Sunday, July 31, 2011

Day 131: Clear nights

After a deluge the night before it was a real treat for normal service to resume this evening. The night was cooler than when we arrived but we still found it comfortable to lie on the dock and stare up at the myriad stars above us. The sky looked dark from north to south, and I couldn't resist some long exposure photos to try and capture the Milky Way. To my surprise, the photo taken looking south towards Sagittarius showed clear signs of light pollution. I'm not sure I know where it was coming from, but it was bright enough to show up reflected in the lake. I took a shot to the north just to convince myself that this wasn't some bizarre aurora and sure enough its horizon was dark. That said, it was wonderful to take a picture and see the Milky Way so clearly. Just wonderful.

Southern skies at Klein Lake
Klein Lake, 31 Jul 2011
Technical info: ISO 3200, 30 sec at f/4.5. Default JPG processing in-camera. A smidgeon of noise reduction and sharpening in post-processing.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Day 130: Flowers of a different kind

This year we seem to be re-visiting places we first went five years ago. This weekend is the BC-day long weekend, and we had arranged to spend it on the Sunshine Coast, taking in some spots we visited back in 2006. The main driver was a boat trip to Princess Louisa Inlet (tomorrow) but we were also drawn back by the fact that this weekend would see strong tides at the Skookumchuck Narrows. Back in 2006 we'd seen the narrows at a medium tide, and there really wasn't much to see - a few whirlpools and some gentle rapids (if that makes sense...). The tide didn't get particularly low so the rock pools weren't visible.

But the rapids (which were quite spectacular today) were pushed into second place by our discovery of what can only be described as a grove of Indian Pipe. Like the more commonly-seen coralroot and pinesap, Indian Pipe obtains its nutrients from decaying matter rather than by photosynthesis. It has no chlorophyll and indeed almost no colouring at all so it appears as a ghostly white plant on the forest floor (it's also known as the ghost plant). We'd seen in only once before on Vancouver Island in 2005, so I was over the moon to see it again. I couldn't believe that so much of it was growing so close to the busy trail. At one spot, it was growing everywhere and I was spoiled for choice of flowers to photograph. In the end I settled on this large "bunch" :-)

A bunch of Indian Pipe
Skookumchuck Narrows, 30 Jul 2011

Friday, July 29, 2011

Day 129: A view of a view we didn't have

A couple of years ago we hiked to the summit of Mt Harvey, gaining 1450 m in elevation, and saw nothing from the summit. I suppose that's not quite true as we could see around us quite well, but we were pretty much in the clouds and could see none of the spectacular view that we'd seen in other photographs. And to some extent we could occasionally see straight down the precipitous north face, though the usual dizzying experience of looking over the edge was mitigated by the mist and cloud.

Seen from the ferry (in this case heading to the Sunshine Coast for the second time this year) Mt Harvey looks daunting: a narrow ridge leading to a small steep-sided summit. Before we did that hike I couldn't imagine tackling it, as it looked too difficult. But we enjoyed the hike anyway and I would still like to repeat it on a fine day. I like this view of Harvey as it includes the sweeping western flank which the trail follows up to the ridge. Adjoining the peak is the sub-summit known locally as the Pup (or Harvey's Pup), 150 m below. I can't see me ever getting to that particular summit...

Mt Harvey
Sunshine Coast, 29 Jul 2011

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Day 128: Long ships

But fortunately not of the Viking variety... ;-)

Perhaps we're beginning to get a summer after all. A fine morning and I found myself biking to work via the beach route. I stopped off at the far western end of Spanish Banks to admire the view before tackling the hill. The tide was low and I was hoping to see some eagles. That hope was in vain, and although I saw one it was too far away to photograph. But this ship caught my eye. Through the lens, it looked long and thin (almost sleek) and dominated the scene. The line of the ship was echoed by the alternating water and sand on the beach. The telephoto lens compressed the distance and made it look even bigger behind the people walking their dogs down at the low-tide line. I looked up the name of the ship and found that it's 300 m (1000 ft) long. That's a long ship.

