Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Day 344: Many paths

I've used three approaches to getting up Grouse Mountain: the gondola, the Grouse Grind and the adjacent BCMC trail. Cleary, riding the gondola is the easiest, but there's no doubt that the BCMC trail is far nicer than the staircase that is the Grind. As the saying goes, "One journey, many paths", which is a comment on life and how there are many ways to lead it. Last night's fresh snowfall meant I could get a picture of the entire mountainside blanketed in white. I like the way that the snow really shows up the deep gulleys and drainage systems on the mountain; not a pleasant place to end up. A surprise was how the snow also highlights the swath of smaller trees marking the path taken by the gondola.

Click through to Flickr to see a couple of notes about where the hiking trails are.

Grouse ascents
Grouse Mountain, 29 Feb 2012

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Day 343: The Journey

Today's after-coffee wander took me past some blooming oregon grape which I was convinced would be today's subject. But the sleet and bitterly cold wind drove me on in search of other things, eventually forcing me inside the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Going through the doors of the old section, I looked around at the stained-glass windows to see if any of those would work. Unfortunately the most interesting panes could only be photographed from an acute angle, so I wandered on until I was stopped in my tracks by a piece of First Nations art on the wall. Striking in its circular simplicity and triangular arrangement of faces and eagle profiles, the mixture of warm-coloured wood and etched glass is just so simple, yet so effective and so appealing (as faces tend to be). I sized up my shot, noting that the camera wanted a 0.4 second exposure. Time to lean on the banister and practice stillness; I pressed down on the shutter release gently, keeping my finger down for three shots in a row. All three worked, so here's the first.

The Journey, by Brent Sparrow
UBC, 28 Feb 2012

Monday, February 27, 2012

Day 342: Vancouver at night

I'd taken some mediocre shots during the day, but it wasn't until the evening when I saw how calm the water was that I knew what picture I wanted. I drove down to Kits outdoor pool and set up the tripod on a small grassy patch with a clear view of the city. I should have brought the remote shutter release or used the timer as most of my photos showed signs of camera movement as the tripod settled (it's not the sturdiest tripod), but fortunately three photos turned out perfectly. Then it was just a matter of choosing the preferred scene - I like the fact that the mountains can be seen behind the city in this one. One other thing I should have done when shooting this scene: I should have used the in-camera correction for lens distortion, as the curvature of the reflections is pretty obvious near the edges of the photo. I could get rid of that if I processed it from raw but that's something I've yet to get into.

Vancouver skyline at night
Kits Beach, 27 Feb 2012

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Day 341: The otter and the beaver

A wander downtown on a fine but chilly Sunday. Getting a photo of the floatplanes here in Coal Harbour has been high on my photographic to-do list for this project, and today was a good day for it. I could have got closer by walking round to the west side of the convention centre, but that wasn't the direction we were going today. We watched several planes take off and land (do float planes "land" on water?), but it was this shot of two together that I liked best. The smaller plane on the left is a de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, like the one we flew in to reach the beginning of the Nootka Trail; the larger aircraft is a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter. I've always liked aircraft, and I could watch these all day.

Floatplane greeting
Coal Harbour, 26 Feb 2012

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Day 340: Breezy

Wow - Vancouver is rarely windy, but this winter has been quite exceptional. I was woken up by the wind at 5:30 this morning: I thought it was thunder. Knowing what the waves would be like down by the water I dragged Maria to the beach to get sand-blasted. I was disappointed to find that the tide was low, and the waves were far away so I couldn't get the picture I had in mind. On our way back to the car, the wind was whipping up the sand into an ankle-blasting storm, and a family of three was making its way across the beach, heads bowed against the wind. With the city as backdrop it made the perfect second-best shot for today.

A bracing walk on the beach
Locarno Beach, 25 Feb 2012

Friday, February 24, 2012

Day 339: Bagelry

I remember discovering bagels in the late 1990s. They were tough, chewy rings of dense bread that didn't work with standard toast toppings of butter and marmalade or jam. Then I tried them with cream cheese (at Einstein Bagels in Las Vegas if I remember correctly), and haven't looked back. I was delighted to find Einstein Bagels again when we moved to Maryland - we even lived within a block of one store for a while and it was a regular weekend breakfast. Imagine how happy I was to find another good bagel place so close to home in Vancouver. It's a toss-up between Solly's and Siegel's - Siegel's has a bigger range of flavours, and to have one of their bagels fresh out the wood-fired oven is a sublime experience, but Solly's is closer, and they serve Ethical Bean coffee...

And of course 3 times 3 is 9.

