Project 52 - Week 14

We started at around 9am at the Pike Road end of the East Sooke Park coastal trail. It was cool and the morning fog was showing no signs of lifting. As we made our way along the trail through the many undulations of rocky cliffs, gorges and forested hills, the beauty and atmosphere is spell binding. As I stood atop a large rock formation looking over a small sunken knoll of trees just 100 metres from the ocean, the fog sweeping in off the sea was creating an eerie mood. In the silence of the moment, I could have been standing a thousand miles from anywhere. Love it.

Lost in the Woods

Project 52 - week 13

Spent the Easter weekend on Vancouver Island, the weather was unseasonably spectacular. This shot was actually captured with the iPad from my morning coffee and news station. Just ten minutes earlier the basin was shrouded in a layer of fog, but as the sun peaked over the eastern hills, it burnt off rapidly revealing this glorious morning.

Project 52 - Week 12 Earth Hour

Earth Hour last year seemed to fizzle, it snuck up on me without me even realizing as there was limited media discussion or representation. This year was much better, Tara and I had dinner by candle light, lit the fire, played music on a portable system and soaked up the warmth. I wish we could morph Earth hour into something that was more permanent, instead of just patting ourselves on the back once a year for turning off some lights. When you look at how big of a difference there is when many of the commercial businesses and offices in high rise towers turn their lights off, it's hard to wonder why many of them are left on overnight, when no one is there.

Open Fire on a chilly night for earth hour, heat and light!

Project 52 - 2013 Week 11. Hoya ND400 Neutral Density Filter "Black Glass"

A much better image utilising the benefits of the ND400 can now be found here

After doing a little ebay shopping, my Hoya ND400 Filter arrived in the mail. I haven't fully tested it yet, but have taken a few sample shots with it to get a feel for how it works and how to compensate for the 9 stops of light it cuts out. My primary intention is to use it with water images. This little water fall on the Baden Powell Trail was the first one I got to stop at and take a few shots. It was bloody cold so couldn't sit still for too long, but still got some fun results!

Project 52 - 2013 Week 10

Still shooting hoops outside through the winter, when the sun is out for long enough to evaporate some of the water from the court. Its cold, especially when the breeze is coming off the water at the beach adjacent to the courts, but it makes you feel great!

Splash

Project 52 - 2013 Week 9

I have been wanting to shoot this for some time now. Walking to the bus on a sunny morning I would often see the way the trunks and lower limbs of the maples that line some of my local streets glow with the greeny-yellow colour of the thick moss that covers them. Without the thick canopy that adorns them in the summer months, the sunlight penetrates and gives a dappled, magical appearance that follows the "infinity" pattern as they continue on down the street as far as you can see. I raced out on a sunny morning this week and tried to capture the image as best I could without the power lines, street lights, vehicles and parking signs from getting in the way, it was kind of tough actually, but this image tells the story in part.

Moss Covered Maples - 8th St Kitsilano

Project 52 - 2013 Week 8

We have recently taken to hiking on the North Shore on the weekends. Its so lush and green over there. Beautifully fresh and crisp, but sometimes pretty wet too. The twin canyon loop trail takes you from Lynn Valley over towards the base of Mt Seymour along the river and then back via the Bayden Powell trail and finally across the Lynn Canyon suspension bridge, as shown below in the quickly failing evening light....

Project 52 - 2013 Week 7

After some snowshoeing on Mt Seymour, the clouds broke a little in the lower western sky for a late afternoon splash of colour.

Sunset from Mt Seymour

Project 52 - 2013 week 6

The weather forecasts in Vancouver don't mean a lot. Some days that forecast doom and gloom turn out to be gorgeous winter sunbursts, cold but glorious. Others can be forecasted to be just that, and you never see the sun. One morning I went out to shoot on what was supposed to be a beautiful morning, it wasn't, and Vancouver was shrouded in low cloud that slowly lifted from the city as I skulked around hunting for a subject in poor light.

Vancouver's skyline with lifting fog

Project 52 - 2013 week 5

Whoops fallen a little behind with the posting, have a couple of weeks to catch up on...

Caught this nice winter sunset light over Vancouver's North Shore Mountains. Such a lovely sight to watch unfold.

Project 52 - Week 4 Ultimate Ears 18 pro, custom reference monitors

Custom made for my ears by Ultimate Ears. Beautiful finished product, amazing presentation and packaging. See the Flickr set below for more images of these ice cool, sleek sounding monitors...

Ultimate Ears Experience

Ultimate Ears Experience, a set on Flickr.

Australia Day 2013

Nothing like a fat can of bad beer on Australia day. Green and Gold!!

Happy Australia Day part two!

What Remains of the Eureka Flag in a dimly lit room in the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.



Tattered Remains by Tristan Rayner



view on 500px here

Happy Australia Day!

