We started out at the Totem Pole area of Stanley Park, wandered over and around Brockton Point at the beginning. We then headed over to Prospect Point and ended at Third Beach. The weather cooperated for the majority of the time, and the sun did play peak a boo with the slightly overcast sky. It was a fun experience and it got easier to do as we progressed around the park. I don’t know if I had a set goal in mind for what I wanted to accomplish as the photographer, though I did (and do) know I want to become more comfortable with pointing my camera at someone for more than just a candid photo.

Here are some of the photos I took during the session:

There are a couple more photos over on Flickr if you want to check out the other ones I have uploaded. I do have other photos to upload that were part of this series with Sheona, though I will be going over those and adding them at a later time.

As for the equipment that I used for this particular day: Ambient Light, Canon 7D with EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS. I kept the aperture around f4.0 or larger, depending on what I wanted to accomplish. Overall it was a fun, and a first for taking photos of strictly of a person as opposed to sports, or wildlife or the occasional candid shot.

What do you think? I am always open to criticism too, so if you want to, please leave a comment on what you like, dislike and any suggestions you might have for me next time. I’m learning and best way to learn is not only by doing, but also by listening to advice from others right? Trial and Error!

Robyn and I went up to Whistler with my mum for a little quick getaway, we also met up with my brother who was keen on meeting us there.  The weather was trying to cooperate with us as we made our way up to the Roundhouse Lodge on Whistler itself. Though if it wasn’t roughly 4 degrees Celcius, I am sure it would have snowed, the sleet didn’t help any though. The plan was to do the  touristy thing; take the Whistler Gondola up to the Roundhouse Lodge and looked around. It wasn’t totally socked in with clouds, but it wasn’t the most pleasent experience with the weather like we typically experience in the past. I guess Summer coming to an end.

My brother and I did take the Peak-2-Peak Gondola across to Blackcomb as this was his first time. Too bad it was pouring with rain on Blackcomb. We just stayed in the gondola and headed back to Whistler. The weather was trying to get better as we made the cross over Fitzsimmons Creek.

On the way back down to Whistler Village the clouds parted and it gave way to the beautiful rainbow you see in the above image. In fact, the rainbow spanned right across the whole valley too. Too bad shooting from within a gondola, in the rain without a polarizer filter was my only choice. It’s not a horrible photo, though not the sharpest either. A cool thing to see though and always a fun thing to try and photograph.

Today I was thinking about how shooting a subject from different angles and how changing your angle or point-of-view can impact the result of a photograph. Let’s take the two following photographs I took today:

The photo above was taken up on a hill with the sun to my back. The colours are pretty good and the Inukshuk stands out pretty well against the background. I probably could have used a larger aperture to give more separate of the background, but it hopefully does look like the main subject of focus.

Even though I took this particular photo before the one at the top, it doesn’t have the same umph I think. It’s also why I moved and took the photo from the other angle. It might be a bit different than most photographs of the Inukshuk that one might see online or in a store, but I guess it really depends on what you’re looking for when photographing a subject.

Out of the two photos above, which angle do you prefer? What would you do differently?

One thing you have to love is a good sunset, right? The smokey skies of western British Columbia allowed for some spectacular colours skies. I took this one after a swim in the water and on the last evening that Robyn and I stayed on Hornby Island.

The sun sets over Vancouver Island, with Denman Island in the foreground. Two people on the saleboat prepare it for docking at the Ford’s Cove Marina.

I did take this photo standing in the water. I scrambled out of the water (while we were swimming) so I could run to the cabin and grab the camera. It’s the only sunset I really captured while we were there.

A New Look

Yup, I love to change the way my blog/site looks, don’t I? I think it looks a bit better than my previous incarnation. I’m trying to be more graphical when it comes to design. I need to learn more tricks with Photoshop and such so I can make better looking websites. From a programming (back end) point of view, I am pretty killer at creating things via scripts and codes, though my confidence with graphical design leaves a bit for the imagination. Oh well, I’ll just keep practising!

Hope you like the new design, it’s here for a while!

Tribune Bay (Big Trib and Little Trib)

Tribune Bay, aka Big Trib, is probably one of the most popular beach destinations of Hornby Island. Not only do beach goers love to hang out there all day, but it is also a popular anchoring spot for boats too due to the protection of the elements.

