Tuesday, February 12, 2013

2013 02 Feb 07 False Creek Ferry 01a

Sunset sparkles.

2013 02 Feb 10 West End Fish Eye 05ann

The 1100 block of Davie Street in Vancouver's West End.

For me a good shot is all about the "Teeth to Everything-Else"ratio.

[(te/ee) * 100%] for you math fans.

2013 02 Feb 10 West End Fish Eye 04a

The corner of Thurlow Street and Pacific Avenue in Vancouver's West End.

Pacific fresh.

2012 02 Feb 10 West End Fish Eye 03a

1011 Beach Avenue, aka the Martello Tower, built in 1969. Back when hair was big and the leading edge in audio tech was the 45 RPM single. Same year as the moon landing no less.

What a cool year - big hair, leading edge vinyl audio and our footprints (finally) on another celestial body for (perhaps) the first time in our species history.

Vancouver's West End has such cool architecture - yesterday and today. A mini-Manhatten only we don't talk with funny accents.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013

2010 02 Feb 06 Vectoral Elevation Test 02a

With the 2014 Winter Olympics now less than a year away I have the "OMG how cool was it being in Vancouver during the 2010 winter games?!" thought stuck in my head.

Like a repeating song that you none the less still like. Those were the coolest of times for the city.

A second side of the Olympics that most miss is the cultural Olympiad. It's a part of the event that is a "Nearly as Cool" shadow of the games themselves. The night I went to see Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand at the Queen Elizabeth Theater in downtown Vancouver (part of the cultural Olympiad) I came home and saw this. The Vectoral Elevation light sculpture.

Such a cool period.

And done debt free. Sort of. :)

Monday, February 04, 2013

2013 02 Feb 02 Beach Ave West End Fish Eye 02a

Beach Avenue in Vancouver's West End during a sunny Saturday afternoon in February. OK Spring. It's February already. Let's Get Green!!

Sunday, February 03, 2013

2013 02 Feb 02 Burrard st Bridge Infra Red 02a

Vancouver's Burrard Street Bridge glows with a river of light on a cool foggy Saturday evening.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

2012 07 Jul 24 Golden Sun 02ann

Sunset Beach Vancouver .:. Henri Matisse style. .:.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

2013 01 Jan 17 30a Stanley Park Lost Lagoon

High noon at Lost Lagoon Vancouver in the dead of winter.

Properly chilled west coast mellow - shaken but not disturbed.

2013 01 Jan 17 Lost Lagoon Stanley Park 01a

A lonely park bench looks out on a frozen Lost Lagoon in Vancouver's Stanley Park.

Dude! Someone stole the tourists! Oh wait ... it's January. Never mind.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

2013 01 Jan 16 Burrard Street Bridge Sunset 01a

Deep Purple sunset. Smoke on the Water.

2013 01 Jan 18 Foggy Kits Vancouver 01ann

A foggy sunrise greats the hipsters of Kitsilano Vancouver. Just this side of sepia.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

2013 01 Jan 17 27a Stanley Park Lost Lagoon

A sunny but cool winter's day near Lost Lagoon in Stanley Park Vancouver.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

2013 01 Jan 17 Stanley Park 14a

The treacherous edge of Lost Lagoon's south eastern shore chills in the sun of the mid winter high noon.

Obviously these ducks can't read .. English I mean.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

2013 01 Jan 17 Lost Lagoon Stanley Park 11a

This shot makes me miss summer so much it hurts. Brrrr.

2013 01 Jan 18 Power Sunset 01ann

Nothing makes me both big and small at the same times as a nice power sunset does.

With the fog churning in the Strait of Georgia another cool west coast winter evening arrives west of Vancouver.

2013 01 Jan 19 Sunset Beach Circle of Light 02a

A highly processed and nicely revealing shot of the labyrinth that appeared on Sunset Beach in downtown Vancouver last evening. My compliments to the architects! Very nicely done.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

2013 01 Jan 17 Lost Lagoon Stanley Park 05a

Willow revealed.

