The Bridge

The last few months of this year have been considerably sunnier than those of last year. However we have already had more snow on the ground and plenty of below zero days, its just been less grey and rainy. Saturday was chilly but a beautiful sunny day, with lots of promise for some nice light on the North Shore mountains come the magic hour. I got stuck in stupid downtown christmas traffic, and then fought traffic jams and closed roads in Stanley Park, arriving after the last of the Alpenglow faded from the peaks. I was extremely frustrated, but set up anyway and took some shots of the bridge while I was there. Still not grabbing much that I considered to be exciting, I did make some HDR images while trying not to lose my fingers to frost bite. Its crazy how rapidly the temperature drops once the sun is down, I mean it was cold to begin with, but I felt as though the icy frost was forming on me as I stood there.


The image I ended up with is a little strange and not really a brilliant shot, but its still a nice representation of the bridge at dusk. Its interesting the way the sky changes shades of blue on either side of the tree in the right of the image. Haven't seen that happen in an HDR shot yet.

The Lions Gate Bridge looking towards the North Shore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The South Pillar

another comparison

So just a few weeks back in late October I posted some photos of some of the amazing autumn colours that can be witnessed here in Vancouver. Just a few meters up the street from my house was an amazing tree on the corner with blazing red foliage that I was very impressed by. For about 10 days I enjoyed walking past it and staring up in wonder, never tiring of it. Well now, just weeks later, the leaves have fallen, winter has well and truly set in and our first snowfall has dropped. On Friday night we got almost 10cm here, and more in some other parts of the city.  The tree on the corner looked a little different on Saturday morning. So did the peaks of the mountains on the North Shore, peaking out into the sunshine above the clouds still looming over West and North Vancouver.

In full colours! - 27 Oct

Bare and white, just weeks later - 20 Nov

Heavy Snow Cap now sits on one of the numerous peaks of the North Shore

Have some more photos from our street and house to put up but for now I've got to roll!! Looking forward to more snow, and looking at the La Nina weather pattern we are in, there should be plenty to come!!

Photos with iPhone 4!

So I finally caved (well finally gave up the money, I've wanted one for a while now) and got myself an iPhone. Its a pretty amazing little gadget, the first smart phone I have owned and so really blows me away. Its intuitive user interface and myriad of amazing features is very easy to get excited about, and its seemless integration with my macbook as far as calendars, photos and music goes is fantastic. I wont go on too much about the gadget itself, most of you probably know how cool / well featured they are. What I want to talk about, or more  importantly show you, is the amazing photographic ability of the 5mp camera.

The below photos were all taken in the first week or so of owning the phone, and were enhanced with Adobe Photoshop Express, a free app (one of many photographic apps) that can be downloaded to use on the phone to edit images after capture, ready for immediate upload. You can do it on the spot you stand as you take the image, it is simply phenomenal! The camera also has a built in HDR function which actually produces reasonable results, and with some tweaking, become pretty reasonable images. I must say in playing with PS express I have probably over worked the images a little, they look great on the stupidly high resolution screen of the phone but the viewing experience alters slightly on a computer screen. However you want to look at it, the fact you can now have such an impressive camera with you at all times even if you don't want to bring a separate camera is super cool! There are some more features that I will discuss below.

The first shot I took

A HDR image

Leftovers one night, Indian Tikka Masala and Thai Green Curry

Another HDR image featuring the Japanese Maple in front of our place. Soft focus processing.

The Leaves on the ground from the Maple, with high saturation and sharpening.

High Contrast and Saturation on this heart shaped Autumn leaf.

A HDR halo is noticeable around the top of the tree on this one.

It can be tough to get the balance right on an image you may normally use filters for, but this is remarkably better than the original image after playing around with exposure and contrast controls in PSE

Looking towards the North Shore from Kitsilano Beach. Highlight blown out by trying to get some detail in the dark foreground.

HDR again, I quite like the result here! nice punchy colour with saturation boost.

Went a bit extreme with this one after the sun light gave an interesting lens flare / bokeh effect.

Black and White conversion with contrast and exposure adjustment.

 So, even though these aren't world class images, they are still pretty amazing considering. I think the only thing I will use my point and shoot camera for in the future is time lapse! The iPhone camera has a built in flash with on/off/auto setting, a built in gps marker to tag your image with the location it was shot, and also has the capacity to shoot HD VIDEO!! I have yet to really play with that. I should also mention the ability to tap the screen when composing your image to direct the camera to focus on a certain subject in the frame, and the ability to tap a button and switch to the front facing camera for self portraits, IF you are that way inclined!!


I am looking forward to shooting some more images as the opportunities arise. Especially candid or street photography of interesting moments that I may observe when I DON'T have my camera with me!

Trout Lake Autumn and Winter...

I don't often do this, and in honesty this happened by accident really. Two photographs taken from the south shore of Trout lake, looking north towards the North Shore Mountains. The first taken in mid Autumn with the trees showing off their glowing foliage. The second taken from approximately the same position a couple of months later when the lake was frozen over and the mountains shrouded in low cloud and snow...

Mid October

Mid December

Autumn Colour!