Happy Australia Day! This was taken many years ago with my first SLR. The Eureka flag is draped from the top of the Eureka Centre in Ballarat, on the site of the Eureka uprising back in 1854. Growing up in Ballarat it's easy to take for granted that something of such magnitude in our nations history happened right in our backyard. Thought by many to be the birth of democracy in our country, the Eureka uprising was a battle between gold miners and British colonial authorities over the level of taxation known as a "Miners License".

For more information see http://www.made.org

http://sonsofeurekastockade.com/faq.htm



Eureka Centre Ballarat by Tristan Rayner

Atwell Peak

On a previous visit to Squamish the weather changed late in the day and the sun came out just as it was going down. Without the collar for my 70-200 or a tripod, I had to improvise with a monopod with drastically dropping light levels.

view this image on 500px here 

Diamond Head, a photo by cleangetaway on Flickr.

Project 52 - 2013 week 3

Week 3 - Indoor experiments with wireless flash.

Shooting hoops in the sunny but sub zero temperatures is nice on the better days, but some days its pretty awful outside, so I chose to shoot something inside.

I envisaged the shot I wanted in my mind and then set about making it happen. After some experimenting with lighting and composition I ended up with something very close to what I had conceived. Some black and white processing finished the job.

Basketball is a sporting interest that I could probably explore a little further later this year as the weather improves and more people come out and play.

Hoop dreams

Hoops, a photo by cleangetaway on Flickr.

Project 52 - 2013 week 2

Week 2 - Squamish Bald Eagle Count

Many Eagles congregate in the Squamish Valley through January every year. This year we went up to take a look and hoping to grab a good shot or two. This was my favourite...

See the post below for the story and more images...

View this image on 500px here

Last Shadow

Last Shadow, a photo by cleangetaway on Flickr.

View this image on 500px here

Squamish - Bald Eagle Count

Icicles form on the sign at the Squamish Adventure Centre water feature.

Every year in January the Squamish eagle count takes place. Recording the numbers of birds congregating along the Squamish and Mamquam rivers and other estuaries in the Squamish valley.
Though we actually have a number of Bald Eagle nest sites within close proximity to us here in Kitislano, and along Point Grey, I really wanted to get to Squamish for the count while the birds were around in large numbers, hoping to catch a few good images, despite only have a 200mm lens.

The primary viewing spot on the walls of the Squamish river was typically bustling with tourists and other interested families and individuals, but there was not a lot to be seen, though a spotting scope set up by volunteers gave us a great close up look at 2 adults roosting in a tree about 400 metres away. I was excited, but hoping we would get more interaction than this.

We relocated to a much quieter location near where the Mamquam river meets the Squamish river, and here we struck gold. There was a significant number of birds hanging out in the trees on either side of the water and occasionally taking flight to find a better vantage point. We pulled out the thermos for some hot soup (temp was -1c) and Tara spotted a bird in the tree right beside where we had parked, so we got a good look at him with the binoculars.

Juvenile birds where present in large numbers

One of our "local" adults cruises across the river

 There were many Juvenile birds amongst the adults present, some of them pestering the adults that were comfortably roosted, which worked for me as it meant for my birds in flight and passing right over or past where we were set up.

We moved on for a walk along the sides of the river and down along the banks, frequently spotting new birds in locations that we hadn't noticed before. Its hard to say exactly because of their movement, but at one point we could count a dozen birds in trees and in the air. I am guessing we may have seen somewhere in the vicinity of 25 individuals during the couple of hours we spent observing.

Its seems the adult Eagles were less prepared to land in lower sections of trees than the juveniles, and I only saw one Eagle down at water level on the banks (juvenile), but it was through thick twiggy trees and by the time I got my camera and attempted to find a better vantage point it took off. We also did not see any birds feeding on the Salmon. So my images were mostly from some distance to stationary birds, but a little closer if they happened to fly past both low and close.

My favourite shot was taken as took off from a tree up ahead on the riverside trail and flew straight over my head. Overall it was still great to get many great looks at these majestic creatures through both the lens and the binoculars. Without crunchy frozen snow on the ground, more time and knowledge of locations, accompanied with a longer lens, it would be possible to get some amazing images here.

6 birds perched in the riverside trees

The first strokes of the wings and the lowered head upon take off give the Eagle a menacing look

We capped off the day with a snack in the car, watching the falling sun and the approaching layer of cloud, gambling on whether the light would drop low enough to illuminate the snow covered peaks of Mount Atwell before going behind the mountains on the other side of Howe Sound. Atwell Peak looms in the background over Squamish as you look to the north east and is a prominent feature of the scenery from many locations in the area. The gamble paid off and as the sunset-orange light progressively rose up the mountain from under the cloud cover, the mountain came alive. This capped off a great day in Squamish, driving home the idea that we really would like to move here.

Atwell Peak at sunset

Icy conditions

On our way to Squamish this past weekend, we stopped at Shannon Falls to see what the sub zero day time conditions where doing to preserve the icy developments of the overnight chills. The patterns of ice formations and the way the ice merges with the moving water below creates some intriguing scenes.

