Photographing Winter Wonderland — Canada
Photo-Workshop
January 18 — 26, 2025
Start Location — Calgary, Canada
Dates: January 18 — 26, 2025
Tuition: $ 2750 per participant Early Bird price (good till 07/01/2024 — $2500 (limit: 10 participants).
Instructor: Alex Mironyuk
Deposit: $ 750 (payments accepted for the remainder of the balance)
Workshop Highlights
I invite you to explore one of the most unusual and picturesque photographer’s paradises on this planet—the Frozen Canadian Rockies, covered with deep white snow, frozen lakes, and waterfalls, unique narrow canyons with icy rivers on their bottoms, and massive icefalls on their walls.
We can’t miss one of the most famous and picturesque winter Canadian phenomena—methane bubbles frozen into ice. A Couple of Alberta’s lakes turn into a spectacular winter wonderland that offers beautiful photo ops for adventurous photographers.
Keep in mind that the ideal weather condition for capturing the bubbles is about -10°F to +10°F with some strong wind. So, you have to wear heavy-duty winter apparel with several thermal underlayers.
Don’t forget your telephoto lens — we will be in an area where elks, moose, and goats are common.
This workshop will master your photography skills and boost your creative process. This entire workshop is hands-on, and I will be with you every step of the way, covering composition, camera settings, chasing the light, and much more.
Physical Difficulty: Easy to Moderate. This Workshop Involves short hikes with all your photo gear on icy and snowy surfaces with some elevation loss and gain.
Fitness Level: Like any outdoor nature photography workshop, a reasonable degree of fitness is ideal. We will not be engaging in any strenuous physical activity.
Experience level: No photography experience is necessary for participants in this Workshop. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned pro, I am happy to help you achieve your photography goals.
Transportation: Transportation is included in this Workshop.
Lodging: Simple hotel/motel lodging (double occupancy) is included in the tuition. Every room will have two beds and a shower. In case of inclement weather, when we need to change the itinerary, cancel our booked hotels, and secure new ones, we will only be able to get last-minute hotel availability. Under those circumstances, we can’t guarantee the quality of the rooms and the amenities.
Meal: The meal is not included in this Workshop. We can have breakfast in our hotels every day (except for 1 or 2 days). For 1 (2) day, when we leave our hotel before a restaurant is open, participants can use a microwave in the room to prepare breakfast. Every participant has to take lunch with them into the car before going to a day photo session — we won’t have time to go to a restaurant or grocery store during the day. And every evening after sunset we will have dinner in a restaurant.
Itinerary
Day 1. January 18, Saturday
From Calgary International Airport, all participants will take the hotel shuttle to our hotel and check into their rooms. Our group will meet at the hotel’s lobby around 6-7 PM, where they can meet everyone and get to know each other. After a short introductory meeting, we will go to our first dinner as a group.
Night in Calgary.
Our final Itinerary will depend on the weather and lighting conditions, which are very hard to predict so far ahead. We can have an exact itinerary around January 9th.
So here is our “ideal Itinerary, “ which can be changed at the last minute for safety or weather reasons.
Day 2. January 19, Sunday
After breakfast, we will get a chance to stop in a supermarket to buy lunches and snacks for the next couple of days, and by noon, we will get to the small village of Nordegg. We will drop our luggage at our hotel and go to our first frozen waterfall in our workshop.
Here, we can get used to wearing our ice cleats (microspikes) to get to the waterfall’s base and hike for about 1 mile to a fantastic icefall in a small canyon.
By 3:30 — 4 PM, we can, for the first time, get onto the clear ice of Abraham Lake with billions of frozen methane bubbles for our sunset photo session.
Night in Nordegg.
Day 3. January 20, Monday
We will leave our hotel for our sunrise session at about 7 AM and spend about 2 hours on Lake Abraham’s ice.
After, we will return to our hotel for breakfast and some rest.
In the afternoon, we will have a 4-mile hike with about 500' elevation gain to get on top of a fantastic canyon and beautiful waterfalls.
We will be in the middle of Abraham Lake for one more time, close to sunset.
Night in Nordegg.
Day 4. January 21, Tuesday
This is the morning when we must prepare our breakfast in the microwave oven in our room. All day, we will be away from any presence of civilization.
We will start our day at Abraham Lake, and after our sunrise session, we will get to one of Canada’s most scenic winter roads — Icefield Parkway! We will make countless stops along the road to capture the unique winter beauty of surrounding mountains, frozen rivers and waterfalls, huge boulders covered with thick layers of snow, and even several glaciers.
By the end of this very long and productive day, we will get to the city of Jasper and check in to our cozy lodge on the shore of the frozen Pyramid Lake.
Night in Jasper.
Day 5. January 22, Wednesday
We don’t need to drive to our sunrise location this morning — it is within walking distance from our lodge!
After breakfast, we will explore the real natural wonder—a frozen slot canyon! Usually, people can hike on top of it. But only in the winter we can get to the bottom of the canyon to hike (ice walk) on the thick ice layer! So we will spend at least 3-4 hours hiking just about 2-3 miles.