Azul Legenda
Spanish Banks, 28 Jul 2011

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Day 127: Berry nice

Last week I noticed a bush laden with ripening blueberries. (At least they look like blueberries - I'm not entirely sure, so I'm a little hesitant to try them.) Today I thought I'd try some nice close-up macro berry photos. Except the breeze had other ideas and although I got a couple of good-enough shots, on the whole it was really difficult to get what I was after. As I was hunting for good berries to photograph, I could hear starlings deeper in the bushes. I didn't pay them much attention (they're just starlings, after all) but some movement caught my eye and I found myself with a clear line of sight to one bird about 2 metres away. I stopped moving, and waited for it to move into a more photogenic position - which didn't happen, so I didn't get the photo I was after there either.

In the meantime another starling had flown into the top of the bush I was next to, and with a little movement to my right, I could get a reasonable view of it feasting on the berries. A quick fiddle with the camera to make sure it didn't over-expose the shot, and I was able to focus on the bird while it was feeding. I waited for it to grab another berry and took the photo as it lifted its head. What I didn't see at the time was how the bird tossed the berry into the air and caught it - and to my surprise my photo had captured that very moment.

Berry nice thank you
UBC, 27 Jul 2011

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Day 126: Red

Today's pic is of a bright red fire hydrant, one of many I cycle past on my way to/from work. A couple of weeks ago the sight of these hydrants gleaming in the sun inspired me to attempt a colour theme as a way to add some purpose to the picture taking. Starting with red, I figured I might as well go through the colours of the rainbow: ROYGBIV. I was taught the mnemonic at school that "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain" as a way to remember the order of the colours. Funnily enough, tonight we're going to see Shakespeare's Richard III at Bard on the Beach, the very same Richard as in the rainbow ditty.

Way back in 1982 I bought a copy of the Rush album Signals, which has a bright red fire hydrant on the cover. That colour and type of hydrant defined North America to me, so I was a little disappointed (!) when we moved to Maryland in 2000 to find that the local hydrants were painted a now-fading yellow. Rarely do I remember finding red hydrants in the US, but Vancouver is full of them and now they've become part of every day life, to the point where I barely notice them any more.

I stopped at this particular hydrant because it was surrounded by freshly-mown grass and the red-green contrast ensured a bright picture on this dull day. I noticed something white on the top, which I initially thought was a white shoelace. On closer inspection I saw that in fact it was pair of iPod headphones. Somehow the way they were draped made it look like that hydrant was wearing them, so I rearranged them a little to put the earbuds in the right place. Coupled with the kinda face-like profile of the hydrant, now it really looked like it was listening to music :-)

Fire hydrant enjoying some fine music
Point Grey, 26 Jul 2011

Monday, July 25, 2011

Day 125: Blue Vancouver

As has happened a few times, I had another photo lined up for today, and ended up using something different :-) I wasn't too happy with what I'd taken earlier and so ended up squeezing in some time down at Kits Beach yet again (popular place for me on a Monday night). I was rapidly losing light and the sunset was nowhere near as colourful as last night's. I went down to the waterline and was hit by a blast of cool air as the wind tore across English Bay. Brr. (It's July, remember?) The light was fading to blue and I positioned a rock in the foreground with the word "LOVE" stencilled on it. It was too dark to get the depth of field right, and probably too windy for a tripod (well, for our tripod at least :-) so that's my excuse for the city being slightly out-of-focus. But I think it works well enough - it's a different kind of shot than any other so far in this project, so I'm happy.

