Monday, April 30, 2012

Sunset Beach Genus Solenostemon (guess) Apr 30 2012

A new species has arrived at Sunset Beach here in Vancouver. A plant that's quite cute and not yet in bloom to the point that I can identify it. I'm pretty certain it's part of the same tribe as the Coleus plant (genus Solenostemon) which, as any bachelor knows, is the best plant to get for the first apartment. Coleus = looks good - tolerant of forgetful waterers and one that actually flowers.

It's also a species that's highly invasive and it will be interesting to see how long it takes the city to pick up on the invasion and, being a green city, what it does to ... err ... combat? ... it. Bottom line though - it's quite pretty and I can't wait to identify it.

And it's time for some color gosh darn it! Black and White is the power equation of photography, no question, but there is more than 10 to the 32 shades of IRHDR gray. :)

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Sunset Beach & The Burrard St. Bridge Vancouver Apr 20 2012

This is one of my favorite composition spots on Sunset Beach Vancouver which is located at the corner of Beach Ave. and Thurlow St. in the city's West End. Pure urban with the tri-lane seawall walk/bike path (2 for bikes, one for us walkers), cute puffy trees caught in their spring bloom and the iconic Burrard St. Bridge.

Friday, April 27, 2012

West End IRHDR 15a Apr 20 2012.jpg

I love Vancouver's version of the Biennale sculpture exhibition. Being a tourist town having world class items of art scattered across the city makes for millions of photo ops. Being an urban residential area having world class items of art in our backyard gives a nice high class feel to where we live.

This is the sculpture 217.5 Arc x 13' located on Sunset Beach in downtown Vancouver. Crafted by Bernar Venet of France and so named for it's 217'5 degree art of 13 raw steel segments. As noted by the artist "Nature, the universe, and life are all interconnected and explainable mathematically." Well put.

In behind the sculpture are a collection of English Bay beach facing residential towers most if not all built during the late 1960's and early 1970's. And while it's hard to see in the shot there's a parking lot just to the left of the photo that, this year will get its first set of electric vehicle charging stations. Modern art, funky 1970's architecture and 21st personal transportation-pod charging stations. How cool is that? :)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

English Bay Rain Storm HDR 06 Apr 18 2012

I love the 'zone-ness' of this shot. If you split the image into 3 vertical and then 3 horizontal sections you get (3 times 3) 9 zones. For me this shot shows that the more you have going on in each of the 9 zones the more engaged the viewer will be and the more engaging the photo. Bottom left to right I love the ripples in the water (HDR for the win) the rich green caught in the sun dead center and the urban residential area we call the West End. Mid row we get fleets of boats tacking with the wind from the storm just past and then the storm itself. Ka-boom. Then of course are the clouds - pure pretty.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

West End IRHDR 11a Apr 20 2012

I love that as humans we love trees and I love that once we take root in a spot nature tends to return, adjust and coexists to help create something ... different but the same. Eventually an urban forest springs forth - concrete, glass and steel living within and around leaf, feathers and bark. Here's a view of Beach Avenue in Vancouver looking towards the iconic Burrard Street Bridge (right side) on a hazy and very much lazy 420 (April 20) afternoon.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Beach and Thurlow Vancouver Apr 20 2012 _DSC43602_3_4_tonemapped.jpg

Spring's blush.

West End IRHDR 03a Apr 20 2012.jpg

West End Vancouver :: Sunset Beach :: Upper Mezzanine

Sunday, April 22, 2012

West End IRHDR 01 Apr 20 2012.jpg

All your condos are belongs to us.

Sunset Kiss English Bay SunSet HDR 04b Apr 18 2012.jpg

Thermonuclear goodliness. West coast style.

English Bay SunSet HDR 03 Apr 18 2012 DSC_43943_4_5_6_7_tonemapped

Mid level clouds at sunst over English Bay Vancouver. Filling yet still low in calories. :)

22 Degree Sun Dog Arc Eng Bay Van HDR Apr 18 2012

Sun dogs appear during the transition between low and high pressure systems. Moisture get's kicked high into the stratosphere, freezes and reflects light from the sun in a circle of light 21.84' from the sun's center. Look to the far right of this image and you'll see the arc of the sun dog reflect in the waters of English Bay. One of my coolest Sun Dog photos so far. Two thumbs up. :)

Springs Blush Beach And Thurlow HDR 13 Apr 18 2012

Nothing brings out nature's blush of spring green than the light right after a rainshower in particular when processed via High Dynamic Range photography. Here's the corner of Beach and Thurlow in Vancouver's famous West End just after a series of rain storms passed across the North Shore mountains. A pallete of natural beauty portending the photographic smorgashboard that is a settled urban landscape in the spring.

English Bay Rain Storm HDR 02 Apr 18 2012

A series of rain bands approache the North Shore mountains of Vancouver.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Home Sweet Home 01 Reg Apr 20 2012_DSC43587.jpg

This is the camera's choice of its dozens of settings for 'cool' of the earlier image. Pretty cool actually much of which is coming from the custom camera effect. This is shot in Infra Red. Another hour or so of doing some pixel work I could really craft out this image. So far though the computer's HDR version is my favorite.

Home Sweet Home 01 HDR Apr 20 2012_DSC43587_8_9_tonemapped.jpg

Here's the HDR version of 1011 Beach Ave Vancouver this afternoon. This is a composite of 3 shots of the same image: one under exposed to really grab the highlights, one over exposed to pull out the detail from the shadows and one computer-knows-best 'perfect' exposure per the camera's digital brain. All three are then merged into a High Dynamic Range (HDR) picture on the computer. I use PhotomatixPro which, of course, I love. Next image in this 2 shot series is the computer-knows-best semi-post processed in Capture NX/2. Another hour of work and I could get that image to an equally cool old-school B&W. Decisions decisions. :)

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Sunset Seagull 02 Mar 30 2012 DSC_43686.jpg

Seagulls = perfect mathematical form + organic aerodynamic symmetry. Mother nature - the true mathmatician.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Sirrus Lost in Thought Apr 04 2012 DSC_3742.jpg

Pure feline.

Sirrus Apr 04 2012 DSC_3746.jpg

I've tried to outstare cats over the years. The one time I did succeed the cat in question was a kitten and she fell asleep more than actually looked away. Thus I'm not certain if it really counted as a 'win'.

Sailing Silouette False Creek Entrance Mar 25 2012 DSC_3651.jpg

Nothing better harolds the arrival of spring here in downtown Vancouver better than the appearance of very cool double mast sail boats cruising into False Creak a few hours before sunset.