Lots of open beach area when the tide is low offers a great place for many beach type activities; football, bocci, kite flying, skim boarding, shell collecting and more. It is also a great place to find sand dollars (not that you should really ever take the shells from the beach).

Typically family and younger adults can be found on Big Trib. There is also a provincial camp ground next to Big Trib which gets filled up pretty quick!

Little Trib is situated around the corner of Big Trib with a less than noticeable road to get to it. It’s sort of a secret gem and I don’t mind sharing it with people. Little Trib is considered a Nude Beach, but clothing is optional, which is why it is typically more quiet than the other beaches. It is relaxing though and we do prefer lounging there away from the younger crowd of Big Trib. I do not have photos of Little Trib, but it is a beautiful beach. Parking is a bit of a mess and if you don’t get there early you will have to park quite a bit away from it (as with Big Trib too).  Little Trib is also a bit more rocky near the grass line than Big Trib, but once you make it over the little rocks and pebbles the sand is like that of the rest of the island.

With both beaches you do have to watch out for dungeness and spider crabs as they like to hide in the various pockets of crab grass beneath the water.

Whaling Station Bay

To date, Whaling Station Bay is our new choice for beach action on Hornby Island. Located north-east of Helliwell Provincial Park and nestled among various ocean front cottages and when you get there you can see how this particular place got it’s name. The very gentle slope of the land allowed fisherman to haul up whales when they were caught back in the day for their blubber.

These days, it is enjoyed by the residents of Hornby Island as well as visiting families. We enjoyed the really warm temperatures of the mid-afternoon water where you could easily walk out into the water for a long time without it ever going over your head. There are many little beach access points around the perimeter of the bay and even toilets located on the eastern side.

If you ever get a chance to check out Hornby Island during the Summer, Whaling Station Bay is definitely a recommended stop.

Ford’s Cove Marina (area)

Technically the area around Ford’s Cove Marina is not much of a beach. In fact there isn’t sand nearby at all, but it is a great place to go for a late afternoon swim when the tide is high and the sun is hot. The shoreline around Ford’s Cove is made of weather and water beaten sandstone. When the tide is low and the sun is out, these sandstone areas heat up pretty good and when the tide comes back it, it warms up the surrounding water. It’s also a tradition for Robyn’s family to go swimming off the rocks when the tide is right. Quite enjoyable to float around there watching the various boats come in and out of the marina. Occasionally harbour seals poke their head out too. On rare (very rare) occasions transient orcas may be spotted swimming through the channel.

When the tide is ultra-low (sub-tidal) it’s great to go looking for sea critters. We’ve seen starfish, sunstars, bullheads, various crabs, sea cucumbers and more! Just be careful as the lower areas are typically covered with slippery seaweed.

Granted there are other places where one might get into the water for a swim while on Hornby Island, though the ones mentioned above are the easier accessible ones to visitors. They also differ slightly which keeps them interesting.

Have you ever been to Hornby Island? If so, which is your favourite swimming/beach place to go?

Recently on a trip to Helliwell Provincial Park, Robyn and I came across and adult bald eagle perched in a tree. This particular raptor was lower than they sit typically so getting a few dozen photographs of him (or her) was not too painful.

He just sat there moving his head a little bit as Robyn and I stood there watching. We only hung out for about 20 minutes hoping he would take flight. The photo above is about a 50% crop overall, so if I had a larger lens, imagine the results.

Robyn took the above photos of me taking the eagle’s photos. Helps give you an idea of how low he was to the ground. Might not seem low, but for an eagle (to me) this is pretty low. For Robyn, this is also the closest she has been to a wild bald eagle.

We walked away and headed to a section of the bluffs that look over the water; a great place to sit and enjoy the view.

This time a younger bald eagle flew past us. You can tell it is younger due to the colouring on the head; it isn’t entirely white yet. This particular photo is a 100% crop, so the original shows the eagle quite small.

I am always on the look out for the eagles no matter where we are on Hornby Island. As long as we’re near the shoreline, we can typically 1 to 2 eagles in the vicinity. We cannot wait till the bald eagles head over to Brackendale though, that too is an impressive thing to see.

