Canadian Mountain Wilderness

Description

A commercial advertising client wanted a photo with snow-capped mountains and a rushing stream as a backdrop for his product. Dad already shot the mountains and part of the river while traveling along Canada’s Ice Field Parkway.

But the river needed a few more sections to be complete. Unfortunately his Canadian location was snowed in, so Dad had to look in Colorado to finish the photo illustration.

He did find the perfect spot near a campground in the Rockies. The stream had cut down into the rocks, so it was about a six-foot drop into the riverbed and down to the waterfall. The stream was really rushing because it had rained and snowed the night before. It was bitterly cold and there were sheets of ice along the edges that made moving treacherous.

No problem. Dad donned a homemade rope harness and the art director, a buff man with great upper body strength, held (yes, held) Dad above the river. Dad’s assistant Chris held on to the art director.

Dad shot like crazy. It began snowing. The river was spitting water all over him. It didn’t take long for the cold to really seep into his coat and boots and pretty much everything. He shot three magazines of film and the group tore out down the mountain. Dad had a happy art director, a really nice photo and he managed to avoid hypothermia.