And a city tree that, naturally, was a bit pissed off I was taking this picture. I had to promise to come back spring, summer then fall this year and take the same picture in order to diffuse things. I'm cool with that.

As beautiful as this tree is now it will be even more so soon.

2013 01 Jan 17 False Creek Ferry 01b

Here's downtown Vancouver's Great Southern Gate, also called the Burrard Street Bridge practicing it's best 'Scary Face'.

I'm still amazed the False Creek Ferry had the courage to pass through. ;)

Friday, January 11, 2013

2013 01 Jan 11 Sunset Beach Moss Macro Hyperfocal 04a

If you look closely enough at the beached logs of English Bay Beach in downtown Vancouver you'll find numerous micro-glaciers. Parts of the log that during the winter do not get sunshine even at high noon.

This shot was taken mid afternoon today and shows how frost's made-in-the-shade nature makes it related to glaciation. Stay stuck in shadows long enough and 'ancient' ice gets created.

Not so much in this micro case of course but you get the idea. :)

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Sunset Beach Eagle Jan 11 2010 01a nn

The rock berm on Sunset Beach Vancouver flies in for another successful landing.

Spanish Banks Jan 07 2011 01a nn

Spanish Banks Vancouver.

Sunset Beach Winter Moss Jan 03 2013 08a cropped

Green Hornet green as seen on the palms on Sunset Beach Vancouver.

Saturday, January 05, 2013

Misty Morning Sunrise Jan 01 2013 12a

The phrase goes "New York. The city that never sleeps." And it's true. I've been to NYC a few times and it does not sleep. It's always going. 24/7.

Vancouver on the other hand does sleep. You'll find that between 3:30 and 5:00 in the morning the city is, for the most part, silent. Which, at the height of summer (June 21st) is incredible.

On the morning of the summer solstice the sun rises in Vancouver at 5:07 am. Sunshine and a quiet city. Pretty cool.

Which is why Vancouver is a far less cranky city than NYC. At least she gets a bit of sleep.

Misty Morning Sunrise Jan 01 2013 11a.jpg

The Granville Street Bridge, acting the part of the big sister, deflects the bay fog away from the Granville Island Public Market.

Friday, January 04, 2013

Sunset Beach Winter Moss Jan 03 2013 05a

If you think about it humans and plants have both had, at the very least, an equal amount of evolutionary time. Plants in fact have been on this planet as a genus longer than us animals.

Thus finding wool covered petals, on a crisp Vancouver winter afternoon, was anything but surprising.

What a smart idea.

Foggy Sunrise Jan 03 2013 07a

A busy Burrard Street Bridge, the most direct southerly access point to downtown Vancouver, warms in the early winter sunrise of January 3, 2013.

Foggy Sunrise Jan 03 2012 04a

Downtown Vancouver's Great Southern Gate, also known as the Burrard Street Bridge, keeps a flock of unruly foglings from entering False Creek proper.

You shall not pass!

Thursday, January 03, 2013

Foggy Sunrise Jan 03 2012 03ann

Bay Fog has been a consistent companion to each sunrise so far this year. However with rain in the Vancouver forecast for the next 7 days the delicate morning mists will soon be overruled by soft rain. Hopefully we'll get a few more foggy mornings like today before spring arrives. Photo-nirvana.

I love the shadows of the West End apartment buildings on the top of the fog in this shot.

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Power Sunset Strait of Georgia Jan 02 2013 03

Between Vancouver and Vancouver Island is the Strait of Georgia and its islands. What I look at when watching the sun set.

And while the near winter solstice sunsets that settle into this oft-traveled waterway are brief they are none the less as powerful as their never ending near summer solstice siblings.

A nice balance.

Foggy Sunrise Jan 02 2012 01ann

As the sunrise twilight reaches its muted climax the smell of cooking breakfast waifs across the chill waters of English Bay Vancouver.

Mmmmmm. Bacon.

