Photographing the wildflowers in Waterton is such an amazing thing.
They start early April in the lower elevations. As the year progresses they bloom higher up as each week passes. Once the wildflowers start to bloom it seems like there’s not a day that goes by that you cannot see new wildflowers blooming. You may have to walk a little bit further to find them and go up a little bit higher but throughout the summer and Waterton wildflowers are in abundance.
Since the fire of 2017 the wildflowers have taken over most of the park. Growing in areas where I’ve never seen them grow before. With less shadowing from the mature trees they are just exploding on the forest floors. This creates a massive habitat for so many insects and other animals that it is wild. It seems like the wildflowers themselves are their own ecosystem within the park.
You can find wildflowers throughout Waterton, But I like to go up the Chief Mountain Highway to find them. Part of the reason is because of the altitude change when driving the highway. You start out quite low and then go up to higher elevations so you get all the seasons in one drive.
Photographing Waterton Wildflowers
Something I hear from my photography students is that they only want to go to photograph wildflowers when it’s sunny out. This is probably the worst time to go out photographing. A nice cloudy day and even a light rain shower will give you much more vivid and rich colors. Even the VERY early morning or late evenings will help to get you better images.
If you are looking for these prints many are available for sale in my online shop. https://store.patersonphotography.ca/ If you cannot find them there send me an email and I would be happy to get you the information for purchasing these images.
Prints purchased help me to get out more often to do more photography. Your support is very much appreciated.