Blue Vancouver
Kits Beach, 25 Jul 2011

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Day 124: Of sunsets

Sunsets are probably the most common photograph taken from our balcony. When we first moved in (and especially after getting what is now our much-maligned "old" camera) I took lots and lots of sunset photos. Even now I have to work hard at resisting the temptation to record every single colourful sunset I see. So it takes something special to get excited about a sunset and coming home on the ferry, tonight's sunset was spectacular. Great colours, but even more importantly, a few clouds in just the right places to catch the pink light against the deepening blue sky. Our timing was perfect as the ferry left Active Pass and sailed into the open waters of the Salish Sea (or Strait of Georgia depending on which name you prefer). The port side of the ship was pretty crowded...

Salish Sea sunset
Strait of Georgia, 24 Jul 2011

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Day 123: The a-peel of trees

One of the many trees I've come to love on the west coast is the arbutus. It's a striking evergreen tree, with ruddy bark which peels off every year, revealing paler wood below. However, it's not a fir- or pine-type evergreen - it's more like a Mediterranean plant, with big waxy leaves. And as you'd expect, it grows in warm, dry spots such as south-facing rocky slopes. There are a few around Vancouver, but not that many. The bluffs of West Vancouver and along part of the Sea-to-Sky highway towards Squamish are good places to see them, as is the Sunshine Coast, southern Gulf Islands and southern Vancouver Island too.

When we first moved here, we noticed that one of the streets in Kitsilano is called Arbutus Street, but we weren't quite sure how it should be pronounced. Fortunately the bus drivers came to our rescue, as they called out the names of the streets en route. (That job is done by an automatic announcer now, which is sadly often indistinguishable and sometimes unintelligible.) And so we learned it was pronounced "arr-BYOO-tus", and not "ARR-buh-tus". Thanks to the ever-reliable Pojar & Mackinnon we also learned its alternative name, the Pacific madrone, a name that the Americans tend to use more often. Personally I rather like arbutus. Today's photo is one such tree, well into its peel, located near the home of the parents of a friend of ours on Vancouver Island.

Peeling arbutus tree
Witty's Lagoon, 23 Jul 2011

Friday, July 22, 2011

Day 122: Having a whale of a time

Today is the 22nd of July, one of two possible so-called "pi-days" in the year: 22/7, which as everyone learns in school is a reasonable approximation to pi (to 2 decimal places). The other day is the 14th of March, but that only works for people who use the American style of reporting the date - 3.14 (also to 2 decimal places). An interesting side note is that the American pi day will gain two more decimal places of accuracy in 2015, when 14th March can be written as 3.1415.

I was going to celebrate pi day by taking a picture of a drawing of a cake shaped as the letter pi which was scrawled on the blackboard outside my office a few weeks back. But then we took the ferry to Vancouver Island and saw orcas :-) How could I resist using an orca photo? That means I've seen orcas on the last three ferry trips to/from Vancouver Island, and in pretty much the same place each time too.

On another note, this post marks the one-third point of this project. Yikes! There have been a few (dreary) days lately where I really haven't felt like taking pictures. Have to keep working on that for the winter!

Orcas in Active Pass
Active Pass, 22 Jul 2011

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Day 121: Eagle eyes

Well, not so much an eagle as a vulture. We don't see too many turkey vultures in the Vancouver area, though they are common in the Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island. I always liked seeing them when we lived in Maryland and distinctly remember encountering a group of half-a-dozen or more in the middle of a quiet back-road somewhere in Maryland or Virginia. So it was a pleasant surprise to see a pair of them on my bike road home from work on a sunny Thursday. A bald eagle was perched in a nearby tree, and would occasionally look up at the vultures, casting an eagle-eye on them...

Turkey vulture
UBC, 21 Jul 2011

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Day 120: Ladybird, ladybird

"Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home - your house is on fire, and your children are alone."

What a strange children's rhyme that is. Strikes me as a little bizarre. Wikipedia has a page discussing it, which seems to come down to ladybirds being regarded as lucky and/or it being unlucky to kill one (much like killing spiders is supposed to bring rain).

Anyhow, ladybirds seem to be one of the few creepy-crawlies that don't gross people out in one way or another. I've always liked them :-) Here's one crawling over the yarrow flowers near where I took a similar picture.

