Yosemite Timelapse Project

Yet another great timelapse project, this time in Yosemite NP.

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

Jasper National Park: 12 months of adventure

Jasper National Park offers a great variety of adventures, anytime of the year. These photos reflect on some of them.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

View of earth from International Space Station

Last month I posted a photo of the International Space Station flying over Jasper National Park. Here is the view from the other side: North and South America from the ISS. The flyover starts over the Pacific NW of Vancouver Island, continues over the western US, down to Mexico, and on to South America. It ends with sunrise over the Antarctic.

The large areas of city lights show how important Dark Sky Preserves like Jasper National Park are.

Space Station flying over Jasper

This one-hour exposure captures the International Space Station as a bright dotted line among the curved star trails over of Patricia Lake in Jasper National Park. Composite of 490 images, at 10mm, 6sec, f3.5, captured at 4sec intervals. A car’s headlights light up the forest across the lake.
More star photos of Jasper National Park.

Parks Canada’s Gift to the Earth

Parks Canada turned 100 on May 19, 2011. In recognition of its conservation efforts it received the WWF Gift to the Earth Award. Watch the video below to learn more about Parks Canada’s recent conservation successes. The addition of Lancaster Sound as a National Marine Conservation Area is fantastic news – it is home to millions of seabirds, like these thick-billed murres on Prince Leopold Island.

Parks Canada’s 100th anniversary video:

Jasper Dark Sky Preserve featured in Canadian Geographic

The recently announced Jasper Dark Sky Preserve is featured in the April 2011 Canadian Geographic with a 12 page spread. Read Preserving the night skies, Jasper takes the lead, on the Canadian Geographic website.

Tips on taking night photographs

Leading star and northern lights photographer Yuichi Takasaka gives some great tips on how to take successful night photos. Yuichi was the photographer for the recent Canadian Geographic article on Jasper’s Dark Sky Preserve.

Jasper Dark Sky Preserve largest in the world

Jasper National Park was declared the world’s largest Dark Sky Preserve today. Dark Sky Preserves (DSP) are areas designated by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) that promote responsible lighting, offer public observing sites for quality night sky viewing, and have active and engaging public outreach programs about astronomy and responsible lighting. They also demonstrate leadership in responsible lighting within their facilities. Including Jasper, there are currently 11 sites in Canada that have received DSP designation. This is more than all of the other DSPs in the world combined.

Jasper is not only the biggest DSP in the world, but also larger than all other preserves combined. The park offers great night sky observation opportunities, such as this halo around a moon on a cold winter night just outside of the town of Jasper. More information about observation sites, clear sky forecasts and maps can be found on jasperdarksky.org.

Halo around the moon over Whistler mountain, Jasper National Park.

Canadian Geographic issue on Parks Canada

Canadian Geographic is dedicating their April issue to Parks Canada’s 100th anniversary. Jasper is featured in one of the cover stories. Don’t miss the issue!

Banff Film Festival World Tour trailer

The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour trailer for 2010/11 has been posted. As usual, it is action-packed and inspiring. The eagle at 0:12 was shot in Mongolia’s Bayan Olgii region in a segment on Mongolia’s eagle hunters as part of a film on mountain peoples. Jasper National Park’s Maligne Lake made it into the clip as well, at 2:05.