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

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

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

Day 308: Overlapping circles

Another rainy, rainy day - a torrential downpour one minute, fine drizzle the next. Bands of heavy clouds rolled over Vancouver, and it was interesting to note the change in light levels. At one point, visibility was barely 100 m as the drizzle enveloped everything. Later, and still well before sunset, it seemed as though we were on the verge of the "blue hour", only for it to brighten up again, before darkening again and so on. By the time it actually got dark, I felt like I had anticipated two sunsets already. Between the downpours I snuck out with the camera to get my afternoon coffee, and pretty much the only thing to photograph were the puddles. As the rain started again, I liked the overlapping, spreading circles as the rain drops hit the surface. With such a dull day, the exposure time was long (1/3 of a second!) on the usual ISO setting of 100, and only 1/50 s at ISO 1600. The shorter exposure looked better today, but I liked the long exposure effect too, so that's one to save for a different rainy day.

Overlapping circles

Day 304: Here comes the rain again

After a few days of icy-cold weather the rain is back with a vengeance. I took this photo of streetlit-raindrops while waiting at the bus stop having just picked up some refreshments for the weekend. Seriously, who wants to drink cold beer in this weather?

And the rain is back

Day 288: Grey clouds, grey water

After yesterday's rain came even more rain, leaving gusty easterly winds in its wake. It was late afternoon as usual when I wandered out to look for a photo. I had a couple of ideas in mind, but the strong wind and dull light put paid to them. I ended up walking out to the rose garden again because I could see the dark grey forbidding clouds over Howe Sound. The angle isn't too good from there so I crossed the road and walked up onto the embankment outside the Museum of Anthropology for a better view. Knowing how digital cameras treat large expanses of grey, I kept the ISO setting as low as practical, but I had to zoom in quite far to get the view I wanted, and was faced with an exposure time that is really too long for the conditions (about 1/20 of a second). I noticed a floatplane fly by and took the shot as it reached the centre of the frame. I quickly reviewed what I'd taken and I laughed out loud to myself: the plane was pin-sharp! Well, my steady hand and image stabilization really works wonders doesn't it. I was mightily pleased with myself until I got home and viewed the photo on the computer. Sure, the plane was perfectly in focus with no signs of blurring, but the backdrop was noticeably blurred - somehow as I wavered, I managed to move the camera in the same direction that the aircraft was moving. A beautiful panning shot, without even realizing it! How about that?

Forbidding weather in Howe Sound

Day 287: The grey days of winter

First day back at work in the new year and the winter rain is making up for lost time. It's been pouring all day (and we're forecast more tomorrow) which hasn't exactly tempted me outside. But I did see something that caught my eye on the way over to my afternoon coffee, rain drops falling in a waterlogged and leaf-logged gutter, with the corner of the library casting a blurry reflection. I know I've used a reflection picture before, but I feel justified in using this one to capture a rainy day. Plus I only took two photos all day so it'll just have to do.

The grey days of winter

Day 285: A new year

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2012 :-) We met up with our friend Carollyne for a walk around Stanley Park, accumulating photos as we went (as usual). There were lots of birds on the water, including a really large raft of surf scoters. I took a short video clip of them as a wave of birds ducked under the water (no pun intended), each bird diving as the one in front disappeared. It made for a really interesting effect. My photos didn't turn out so well, so I've ended up using this one of two types of seagull feeding in the shallow water as the tide was going out. Don't get me wrong - I really like this photo. The long zoom makes the mountains of Vancouver Island look very close, the sky is a lovely peachy colour, the waves are just breaking and the birds are nicely in focus. It has a lot going on, and yet retains a feeling of space.

Feeding gulls

Day 284: Reflecting on the year...

It's the last day of 2011, a year that seems to have sped by. Time for one last walk on the beach. We walked around the pond in Jericho Beach Park, stood on the bridge and admired the reflection of the trees in the water. I took more pictures as we walked as far as the pier (the afternoon light on the city was nice too), but this one just felt right.