Day 1

We first take the Horseshoe Bay ferry to Naniamo and drive up the old highway. Stopped for gas in Parksville and noted how far the tide was out. Too bad we didn’t have more time, we would have hung out at the community beach for a little while. We then headed into Qualicum where we stopped off for some soft-serve ice-cream at the Beach Hut, played around on the beach for a while and stopped off at the Shady Rest Pub for some food.

Yes, the weather was a bit overcast with it threatening to rain. Though eventually later in the day the clouds parted a little bit and gave us some the sunshine we requested.

We arrived at Buckley Bay just in time to see the ferry leaving for Denman Island. It’s only about a 45 minute wait for the ferry to come back so the wait wasn’t that bad. The sun by this time was out and shinning down on us though.

If you have not been on the Denman to Hornby journey you’ll find yourself in a race with other cars across Denman Island to get to the Hornby Island ferry. It’s weird since the ferry typically waits for the people from the previous ferry. There are two ways to get to the Hornby Island ferry, but typically everyone takes the same road. You do need to drive a bit careful along it though as there is often deer on it, or next to it.

The silly thing about Ford’s Cove is that you can see it from the Hornby Island Ferry, but you have to drive ALL the way around the island to actually get to tit. Once we did arrive, we quickly unloaded and got into vacation mode.

Day 2

I typically wake up fairly early and let Robyn sleep in as much as possible. When I got up I heard the cry of an eagle. I grabbed my camera and headed down to the water to see if I could get a better look. It seems there is a resident eagle perch about 100 feet away from the cabin, though with my big lens, it still isn’t big enough to do the job properly.

There he is, just sitting perched on a branch. The funny thing is his body is actually facing the area where they (owner’s of Ford’s Cove) keep chickens.  As I type this, the eagle is there right now on the same perch watching over them, well at least I think the eagle is watching over the chickens. The photos above is heavily cropped so it might look like I am fairly close, I’m not.

Later that day Robyn and I headed over to Helliwell Provincial Park. I’ve written about this park before and have taken many a photo of it. We still highly enjoy walking around the high bluffs overloading the ocean. Instead of seeing eagles soaring on the thermals we did see many turkey vultures, just not close enough to get a good photo though. We also saw what we might have thought was a whale in the water near the shore. Something large and grey was moving along just off the shoreline below us in the water.

When we got back to the cabin it was time to go for a walk towards Heron Rocks. The walk consists of walking along sandstone as the water gentle laps against it.

The sandstone is pretty cool as the ocean’s water has worn it away over time. At lower tides you can check out the little critters that inhabit the sub-tidal area; starfish, sunstars, spider crabs and more.

When we got closer to Heron Rocks a juvenile bald eagle kept chirping away on in a tree. I did notice that there was an adult bald eagle in the area a few trees down from him, perhaps the juvenile was telling the adult he was still there? The adult just hung out on his perch and preened himself.

We headed back to the cabin and started dinner.

We enjoyed chicken and corn on the cob on the little habatchi (sp?) we brought along with us. We sat on the porch eating our bbq’d food and watching the sun set behind Denman Island. As usual, this place is not only beautiful, but also very relaxing. We also enjoyed a fun game of Crib too. Yup, Robyn was the red pegs and in the lead.

Today: We’ll be hitting up V0R1Z0’s for some coffee and their delicious cookies before we head over to Whaling Station Bay, Big Trib (Tribune Bay Park), the Co-op for some lunch meats, Small Trib for some beach action and whatever else we can think of. We’re also planning on heading to Helliwell again, but this evening to watch the sunset. We also noticed that local resident artist Graham Herbert had painted one of the nearby water towers, which I’ll definitively get a photo of today.

On a side note: The internet is pretty flaky and barely managed to upload my photos to Flickr on the local WiFi here. I had to switch over to my iPhone and tether off of it to write this blog post though. Yes, I am someone who enjoys being connected even when on vacation. It’s not work so it’s still enjoyable.

I don’t know the best way to describe the Pride Parade but this is the second year I have seen it and of course, photographed it. It is the most energetic, fun and colourful parade I have ever witnessed in a city. I guess the best way to describe it better would be just to show some of the photos I took.

Keith and I walked up and down the parade route during the day. We started near Robson and Nicola and slowly made our way down to Denman and Barclay shooting as much of the parade as possible. Yes I did manage to shoot 895 photos in total. I deleted 130 off the bat, though only posted 141 to share. It’s really hard to decided what photos to post online, but hopefully the ones I posted online help show the parade off.

