Photos From Photowalks

Many people who know me, know that I am usually holding my camera no matter where I go, or at least bring it along with me. With the recent stretch of sunny days here in Vancouver, I definitely try and get out as much as possible to soak up as much Vitamin D as possible. Now I tend to travel similar routes on my little photowalks, but I try and think of different things to take photos of. Usually I seem to take similar photos so a lot of them do not go online. It’s practice right? How many times does someone need to see a Mallard, or a Great Blue Heron eh?

So for something different what did I do? Nothing terribly different, but it ended up being kind of cool. I stood at the end point of Canada Place with my kit lens (EF-S 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 IS) and took a single photo. When I got home I ran it through PhotomatixPro and did a bit of cloning out with Photoshop CS4. The photo below is what turned out from a single exposure. Don’t forget, you can click on the photos to see a larger version of them!

I’m sure most people have seen this photo as it has been on my Flickr Photostream for a few days now, but I thought I would post it here. I have also been thinking about doing a ‘Photo-A-Day’ series. It wouldn’t be that hard to do, I have enough photos to post 1 per day. Whether or not they are decent photos is another story though.

Robyn recently also created a planter for our balcony not only for us to enjoy, but the local birds seem to like it as well. We get daily visitors of common house finches. The female seemed to take to the plants more as she kept trying to eat the leaves.

One of my favorite little walks is around Lost Lagoon. There are a couple of reasons why I like it; it’s local, easy to get to and there is always something to take a photo of. It never fails to show me some hidden secret that I am sure not many people see, unless you visit as often as I visit.

Did you ever know an otter lives in Lost Lagoon? I didn’t, until I saw this guy break branches in the water and carry them off to his little hiding spot. Perhaps I’ll see him again, perhaps not.

If you want to see Lost Lagoon in its prime, I would suggest even later in the evening (the Raccoons are usually out there too) or early in the morning as the sun rises. The less Tourists in the area, but more wildlife you will see and the more you will appreciate it, or at least I do. I just hope to get photos of the Mute Swan goslings, if they ever hatch.

The more I walk around the city, the park, the lagoon, the more I wish I had a macro lens too. Particularly the Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro lens. This would be great to take shots of the flowers in bloom as well as the smaller life we tend to ignore such as bees.

One of these days I should perhaps set up a Photowalk around Lost Lagoon, or the near by areas. Who would be interested in doing a Photowalk?