Monday, December 30, 2013

Merry Christmaslights

Cathe talked me into going to Van Dusen Botanical Garden with the cameras to try photograph the light display. I was a bit skeptical because I never had a lot of success at that kind of photography in the past. I'm glad we went.

We had pretty much just started and I was getting some shots of the displays on a pond there when I nearly tripped over a couple huddled in a dark corner. Then I realized they were a statue. If you ever go there find this one, it's quite touching. I can only say it was near the entrance because with all those lights I was lost within a couple minutes.


So you go around the big pond, through a pink tunnel and you come out at a garden with angels. I thought I would make the halo on this one look like little stars.

Creepy Christmas. I am not sure what they were thinking with this one but when I took the photo I saw Hallowe'en behind Christmas. 

 Thanks for looking everyone and
Happy New Year!
 

Thursday, December 19, 2013

The Eagles

Well this trip was more productive in the quest for eagle photos. A lot more have shown up and a little spot we figured might be productive, was. We spent a good 3-4 hours there and got some photos. With this experience we gained I have come to one conclusion. I need a longer lens.

It was a great day weather-wise. Partly because I dressed for the bitter cold which it really wasn't on this trip. There always seemed to be something around us to take photos of and this day pretty much anywhere you pointed the camera there were eagles in the frame. 

 After so many times getting excited to see one eagle and then madly snapping photos even though it's almost only a speck in the sky it was a treat to see so many at one time. Were actually able to be somewhoat picky about the birds flying by if they weren't quite close enough.  The scenery provided a pretty nice backdrop for those longer shots.


Our "spot" was at the mouth of a stream where salmon had been spawning and the trail there is quite close to it. On the previous trips there were a lot of salmon spawning but it looked like they were mostly done by this trip. The eagles and seagulls were taking advantage.
 
I call this one "Eagle Sushi".
With those beaks and talons they sure don't need chopsticks. 

Here is a young one whose hasn't changed colours as yet. 

 Then there were the adults.


They really are magnificent birds and it was such a pleasure to so many so close. I am hooked on going to see them now, I just have to figure out how to get that longer lens. 

This was about the last photo of the day. Apparently they go thermalling every day late in the afternoon then come down for the night.

 We lucked out with the weather most of the day however shortly after this some sideways blowing snow made up our minds for us that it was time to go home.

Light Circles


 

Monday, December 16, 2013

Hairlight

Saturday evening I went to see Good For Grapes play at the Vogue theatre for their CD release show. I have photographed this group at some of their shows over the past few years. Since the first time seeing them I thought they're pretty good but with all that energy they need more room to move. They need a bigger stage. Here we are three years later I got to see them on such a stage at the Vogue. To call their show high energy would be putting it somewhat mildy. They made full use of the room to move and didn't stop from beginning to end. I always thought their music was great but now I know it's even greater loud. If you get the opportunity to see them perform, don't pass it up. In the meantime here are some photos I took. The title of this post will become clear. 

 Daniel McBurnie
 Graham Norman Gomez and Robert Hardie
  Graham Norman Gomez
 Jesse Brook
 Alexa (F)Unwin
 Sean MacKeigan
 Blair Hansen
Robert Hardie

I do love doing this type of photography. You have to plan ahead then shoot spontaneously. I hung back a bit this night, there was quite the crush of people dancing and jumping right at the front of the stage. I worried if I went in that crowd I might get knocked over and have people dancing on my head. Or worse, my camera. 

I have more photos which I'll post with these to my facebook later. In the meantime I better get some sleep.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

Uncommon Light

The other day Cathe and I went on another search of Eagles to take photos of. We had a little more success. Just not quite the close up, in your face, dramatic shots we were hoping for.







We decided to trek down a little trail in search of a spot where the eagles might be feeding on salmon going up a stream towards the local hatchery.

Well we trekked, walking on dry river beds, climbing over fallen trees, under fallen trees, onto false trails and back. We were getting close to a spot where I was sure we would get to see the shoreline and eagles. It was about then Cathe was walking ahead and she stopped. She turned around and said "I think we better go back now."  It seemed we had caught a little one napping.
We knew momma had to be close by so we kept the distance we had, stayed quiet and took a few photos from where we were. The cub watched us but didn't seem too concerned even having a little lie down while we were there. After we got our shots we made our way back the way we came with the eagle hunt over due to the area not being city slicker safe.