Sunrise at Jericho Beach, Vancouver, January 2nd

We enjoyed an unusually crisp clear morning today, so I took photos until my finger could no longer feel the shutter button.

October sunrise over Vancouver, B.C.

The sunrise this morning, Saturday, October 10th, 2009, was spectacular. Many people could be seen taking pictures as the cloud cover started to break up over downtown Vancouver just as the sun was filling the lower cloudless horizon with fire. It was perfect for HDR photography in which you use a tripod in order to take multiple photographs (I usually took 7), each at a different exposure, and then merge them in order to get an enormous tonal range of luminosity, saturation and detail. This technique can often make photographs seem more like paintings.

Vancouver sunrise Dec 16, 2008

Moon setting during a December dawn




December provides Vancouverites excellent sunrises at a reasonable hour. These photographs were taken this morning between 7:30-8:15 a.m. by the Fraser River. The temperature was unusually cold for Vancouver, -6C with no wind. Even with the added warmth of fingerless gloves, I was eventually unable to find the shutter release by feel. Since the darker shades of sunrise eventually turned much brighter, I willingly packed the cold tripod and tromped through the snow back to the car and our icy side roads. Time for a warm breakfast with Karl.

Chestermans Beach, Tofino, B.C.

A late October sunrise (looking west from the living room windows)

Approaching the beach from the house through bushes which help hold the sand during the storm season.

The sand seems to stretch for miles as tides gently come and go.

The park has signs daily suggesting the relative danger from the waves to swimmers and surfers.

The setting October sun (rain came that evening)

The sun is nearly set (time exposure)

The sun draws attention to the wet sand as the tide recedes.

Kelp washed ashore. One artist weaves these plants into interesting baskets.

For more than a decade, we have tried to include an annual visit to Chestermans Beach just south of Tofino, B.C. Situated on the west coast of Vancouver Island, this is my favourite beach with dramatic tides, waves for surfers, and sand stretching out until it eventually gently drifts into the Pacific Ocean. The Wickanninish Inn is on the far northern part of this two-part beach, but is too expensive and reminds me of being in a big city hotel (but with far better views and access to nature). We prefer Judi's Seaside Cottage on the southern part of the beach. This rental is a quiet little secluded one-bedroom dwelling that gives absolute privacy, great views of the ocean through the trees (both from the deck and the living room), and immediate access by foot to the ocean (following a path through the bushes). We were there in late October 2008, during off season, so the beach was virtually abandoned, and on one beautiful sunny day the nearby 9-hole golf course had one other golfer, a bear and me (I wisely let the bear play through on the sixth hole).

The sunsets can be spectacular, colours depending on the constantly changing weather, but even sunrises can have interesting glows to the west as the sunlight plays off the mists rising from the ocean. The sand is constantly changing, sometimes being almost glassy-smooth, sometimes showing ripples from the ebb and flow of the tides. Washed up kelp reminds me that I know very little about the teaming life in our ocean.

B.C. Ferry ride from Tsawwassen to Nanaimo (Duke Point) on Vancouver Island

Sunrise at the Tsawwassen harbour

Water churning as the ferry departs

Leaving Tsawwassen at 7:45 a.m. sharp

Another B.C. Ferry returning to Tsawwassen

Lighthouse backlit by sun penetrating storm clouds near Nanaimo

Mainland coastal mountains to the north, layered in the mist

Last week we made our annual pilgrimage from Vancouver to Tofino, one of our favourite destinations in British Columbia. Although the point of the holiday is to visit Vancouver Island's west coast, even the two-hour ride on the B.C. Ferry can be restful and beautiful. These pictures were taken during the 7:45 a.m. ferry from Tsawwassen (on the mainland) to Nanimo (Duke Point terminal on the island). Since days are getting shorter, the weather was cloudy and the time change has not yet happened, passengers were able to watch a spectacular sunrise slowly unfold. We were on The Coastal Inspiration, one of the corporation's new acquisitions. This is a very comfortable ship, and the early Tuesday morning off-season sailing ensured that there was lots of room, peace and quiet for all. There are ample decks for walking, a lovely sun deck (covered with many sky lights and well protected from the ocean wind on three sides), HD TVs to watch if you must, a book store, Starbucks coffee shop, cafeteria, and multiple lounges (all smoke-free) with comfortable seating and large windows.

Along the way we saw the mainland's harbour slowly disappear into the sunrise, the layers of mountains rising above the morning's mist, a lovely small low island with an old-fashioned light house beautifully back-lit by sunlight streaming dramatically through dark clouds, another ferry heading back to Tswwassen, and occasionally sea creatures coming up for air.