Solly's bagelry
Kitsilano, 24 Feb 2012

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Day 338: The upside-down tree

Yes, really. I laughed when I first heard about this - a tree that had apparently been re-planted upside-down so its roots now grew into branches, and its branches established roots. Nonsense, I thought. As it turns out, the label was a nickname for a tree I walk past regularly which has a convoluted (and I mean really convoluted) branch system. A quick Google search turned up some info about the tree, which states that it is a wych elm grafted onto a witch hazel trunk. I've been wondering about getting a good picture of this tree for a long time, so I am more than happy to use it for today.

The upside-down tree
UBC, 23 Feb 2012

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Day 337: Mountain city

Much of the last week has been rainy with little or no sign of the mountains. Today, the clouds lifted and the sun shone a little, brightening up the city. I've always liked the view downtown along Cambie Street and over the bridge with BC Place, the Harbour Centre tower and Crown Mountain lined up. I think it's one of the best views in and of the city. The problem is that to get a clear view requires standing in the middle of the road, which I could do for a few short seconds while crossing. I went back and forth a few times, taking as many photos as I could hoping to get that perfect shot with the best light. This is about as good as it gets, I think.

Mountain city
Vancouver, 22 Feb 2012

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Day 336: Double dew-drop daffodil

I had an alternative title in mind when I found a little patch of daffodils to photograph, but the allure of alliteration was too great. Of course, they're not really dew drops - it's been pouring with rain all day - but a little artistic licence is always allowed, right?

Double dew-drop daffodil
UBC, 21 Feb 2012

Monday, February 20, 2012

Day 335: Democracy inaction

A rainy day, time to grab a photo of something that doesn't need great weather. It took me probably three or four years before I actually went over to this sculpture to read the plaque at its base. Turns out it was erected to commemorate the democracy protests in China that culminated in the Tianenmen Square protests of June 1989. The original was created at the time as the ultimate protest, and though it clearly no longer exists, it has become a symbol for democracy movements around the world.

Goddess of Democracy
UBC, 20 Feb 2012

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Day 334: No need to fret

The usual rainy-day-at-home-goes-by-without-taking-a-picture scenario, so I spent a few minutes trying to recreate some test shots I'd tried while messing about with the small camera. Somehow it all felt like I was trying too hard, and I wasn't particularly enthused by anything I took. This was the only shot that I could say I was happy with, being a fun experiment in shooting with a small aperture (f/22) to get a large depth of field. It was instructive to see how much the depth of field changed from f/8 through f/16 to f/22. By comparison, the aperture on the compact camera only goes as low as f/8, but the small sensor means that it still has a very large depth of field, much larger than the SLR at f/8. But the main reason I took this photo is that I really like this view along the neck of the bass, in which the strings appear to be parallel. They are not, of course, but the angle the strings make is just right to give this impression.

Bass perspective
Bass guitar, 19 Feb 2012

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Day 333: Times three

Today is the third and final triple-digit day on this photographic tour around the sun. Day 111 featured ice tricks while day 222 took in signs of autumn. I couldn't get the photo I wanted today - thanks to some idiots deciding that they can drive better than everyone else in the pouring rain only to find themselves needing assistance from the local constabulary and a tow-truck or two - so I settled for a doughnut. But not just any old doughnut - the official doughnut of the Vancouver Canucks! How about that?! I must admit to being somewhat puzzled, though - I would have thought that the official doughnut for a hockey team would at least be puck-shaped...

Canucks doughnut
Doughnuts, 18 Feb 2012

Friday, February 17, 2012

Day 332: Band of gold

The day started grey, got greyer and then somewhat wetter. On the drizzly walk home from a pleasant afternoon coffee at Momento I spotted the something bright on the western horizon: a gap in the clouds as the sun set, a gleaming sliver of golden light on the horizon. I hobbled home as fast as I could, grabbed the camera and went out onto the balcony to capture it before the light disappeared.

Band of sunset gold on the horizon
Sunset, 17 Feb 2012

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Day 331: Still raining

As expected, yesterday's euphoria of realizing I have only 36 days to go was tempered by today's persistent damp drizzle. Coupled with my somewhat dodgy ankle I can't get out very far to search for a photo. I did the usual round where I watched the local hummingbird do its thing, listened to a very loud and tuneful wren, and stared into the foot-deep abyss of the now-empty reflecting pool outside the library. But there wasn't much to photograph. I tried a couple of things, including these wet fuzzy magnolia buds outside the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre. Meh.

Wet fuzzy magnolia buds
UBC, 16 Feb 2012

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Day 330: Ninety per cent

I can't quite believe it but today marks the passing of the 90 % point in the project. I used the 10 % mark to reflect on how things had gone so far so perhaps I can dare use this moment in time to look back and voice a few thoughts on a project almost complete.