 

I love the colours that come out at this time of year here in Canada. Yesterday on a walk around my local streets I only had to go to the corner of my block and to find this wonderful tree. There are several others of the same species further along the street, But they are all well behind this one as far as the development of colour goes, so over the next week or two the whole block should light up like this!!

Last year I also captured a number of shots that really show the powerful colours that glow throughout Vancouver, whether in the parks, local streets, or right downtown.

Canada Place - Downtown

Yaletown

Green - Yellow - Orange - Red

Stanley Park

Canine Photography

Anyone who knows me well knows that  I love dogs. Sadly my lifestyle does not lean towards the responsible ownership of a canine companion at this stage, however I look forward to the day when I can bring a new one in to my life. Tara's friend Julie and her husband Mike recently took on a Labrador puppy named Jack and he is a delightful young fella! In August we met up North on the Island and went camping for a couple of nights. Jack came along and was a lot of fun to have around. I took a few shots of him playing and just hanging out at the campsite with us. Following are a few of the results. The campsite was right between the beach and the road so we had to keep the cheeky little fella on a lead so he didn't disappear on us!

Caution, if you are a sufferer of AAAAAWWWWWWWW syndrome, you may wish to look away now!

Shakin' hands

Come get me

Whats that beeping noise?

Pensive

New Place : Kitsilano, Vancouver!

Recently moved in to a great new place in Kitsilano. Minutes from the beach, Broadway, 4th, and 10 mins from downtown.... a few shots of it now that its reasonably furnished, just needs some images on the walls!!

 

The deck out the back is a nice bonus although we are headed in to winter. Next year it will be killer! Added bonus is that when the sunset is putting on a show the view from the deck is something like this.....

Thanksgiving Dinner

Last weekend was one spent in the kitchen! Don't do it heaps but just seemed to be on a mission to create some nice food! First up was Pumpkin soup which turned out to be Squash soup. After almost destroying the blender, the soup turned out thick and tasty, but lacked the orange look I was after, ending up a rather dull yellowish colour, similar to that of baby puke. Photo's were not a good option here, so just let the taste buds enjoy that one!

On Sunday we created two delicacies. Our favourite cake of all time is carrot cake. Moist, thick, rich in flavour and oh so nastily covered in cream cheese icing. It is simply devine! We baked it in the early afternoon and then allowed it to sit for icing later, while Tara began the roast. We picked up a delicious looking cut of beef from IGA just round the corner and roasted it for a couple of hours whilst preparing other dishes to go along side. The house smelt fabulous, that smell should be a fragrance you can buy for those glade plug-in things "roast dinner" and "Cake in the oven".

Tara's Roast Beef

The Carrot Cake with chopped walnuts and cream cheese icing!

We capped everything off with a delicious gravy produced from the roast drippings just as Tara's mother arrived in time for dinner. Roast beef with mash and gravy, carrots, broccoli, delicious italian bread rolls and then for desert, a big slice of class A carrot cake. I was stuffed! Not the most traditional Turkey thanksgiving dinner, but a smorgasbord none-the-less!!

Succulent and Juicy!

ohhhhhh yeeeaaaahhhh!

I had to cut myself another piece, but just a smaller bit this time!

Las Vegas

Just returned from a 4 day trip to Las Vegas for a wedding of a close friend of Tara's. The experience was very different from my first visit to Vegas and I left with a newly found appreciation for the place.

I didn't put a cent down in a casino and consumed a responsible amount of alcohol, but I really enjoyed attending a wedding set amongst the Garden of the Gods at Caesars Palace, explored the Casinos and Gambling halls of the strip, and really soaked up the atmosphere of this fabulous desert city of debauchery.

The grounds and Buildings of Caesars Palace take up an entire block on the Strip

The Garden of the Gods at the Heart of Caesars Palace. What a scene for a wedding!

The flight down included the highlights of flying over Mt Rainier and Mt Adams. Seeing them from above gives you a whole new perspective on just how massive these mountains are. Despite being taken through the window of the plane, the images of Mt Rainier are astounding. Then landing in Vegas in the dark really gives you that feeling of the "Disneyland for adults" that Vegas is.

Mt. Rainier from above on the flight down.

The Aquatic sound and light show at the Bellagio draws a large crowd.

The wedding was a great success and the setting was beautiful. I was also able to meet up with a great friend from home who happened to be in town while we were there, it was quite surreal to be sharing the experience together and great to hear a familiar voice. 

Lions at the MGM Grand

A more permanent large feline at the MGM

After enjoying 99c Margaritas, lazy rivers and some hard hitting Vegas heat, it was time to fly out, but we were well and truly ready for it. Leaving Las Vegas was again a visual delight as you fly out over the nearby ridges and out into the flat planes of the desert beyond. The alien landscapes that form in the dust and rocks below is intriguing to say the least.

The city of Las Vegas can just be made out behind the mountains and plains that reach out from this desert city.

This unique veiwpoint lends to stunning perspectives of the land formations below.

Despite being taken through the window, the images are still pleasing.

Whilst I did not spend a lot of time shooting, I did manage to capture some nice images from the trip. Until next time Vegas :)