It’s nearly the end of December and the mountains have received very little natural snow. Last year, at this time we had a lot more snow in December. The North Shore mountains need colder temperatures and more precipitation. I’m keen to do some skiing and snowshoeing and take some Winter images, I guess I just need to be patient…
This afternoon it was about 10 degrees Celsius in Vancouver. I was fortunate to be inside taking images of exotic birds in a very warm and humid environment. When I went from the cold and clear conditions outside to the warm and humid environment inside my glasses immediately fogged up. After they cleared I took some images of an Eclectus Parrot and a very colourful Red Headed Gouldian Finch.
This morning I woke up to the sound of rain falling on the skylight. I decided to head out with my camera gear, hoping that the rain would stop and the weather would clear. I was rewarded with a wonderful sunrise and some vibrant Fall colours.
Many people have asked me about renting a vehicle and driving in Iceland. During my trip I would often see camper vans from KuKu camper rental. What was neat about these vehicles is that each one of their Renault vans had a different celebrity painted on the side. Of all the vans I saw, without a doubt, my favourite had a portrait of Chuck Norris on it. I tried to get a picture of it, but by the time I grabbed my camera and returned, it was gone. I did get a picture of the Renault van showing Charlie Sheen. According to the KuKu camper rental website they have vans with portraits of Billy Idol, Dolly Parton, Amy Winehouse, Lindsay Lohan, David Hasselhoff and Rick James.
The Pacific Northwest is one of my favourite places to spend time with a camera. The rainforest, beaches and beautiful sunsets are incredible. At night, in your tent, you can hear the sounds of the surf and waves on the beach, which is a calm rhythm that helps you to relax and fall asleep.
” Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the unknown. “ – Gaby Basora
Just off the southern coast of Iceland is a group of fifteen islands formed by submarine volcanoes, known as Vestmannaeyjar or the Westman Islands. I took a ferry to the town of Heimaey and hiked up to the top of the volcano Eldfell. It was here, on January 23, 1973 at 1:45 a.m., without warning, a 1.5 km volcanic fissure split the eastern side of the island. Over the next five months 30 million tonnes of lava poured over the town of Heimaey and buried 360 houses. As the lava continued to flow it threatened to close off the harbour which would have destroyed the fishing industry. Firefighters hosed the lava with cold seawater and eventually the lava halted 175 m short of the harbour mouth. The lava created more shelter and actually improved the harbour. The picture below was taken from the top of Eldfell and shows the town of Heimaey in the background and the lava field. The Westman Islands are also home to about 10 million puffins who come there to breed.
I just returned from a three week visit to Iceland. During my trip I saw beautiful mountains, volcanoes, glaciers and waterfalls. Jokulsarlon is a glacial lagoon that is 250 meters deep and it has huge chunks of ice that break off the glacier Breiðamerkurjökul. Tourists can take a ride in one of the amphibian boats pictured below, but they can’t get too close to the icebergs because they sometimes roll over. I witnessed a number of icebergs the size of a house, slowly start to roll over and it was very impressive. I didn’t take the tour, choosing to save my money and explore on my own. Just me and several hundred noisy and divebombing Arctic terns. You can see more of my images from Iceland and Jokulsarlon in this gallery.
This year three countries, Canada, Thailand and the United Kingdom competed in the Celebration of Light. When the fireworks end it’s a unique experience to walk with nearly 350,000 people as they exit the downtown area. I like this image because it was taken close to the beginning of the performance when the sun had just set and there is the shilouette of the mountains in the distance.
The summer solstice takes place on June 21st in the northern hemisphere. This is one of the longest days of the year. Right now is a great time to explore and take images in the evening. Tonight it didn’t get dark until almost 9:30 p.m. and it was warm, quiet and there was hardly a breath of wind.
When taking a long exposure of flowing water a tripod is a necessity. An exposure of a few seconds gives the water a velvety effect. Longer exposures up to 30 seconds gives the water a milky effect, like the image below. I’ve read that images of waterfalls never seem to do very well in photo contests. Oh well, I still like to experiment with slow shutter speeds to create a graceful blur.
