April 17, 2010

Those who have picked up a copy of this month’s National Geographic special issue on the state of the Earth’s water would have noticed a stunning photo of Cameron Falls  rushing red.

Cameron Falls is probably the most photographed Waterton Lakes National Park feature, which makes the Geographic’s Your Shot editor’s choice of this one even more noteworthy. Add to that the photo is one of thousands submitted online and among only a few picked to run in the hard copy version and, well, you get the picture.

To Rochelle Coffey of Lethbridge, who took the photo last July 26, getting it published in the Geographic is “kind of like the Holy Grail of photography. It was amazing.”

Rochelle and husband Brian – who came home one evening and told her he had submitted the photo to National Geographic online – spend about five months a year at Waterton, setting up their trailer at the Crooked Creek Campground east of the park entrance. That day as they drove toward Cameron Lake in a rainstorm, they noticed a tributary coming down from Ruby Ridge and through a culvert under the road was running red.

“As it entered Cameron Creek, you could see clear water on one side, red on the other,” says Rochelle.

They took a few shots, but decided to hurry back down to the town site in time to shoot the falls, thinking the water would get there in a hurry.

“That was about 6:30. We didn’t notice any red until 7:20. It was at its reddest at 9:05. We were surprised at how slowly the water got down to the falls.”

Another photographer waited beside them, but had to leave before the water turned colour.

“He missed the shot of a lifetime.” The phenomenon is rare, she says, but the argillite that bled red from the rain is common throughout the park. Argillite contains a small percentage of oxidized iron.

Rochelle has been a serious photographer for about five years, preferring to shoot mainly wildlife and scenics with her Canon 40D. For the Geographic shot, she used her 17-40 mm lens at F4 for about eight seconds, “resting the camera on the bridge rail.

“It needed to be that long because of the low light at 9 p.m.” Didn’t hurt the effective simulated motion of the falls either.

The red falls shot has also received a lot of attention in Waterton shops where she sells her photos. As well, about 50 fellow photographers at the online FM Forum congratulated her on the photo and on getting it published.

Release of the National Geographic issue and its focus on water, red or otherwise, is all very timely. The Oldman Watershed Council is planning to release its State of the Watershed Report on the Oldman River drainage at its annual general meeting Thursday.

Should be a signal for us all to pay more attention to how we use our most valuable natural resource.