Visiting Giants (27/52)

So I'm a little behind with the weekly posts, but its not due to lack of photos! Here is one I took a couple of months ago in my quest to visit the big old growth trees that have survived in the Vancouver surrounds. This one is a big redcedar on the Cedar Trail along the west side of Lynn Creek.

Big Lynn Creek Cedar. 70D, ISO800, 1/40s, f/8, 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 at 18 mm

Burrard Inlet Sunset (26/52)

One of the nicer sunsets in a while and I happened to be in the right place at the right time. On a very hot Sunday I waited for it to cool down a little before I went for an evening paddle in Burrard Inlet. On the return the sky lit up with amazing colors. The waves on the inlet were creating an ever changing pattern of reflections. For good measures I took quite a few shots to make sure I got one where the reflections were just right to match the composition in the sky.

Sunset is still quite late so I had to hustle loading up the kayak to get out of Barnett Park before the gate closed at 10PM.

July Sunset - NEX6, 16-55 @ 16mm, f/6.3, 1/100s, ISO100, -0.3

On the Water (25/52)

Whenever I want a small and light photo kit I grab my trusty Sony Nex6. Almost always I'm very pleased with the quality of images I come back with. The weekend paddle tour in Howe Sound was no exception.
Just so much easier to put the little camera back into the dry bag in time before a motorboat zooms past creating a big wave (or before a whale makes a big splash). I also like the electronic view finder for checking focus on images.

Anvil Island in Howe Sound. Nex6, 16-55 @ 16 mm, f16, 1/160, ISO 100

Alpine Wanderings - Seed Peak (22/52)

Third time lucky! Bagged Seed Peak on the weekend. It was on our list for a couple of years. Nice trail through majestic mountain hemlock old growth, along an alpine ridge with gorgeous views and up the (still) snowy bowl of Seed Peak. The only drawback were the many wash-outs on Mamquam FSR. Our trusty Tracker overcame several of the obstacles but in the end we had to hike more than an hour on the logging road to get to the trail head. Photo shows us coming down from Seed Peak, Mt Gillespie in the middle and Judge Howay and Mt Baker on the horizon.

Bridge and Fraser River - Canyons and Sagebrush (21/52)

Over the years we have done several trips to explore the Bridge River and Fraser Canyon area around Lillooet, so I decided it was high time to revisit the area. Over the weekend I crossed ways with several bears (mostly seeing the hind end of them running away), stayed at the still deserted BC Hydro camp site at Carpenter Lake and found some new angles to look at familiar sights.

Here are images from the weekend: the Coliseum (Horseshoe Bend) on the Bridge River, site of quite a few exciting paddling adventures, Carpenter Lake and the Fraser Canyon.We must always have been in a rush to get on the water as I never had a look at the Bridge River Coliseum from this particular view point. It shows the rapids very well!

Ephemeral Green (20/52)

I love the time in spring when the first leaves appear on bushes and trees. Sun rays painting everything in various shades of bright green. This never lasts long, but the time can be extended by traveling to a higher elevation.

Here are two images taken in Pemberton in early April on one of those day when I was done with paragliding well before Pete had his fill. Making the best of this opportunity I hopped in the car and went on this afternoon photo excursion.

Yellow Fields in Germany (19/52)

An interesting example of how politics change landscapes: thanks to subsidies for alternative fuel production, Germany is yellow with (Raps) canola fields in bloom. I'm enjoying this display of colors and was hoping to get some nice images. The one below was taken near Jena where we went to see the many orchids (Frauenschuh - Ladyslipper and Knabenkraut) growing in the nearby limestone hills.

 

Strochendorf Linum (18/52)

Some catching up to do on this blog after my trip to Germany. While the trip was mostly about visiting family and friends I also got to play with some new photo equipment more precisely with the Tamron 150-600 a German friend let me use. I must say I liked the lens a lot. I'm thinking now for a long lens image stabilization is a must have for me. Guess I just don't have a steady enough hand for the Canon 400.

