English Bay Sept 26 2011 01b
Sunset Beach Vancouver September 26 2011.
Last years HDR set looking even better with this years HDR software.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Vancouver Sept 24 2011 01a
For us on the south west tip of Canada, as of late September 2012, our dog-daze-'o-summer have yet to transition into an earnest fall . I saw people swimming in English Bay today. Crazy.
Global warming. Sigh. It's like watching a disaster flick only in ultra-slow-motion. However, in keeping with Hollywood I think global warming will have a happy ending. In the end global warming will prove to be a good thing for us as a species rather than something bad. We humans are awesome adapters and the bigger the challenge the better we are at adapting. As Jeff Goldblum's non-human character said to Karen Allen in the move "Starman" - "When things are at their worst you humans are at your best.".
Proof of this is as close as 25 million years ago when an extinction level comet created what today we call the Gulf of Mexico. The dinosaurs, being less cold resistant than us mammals were .. eliminated. (Except for a few fish and the alligators of course.)
Being warm blooded our ancestors adapted quickly and have since dominated over the ancestors of the dinosaurs - the lizards.
Go us. Smart adaptation is in our DNA. :)
This shot is from a bit over a year ago. Another nice pocket of sunshine appears over Vancouver.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Seawall Sept 20 2012 13a
A slowly eroding tongue of concrete, being consumed by the sea from below and above, fights the good fight at the entrance to the Second beach tidal pool in Stanley Park .
Friday, September 21, 2012
Kensington Place - Sept 20 2012 08a
The north west corner of the Kensington Place in Vancouver. One of the city's heritage buildings, located at the corner of Beach Avenue and Nicola Street. Rich with craftsmanship and a fantastic candidate for High Dynamic Range photography.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Seawall Sept 20 2012 06a
Seemingly delicate yet rock solid.
The sculptor certainly found the sweet spot of balance with this one.
Burrard St Bridge Sept 20 2012 01a
September 20 2012 brought a nearly imperceptible bay fog to English Bay. Magic light for us urban photographers. The mist acts as a neutral density light filter giving things a subtle fantasy feeling and thus a larger sense of scale.
No surprise then that the Burrard Street bridge, and its surround colors, came across as the entrance into the Kingdom of Vancouver. Now all we need is a queen and/or king.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Seawall Aug 30 2012 04b
English Bay beach looking quite hugable in infra red light. I love the cloud.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Granville Island Sept 11 2012 05a
Here's the Burrard Street bridge looking all fancied up in high dynamic range infra red. The bridge that coulda been a totally awesome bridge but instead the city wimped out ... 70 years ago yet ... and the bridge never got to live up to it's potential awesomeness.
"You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley."
The plan was a dual decker bridge (check out the lower arch in the photo) with a draw bridge section on the lower level. But nooooo .... sigh.
Knowing it's history makes me love the bridge even more.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
English Bay Power Sunset Sept 08 2012 02a
September 8'ths sunset was quite nice. The cloud formation in the left middle part of the shot was even cooler zoomed in.
English Bay Power Sunset Sept 08 2012 01a
A grand sunset fills the sky over English Bay Vancouver.
God painting with light.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Granville Island Sept 11 2012 04a
Howe Street comes to an abrupt and tragic end at False Creek. OK ... so not so tragic but certainly abrupt.
Granville Island Sept 11 2012 03a
Waiting for the Aquatic Center ferry and looking at the Burrard Street bridge spanning the entrance to False Creek Vancouver.
I love the reflections in this shot. In a very real way the computer did most of the heavy lifting to create them.
I think this is one of the prettiest pictures I've ever taken. I really like it. :)
Granville Island Sept 11 2012 01a
A herd of freshly washed hogs basks in the morning shadows outside Carter Honda right at the entrance to Granville Island. Looking all cute and sassy thanks to Infra Red light.
Seawall Aug 30 07a
Looking north east'ish from the lookout point just north of the Second Beach pool. The pool, always busy in the summer, is now shutdown for the winter. Sigh.
I love the cheeto puffy cloud on the top right. Infra red light loves clouds. Especially puffy ones.
Saturday, September 08, 2012
Seawall Aug 30 2012 06a Second Beach Cover Tidal Pool
Looking like a well manicured lawn thanks to infra red light the low tide kelp in Stanley Park's Second Beach cove turns the photosynthesis dial to 11.
Seawall Aug 30 2012 03a Second Beach Cove
Infra red light is not as sensitive to atmospheric scattering as human visible light is. Scattering, aka haze, is caused by the optical refraction of light bouncing off of water particles in the air and, in a nutshell, is why our sky is blue.
Since IR is less prone to scattering photographs taken in those wavelengths wind up being more in focus, over long distances in particular, than what you would see in a photograph taken in normal, scatter sensitive light.
Since our brain also uses haze, especially over a long distances as an aid to depth perception to it less haze = less distance. As such IR photography, among it's million other reasons why its so cool a media, shines at turning a big scene into something more intimate and closer to you the viewer.
Saturday, September 01, 2012
Vancouver Downtown Aug 30 2012 13a Hornby at the Courts
Here's one of the corners of the Law Courts building in downtown Vancouver. Opened in 1980 and designed by one of Canada's preeminent architects - Arthur Erickson. The building is sharp, precise and mostly of the 90 degree variety angles. But it's a building in which B.C.'s and, by extension, Canada's laws get applied. If the building within which such decisions are made can be logical so much the better.
This shot, taken at the north east corner of Hornby and Smithe streets looking north, is the start of a section on Hornby that my higher brain likes the most. Logical goodliness.
Interestingly enough one of Erickson's final buildings, the apptly named Erikson (1560 Homer) is nothing but organic curves. To the cities benefit Mr. Erickson certainly could design with both sides of his brain.
Vancouver Downtown Aug 30 2012 10b Nelson at Burrard
Here's a nice and dreamy shot of Nelson Street looking south east just at its corner with Burrard. With a long depth of field and the magic of infra red light coupled with high dynamic range photography I can almost feel summer flowing from the image.
Vancouver Downtown Aug 30 2012 06a Hornby and Helmcken
At the southeast corner of Helmcken and Hornby, in the heart of downtown Vancouver a signature building, the Artemisia, begins construction. This will prove to be a stunning building from developer James Schouw who also crafted one of my favorite Yaletown towers - Grace. The Artemisia, named after the Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, will be a much smaller collection of residences that, based on the artists drawing will quickly become an oft photographed corner of Vancouver. Prices for one of the 21 residences in the 6 storey building start at $935K and go to a line-of-credit-nuking $3.65 million.
For more info check out Les Twarog and Sonja Pedersen's excellent blog posting about the building.
Vancouver Downtown Aug 30 2012 03a Hornby and Drake
At the south corner of Hornby and Drake the new Salt condominium tower, being built by Concert Properties, begins its reach for the sky. At 33 floors, with prices ranging from $300K to $1.4M it certainly is in a great location. Separated from the noisy primary thorough-fairs of Burrard and Granville and being a gentle three block walk down to the marinas at False Creek I expect it will prove to be a good pick for those with deep pockets.
Needless to say this is the "before" picture. :)
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