Ladybird, ladybird
UBC, 20 Jul 2011

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Day 119: Out of ideas

Today passed with me not finding or even thinking of what I could photograph. In the end I returned to the same flower bed as last week and took a few pictures. Nothing really worked - many of the flowers are beginning to die back, and I found the rest were looking too samey, and too similar to what I already had. Included in my targets were a couple of tall clover flowers, nicely lit up by the weak afternoon sunshine against a blue sky. In the end I decided to go with one of those as I don't yet have a clover picture in this project. It's not a particularly satisfying shot - the colours aren't that great - and it feels like I've included it for the wrong reason. But maybe I'm being too much of a purist? What more should I be asking of this project? It's to record a photo a day isn't it?

Towering clover
UBC, 19 Jul 2011

Monday, July 18, 2011

Day 118: Acrobatics at sunset

There we were on Kits Beach for a nice sunset when we saw something a little different. A group of people had buried a bright pink-orange exercise ball in the sand, leaving only a few inches exposed, and proceeded to use it as a springboard for some acrobatics. Indeed some of it was quite acrobatic and fun to watch - they had an audience in moments, and I managed to get a few photos despite the low light.

Beach acrobatics
Kits Beach, 18 Jul 2011

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Day 117: Big trees

Stanley Park never ceases to surprise me. I love walking the seawall, and I have a handful of places to which I return to see a favourite tree, view, or piece of public art. Today we parked up somewhere we'd always driven past before and picked out a circuit on the park map, taking in some familiar scenes as well as a couple of trails we hadn't walked before. We set off to walk the trails we knew first, passing through the recovering storm-damaged forest, and discovering new (to us) giant cedars. That would have been a good enough discovery in itself, but along the return journey we found many more including an enormous trio, merged at the bottom to form one giant red cedar base. We couldn't believe our eyes and spent some time taking a closer look, trying to get a good angle for a picture. I think we need a wider-angle lens :-)

We finished our loop and drove on to take in the smell of the sea at Third Beach. One minute deep in giant forest, the next by the sea. What a place. It really is Vancouver's gem.

A tree-o of cedars
Stanley Park, 17 Jul 2011

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Day 116: Chard and cherries

With a weather forecast of liquid sunshine, we thought that this weekend would be the ideal time to sample one of Vancouver's farmers' market. We'd been to the one in Kitsilano a couple of years ago, and I guess it was early in the season because the only things for sale were frozen fruit or salad greens. This time went over to East Vancouver's market at Trout Lake, and I was looking forward to getting some colourful photos of all the fresh produce.

Except it was raining as if the clouds had to get rid of it all before the day was done. Just pouring down, and the camera stayed well and truly hidden away. Maybe I should have brought along the old camera, as I wouldn't have been so bothered about it getting wet. Anyhow, we spent our money on fresh Swiss chard, red-leaved lettuce, two types of cherries, a punnet of strawberries, potatoes, some sockeye salmon and pork tenderloin, a mixed bag of three varieties of mushrooms (mushroom risotto!), a loaf of bread and a bag of the subject of today's photo, heirloom tomatoes.

I first tried heirloom varieties of tomatoes at the Kits farmers' market and was really impressed with the flavour, despite them looking nothing like the shiny red orbs we all know. We walked past the tomato stall as we did our first circuit of the market stalls, and noticed that most of them had gone by the time we got back there. No matter, really - just having any of them would do, and so we filled a bag with a load that we liked the look of, and a few that didn't look so great but we were sure would still taste good.

My disappointment with today's photo is having to rely on a boring "still life" composition at home, rather than something more organic (no pun intended!). But it'll do.

Heirloom tomatoes
Tomatoes, 16 Jul 2011

Friday, July 15, 2011

Day 115: Concrete meadows

Told you I'd come back to these flowers :-) Today's photo is wider view of the flower bed in which I took a photo of the pink cornflower from a couple of days ago. I don't normally like to revisit somewhere so soon, but I just know that once these flowers start to wilt, they'll be dug up and replaced with something more garish.