 Linus is a small village in Brandeburg northwest of Berlin where storks return year after year to build their nests. Very nice to have the big lens to snap pictures of these 'contrasty' birds. We also saw cranes and ponds full of frogs on our tour around the village.

White Stork. Canon 60D, Tamron 150-600, f10, 1/640, ISO500

Dandelion Black & Whites (17/52)

Was quite happy with the image I took with the little NEX6 of a dandelion seedhead. It seemed to be asking for rendering for black and white. Here it is.

Burnaby Rookery (16/52)

Last year I 'discovered' a rookery of great blue heron just 10 minutes from our place. The birds roost high up in cottonwood trees and there is just a short window to observe nest building and courtship before leaves obscure everything (this year the window closed in early April). With increased tele-power of my newly acquired 400 lens I got some nice shots of the interactions of one heron couple. Interesting feather costume the birds display during courtship time.

Its been hit and miss to get sufficiently sharp images with the lens but looks like I'm finally getting the hang of it. Fast shutter speed and correct exposure seem to do the trick (or maybe I'm just building more muscle to hold the lens steady?).

Great grey heron at rookery. 70D, 400 mm, ISO 800, f8, 1/800

Fraser Valley Tulips (15/52)

Every April when photos of the tulip fields in the Fraser and Skagit Valleys show up in the news I plan to visit but for some reason or other I never get around doing it. Not so this year! At the end of March and in early April (couple of weeks ahead compared to average years) I took time for a couple of photo sessions. In the Fraser Valley the weather was rather gloomy but the clouds made for nice contrast with the many rows of bright colors.

Near La Conner, WA. 70D, 55 mm, ISO 200, f14, 1/250

Fraser Valley Tulips with Mt. Cheam. 70D, 18 mm, ISO 200, f11, 1/320

Fraser Valley Tulips. 70D, 33 mm, ISO 200, f18, 1/100

Back to Cypress Creek (14/52)

On my last trip to Cypress Falls Park I had planned to visit a scenic little falls just below the parking area. But water was running high, I wasn't sure if the area would be accessible and decided to explore the creek farther upstream.

This time I made it to my photographic objective and took shots from various points. I liked the one below best. It was dark in the canyon and just using a polarize filter allowed a long enough exposure to get a blurring effect on the water. Just as on my last visit the water was brown with tannins and I resisted the temptation to adjust the color to get it clean and white.

Cypress Creek. 70D, f/16, 3s, ISO100, -0.7, 10mm, CP filter

Slow down time at Trout Lake Creek (13/52)

I have been looking for a small stream surrounded by moss covered rocks for long exposure photography and found Trout Lake Creek in Sasquatch Provincial Park. Despite the weather forecast promising a cloudy day it was bright sunshine on my first visit, which doesn't help for long exposure. Low light works much better. On my second trip I had more luck and the promised high clouds arrived in the afternoon.My Big Stopper filter has been giving me some problems with a blue color cast, but today I realized that this is much more manageable when under exposure is avoided. I still did some selective masking in pp to reduce the blue tint of the water. May have to have another go at the color balance, but here is the result for now.

Trout Lake Creek. 70D, f/11, 120s, ISO320, 18mm, ND3.0

Bowen Island (12/52)

Last week we explored Tunnel Bluffs just north of Lions Bay. A 'rustic' trail leads to this nice view point overlooking Howe Sound and Bowen Island. Although from the road the bluffs don't appear far up it still took one and a half hour to reach them. The view is well worth the effort. The 16-50 on my Sony stopped working, so I had to get creative with the long lens and got some nice shots of Bowen Island (and our friend launching). Good challenge to just take one lens and work with it.

Bowen Island in Howe Sound. NEX-6, f/9, 1/800, ISO100, +0.3, 55-210 at 55

Black&White Flows (11/52)

Looking for more waterfalls to photograph I came across a picture of Rolley Creek near Stave Lake. It looked worthy a side trip. Although the flow in the creek was down to a trickle I went up the steep trail from the main logging road along Stave Lake following Rolley Creek to a wooden bridge just below a small cascade. Although I somehow expected a bigger falls it always surprises me how just a small volume of water can make cascades look very pretty.

