The Dark of the Year

The winter solstice has arrived, and the days are short here at 49.25°N. Fortunately I get to escape the winter dark and spend a couple of weeks at the opposite end of the globe in Melbourne, Australia.




The sun rises late...




...the vegetables are frozen in the gardens...




...the sun sets early...




...and the greenhouses glow orange.

Shots in the grey

November was a REALLY wet month in Vancouver. There were just four days without recorded rain, and from the 5th to the 26th it rained every single day. This series of photos were taken towards the end of that stretch, on the 21st and 22nd. Now that we're in December, the days are clear and cold. Seems like the weather changes slowly at this time of year.




The two large rings are a public art installation on English Bay. Dozens of these types of large scale sculptures have sprouted around Vancouver as the city prepares to host the 2010 Winter Games. I like the way that they frame the container ships anchored out in the bay.




The general gloominess lent itself to some black and white imagery. And the sun breaking through the overcast sky provided a little bit of sparkle. This is the Burrard Bridge looking east.




Looking in the other direction, this is a composite panorama made from three images in Autostitch, a great FREE panorama-making piece of software.

Couple of random shots

Here are two photos from the last couple of weeks. I have a new batch from around the West End to put up soon, but I haven't got around to it yet.




While Nicole and I were waiting for the train to arrive in Seattle so that we could complete our journey home from SLC. I was amusing myself taking some moody black and white pictures of the interior of the station, when Nicole walked right in front of me; somewhat fortuitously, as it turned out!




I was proud of my efforts at installing an (Ikea) fluorescent light above the kitchen sink in my apartment and to celebrate the occasion, I photographed it with just the cold, cold glow. I think it gives a normally mundane scene some interest.

Mark & Lynn's Wedding

This last weekend I had the pleasure to attend the wedding of the younger of my girlfriend's older brothers. Got it? It was held in Midway, Utah, which is a little south of Park City in the Wasatch Mountains. I found it a little bizarre and kitsch at first that it has so many Swiss-style buildings (which look rather out of place in a dry area with few trees), but apparently there was a lot of Swiss immigration in the 19th century (thanks Wikipedia!).

I also realised that I need a faster lens for low-light conditions such as these, as many shots were unfortunately either too blurry or too grainy.




However, in this case the blur worked to my advantage as I unintentionally tracked the motion.




One of the many red lanterns that formed part of the decorations.




An arty shot of the rings.




These name tags were (apparently) meant to be used to reserve seats for dinner. I put mine on my wine glass. Just a matter of priorities, I guess!




A bit of moral support from the older, married brother to the groom.




Mr and Mrs Kindred!




The delicious squash soup was eventually served and was well worth the wait.




Father of the bride. Party on!

International Day of Climate Action

I put on my event photographer hat and joined in the protest. This was the biggest rally in Vancouver since the anti-war action in 2003.

Fortunately the weather held up and even improved during the day - the gloomy clouds disappeared over the course of a few hours.



Sign waving on the Cambie Bridge.




The crowd gathers.




This gives some sense of the number of people.




The banner that was hung from the Cambie Bridge.

Autumn colours/Fall colors

I'm not sure if the autumn leaves are a more intense colour this year or whether I'm just noticing them more. Maybe it's because I missed most of it last year since I was away for nearly all of October. Anyway, there were some spectacular colours around UBC last week, and here is a selection.




This is the view down Main Mall, looking north from Agronomy Road. Every one of the oaks seems to be at a different stage of colour.




The colours of ivy were never something that I was aware of in Melbourne, maybe the ivy is a different type there that doesn't change colour. This is actually the outside of my building, and looking out the window with the sun streaming through the red ivy leaves (on some days) is a real pleasure.




I like the way the street curves in this shot. This is a quiet back street that runs parallel to Wesbrook Mall. The brilliant yellow of these trees are visible from the bus loop.




Another shot along Main Mall, looking in the other direction. I'm often struck by the stately pillars of these oak trunks, no matter what the season.

Ghosts of Sunshine Past

Now that the rainy season has well and truly hit Vancouver (50 mm forecast for today after 20 yesterday), I thought I'd blog about some sunny photos from the last couple of weeks (and hopefully get up to date!). These are all from in and around Vancouver.





This selection of squash was on display at the Brackendale Fall Fair, which is just north of Squamish.





From a lookout close to the summit of Lynn Peak, on the North Shore.





While not sunshine per se, the sunset was reflecting off the buildings of North Van.


And that's it for this installment - watch this space!