This is the second photo I took today: the first one was just as good, but was taken with the usual settings I like to use, which meant that the background flowers were out of focus. One of the main differences between the old compact camera and the new SLR is the depth-of-field (or how much you can keep in focus): the SLR has a shallower depth of field (for a given aperture). Sometimes that works to the photographer's advantage, sometimes it's a pain - it's definitely caught us out on several occasions. Depth of field goes up for smaller apertures (bigger f-numbers), but a smaller aperture means less light, which means blurry pictures are more likely (unless you have a tripod).

So back to today's photograph. I increased the f-number to 22 (from 8), and although the exposure time was quite long (1/25 s if you want to know) the photo came out sharp, and with (almost) all the flowers in lovely focus. :-) It worked!

Mini meadow
UBC, 15 Jul 2011

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Day 114: Sh-hawks

I'd been wondering why a pair of seagulls seemed so ready to start squawking and making "intruder alert" calls. Twice today on my walk around with the camera I heard them, and only on one occasion did I see an eagle. Even from my desk I have heard the anguished cries of the parent gulls. Not that I feel particularly sympathetic towards them, after the experience of being on the receiving end of their defence tactics when a pair nested on the roof of our apartment building. They're not called shite-hawks for nothing.

As I watched the seagulls return, one of them landed in the usual place on top of the Ladner Carillon, and the other landed in a small cutaway at the apex of the library roof (what used to be the science library, now the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre), a nook where a statue might have once lived. That roused my suspicion, and I trained the long lens on it and sure enough I could see movement against the stonework. I snapped a few shots and confirmed that there were at least two seagull chicks there. For a moment I thought there might be three, but the photos show only two. I'm just glad I could get that photo from a safe distance, as I risked my life (well, kinda) taking the last seagull chick photo :-)

Seagulls nesting on the library
UBC, 14 Jul 2011

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Day 113: Back to flowers

After a very brief respite (a whole week!), I'm back to the flower photos again today :-) A dull day, sunny at times, threatening rain at others. I went over for my afternoon coffee and slung the (old) camera over my shoulder. From the Student Union Building, I went out of the north doors and past a large flower bed which had recently been planted with a pleasant-looking assortment of flowers. I found myself drawn to it as it looked much more like a wildflower meadow than planters and flower beds usually do. I very much doubt any of the flowers there are actually wild varieties, but I did recognize cornflower, which I have seen in the wild. The wind kept blowing the flower heads around, so I couldn't get a good photo of the blue flowers, but I was able to get a nice shot of a pink variety which I'm very happy with. I think I'll be returning to this bed for other shots (before they get ripped out and replaced with something else).

Pink cornflower
UBC, 13 Jul 2011

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Day 112: "Tell us why you like Vancouver"

Tonight we were down at Kits Beach as Maria and the rest of Tiddley Cove Morris dancers were joined by the Vancouver Morris Men and a visiting side from somewhere east of the Rockies called Thames Valley International for a couple of hours of dancing on the beach. Or in the parking lot, as it turned out. At some point, a couple of girls walked by looking to interview people as to why they liked Vancouver, and they ended up talking to Maria. I saw that and quickly sized up a shot of the three of them against the bright sea and sky. I don't know what was said but it looked like everyone was happy :-)

"Tell us why you like Vancouver"
Kits Beach, 12 Jul 2011

Monday, July 11, 2011

Day 111: Spiky

In the words of Bilbo Baggins, today is the eleventy-first day of the project, a cricket score that used to prompt umpire David Shepherd lift one or other foot off the ground. One hundred and eleven years ago was 1900, the beginning of the twentieth century (and we've lived in North America for eleven of those). One hundred and eleven months ago we lived in Greenbelt, MD. One hundred and eleven weeks ago I got up at 4 am to go photograph sunrise :-)

This morning I opened the freezer and noticed that several of the ice cubes in the tray I'd put in last night were growing little spikes. I'd seen other people's photos of these spikes but never seen them in any of our own cubes, so I couldn't resist making this today's photo. I could claim that there were three of these spikes (which could look like 111 if lined up alongside one another) but alas there were four... :-D

It's easy to explain, and their appearance seems to require pure water. Maybe I used the filtered water? Maybe we had a particularly clean batch of tap water? I don't know - I tried it again and it didn't work, so who knows...

