This image was taken after sunset, when everyone had left the beach. There wasn’t any wind and all you could hear was the calming sound of the surf. I think the silhouette image conveys a peacefulness. The exposure was about thirty seconds long and I needed to use a tripod to keep my camera absolutely still. Click on the image to see a larger version.
The forest comes to life during sunrise as the sun breaks through the mist creating rays of light. Some minor adjustments were made in Adobe Lightroom. Click on the image to see a larger version.
I just spent the last two weeks exploring the West Coast of Canada with my camera. On Cormorant Island in the village of Alert Bay I was surprised to find a trio of double decker buses. They were originally used in London and then Victoria, B.C. For many years they stood with other double decker buses near Coombs, B.C. I bet when these double decker buses were manufactured in Bristol, England in the 1960’s no one could have imagined that 50 years later they would end up on a small island in the middle of Johnstone Strait.
This public artwork is in downtown Vancouver and its composed of five real scrap cars stacked upon an old growth cedar tree. The artist is Marcus Bowcott and it’s part of the Vancouver Biennale project.
I like the neon signs and symmetry of this newsstand. The photo could be improved if there were people streaming by, getting on and off skytrain. However, this could be tricky when using a tripod. Click on the image to see a larger version of the photo.
I attended the twilight show of the Abbotsford Airshow and had fun taking images of the Snowbirds, Breitling Jet Team and the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. The Snowbirds precision flying is always impressive even though they’re performing in Canadair CT-114 Tutor’s which the Canadian Forces started using in 1961. It was a warm evening, there was a beautiful sunset and you could see Mount Baker in the distance. During the airshow two commercial Westjet flights landed at the airport, one taxied past the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor as it was preparing to take off. I bet that’s something the Westjet pilots don’t see every day. Click on an image and then use the left and right keys on your keyboard.
The Arctic Tern is a seabird that migrates every year from Antarctica to its Northern breeding grounds. I took this photo last summer in Iceland, which means the adult had migrated a distance of 70,000 kilometres. The Arctic tern sees two summers each year and their migration is one of the longest in the animal kingdom. The average Arctic tern lives about twenty years, however, National Geographic and the University of Alberta concluded in 2010 that more than 50% of the species will live past their 30th birthday. National Geographic calculated that during the lifespan of 30 years, an Arctic tern would have migrated over 2.4 million kilometres, the equivalent of traveling from Earth to the moon over 3 times. Click on the image to see a larger version.
I just returned from camping overnight at Garibaldi Lake. This allowed me to take images at sunset and sunrise, something you can’t do during a day hike. The 900 metres of elevation gain was quite challenging carrying a multi-day pack, tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, tripod, DSLR camera, lens, polarizer, remote shutter release, extra battery, down jacket, fleece pants, food, water, keys, wallet, Petzl headlamp, bug repellent, glasses and toilet paper. What many hikers on the trail incorrectly referred to as a ‘big bee’ were actually large horseflies which can give you a nasty bite.
There wasn’t any interesting cloud formations when I arrived, but the stillness of the water was good for reflections. Just after sunset a spectacular full moon rose behind the Sphinx glacier. I was up at 5:30 a.m. taking pictures along the shore of the lake and I had it all to myself. It was hard to leave such a beautiful place, I wish I could have stayed longer. Click on an image and then use the left and right keys on your computer keyboard.
I wanted to find a different perspective for the fireworks this evening. This is not easy to do in a crowd of 300,000 people. I found this wooden sailing ship and I thought having it in the foreground and the fireworks in the background would create an interesting image. Much to my delight, when the fireworks started an individual climbed up the mast to get a better view, which only added to my photo. Click on the image to see a larger version.
The S.S. Beaver was a Hudson’s Bay Company steamship. It was the first steamship on the west coast of North America. After 52 years of faithful service an inebriated crew ran the steamship aground on rocks here at Prospect Point on July 26, 1888. The wreck became a popular Sunday picnic destination for many Vancouverites. The wreck finally sank in July 1892 from the wake of the passing steamer Yosemite, but only after enterprising locals had stripped much of the wreck for souvenirs. Click on the photo to see a larger image.
