I first noticed the tarn—a small mountain lake or pool, for those in low-lying locales—while scanning a map. Tucked deep in the Purcell Mountains, a subset of the Columbia Mountains, west of the Rockies, it lies not far from my home in the BC interior, amidst a swirl of high peaks and ridges.

Yet, no logging road is carved into the valley where it is, nor does a marked trail lead to its shore. And, most notably, it is large—nearly a square kilometre. 

Traversing the Purcells to the Tarn

Weeks later, my wife and I stepped out our back door, with our son and mounds of camping gear on our backs, and walked straight into the forest.

Our goal? To traverse those very Purcells. The route we’d planned—a mix of old trails, abandoned logging roads and bushwhacking—would take us directly past the massive tarn.

The first nine days floated by, blissfully warm and sunny. High ridges offered expansive views. We stumbled upon an abandoned homesteader’s cabin and spent an unplanned rest day reading and relaxing.

Later, as we set up camp at the entrance to the valley leading towards the high tarn and the final pass, a storm descended. Lightning crashed throughout the night, the blinding light silhouetted pines dancing on the tent’s walls.

Rained Out

The rain kept up for three days. Soaked and shivering, we eventually gave up waiting and headed towards a more gentle, southerly route, sadly away from the tarn. After taking shelter in a trapper’s cabin, we reached the shores of Kootenay Lake and hitchhiked home.

Return to the Tarn

A year later, I tried to reach that darn tarn again, this time moving light and fast on a day trip. Long before the sun had risen, a friend and I drove as deep as we could into the mountains.

Leaving our pickup at a washed-out bridge, we waded across the river and pushed on towards the hidden valley. Old blazes and occasional sawn branches hinted that someone used to pass this way, although the overgrown trail was hard to follow now.

Eight sweaty hours later, we popped out on the shores of the staggeringly beautiful lake. Granite slabs rose above, dotted with alpine larch already turning yellow with the cool breath of autumn. We lingered for an hour, taking photographs and enjoying a quick dip, before starting the long march home.

The photographs from that day, while not the “prettiest” in my portfolio, carry an essential (but often-overlooked) ingredient of any successful landscape image: a story.

How to Shoot Landscapes

Landscapes are a classic subject of nature photography and offer the viewer a sense of immersion; a momentary, peaceful glimpse of a wild environment.

Eye-catching landscape images are not difficult to create, but they don’t happen by fluke. A rushed, “oh-that-looks-great,” yank-the-camera-out, take-a-quick-snap-and-race-onwards approach will rarely yield stunning beauty.

To give yourself the best chance of capturing a head-turner, try following these simple steps:



1) Use a wide-angle lens

Choose the widest view you can. On a DSLR, 24mm or even 20mm are landscape standards. With a point-and-shoot, make sure you are zoomed right out.



2) Always use a tripod

Even if the lighting conditions do not require it, use one. Gorgeous landscapes require careful thought about framing: what to leave in, what to leave out. Setting up a tripod forces you to slow down and think. 



3) Consider foreground

Many successful landscapes include some foreground detail, such as a flower or a rock. Experiment with placing this detail slightly off-centre, which leads the viewer deeper into your shot.



4) Go for big depth of field

To get both the foreground and background in sharp focus, you need a big depth of field (the distance between the nearest and farthest objects that appear in focus). Set your camera to A-mode (Aperture priority) and select the biggest number available, usually f/22 or f/36.



5) Look for water

The big aperture you selected above means you’ll have a correspondingly slow shutter speed. Water is always a powerful element in landscapes, and the slow shutter speed will tend to peacefully flatten a lake, or turn a burbling stream into a soft spray of white.

Photos by Bruce Kirkby