Ice spike
Ice spike, 11 Jul 2011

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Day 110: At the bog

Yes, you read that right: at the bog. Not "on" the bog, but at it. Camosun Bog on the eastern edge of Pacific Spirit Park, and I've wanted to go there for a while because I'd read that sundew, a carnivorous plant, grew there. I didn't get any good shots of them, but I was staggered to see just how much was growing there. And remarkably, there are information boards about almost every other bog plant except sundew, the most interesting, or at least unusual (if you don't find tiny carnivorous plants interesting :-), plant there.

Part of the bog was bathed in warm sunshine and I remembered to put on some sunscreen (yay!). The walk along the boardwalk was peaceful and warm, and I slowed to something less than a crawl as I savoured the sun, the scent of the trees and the sight of the laden blueberry and red huckleberry bushes. As I walked, I disturbed a large dragonfly or two. I stopped to see if they would land again, and sure enough one landed on a nearby Saskatoon berry bush. I peered at it through the lens and noticed that its jaws were moving - it must be eating something it has just caught. I quickly took half-a-dozen photos and when I got home I checked to see if I was imagining it. Sure enough, look closely at the photo below and you might just see the head of an insect it is devouring.

Feasting dragonfly
Camosun Bog, 10 Jul 2011

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Day 109: A mountain called Garibaldi

Remember when Maria was in Seattle at Folklife? Same thing happened today. I ended up hiking solo again, but chose what I thought would be a busy trail so that I'd be found if something happened :-) As it turned out I saw no one on the way up, and maybe a dozen people on the way back: the first time we did this hike, our group alone was 22 people! I left the car at 7 am (ahem...!) and wended my way uphill, into the snow and over to the lovely just-beginning-to-melt Elfin Lakes.

As I reached the treeline in Red Heather meadows I caught a glimpse of a big mountain to my left. The clouds had just parted enough, and the gap in the trees was the perfect size to give me a beautifully-framed view of Atwell Peak, on the south side of Garibaldi. I thought it was a nice view at the time, and I grabbed it mostly because I didn't think I'd get another clear view. As it happened, I was right on that count: the clouds descended and I never saw the summit again.

Looking at the picture full size on the computer screen at home I found myself gawping at the detail. I like mountain photos, but it's rare that one really stands out as an amazing picture. I'd like to think that this photo is one of them.

Atwell Peak in morning light
Elfin Lakes, 9 Jul 2011

I don't normally upload large photos to Flickr, but this one blew me away and I simply had to make it a bigger photo than usual. Click on it, then click on it again to see it larger. If you're one of our Flickr contacts, you'll have the option to view "original size". Do it and let the picture fill your screen.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Day 108: The sun sets on another day

I don't normally like waiting until the end of the day to get my photo, but I spent all of today indoors without having much inclination to head outside, despite the fine weather. Looking through my Flickr set for this project I realized that I have almost no sunset photos so far.

I kept an eye on the sky and figured that there might be some colour in tonight's sunset. A little after 8 pm I picked up the camera and cycled down to Kits Beach. I was greeted by music as I reached the outdoor pool, and as I listened I found myself thinking, "Sounds a bit like the Brothers from Waiauhuluhula Bay" which is my standard reaction to Hawaiian music ever since one stay at Uncle Billy's in Hilo where I swear one of the songs had that title (or something like that). Or was it the band? I can't remember exactly.