You can check out the rest of the photos I uploaded over on my 2010 Vancouver Pride Parade set on Flickr.

The parade was long and enjoyable. The streets were crowded with spectators from all over the Lower-Mainland. The parade ended up at Sunset Beach for some more festivities, though I went home to process all my photos.

Did you get out to see the Pride Parade this year? If so did you enjoy it?

Upon waiting for the bus at Burrard and Georgia we started to become a little frustrated. We were trying to leave the downtown core, but it seems that Translink (our Transit Authority here) though it would be best to run back to back #5 (Robson Street Buses) constantly to accommodate all the people coming into Vancouver who wanted to get to English Bay. The bus we wanted (one that left the downtown core) never did come in the 30 minutes we waited for it. There was no route change signs, nothing. The fun thing that happened as we contemplated about getting a taxi, the thunderstorm that had happened in Whistler made it’s way to Vancouver. Lighting flashed, thunder clapped and the rain started. Remember last year, during the 3rd night of Fireworks we got a HUGE dump of rain? Same thing happened to us. We decided to head back to the West End and shoot the fireworks from there.

On to the photos!

The beach and surrounded area of English Bay (aka First Beach) was starting to fill up with people. Usually on a Saturday night for the fireworks there can be around 300,000 people, just here alone.

This was (I believe) the 15-minute-to burst. 9:15, 9:30, 9:45 and sometiems 9:50 they left small bursts to help keep the mass of people content. I overheard some people say they have been at the beach since 7AM that morning! Pretty crazy if you ask me, the longest I’ve waited was around noon I think, when I lived out in the valley.

China won the 2009 Celebration of Light and it was a team of Canadians that put together the show. Spain actually won this year competition and I believe all countries (USA, Spain & Mexico) did a great job.

You can also check out all of the photos I have uploaded online for the 2010 Celebration of Light over on my Flickr Photostream.

Other People’s Firework Photos:

I thought it would be fun to show off some other people’s firework photos from the Finale, so here are a few:

Flickr photo: PacificEagle

Flickr Photo: Hammond Photography

Flickr Photo: Susan Gittins

After chatting for a while I headed down towards Waterfront Station. As I got closer I noticed there was a cruise ship in port. The RCL logo was barely visible on the smoke stack of the ship, but I realized it was of the Radiance Class vessels from the Royal Caribbean Cruise line. Why is this special? Well it’s not really special, but I have been on her sister ship the Serenade of the Seas and I would love to be able to take another cruise sometime on this particular class of vessel or even the Oasis Class such as the Oasis of the Seas or the Allure of the Seas. I took a 7-night Alaskan cruise many years ago and every time I see the RCL ships in port it makes me want to go on another cruise.

Back to the purpose of this post. Not all that exciting of a photo right? The composition isn’t the greatest ether. It was shot at 70mm on my Canon 7D, which means its similar to shooting a 112mm on a full-frame camera. Not typically a wide-angle focal length and I could not move further back to get the entire ship in the frame with one shot. Too bad the bow of the ship is obscured by the walkway too. The shot is actually made up of 6 shots stitched with a programmed called AutoStitch, a neat bit of magic though. If you have never created a panoramic photo, I would suggest checking out the free program. You don’t need to make 360-degree panoramics, but being able to create a wider-angle shot than you could with your camera in 1 photograph can usually be extremely handy. It also can lead to some very interesting perspectives too!

What better way to create a wide-angle image without the need of a wide-angle lens? Granted, 6 shots as opposed to 1 shot is a bit much, but with a program like Autostitch, it really makes it fairly simple to do. Typically when you want to create a panoramic of photos, the best thing to do is ensure you overlap the edges of the photos. The above photos, as you can see, if you stacked them on top of one another would overlap. This helps reduce the alignment issues one might have when stitching. If you can also lock the Exposure of your camera to take multiple photos, this will also allow for a more natural look. Sometimes the camera might try and compensate for exposure throughout the image, using an AE Lock (exposure lock) can make sure the lighting on the subject stays relatively the same throughout all shots taken.

So my task for you, go out there and create some wider-angle or panoramic shots using a program such as Autostitch!