In reflection

Day 266: One hundred days of winter

I have only one hundred days left in this project, which covers all of winter and a bit more. Of course I would have to pick a time period that includes a leap year, so this is not a "Project 365", but a "Project 366". Ah well. One more photo won't hurt, will it? The title of today's post came to me as I wandered round on a dull, bleak wintry day, and I explored a few options to try and match that feel. Mostly, though, they didn't look bleak enough for me - I imagined something more wind-swept, more forbidding, something dormant. Somehow I had to capture that sense of the winter-to-come, and the hunkering down and working through it. As has happened so many times in this project, I had one photo I thought would do the trick, only to find something else on the way back to my office. What better way to conjure up the feeling of winter.

Ice fragments

Day 265: From sea to sky

I looked up at the time and saw 3:55 pm - 20 minutes until sunset, and I don't have a picture for today. I grabbed the camera and dashed out of the office. I went straight towards the rose garden, and then down to the Museum of Anthropology to catch the light on the distant Howe Sound peaks. Last week I'd seen a floatplane flying at what appeared to be mountain-top height, and made a mental note of that as a future option. Well, welcome to the future :-) I heard and then saw a floatplane making its way into Vancouver, checked its height and noted that it was due to fly right in front of the mountain I'd been photographing. I tracked it in, exposed and focussed on the mountain and took three shots in quick succession. The caption came to me there and then: a picture filled with sea and sky, a plane in flight (in the sky), snow on the mountains (formerly sea, then sky), looking up Howe Sound where the Sea-to-Sky highway runs. All very fitting.

Sea to sky

Day 246: Eight

It's eight months since I started this project. Today's photo is from a short wander through the neighbourhood. As ever I went out to take a picture of one thing and ended up with a picture of something else. I really liked the strong reflection of the tree in this puddle. I tried to make the sky bluer, thinking it might even make my "blue" photo, but no. I still need to find that one. Given the poor weather forecast I think I found something suitable for tomorrow too, something easy to get in the rain.

Looking through the puddle

Day 209: Desert island view

The good weather has continued beyond the weekend, and I went out for a walk at lunchtime to see if anything caught my eye. I didn't have a destination in mind but I ended up heading down to the beach. As soon as I reached the top of the trail, I realized that all the campus sounds had disappeared and I found myself listening to the stillness, disturbed only by the occasional chirp from an LBB(*). As I descended, I could hear the sound of the waves, the sound of a calm sea on a sandy shore. Down on the beach I walked along the logs for a bit and then ventured across the pebbles to the water's edge. The view to the north-west was largely uninterrupted, and I was struck by how idyllic it looked. A sunny day, a sandy beach and a gentle sea: this could be a tropical island.

And I think I've found my "indigo" photo for my rainbow series, which I'll get to once I've found a suitable "blue".

Lunchtime desert-island getaway


(*) LBB = Little Brown Bird :-)

Day 202: Dodging showers

Guess what? It's been raining today. Which means that I didn't feel like going outside to look for anything to photograph. Not until late afternoon anyway when we went for a wander along Jericho Beach whatever the weather. Remarkably, the rain stopped as we parked up and we had a dry, and peaceful, walk. That didn't change the fact that it was dull, and there wasn't much to get a good picture of, but I managed to find an angle I liked when we got to the pier by Locarno Beach.

Locarno Beach pier

Day 200: Nice ice

Today's unexpectedly good weather gave us an excuse to rethink our original plans and hike up to Wedgemount Lake instead. The trail up to the lake was as steep as I remember (and much more slippery given the recent wet weather), and the compacted icy snow at the top of the slope made things a little tricky. The lake, of course, was stunning - the south shore scree slopes were dusted in white right down to the green water's edge, while the surrounding peaks and glaciers shone brightly against the occasional patches of blue sky.

Our goal for the day was to touch the Wedgemount Glacier and to see the ice cave we'd seen in other photos. We reached the end of the lake and climbed up the boulders to get our first view of the cave and were stunned to see how large it was. Maria walked closer and I got a couple of photos which captured its size quite well, the deep blue ice an even greater contrast with all the fresh snow surrounding us. The glacier even creaked a couple of times, which was heart-stopping given how close we were :-) We hung around for quite a while, taking plenty of pictures, but really mostly just in awe of the spectacle of the blue ice. It was hard to leave such a stunning place.

