Day 275: Second by a second

Yesterday was actually the shortest day, and the solstice occurred last night for us here on the west coast. Today is the second-shortest day of the year, longer than yesterday by a whole second (according to timeanddate.com). I checked when the sun would be at its highest today and decided to head down to the beach for that time (about 10 minutes after midday). This time I chose Wreck Beach, as I haven't been there recently and by now all the naked people will have given up and gone home. (I wasn't quite right on that one: a topless woman - for a welcome change - dashed into the water for a quick swim.) As soon as I reached the beach I saw my picture for today: the array of vertical poles in the sand casting long shadows. I walked up to the tallest one and stopped when I could no longer see the sun. I sized up my shot, and backed up a little until a little bit of the sun was peeking over the tip of the pole. With the small aperture (I was on f/22) and only seeing a tiny fraction of the solar disc I was hoping to get a nice little "starburst" effect. See for yourself.

The midday sun on the second-shortest day of the year

Day 143: Au naturel

I was determined to get out for a walk on the beach today. It's not that far away and the return journey of 400 steps up from the beach is a good workout. I wandered out past the Museum of Anthropology and took Trail 4 down to the beach. My plan was to assess the tide and turn left towards Wreck Beach if the tide was low, and right towards Tower Beach if it was high. The tide was low, so left I went. Wreck Beach is a famous Vancouver "clothing optional" beach so while there have been plenty of sights to behold, not many of them were for photography.

I took off my sandals and walked along the sand, wading through the warm shallow water. I took a few ambient photos but nothing was really standing out as interesting. I reached the big breakwater, and climbed up to view the log-booming area on the other side. A heron croaked and took off barely 10 m away, so I moved more carefully and slowly after that so as not to disturb the others. A group of three herons was wading the shallows in search of fish, and their reflections were perfect in the still waters. I sized up a shot only to notice some ripples messing things up. I quickly took the shot before the reflections disappeared, and looking up from the camera I saw a seal poke its head up - I was surprised to see a seal in such shallow water. Another joined it and the two of them swam away from me. I waited for the water to calm again and took a few more heron shots but it was the first one that I really liked.

After that it was time to get back to my desk, back across the hot sand, past the various naked bodies and up the steps, two at a time!

Heron party