You probably know about the majestic Canadian Rockies or even the Canadian boreal forest but have you ever heard of the Canadian prairies? They are a very peculiar landscape and ecosystem found in the foothills of the Canadian rocky plateau. They extend to much of southern and central Alberta and Saskatchewan. The dominant south-western winds (Chinook) bring in a warmer climate than that of north and the mountains act as a shield and give very sunny and favorable conditions for a particular fauna and flora to thrive. In the winter the prairies are barren and desolate but when summer kicks in they come to life! The prairies are a perfect location to breed cattle (cows, horses, bisons…) as they can graze on endless hilly pastures. There you can also cross path with an abundant wildlife like big carnivores (bears, wolves, wolverines, coyotes, mountain lions, many bords of prey…) but also herbivores like deers, moose…
The Canadian prairies are extremely scenic and offer a very wide variety of landscapes that I wanted to capture in this astrolapse movie. Since it really is cowboy and Indian country, my thoughts were to get the grassy hills swept by the wind and lit by the moonlight, with the Rockies in the background. I also managed to capture some cattle grazing under the northern lights in southern Alberta next to the Montana border. Further east in Alberta, you can find the mythical badland valleys (or ‘coulees’) carved by time (Dinosaur Provincial Parc). The differential erosion of sedimentary layers previously deposited has helped sculpt out those fairy chimneys or ‘hoodoos’ over time, which made an excellent ‘prehistoric’ foreground for noctilucent cloud timelapses. One of those valleys was filled with water and I was able to capture it all the way east in Saskatchewan (Buffalo Pound National Park). If you take the road further north to the central regions of those western provinces, the praires’ face changes a bit and you can feel there’s more water there. The green grass, willow trees and countless bodies of water make it easy to take gorgeous scenes playing with the mirroring of the water. It might have been pure serendipity (and also hard work!) but I managed to capture a beautiful display of aurorae and noctilucent clouds at the same time reflecting in some of Bashaw’s lakes as I was out shooting with Darlene and Theresa Tanner, two extremely talented photographers I stayed with (facebook.com/treeanddar/). This scene even helped me get my very first APOD and I am extremely honored and proud! Lastly you can’t be talking about the Canadian prairies without mentioning the stormy weather that can build up over the mountains and slide east potentially giving monstrous thunderstorms, lightning shows and even tornadoes. Even if we wanted to go storm chasing we ‘only’ got a beautiful night-time lightning show near Alix, Alberta, with gorgeous bolts showcased during the climax of this short film.
Whether you are a nature lover, a weather addict or even a star-gazer, the Canadian prairies are one of the best places to enjoy outdoor activities in North-America and I strongly recommend a visit there. The possibilities are endless and there’s something for everybody as my video hopefully demonstrates. Aurorae, shooting stars, noctilucent clouds, fireflies, lightning, bright nights: those are the phenomena that I was willing to capture and combine with some of the most iconic places of the Canadian prairies. Everything was recorded with the Sony a7rII, Sony a7s and Canon 6D, as well as a wide variety of lenses (Sigma, Samyang) ranging from 14 to 500mm. Motion created using the Vixen Polarie in a panning mode and the Syrp Genie generation I 3-axis system. All this content is copyrighted AMP&F and may NOT be used without the owner’s permission (shoot me an email for inquiries at adphotography2410@gmail.com). The soundtrack ‘Steady’ by Roary was licensed through Musicbed and may not be used for any other purpose. Finally I really want to thank Darlene, Theresa, Dr. Jason Reimuller, Captain Te Keoti, Rosalee Schmaltz and Amy Patterson for their generosity and help.
Cast: Adrien Mauduit Films
Tags: travel, nature, Alberta, Canada, Saskatchewan, hike, outdoors, aurora, time-lapse, noctilucent clouds, night, prairies, cowboy, rockies, landscape, aurora borealis, mountains and 4K
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