Ice cave

Day 195: Smooth as silk

I hadn't recharged the batteries for the old camera, and I didn't fancy cramming the SLR into my work bag, so I left my photography until the evening. With the sun setting before 7 pm I figured I would try some dusk photography, and ended up shooting a handful of long exposures of the sea to smooth it out. Most of them didn't work out (I need to use the other tripod I think) but I only need one. Some bright western sky, some blue-tinged clouds, some ships in the bay, some nice reflections.

Dusk on Kits Beach

Day 180: Half a circle

Mum and Dad flew home today, and after reluctantly waving them goodbye at YVR we met up with a friend from work and a couple of his friends for a gentle wander around Lighthouse Park. We walked a little, found a rock to sit on for a bit, before walking for a bit more to find the next rock, etc. While sat on one of the rocks I saw a zodiac speeding over the water, and while the the sea appeared calm, the boat was crashing through waves, sending spray in all directions. I quickly raised the camera and shot off a few photos and this one caught the splash quite nicely.

Splash!

Day 170: Angels in the ice

Our last day of touring in the Rockies. I dropped off Mum, Dad and Maria at the parking lot below Mt Edith Cavell, returning to Jasper to get petrol (I'd foolishly ignored the gauge as we drove down the Icefields Parkway). If I ran out, I figured it was better to inconvenience just me rather than all four of us. I made it OK (phew!) but I let the car coast in neutral on pretty much every hill, and kept the engine speed below 2000 rpm at all other times. Fortunately the roads were quiet and I was very glad to see the petrol station in Jasper. Heading back up to Edith Cavell I could now afford to push the car a little harder - and I must admit, although the CR-V did quite well on that twisty road, I think the old Integra would have been more fun...

The star of the show is undoubtedly the Angel Glacier, with its outstretched "wings" lying in a bowl above a 400-m cliff on which the head of the angel is draped. Personally, I think it looks like a dragon :-) Whatever your interpretation, it's a stunning sight, especially with the remnant glacier at the base of the cliff calving icebergs into the green meltwater tarn. Last time we were here, with Susannah and Kevin, we hiked up into the meadows. I didn't feel the need to do that today, and just enjoyed sitting in the warm sunshine, admiring the view.

The Angel Glacier

Day 169: Rhymes with maleen

Maligne Lake is the longest (largest?) lake in Jasper National Park. It was named by a French (or was it Belgian?) visitor in the early twentieth century, which means that the "maligne" rhymes with "ma-leen", not the usual English "ma-line". Either way, it's a gorgeous lake and we took the boat tour (again) out to the famous Spirit Island, the sight of which graces the bodywork of many recreational vehicles. As we reached our destination, the pilot of the boat slowed right down and proceeded to turn a big lazy U-turn to give everyone the best chance to take in the view south. The lake was mirror-calm and the various peaks were reflected perfectly in the blue-green water. Not to mention that the sky was free of cloud once again. Another perfect Rockies postcard picture!

Mountain reflections in Maligne Lake

Day 168: Jasper

To our amazement, the good weather has continued and what better way to get a feel for the Jasper area than by taking the tramway up to Whistlers Mountain to take in the view. From up here we could see Patricia Lake, Pyramid Lake, Annette and Edith Lakes, Beauvert Lake and Jasper Lodge, the Colin Range of mountains, the greyish Athabasca River and the banana-shape of the Jasper townsite. To the west we could see a bright white Mt Robson standing tall above its neighbours, and to the south (once we climbed a short way up the mountain) we could see Mts Kerkeslin and Edith Cavell. We haven't been up in the Banff gondola before - somehow it's never appealed - but this is the second time we've been up to Whistlers Mountain. Of course it helps that you can get a discount when you book the Maligne Lake cruise as well (that's for tomorrow!).

Jasper