In the afternoon, we will check out one of the most scenic roads in Jasper Park—Maligne Lake Road—with countless picture stops!
Night in Jasper.
Day 6. January 23, Thursday
After breakfast, we will check out of our lodge and drive on Icefield Parkway toward Banff one more time. Be prepared for countless stops along the road and short (not more than a hundred yards) hikes to find untouched snow for our picture’s foreground.
We will stop at the famous Morant’s Curve Viewpoint and hopefully capture a train in the middle of the winter mountain scenery.
For our Sunset session, we will go to Emerald lake in park Yoho.
Night in Banff.
Day 7. January 24, Friday
We will be next to one of the unfrozen pools at Vermillion Lakes early in the morning.
During the day, we will hike one beautiful picturesque canyon with a series of frozen falls and astonishing sceneries along the trail (3-mile trail with 800' elevation gain)
In the afternoon, we will visit The Lake Louise Ice Magic Festival (hopefully, it will be open on our dates) and spend the rest of the day there.
Night in Banff.
Day 8. January 25, Saturday
Our morning photo session will occur in Banff or around this fantastic city.
After breakfast, we will check out from our hotel and explore one more amazing narrow with an incredible frozen waterfall and ice fall. The total trail length is about 3 miles with a 600' elevation gain.
On the last evening of this trip, we will spend time around Lake Minnewanka, one more place where we can find wonderful frozen methane bubbles.
After sunset, we will head toward our hotel in Calgary, where we will have our last dinner as a group. Then, our workshop will officially be over.
Night in Calgary.
Day 9. January 26, Sunday
Participants check out from their rooms and go to the airport on the hotel’s shuttle.
Payment schedule and cancellation policy:
The total price for the trip is $ 2750 (Early bird special price is $2500, good before 07/01/2024)
A deposit of $ 750 is due during sign-up to reserve a space for this trip.
Cancellation Policy—Your deposit is fully refundable up to 60 days before the trip starts (November 18, 2023). If you decide to cancel your trip after that date, your deposit becomes non-refundable.
The final balance of $ 2000 ($1750 for early bird) is due by November 18, 2024. Full payment is due at this time, and there will be no refunds on the total amount owed if you cancel after the final price. However, if we find another client to fill your space, you will receive a full refund minus your non-refundable deposit.
If we cancel this trip— you will get a full refund.
What is included:
- The hotel/motel lodging (double occupancy) is included in the tuition. Every room will have two beds and a shower. In case of inclement weather, where we need to change the itinerary, cancel our booked hotels, and book new ones, we will only be able to get last-minute hotel availability. Under those circumstances, we can’t guarantee the quality of the rooms and the amenities. If you want to upgrade your stay from double occupancy to single occupancy for an extra fee, let us know at least 60 days before the workshop.
- Transportation.
- Expert instructions and guidance to a beautiful variety of locations in the Canadian Rockies.
- In-field instruction on capture technique (composition, compensating for high dynamic range, focus stacking, creating effective sunburst, night photography, light painting, and much more)
- In-field recommendation on your photo gear.
- An incredible, unforgettable experience, full of adventure with amazing people and loads of great photos!!!
What is NOT included:
- Airfare to and from Calgary;
- Meals and snacks;
- Alcohol;
- Medical Insurance & Incidental Costs.
Recommended Photo Equipment:
- Camera (DSLR or Mirrorless) W/Extra Batteries And Memory Cards.
- Tripod with a ball head (leveling base is optional but very helpful to take panoramic shots).
- Tripod legs spikes (you can’t use rubber ends on icy surfaces).
- At least 2 extra batteries or a battery pack. This is very important when your battery will die much faster than usual in arctic cold weather conditions.
- Wide to standard zoom lens, with their lens hoods (I carry 16-35mm and 24-70mm lenses).
- Telephoto zoom lens for extraction and abstract scenes (I use 70-200mm and 150-600mm lenses).
- Circular polarizer filter to remove glare from the water and ice
- Graduated neutral density filters (if you use them).
- Rocket blower and microfiber cloths for keeping glass surfaces dry and clean.
- Most importantly — a great attitude!
Recommended Camping Equipment:
- Flashlight or headlamp.
- Hardcore winter clothing with several thermal underlayers.
- Heavy Duty Wind Stopper Layer (Membrane Jacket and Pants)
- Winter hat.
- Face Mask (balaclava).
- Snow Goggles
- Winter hiking boots.
- Proper Ice Cleats. Don’t buy a cheap one. It would be best if you had good pair of spikes that grip the ice. I recommend something like a Kahtoola MICROspikes Traction System.
- Thick Winter Gloves or Mittens.
- Regular Winter Gloves
- Thin Fleece Gloves (as a base layer for Thick winter gloves)
- Hand Warmers to put inside your gloves.
- Foot warmers to put inside your hiking boots.
- Backpack (bag) to carry photo gear.
Questions? Please contact me at (386) 627-1449 if you have any questions or message me.
A follow-up email will be sent to registered photographers with schedule details, recommended gear, and a liability release.
