Showing posts with label Snow Patrol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snow Patrol. Show all posts

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Snow Patrol

There's Always Time For A Backward Glance

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON


Sometimes we are privileged to gaze on paradise, but we don’t always realise it. Mountains have been a part of my life since my high school years, when I was a boarder at St Joseph’s College, Darjeeling – which probably explains why I spend so much time photographing them wherever and whenever I can.

A few weeks ago I was in Canada at the invitation of Yukon Tourism and literally a few hours before I flew home, Charles McLaren of Shadow Lake Expeditions took me on a memorable four-wheel-drive ride.

We explored the Coal Road area outside Whitehorse and when we returned to his vehicle after one stop, I was just about to put my seatbelt on when I spotted this sight. I asked Charles not to start up and not to move his vehicle an inch.

He looked at me quizzically, but I pointed to the rear-view mirror mounted on the left-hand side, where this mountain was reflected clearly in the glass. Yes, I could have got out and probably got a better shot, but by taking this from where I sat, I was able to capture an unusual view.

Around the perimeter of the rear-view mirror you can see the hillside in front of us, while the reflection itself shows the mountain that was directly behind us.

In retrospect, this would have been an even more spectacular shot a fortnight later. You see, the fall colours were just starting. A few days later the hillside would have been covered in reds and yellows, forming a virtual wreath for this mountain reflection.

Then again, the real challenge for any photographer is to capture the moment, not to wait for a better opportunity.


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Photo Hunt. Today's theme: "Reflection".

Friday, August 29, 2008

Snow Patrol

There's Powder On Them Thar Hills (Already)

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON


This photograph should give you a clue as to my whereabouts today. If you want a few extra seconds to work it out, let me give you some more information. I'm not in Melbourne. I'm not even in Australia. Have a good look at the traffic in this scene (I took the shot through the windscreen of a four-wheel drive) and you'll notice that we're driving on the right-hand side of the road.

Did you say the United States? Not quite. I'm in northern Canada, in the Yukon, a place that touched my soul the first time I came here, nine years ago. I left Melbourne before dawn on Wednesday morning, flew to Sydney on Qantas and caught an Air Canada flight to Vancouver before catching a connecting flight further north to Whitehorse, capital city of the Yukon.

There's something very special about seeing sunrise twice in one day, over two different countries. I saw one dawn as I flew from Melbourne to Sydney, and then I was privileged to witness Wednesday start all over again with soft tinges in the sky just before we landed in Vancouver.

Here in the Yukon, the colours are starting to change already. You know you're in a cold place when the captain announces the impending touchdown by telling you the temperature in Whitehorse is (and I quote) "Plus nine degrees". And so here I am in paradise, surrounded by mountains and as the low cloud starts to clear just after I arrive, I suddenly see that the first snow has already fallen.

Let's just call it a personal welcome-home sign.

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