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Misty Morning Sunrise Jan 01 2012 10a

At the dawn of 2013 a misty morning greets English Bay Vancouver.

Misty New Years Day Sunrise Jan 01 2013 01a

A misty morning sunrise greats the early morning risers in Vancouver on New Years Day 2013.

Monday, December 31, 2012

Burrard Street Bridge at Sunrise Dec 30 2012 10a

Vancouver's iconic Burrard Street Bridge, the most westerly of the southern entrances into the heart of the city, bakes in the thin light of a winter sunrise.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

English Bay Moonset Sunrise HDR Dec 30 2012 15a

I love this shot on a few levels. The deepest one being the "What the heck is that vertical ray of light dead center of the shot?" level.

I do 90% of my post processing at the HDR phase and adding a column of light emanating from the ground towards the sky is beyond the capabilities of my workflow at that phase.

What you see is what I got.

My guess is that it's a digital reflection of the fringe of my apartment building's exterior (fuzzy line far left). Or a spirit going to heaven. Not sure which.

English Bay Moonset Sunrise HDR Dec 30 2012 04cnn

‎45 minutes before sunrise the late waning gibbous moon of 2012 illuminates a sleeping English Bay Vancouver.

English Bay Moonset Sunrise HDR Dec 30 2012 02a cropped

A few minutes before the early winter sun peaks over the eastern mountains Vancouver's West End and North Shore mountains are bathed in the pre-dawn pink of twilight.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Sewall View Dec 17 2010 04a

The eastern edge of Vancouver's Stanley Park meets Vancouver's West End. Very much a 'country folk' meet 'city folk' sort of thing.

No fighting you two.

Siwash Rock Stanley Park Dec 17 2010 03a

A wary walker navigates through the twin faces of Stanley Park's Great Western Gate.

Second Beach Pool Stanley Park Dec 17 2010 01a

The Second Beach Pool in Stanley Park Vancouver. Very late fall 2010.

Siwash Rock Stanley Park Dec 17 2010 02a

Siwash Rock and the Stanley Park Seawall caught in the glow of a sunny fall afternoon in downtown Vancouver.

A shot that really shows off the geological nature of the young volcanic rock that makes up the bedrock of Vancouver's West End.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Late Night Sunset June 25 2012 01a

A stratospheric fogling, several kilometers above Vancouver's English Bay , transits south west to the Pacific Ocean as an early summer sunset looks on

Summer Solstice Warmup Jun 19 2012 01a

A late spring frontal system plays peak-a-boo with Vancouver's English Bay. 2 sleeps to the longest day in the year. Sigh. :)

West End Snow Storm Dec 19 2012 15a

I use a razor sharp and compassionate scalpel when I post process.

I could have masked out the two seagulls way back at the HDR phase of my workflow but .... HDR is a temporal as much as it is a colorful media. Where else but the 21st century and beyond could you see a shot like this. :)

West End Snow Storm Dec 19 2012 14b

The 2:50 PM sailing of the False Creek Ferries service arrives at the West End Vancouver terminal on a snowy Vancouver afternoon. Brrrrr.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

West End Snow Storm Dec 18 2012 08a

Kitsilano Vancouver looking all cute and sexy in a dusting of snow.

West End Snow Storm Dec 19 2012 05a

I think I just found my favorite shot of the year.

West End Snow Storm Dec 19 02a

I can't believe the depth of field I got in this shot at f/5.6. Honestly I'm photo-gobsmacked.

5 shot HDR sequence at f/5.6, 10mm (Sigma 10mm to 20mm lens), ISO 200, aperture priority with shutter speed range of 1/20s to 1/250s over the sequence.

Even in a snow storm Vancouver's West End looks pretty. :)

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Storm Surge and King Tide AM Dec 17 2012 02a

Surge Takes Sunset Beach. Damp footage at eleven.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Storm Surge and King Tide AM Dec 17 2012 06ann

English Bay Vancouver greats Winter.