70D, 18-55 at 52, f/16, 4 sec, ISO 100, CP filter

Panta Rei (10/52)

More long exposures. I took this photo in January on the outing to Cypress Creek. Lately I have become rather fascinated with the details of stationary objects in a moving environment. With long exposures one can never be quite sure what will show up when viewing the images on the computer monitor. Always a surprise! And with the long time an exposures takes I end up with fewer images so the selecting and editing process is much quicker and I get to spend more time outside and less in front of the computer.

Cypress Creek: 70D, 10-22@22, f16, 1.3s, ISO100, -0.3, 0.9 ND

You looking at me? (9/52)

More bird/wildlife photography was in order this week as I just got myself a new (to me) lens, a 400 f5.6. I haven't quite been able to tease out its fabled crispness. Practice may be all it takes as its performing well in controlled conditions (on a sandbag with fast exposure times).

So I went to Boundary Bay for some practice and to see if I could find the golden eagle that is supposed to be here this winter. The golden eagle I saw not but a juvenile bald eagle staring at me in curiosity (I think). And a coyote hunting successfully for her/his dinner. Now if I could just get a little closer... or had a bigger lens!

Mt Baker Views (8/52)

View of Mt Baker and a paragliding friend from Elk Mountain in the Chilliwack Valley. Elk mountain is a great destination for fall and winter hike&flys when the sun is not high enough to produce thermals for cross country flying. Especially with the lousy winter this year its good to get some exercise. I didn't have a single day of cross country skiing at Cypress!

But back to photography. I waited until my friend was just about to fly in front of Mount Baker before taking a series of shots and liked this one the best.

Another photography related occurrence during the outing: a hiker/photographer asked if he could take photos of us. He was on mission of his own... to take photos of 100 strangers. Intriguing! Maybe a suitable next project for me?

Aerial Trees (7/52)

This blog is about photography and not paragliding but I just have to post some 'flying' photos.

In winter the sun is low and doesn't create much warmth. So most of our flying adventures are of the 'hike & fly' type. We hike up a mountain with our wings and, well, fly down again. While doing this from one of my favorite sites, Elk Mountain in the Chilliwack Valley, I noticed an intriguing pattern below. Seen from above the deciduous trees looked like a delicate arrangement of ice flowers. On the next flight I took my camera, flew out directly over trees and took lots photos. Most paraglider pilots prefer more active and rising air but for 'hands-off' photography the calm February air was perfect!

Between the Rain Storms (6/52)

Seems we had nothing but rain during January. Its been called 'Jun-uary' but I think there is less rain in June! Despite the wetness there were a few dry and even sunny days. During one of the dry spells I went for a stroll and photo session to Cypress Falls Park in North Vancouver. In the middle of January there isn’t much light which was quite useful for the long exposure shots I had in mind. It always amazes me how green the forest is. It just does not feel like the middle of 'winter' (even with more normal snow levels there would not be much 'white' to be seen at such lower elevations). But lots of water in Cypress Creek! Its brownish tint is due to the tannins washed out of the forest soil by the rains.

Cute Owls (5/52)

When I went for a hike in the Chilliwack Valley last week I was surprised to see lots of cars parked in an unusual spot on the logging road. I asked one of the people associated with the cars what this was about. Turns out it was a 'swarm' of bird photographers hoping to get pictures of pygmy owls.

So a few days later I packed my big camera and not-so-big lens wondering if I would get to see the owls as well. But I didn't need to worry. When I arrived photographers marked the spot where the birds were to be seen. For an hour I got to watch two of the tiny owls. Just under 20 cm tall they were hunting, perching just 10m of the road, intently looking at the ground for prey, now and then flying off again to settle down on a different perch. Interestingly they have eyes in the back of their heads. Two streaks of black feather make it seem like the owls look at you, no matter which way they face. Another tidbit of info for the biologists: the pupils of owls adjust independently and can be of different size (almost visible in the photo below - the pupil in the shade is larger than the one in the sun). This looks rather strange in photographs and some bird photographers alleviate the problem in Photoshop.

