In early January I co-lead the Winter Mountain Magic Photography Tour out of Aurum Lodge along with Alan Ernst, the owner of the lodge. This year’s group of six photographers were enthusiastic, outgoing and a lot of fun. We started the tour with temperatures around – 28°C and high winds that made the conditions feel even colder, so I’m sure it was an eye opener to those that were from the warm areas of the globe. However, by the end of the tour we were basking in – 5°C temperatures. From sunrise to sunset it was pretty much none stop photography throughout the day, except for the real cold times where we needed to go back to the lodge to warm up. Overall we had a great time and captured a lot of wonderful images. Here are a few of my favorites from the tour. – Leslie

Wind sending drifts of snow over the ice, Olympus E-M1 mark ll, Olympus 12-40mm f2.8, ©Leslie Degner

Slabs of shifted ice and Methane bubbles in the ice, Excoelis Mountain, Olympus E-M1 mark ll, Olympus 12mm f2.0, ©Leslie Degner

Methane bubble trapped in the ice, Olympus E-M1, Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro, ©Leslie Degner

Cracked and broken ice with trapped methane bubbles inside, Olympus E-M1 mark ll, Olympus 12-40mm f2.8, ©Leslie Degner

Ice formations around stumps at the shoreline, Olympus E-M1 mark ll, Olympus 12-40mm f2.8, ©Leslie Degner

Waves of ice, Olympus E-M1 mark ll, Olympus 12-40mm f2.8, ©Leslie Degner

Morning sunrise reflecting on sheets of ice, Olympus E-M1 mark ll, Olympus 12-40mm f2.8, ©Leslie Degner