Photographing Banff National Park for National Geographic was one of those rare assignments where it felt almost impossible to take a bad photo. Every turn of the road revealed another postcard scene. Towering peaks, glacial lakes, sweeping overlooks. It was the kind of place where you’d stop the car, step out, and immediately feel overwhelmed by how much beauty was packed into a single frame.

The water alone felt unreal. Those impossibly blue lakes looked like they’d been color graded or photoshopped, but they were just… there. Perfect light bouncing off turquoise water, mountains rising straight out of it, reflections so clean they barely seemed real. Add people moving through the landscape, wildlife appearing when you least expect it, and endless layers of scale and depth, and it truly felt like photographing fish in a barrel. Not in a lazy way, but in the sense that the land just kept giving.

What made the experience so memorable wasn’t just how photogenic Banff is, but how immersive it felt to work there. Lakes, trails, roadside pullouts, and high overlooks all offered something different, yet equally striking. It was an all-around adventure that reminded me how powerful it is to be in a place where nature does most of the talking and your job is simply to pay attention, frame it honestly, and try to do it justice.