contact
Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions! I look forward to working with you on the Canadian Rockies Photography Workshop – Winter Edition!
Frost flowers blooming under an early morning moonset