  • I have to say that the whole photo-a-day concept has become part of every day life, much to my surprise. I don't fret about it as much as did six months ago, though I still have days where I don't feel inspired - I just try to make those few photos count.
  • While I have been less than happy with the image quality from the S3IS, and I've worked hard to make the photos from the SLR as good as humanly possible, buying the SX230HS was one of the best things I could have done. I no longer feel constrained by the "poor" image quality of the former, and I don't have to make a choice of lens with respect to the latter. I also feel freed up from trying to get a perfect-quality photo. I have an unobtrusive, versatile camera I can slip into my pocket every single day, and that has made a huge difference to the way I feel about this project.
  • Having a camera I'm happy to use has been vital to getting satisfactory photos. My definition of happy includes good low-light performance. I wouldn't dare use the S3IS on anything other than the ISO 100 setting - under certain conditions, I'm happy to let the new SX230HS go up to ISO 1600. Plus its image-stabilization is superb.
  • The Flickr set has filled out quite nicely, though the growth of this project has been to the detriment of our other photos (of which we have a huge backlog).
  • I will do almost anything to avoid taking a photo indoors - only 14 of the 330 photos so far have an indoor subject. That's only 4.2%.
  • Really? 90 % already? Where has the year gone? Mind you, I have to be careful that I don't get so carried away with being this close to the end that I get complacent and miss a day or end up with something I really don't like.

My photo today was taken from the Burrard Street bridge, a location I hobbled to from nearby Kitsilano hoping for nice light on the city. That didn't happen, but the little ferry boats doing their dance on the water always attract my attention.

False Creek ferry
False Creek, 15 Feb 2012

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Day 329: Be my valentine

Today is Valentine's Day and what better way to celebrate it than by giving Maria flowers of the kind she likes best - alive, and growing in the ground :-)

Snowdrops
UBC, 14 Feb 2012

Monday, February 13, 2012

Day 328: Between the clouds

It doesn't seem that long ago that I was remarking on day 238, but that was three months ago already, a quarter of this journey around the sun. Today's photo was not planned (unlike the photo on day 238); just another opportunistic shot from our balcony, as the jagged white peaks of Crown Mountain poked out above one band of clouds and below a higher band to give the impression of the mountain lying between the clouds. We even had some blue sky, as expected for the Monday after a wet weekend.

Crown Mountain between the clouds
Crown Mountain, 13 Feb 2012

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Day 327: Grumpy

In local birdwatching circles, great blue herons are known colloquially as GBH (which means something a little different in the UK). I think it can also stand for "grumpy blue heron" as the expression and demeanour of this bird might suggest. "Grumpy" is also how I feel tonight after twisting my ankle on a small kerb on the way back to the car (after enjoying more tasty hot chocolate and a waffle at Leonidas). Back to the heron, we were amazed to find this one standing in little more than an inch of water right next to the trail along the shore of Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park. This is as close as I dared get, not wanting to spook it into flight, and it's as close as I've ever been to a heron.

Grumpy blue heron
Lost Lagoon, 12 Feb 2012

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Day 326: Canada's Place

As part of our endeavour to sample as much of the hot chocolate festival as possible, we found ourselves downtown searching for one of the places taking part, Leonidas. A bit of aimless wandering had us scratching our heads as to where exactly this place was, and fortunately we happened to walk past the tourist information centre. We went in and asked, and they knew exactly where we meant. As it turned out, we had walked more or less right past it, about the time I took this photo of the sails on Canada Place. We ended up at Bella Gelateria instead as it was closer (by all of 50 m) and enjoyed a truly sumptuous salt-caramel hot chocolate with their fantastic to-die-for banana bread. Delicious!

Canada Place
Canada Place, 11 Feb 2012

Friday, February 10, 2012

Day 325: Faces in the night

As a measure of how uninspired I am to take photographs indoors, I went out on a windy, rainy Friday evening to get some night shots. My original plan was to set up the tripod to get some long exposure photos of the city, but that didn't seem such a good idea in the rain. I tried my hand at a couple of pictures of the centennial totem pole, which is lit up beautifully at night. Seeing as I was in a hurry, I only took a few fairly close-in to get as much light as possible. And lo-and-behold, my second picture of the night was the best.

Centennial totem pole at night
Totem pole, 10 Feb 2012

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Day 324: Symbols for Education

I don't walk this way too often, and when I do I'm usually on the other side of the road. I was drawn into the small courtyard behind Brock Hall by a tree in blossom, but my attention was immediately grabbed by the artwork on the opposite wall. I had no idea what it was when I took the picture - I just liked it, and thought it would be a nice colourful photo on a rainy day - but a search of the UBC website turned up a page describing it. Turns out it's a glass-on-cement mosaic commissioned by the graduating class of 1958, with each panel representing the various academic disciplines studied at the university. It goes by the apt name of Symbols for Education. There is a fair bit of public art on the campus, but this is definitely one of the nicest pieces. The only point against it is that astronomy isn't represented.

