Jeff Rendek's Blog

Another weekend’s passed and another adventure under my belt. This time, I decided to make a spontaneous trip out to Moraine Lake. Located in the Banff National Park just 11km from Lake Louise.  The area is also know as “Valley of the ten peaks” and was featured on the $20 bill from 1969-1979.

I’ll keep this post short and sweet! No words can describe the landscape just outside Drumheller, Alberta. These Alberta Badlands have some wonderful site’s to be seen. If you have the chance and the energy go there and hike Horsethief Canyon. If you’ve never seen this amazing canyon in person, the time is now… Go see it! In the meantime, watch this timelapse I did from one of the ridges!

Dorothy, Alberta… What can I say?! I’ve been here a few times in the past and it’s always been a great time. How was this trip different? Well there’s no better time to visit an abandoned ghost town then in the middle of the night, so that’s what we did! Making sure we made this trip different we didn’t arrive until 11:00pm, trying to sneak in and catch those “ghost’s” by surprise (more on that later). Instead of heading directly toward the abandoned church’s, we decided to work our way over. Starting at the old decrepit grain elevator I started my timelapse. What we thought was going to be a clear sky turned for the worse. I was lucky enough to capture some great storm clouds rolling in over the area.

If you’ve been following me for awhile now,  this location may look familiar to you. It’s located literally 10 minutes from my house in S.E. Calgary, Alberta Canada. It’s my favorite place to go and test new gear. This time, I’m testing my new Dynamic Perception Stage One Dolly/Slider kit. I’ve been waiting awhile to purchase one of these and the time has finally come! My first impressions? AWESOME! The slider package included the MX2 Dolly Controller, which is easy to use (once you memorized the buttons and menu items).

With a new summer season rapidly approaching it’s time to plan out my summer adventures, goals and expectations. First thing’s first, it’s the beginning of June and our spring has decided to finally make an appearance. I thought for sure our good old Canadian climate decided to skip this beautiful season but nope, It was just postponed by a month, it seams the month of May and beginning of June has been nothing but cloudy sky’s and rain. Don’t get me wrong, clouds and rain make for some very interesting and dramatic photographs. It’s just not the most appealing weather to go out and shoot in, very hard to get motivated.

As the weather warms up and flowers start to bloom it’s a great beginning to what’s going to be a fantastic summer! I have lots planned and can’t wait to photograph all my adventures! In the meantime, what better way to start the summer photography season with a workshop put on by my friends over at FYM Photo.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. ~Albert Einstein

A great quote for an epic landscape and one of the most beautiful places I’ve come across. Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta Canada is a place you need to experience to gain full appreciation for. This one’s checked off the bucket list but many more adventures will occur!

Snowshoeing the Peyto Lake viewpoint in the winter can be an enjoyable experience for all! It’s a short 1.5 km return trip with an elevation gain of about 25 meters. Walking or hiking this winter tail can be done but snowshoeing is highly recommended. I completed the Peyto Lake Lookout trail in April and there was still plenty of fresh powder to track through!

Experimenting was the sole purpose of this timelapse taken from Rotary Park in Calgary Alberta. Looking at downtown from the hillside was a great opportunity for me to practice my manual exposure ramping techniques over the sunset and the lights coming on in the downtown core. The results came out great and I managed to avoid the dreaded timelapse flicker (for the most part). I love all the lights dancing throughout the buildings. I can foresee a night-time excursion back to this location just to capture the dancing lights!

Once again I ventured out into Kananaskis Country, camera in-hand. My purpose? A great weekend of hiking, camping, and of course star gazing! After spending an awesome day hiking the Moose Mountain Summit. We wound down by cooking a great feast of fire pies around the campfire! Keeping a close eye on the sky, it was looking to be a nice cloudless and moonless night ahead.