This image was one of the hardest photographs for me to capture. I have photographed this scene for five or six years without success. The weather and atmospheric conditions have never cooperated until the day I captured this image. Beauty Creek is in Jasper National Park and from this perspective is facing toward the Columbia Icefields with Jasper at your back. It is actually only a few kilometres from Jonas Creek.
My main interest in taking this early fall image was the grass, which forms a kind of snake-like pattern and is equally pretty in the summer when it is clothed in a lustrous green. The water is very shallow, about a foot deep, the bottom is covered with glacial silt. There are some small fish here as well, and waiting for the water to be calm is difficult both because of the fish and the wind. There is almost always a purple haze due to the atmospheric conditions that prevail. To have all conditions perfect for an image like this was almost a miracle. On top of these perfect conditions, the sunlight casting a golden glow on the grass was more like proclaiming a victory! There is a great sense of accomplishment when things go your way, which is why the image is very special.
Mike Montana