I can't believe there are only 6 weeks to go, a mere 42 days.

Symbols for Education
UBC, 9 Feb 2012

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Day 323: Springing

It's still February, but spring is making its presence felt. The witch hazel got the year off to a cheery start and I've been on the lookout for snowdrops to photograph as they are the archetypal February flower, but have only seen them when I haven't had the camera on me. As I walked in to work today, I noticed some bulbs had pushed their way up and looked almost ready to flower. Next to them, almost hidden against the leaves, was a lone purple crocus, its flower exposed but still furled. Maybe tomorrow it'll be open, and it'll really feel like spring is near.

A crocus appears
UBC, 8 Feb 2012

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Day 322: Paint the whole world

...with a rainbow :-) Well, not quite. As I mentioned in my indigo photo, the gay pride rainbow flag is missing a colour. Never mind - there's a shop down the street with a sign outside that has all the colours of the rainbow (and more!). This is one of only four photos I took today thanks to a migraine - my first, err, opportunity to try out my new tablets. An interesting experience in itself...

Rainbow flag
UBC, 7 Feb 2012

Monday, February 6, 2012

Day 321: Upon reflection

Take a calm sunny day and a photo-scoping route that goes past a pool of water near a couple of striking buildings, and today's photo is done.

Reflecting pool
UBC, 6 Feb 2012

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Day 320: Trapped under ice

From eagle sculptures to Eagle Bluffs. My first snowshoe trip of the year took us up over Black Mountain to a pleasant lunch spot on Eagle Bluffs. On the return, we explored some of the small ponds and lakes on the plateau, taking great pleasure in being the first to walk through the soft snow. At the edge of one lake, the outlet stream was still open and only partially covered by ice. I was delighted to see the ice was full of bubbles, reminding me of one of my favourite shots on Flickr. Some of them looked like bubbles trapped under the ice, rather than frozen into it, but many of them were indeed trapped in the ice itself. I've wanted to see that for ages and I'm really happy to have found a good example.

Today's title is brought to you by a song from Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" album.

Bubbles in and under the ice
Eagle Bluffs, 5 Feb 2012

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Day 319: Foggy

I first noticed the mist over the Burrard Inlet yesterday, and wondered if I could get a picture of it from down on the beach. The mist had largely drifted away by the time we went for our walk, and I found something quite different to photograph. Today, the mist hung around for longer and at about 4.30 pm I decided I had to head down to Kits Beach to capture it (despite failing earlier thanks to a dead camera battery). I trotted down to the beach (testing out the bare-foot running technique some more) and ended up down at the waterline on a small section of sandy beach. The mist was drifting through the trees of Stanley Park, with some making its way into the middle of downtown Vancouver. I was losing light rapidly and I snapped as many shots as I could as the sun sank until I got my favourite: the sun was still high enough to illuminate the top half of the mist, but low enough to have gone off the lower half, leading to a lovely pink-and-blue mist picture. With some trees poking out. Perfect.

Pink and blue mist over Stanley Park
Fog, 4 Feb 2012

Friday, February 3, 2012

Day 318: Tranquility base

A mid-afternoon walk along Locarno Beach on a fine working-from-home Friday. We noticed some metalwork sculpture set up on a log and walked over to investigate. There, we met and chatted to the artist, Don Francis, about the three pieces he had out. The most striking was one of an eagle clutching a salmon in one of its talons. I couldn't resist trying a shot with the rising moon between the eagle's raised wings with the Vancouver skyline, Eagle Ridge and the bright white peaks of Golden Ears in the distance. (Though unintended, Golden Ears continues the eagle theme, as they were originally named the "golden eyries".) What I didn't notice at the time was the bright orange jacket of another photographer at the shoreline... D'oh!

Eagle sculpture
Locarno Beach, 3 Feb 2012

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Day 317: Hangin' out

I don't know when this trend started - it required the invention of shoe laces at least - but many streets seem to have one or more pairs of shoes decorating overhead wires. As we walked out for hot chocolate I couldn't help grab a photo of these wireline companions.

Just' hangin' out
Kitsilano, 2 Feb 2012

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Day 316: Former glory

A few short months after I took day 28's photo, the Hollywood Theatre closed its doors forever. It seemed inevitable that an old-style cinema showing second-run films would not be able to survive the modern movie-watching experience (you know, watching a horrendously-compressed version on a 4-inch phone screen). But the reason for its demise seems to be simply one of money - the owner was offered a deal he couldn't refuse (though maybe not in the Godfather sense), and the property was sold less than 3 months after celebrating its 75th anniversary. Before I knew this, I felt guilty for not frequenting our local cinema more often - I still wish I'd watched more films there, but I no longer feel guilty about it.

The late great Hollywood Theatre
Kitsilano, 1 Feb 2012