Balancing on a couple of rocks mid-stream, I quickly snapped this image of the running water below the hardened surface of ice with my phone before I lost my balance! 

Project 52 - 2013 week 1

Week 1 - New Years day, 2013. 

I got up early and raced down to Kits Beach to see what the first sunrise of the new year would bring. It was nothing special but still a beautiful sight. It was chilly and very crisp with mostly clear skies. Fog still engulfed the downtown core which made the scene a little more interesting. As I admired the first rays of sunshine of the new year illuminating the snowy peaks of the North Shore, 2 paddle boarders silently glided into the water and paddled out into the bay across Kits beach and into the scene. Click.

New Years Dawn - January 1, 2013

New Years Dawn 2013, a photo by cleangetaway on Flickr.

Year round riding on Vancouvers North Shore!

While many riders put their bikes away for the winter season and pull out their skis/snowboards, Several riders I know persist in braving the considerable colder temps and accumulating snow, and riding through the winter. On the lower sections of the mountains, the snow line recedes as quickly as it drops, so often within days of a heavy fall the worst of it has melted away.

For shits n giggles I decided to go for a couple of runs on Mt Fromme's lower trails, the day after a significant drop of freezing level. I found considerable more snow than I expected, with the access road to the trails covered in a white layer even before reaching the water tanks. As I climbed the snow cover thickened to the point where maintaining traction in steeper sections of the climb was a serious challenge.

I stopped to put on my armour, take a drink and a quick bite at the top of "Pipeline" before dropping in to the snow covered trail. In the few minutes I spent relatively still, I began to quickly notice the sub zero temperature taking hold of me.

I was not sure what to expect as first rolled in, but quickly came to discover that the 2 inches or so of snow over the trail was actually allowing for perhaps more grip than just a wet trail, especially over smooth rocks and wooden features, due to the crunchy grittiness the snows texture gave under my tires. The snow was covered more lightly in canopied sections of the trails than on the access road that is open to accumulate heavier cover which helped make the trail still somewhat recognizable.

Some of the steeper, sharp turns were a little harder to negotiate, or should I say, confidently attempt, but after some time learning a new approach, the riding was still very much fun! Actually the biggest challenges came from frozen braking fingers that were numb and difficult to control with full dexterity, and also what appeared to be lesser power/control of my brakes possibly due to the significantly lower than usual temperature of the fluid. I am not certain, but my brakes definitely felt spongy on the ride, but after acclimatizing the bike back to room temperature that evening, the sponginess had disappeared.

A few of the photos I took with my iPhone along the way are shown below...

View from one of the switchbacks over towards Mt Seymour

White tires

The snow clung to my tread on the ascent

You can get a better perspective of depth from this shot of one of the higher switchbacks

Just before the trail entrance

The sun rises and sets quickly on mid winter days

Brassing up at the top of Pipeline

One of the many snow covered features down the trail

Sunset Colour

While the sun may be less prominent in the winter months in Vancouver, you can still catch some amazing sunsets year round in this beautiful city. I often catch some glorious colours in the sky from the shores of English bay, particularly from the south side of the water. Just a couple of recent examples below... Cold weather but clear days sometimes brings some of the best colours to the evening skies...

From Margaret Piggot Park

Vanier Park

Valentines Day

This time two years ago, in a shipping container converted into a dining hall, sitting on plastic furniture at a trestle table, having just dined on a paper plate, I confessed my love to the most fabulous girl I have ever met. We were hidden away in closed off area of the dining hall in the base camp for the security force providing the screening for the Winter Olympics venues in Whistler, British Columbia. The day before Valentines day, I couldn't hold it in any longer. Since then we have traveled across southern British Columbia, then Canada, and the world together, share a great home in Kitsilano and have a wonderful future ahead of us. I am the luckiest bloke alive to have her in my life and I don't know what I would do without her. Happy Valentines day sweetheart :)

Tara at a brief intermission while reading her book in the window seat of our hotel room at "The Pantages" in Toronto.

Australia whirlwind visit

Outside of a few per-determined shoots, our visit back to Australia was very busy, and not a lot of time was left for photography. A close friends wedding, Christmas, and a list as long as my arm of people to catch up with and babies to kiss etc, kept us very tied up. I did allow a few days to check out some of Victoria's nicer locations as Tara had been to Australia before but not to Victoria.

The Grampians was first on our list, west of Ballarat, and then we headed to the coast to see the 12 apostles and drive the great ocean road. I did manage to create a couple of HDR collaborations in these locations, one from the top of one of the hiking trails that leads high up a ridge on one side of Halls Gap, and the other from the base of Erskine Falls, which is a short drive into the mountains above Lorne.

Erskine Falls, Otway Ranges, Victoria

Halls Gap, The Grampians, Victoria