Every winter, people from all over the world visit Abraham Lake to photograph its frozen methane bubbles. The man-made lake is a reservoir surrounded by mountains and fed by the Saskatchewan River. It has the same stunning blue colors as other glacial lakes due to the presence of rock flour (glacial till) in the water. Set deep within the Canadian Rockies, it is a four-hour drive from Calgary or Edmonton, Alberta. While other lakes in Canada have methane bubbles that freeze into the ice, Abraham’s icy surface is usually clear of snow due to high winds in this area.
Abraham Lake is large, covering 20 square miles in area and measuring over 20 miles long. Finding bubbles on the lake is not too difficult, but like other things with landscape photography, it is a matter of timing, location, and luck. Planning is critical to a successful photo visit. Early in winter, you may find bubbles at the southern end of the lake. As the season progresses into late December and early January, the middle (or belly) of the lake freezes, and the bubbles stack on top of each other as the ice grows thicker. From mid January to mid February, the bubbles in the belly of the lake are usually in good condition. By late February and early March, the ice becomes hazy and opaque, due to repeated thaw and freeze cycles on the ice surface. The lake may also be covered with snow at any time during the winter after storms pass through. Winds will usually clear the ice in a few days.
We visited Abraham Lake twice during the last week of January as part of a workshop led by Rachael Jones Ross (Astralis Photography). Our first time was after a heavy snow, and we anticipated that most of the lake would be covered in snow, but Abraham Lake was one of the few places forecasted to have clear skies, and there was a solar storm expected that night. We arrived right before sunset and were happy to see that the ice was clear of snow. We found some great clusters of bubbles that we photographed, both as stand-alone bubble images, and as blue-hour foregrounds that we could blend with aurora taken later that night. I really liked the bubble images from this session, as we had areas of smooth, clear ice, golden hour lighting, and interesting clouds in the sky. As we waited for possible aurora, I also shot many bubble images under the light of the full moon, which was now in the sky. Sadly, the aurora never materialized, and the skies clouded over again, but we got some great bubble images.
We returned to Abraham Lake about three days later to shoot the bubbles in the early afternoon. Abraham Lake is normally very windy and cold in the winter. The week prior to our visit it was -40 F here. The week of our workshop, however, was unusually warm, and the surface of the ice was actively melting by the time of our second visit. There was a thin layer of water on top of the ice, and there were melt channels where methane was rising up through the ice everywhere. This gave the ice a more opaque, gritty appearance. It also made kneeling on the ice to take photos uncomfortable, as the water on the ice makes your knees and your hands much colder! While my winter clothing and gloves were waterproof, it is only a matter of time before some of the moisture and the cold gets through. I much prefer the below freezing weather! It was also extremely windy that day, and anything not carefully anchored down would quickly sail across the ice.
More of my favorite bubble images can be seen in this Frozen Bubbles on Abraham Lake gallery.
Tips for Photography at Abraham Lake
- Ice safety first! Always be aware of where you are walking and the conditions of the ice below. Cracks and bubbles in the ice help you to see how thick the ice is that you are walking on. Wear ice cleats to ensure you do not slip and fall. Be courteous and avoid walking across the more attractive patches of bubbles, as the cleats will scar the ice surface.
- Get down low and close to the bubbles with a wide-angle lens. This will emphasize them in the foreground of your composition. Use a portrait orientation to create layered compositions that align attractive bubbles with the mountains, clouds, and changing lighting in the background.
- While it may be tempting to fill the entire lower half of your frame with bubbles, in many cases it works better to isolate an interesting cluster of bubbles surrounded by some negative space. Look for bubble clusters that have interesting shapes, are larger in size, and are stacked on top of one another. This adds depth to the ice in the image and takes advantage of repeating shapes and patterns.
- Dress warm and expect it to be windy on the ice. Using metal claw type feet on your tripod will help it stay anchored in place while you are shooting a scene. Spiked feet do not have enough contact with the ice to keep your tripod from sliding or moving with the wind.
- Use focus stacking techniques to get sharpness throughout the scene from the bubbles all the way back to the mountains. I would recommend separate exposures at three different focal lengths: very close in on the bubbles, on the ice toward the middle of your scene, and close to the mountains in the background. A polarizer helps cut glare on the ice and makes your bubbles in the foreground stand out better against the dark blue or green color of the ice. You can dial your polarizer effect back for the middle focal length area if you want catch reflected light on the ice toward the background. The use of a graduated ND filter will lower the brightness of the sky and make your bubbles appear lighter in the scene.
- Make sure you take time to just enjoy the wonder of the bubbles in the lake! They are stunning to look at when you are not busy taking images.
- Morning twilight and sunrise is a good time to shoot the bubbles at the belly of the lake. The sun will rise behind Mount Michener and you can capture color in the sky and reflected on the ice. Unfortunately, we did not make it to a sunrise here. I now have a good reason to go back for another visit!