A snapshot of NYC

These pics are over a month old now, so it's high time they were blogged about. I took a lot of photos in New York (for me, anyway) and as a local friend was flicking through them on my camera while I was there, she commented on how it is always interesting to see what people who don't live there choose to photograph. In particular, she mentioned my fascination with the water towers on top of many of the buildings, and the chains for locking up bicycles. In Vancouver, most people who like their bike to be there when they get back us a U-lock, whereas the New Yorkers seem to prefer a heavy duty chain and a solid padlock.




One of the more touristy activities was going to the Top of the Rock viewing platform. But it was such a clear day that it was well worth it. And not very crowded. Nicole was leaning against the glass looking out, looking like she was morphing with her reflection.




An incredible view, and a brilliantly clear day.




Always a lot of roadwork happening.




The heavy duty chains preferred by New York City cyclists.




I was really impressed with how this shot turned out. All I wanted to do was get some traffic blurring past, but the combination of the light from the full moon and the glow of the city on the clouds give it a great atmosphere.




One of many water towers.




A portrait of Josh on the New York Water Taxi heading out to Long Island City. It's difficult to catch Josh unaware - he has a sixth sense about when a lens is pointed in his direction.




Beer at MoMA PS1 - somehow this sums up the whole experience, which was fairly surreal.

Vive le Québec (libre)!

Nicole and I were reunited in Montréal, and from there we travelled to Québec City and back on VIA Rail before heading south to the USA aboard Amtrak (but more on that later). Language aside, you could easily think you were in a different country compared to the rest of Canada, and especially compared to BC. Completely different landscapes, buildings, city layouts and of course (post-European) ages. It has been said so often that Montréal is a very European city, and Québec City rivals many of the finest examples of preserved Vieux Ville of old Europe. But then you come across a four-lane freeway running through the city or a giant SUV or pickup, just to remind you that you're still in North America.

To the photos!




Giant chess is a popular pastime in Place Émilie-Gamelin.




The Bixi bike sharing operation is both stylish and functional.




This guy was very focused on his camera.




Québec City streetscape with gloomy sky.




One of the many statues around Québec City.




An ode to blue.




Statue commemorating the Boer War. The inscription reads: "To those sons of Quebec who gave their lives in South Africa while fighting for the Empire AD 1899-1902." The graffiti reads: "Québec libre" (see here for the history of the slogan).

A Night in Toronto

Maybe it's not the title of a song, but it could be. After arriving around sunset, I set out to explore the city for one night only, starting from Carlton Street in the Cabbagetown district and heading towards the CN Tower.




First off, the back porch of the hotel I was staying at had a great view of the downtown skyline.




Toronto Life Square, which my first thought was that it was like Times Square in New York. When I was actually at Times Square about a week later, I realised that Toronto Life Square is simply not on the same scale.




Probably the most interesting view for me from the top of the CN Tower was looking down on the baseball stadium while the Blue Jays were playing. This must be the view that the blimp gets. Notice that the stands are fairly empty - the Blue Jays were not doing well, and the fans were voting with their feet.




A self portrait. It was really windy up there, hence the windswept look.




Standing on the glass floor. Look carefully, and my reflection is visible as well as the tower all the way down to the ground. Despite it being obviously safe to walk on, it was amazing how many people completely freaked out and refused to stand on it. So naturally I started jumping up and down.




Streetcar (tram) in motion on Carlton Street. They sounded just like the Melbourne trams, even down to the "ding, ding". One difference was the way they are connected to the power lines - the Toronto streetcars use a movable stick, like the trolley buses in Vancouver, whereas the Melbourne trams have a fixed connector.

The Sudbury Experience

I travelled to Sudbury ON last month for a conference and managed to take in some of the surrounding sights, which varied from heavy industry (it is one of the biggest nickel producing areas of the world) to idyllic woodland full of fungi.

While not exactly a thing of beauty, the Superstack and its smaller neighbour make a more interesting silhouette with the setting sun as a backdrop.




I was lucky with the sunsets, they provided some lovely soft light, as reflected by the Science North museum (which, incidentally, is in the shape of a snowflake).




The setting sun also helped give the Big Nickel some definition, as I tried to get beyond the standard tourist shot of this landmark.




The clear skies resulted in a rapid drop in temperature as night fell, and the fog rolled in over this soccer pitch. The orange light in the foreground was due to streetlights behind me.




And, as promised, the fungi. I'm pretty sure this is a lobster mushroom, but I wasn't sure enough to bite into it.