As I got nearer I realized it was indeed Hawaiian music and on the stage at the Kitsilano Showboat was a group of young Hula dancers. I snapped a couple of photos, as it looked quite incongruous before making my way down to the beach to watch the sunset. As it got darker I wondered if I had miscalculated and began hoping that one of the hula photos might work. I was just about to leave the beach when I looked up and saw the clouds were lighting up intense pink in the west. In particular, the clouds directly over (and around) Mt Elphinstone on the Sunshine Coast were lit up brightly - that was my picture. I snapped away making sure I had it covered, then turned on my bike lights and pedalled home.

Pink clouds surround Mt Elphinstone
Sunset, 8 Jul 2011

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Day 107: Crow calling

Over the last month or so we've had a young crow hang out on our balcony. Some mornings I've been up around sunrise and have been greeted by this youngster cawing away at 5 in the morning. I've tried on several occasions to get a photo but usually it's flown off by the time I've grabbed the camera. I was getting ready for work when I heard that familiar sound: "Caw!" Fortunately the long lens was already on the camera, and the camera was out on the dining table, and the blinds were open, and the young crow was perched right in front of the balcony door. All I had to do was turn on the camera, aim it and grab a few shots. The good thing about it being a young crow is that it's not yet startled by a little movement so I was able to move slowly and get right up to the door. I was happy with the few shots I got, and was ready to quit when the crow ruffled its feathers and called to its nearby parent. One more click and I got the photo below :-)

Feed me!
Young crow, 7 Jul 2011

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Day 106: Hardy laurel

Today's photo is one of those surprise photos. I had gone out to look for a few possible photos of flowers I'd spotted in the days before, or of the moon which was rising at about lunchtime, when I noticed the laurel bushes in flower. I much prefer the laurel to the rhododendron or azalea. Maybe it's the geometric shape of the flowers, or maybe it's the shape of the new buds which remind me of the little iced gem biscuits I liked as a kid. (Thinking about it, I'm not sure I really did like them - maybe it was the tin they came in?)

I suspect these days that a larger factor is that we've seen a couple of wild, native varieties while hiking. When we lived near Washington, DC, we hiked in Shendanoah National Park, hoping to catch the mountain laurel in bloom in May and June. Here in BC, we're always on the lookout for kalmia or bog laurel, with a deep pink flower and only a few inches high, found in wet alpine and sub-alpine meadows. Which reminds me, surely some must be beginning to bloom up there...

Laurel in flower
UBC, 6 Jun 2011

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Day 105: Poppies

Finally, a poppy photo that worked! I must have taken a couple of dozen California poppy photos over the last few weeks, and haven't been happy with any of them. I've found that it's very hard to get the open poppies to look good, whether edge-on or face-on, and in bright sunshine the orangey-yellow saturates the red channel on the camera very easily so the colours just don't look right.

I tried a few test shots on a dull day when the poppies were furled up, and decided I liked that view better the fully open flowers. Although today was bright and sunny, I was able to find one lone poppy that was yet to unfurl, and with some experimentation I managed to get the exposure about right - not too over-exposed - and it took only a little bit of fiddling to get the colour right. Now I can leave them alone :-)

California poppy
UBC, 5 Jul 2011

Monday, July 4, 2011

Day 104: The opening act

Back at work on a gorgeous "soaring eagle" kind of day; blue skies from horizon to horizon. It felt like summer had arrived. I went for my usual post-lunchtime wander around the nearby flower garden, trying to get a good poppy photo as usual. Hedging my bets, I took a closer look at some dandelions, a few of which were just beginning to open. Somehow I got the idea of making the deep blue sky the backdrop for the glaring yellow flowers, and took a couple of shots. I liked this one in particular as the flower is just opening, making it more interesting than the usual dandelion picture, and its yellow, pollen-coated stamens are pin-sharp against the blue sky.

