High Above the Canadian Rockies

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

This collection of aerial photographs of the Rocky Mountains includes
the obligatory spectacular shots of glaciers, waterfalls, and
high-country scenery. Heinl’s most interesting photographs, however,
depict human activity or wildlife. In this group are the Lake Agnes Tea
House, the Shell Canada Waterton natural gas processing complex, and the
Fording coal mine. Most interesting of all is an aerial close-up of a
grizzly bounding over a stream; the caption informs us that the
photographer was in a landing helicopter when he made the shot with a
600-millimetre gyrostabilized lens. (All but two of the photos in the
book were shot from helicopters, which allow the photographer to take
pictures which are not possible from fixed-wing aircraft.)

There is little text in the book, apart from photo captions and two
pages of general information on the mountains. In the introductory
material, Heinl tells us more about helicopters than about his
photographic methods; more information on equipment and techniques would
have been welcome. Nevertheless, Heinl is a photographer who can make a
sulphur block look remarkable. His book is recommended for those who
would like to see the Rockies in a new light.