Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Main Street and Broadway, Vancouver

Our photography class recently had a three-hour shoot in the general area of Main Street and Broadway (9th Avenue) on a sunny but cold afternoon. The first photo shows our excellent teacher, Ian, patiently explaining the afternoon's assignment. He is now shooting mostly with a 50m lens for the more natural perspective. I used primarily my 70-200m zoom because I hesitate to get close to my subjects and I am thinking in the telephoto mode these days.


Truck hood (nobody in class could guess what it was)

Looking through a telephone booth

Thorns on Thorns: Lent 2009

Reflections, looking to the north on Main Street




Although the following shot doesn't work (I was too far from the people), I include it because of the juxtaposition of clutter and austerity. Two friends were just settling down on the sunny porch for coffee, having a great time together. I was struck by their joy, in the midst of all the junk (shoes dangling from telephone wires, garbage cans, cold parking lot, window bars). By contrast, I get to sit in a beautiful garden for my coffee, surrounded by flowers and birds. I was impressed that these gals were having just as much fun as if they were in southern France.


Garage door

People


This was take an hour later, much farther west on Broadway. I was trying out a teleconverter for my 70-200m, here shooting at 400m from inside the store, looking at Ten Thousand Villages, one of my favourite Third World shops.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Galiano Island, British Columbia in March

Views from Mount Galiano on Galiano Island




Views from Bogeda Ridge






In late February, we visited beautiful Galiano Island which is situated between the mainland and Vancouver Island. These photos were taken primarily from Bogeda Ridge, which has several view points, and the much higher Mount Galiano which required a steady energetic hike of about an hour. The beautiful views encouraged us to linger longer than was wise but I wanted to observe the clouds change colours while the sun set. Darkness fell precipitously during our hurried descent, but we made it safely, in spite of losing sight of the path several times.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Snow in Vancouver, March 9, 2009






Vancouverites greeted the morning's snow with resignation and a shake of the head. Freezing temperatures are nearly 10 degrees C lower than normal for this time of year. Crocuses which had already delayed appearing as long as possible are still forced to cope with the snow.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Vancouver Sunsets over Galiano Island

Once again, my good friend Peter invited me to photograph sunsets from his 17th floor condo. The evening of February 28, 2009 featured soft clouds in the southwest and the sun set over Galiano Island. Hues differ because the camera was oriented either as directly to the sun as possible (without getting lens flare) or was situated to catch the sky's colours without aiming at the sun itself. This sampling of pictures takes us sequentially through the span of a single hour.

17.01hr


17.13hr

17.23hr (pointing almost directly at the sun)

17.30hr

17.38hr

17.45 hr

17.56 hr (looking a bit more eastward)

18.03hr