The opening act
UBC, 4 Jul 2011

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Day 103: Watering holes

We began the day drinking cold lightly-carbonated water from a hole in the ground, and finished it by drinking cold lightly-carbonated beer at the Noble Pig brewhouse. The Ray mineral spring is like a small water volcano made of travertine, precipitated calcium carbonate. The water bubbles up constantly and flows out of a narrow channel onto the surrounding meadow, which has effectively been paved with the dissolved minerals.

The short hike to the spring was almost mosquito-free, but at the spring itself (at the edge of a boggy meadow, admittedly), they were out in force. We still made time to sample the water, which was pleasantly fizzy with a metallic aftertaste. We all found it intriguing enough to go back for a second, third and fourth handful, and lamented the fact that we'd left our water bottles in the car. We'll know next time.

Having had enough of the mosquitoes we turned and headed back to the car. Maria was in front, Merewyn close behind with me then Andrew a few metres back. Maria rounded a bend in the trail and came to a dead stop, suddenly saying in a loud calm voice "Hello bear!" We all ground to a halt, and I have a vivid mental picture of a healthy-looking medium-sized black bear standing in the middle of the narrow trail, barely 10 feet in front of Maria and Merewyn. I fancy it had a surprised expression but that's probably just my imagination. We retreated a few metres, maintaining our raised voice banter of "Hello bear", "Just letting you know we're here", "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you" for a minute or two before venturing around the corner to see if it was still there. The bear had calmly moved off the trail into the undergrowth, snapping a few branches as it went (perhaps as a show of displeasure). We hurried past saying farewell to the bear, and I could make out its ears among the leaves and branches as I walked by. I snapped a photo but you really can't tell there's a bear in there :-) I think that was our closest bear encounter to date.

A hole in the ground
Ray Mineral Spring, 3 Jul 2011

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Day 102: Wowed by waterfalls

To say that Helmcken Falls is impressive is a huge understatement. I'd seen a few photos online, and read other people's descriptions of them but none of that prepared me for the spectacle. The falls drop 140 m into a heart-shaped amphitheatre, carved into a massive gorge with sheer walls. Layers of successive lava flows can be seen in the cliffs, some of them towers of columnar basalt which would be impressive in themselves if found anywhere else. Down at river level, the canyon is lined with bright green trees and shrubs.

This is the view from the tourist overlook, barely a minute's walk from the car. After seeing the falls from this angle, we drove round to the other side and hiked the 3-km trail to the opposite canyon rim. That was an even more visceral experience, being closer to the falls themselves, plus having no safety fence to stop you plummeting over the edge. Needless to say, we were all extremely careful in placing our feet. The view was literally quite dizzying (as described in the guide book) and we were all thankful for the illusion of safety by hanging on to various trees. Well worth seeing, despite the mosquitoes. Video clips from each side are here and here.

Helmcken Falls
Helmcken Falls, 2 Jul 2011

Friday, July 1, 2011

Day 101: Welcome to Wells Gray

The Wells Gray welcoming committee greeted us within moments of setting off on our first little hike. By "welcoming committee" I mean a biblical swarm of blood-thirsty mosquitoes. I'd read about the bug populations in the park but hadn't really taken on board what it might mean, which may account for why we forgot to pack any insect repellent. Barely twenty minutes into our first hike, we decided we'd had enough and donned our bug nets and long sleeved-layers. I put on my waterproof jacket, partly because we were subjected to occasional showers but mostly to stop the mosquitoes eating me alive. My hands still suffered, of course - putting on gloves would have been far too warm.

We reached our destination of the 10-m high basalt columns known as Easter Bluffs, and came across a mother grouse and her one remaining chick as we were searching for a lunch spot. For just long enough, the mosquitoes abated. To our amazement, she allowed us to approach quite closely, and we spent several minutes taking dozens of close-up grouse photos. The ones of the little chick came out nicely, and at that I knew I had today's photo. I even took a short video clip where the chick's peeping calls can be heard.

Grouselet
Easter Bluffs, 1 Jul 2011