The gaggle of photographers it was a little more crowded than I like my 'nature experiences', but having people with long lenses and spotting scopes around made it easy to find the owls. Most of the photographers were polite and courteous towards the birds and their human fellows, but as always there are exemptions; this time in form of an individual thinking that loud shouting would help protect the owls from one overly excited paparazzo who ran a ways along the road. Fortunately neither running nor shouting bothered the owls.

Crows! (4/52)

Many Vancouverites have seen the swarms of crows congregating every evening near Still Creek and Willingdon Ave to roost. OK, I know its called a 'murder of crows' but I somehow like 'gaggle' or 'swarm' better. Either way; this was on my list for a photo sessions for a while.

Its quite an impressive spectacle! When it gets dark thousands of crows arrive; landing on trees, power lines, fences. Only to fly off again with lots of croaking to find a better place to spend the night. At times the birds performed rather close fly-bys and I was wondering if there was something about me they didn't like. I took plenty of serial photos until my car next to me was hit and I thought it better to pack up and leave before the crows started to aim at the camera. It would have been a smaller target but with thousands of birds the odds were in definitely their favor.

Using Photoshop I layered several serial images (shot in burst mode on tripod). Count the crows if you want to know how many. This sequence makes it possible to check out the flight path of a single crow. Maybe the crows use swarm tactics to confuse predators? Or maybe they just have some fun with a little acro flying with their buddies before bed time (a paragliding thing!)?

Lighthouse Park and the Big Stopper (3/52)

Stormy weather means it is time to take my Big Stopper filter for a hike to Lighthouse Park. For non-photo-geeks: the Big Stopper is a super dark filter that makes it possible to use long exposure times which are very nice if one wants to create a silky moving water effect.

I set up for the long exposure shots just as the sun came out making the colors really vivid. But it wasn't long before a rain squall hit (see the dark clouds in the back?) and I had to pack up everything. Using long exposure times has an unexpected advantage: I don't have time to take many photos so there are is a limited number to choose from.

Winter Inversion (2/52)

A few times each winter a low-level inversion sets up over Vancouver. Normally temperatures in the atmosphere decreases with increasing elevation. Inversion means that this pattern is 'inversed', the normal vertical movement of air is stopped and cold air becomes trapped at ground level (read more about it on Cliff Mass' blog Inversions 101).

This makes for dreary conditions in town, its dark, cold and wet. But if there are mountains nearby it is easy to escape. One just has to drive a little up to get above the clouds for some sunshine and great photo opportunities!

I have photographed this weather phenomenon several times during daytime so it was time for something new: an evening session. There are always photographers at the viewpoint on Cypress Bowl Road but I was a little surprised to see the shutterbugs standing shoulder to shoulder with nary a place to squeeze in with my tripod. But all of them pointed their long lenses at downtown, so I set up facing more east and got some nice shots of SFU. Later the row of photographers thinned and I found space for the obligatory downtown shots.

When processing the yield of the evening I was in for a second surprise; while taking the photos I had not seen that the Cascades were visible on the horizon.

 

Snowy Trees (1/52)

After a great week skiing pow and a good start to 2015 in the backcountry cabin Blanket Glacier Chalet we had to wait for the next helicopter flight and the rest of our gear to arrive. It was snowing lightly and I was intrigued by the pattern created by the snowy birches (I'm pretty sure these are birches and not aspen). Nothing better to do than getting my camera out and taking a few shots when there is some time to pass.

With Lightroom editing this looks very much like a painting (now if only I could paint something like this!).

New Year New Start

Last year's plan to post more to this blog didn't exactly pan out. I did much better with my original blog; Wetcoast Views.

So for 2015 I have a new plan: Project 52! I will post one photo each week with a short description of how, where and why I took it. Time will tell how this works out, but with the number of photos I have been taking lately it shouldn't be too difficult to sustain. It's making the selection that will be tough.

My first 3 attempts at light painting. When at first you don't succeed, try, try ...