Connecticut

A somewhat delayed post... some of the photos were taken on our second day in the state, almost two months ago.




The Manhattan skyline, tantalisingly close across Long Island Sound.




Long Island Sound itself is quite lovely on a sunny day.




Detail of an iron fence on the Yale campus, New Haven.

BC Trip part #2

So, it's taken a while, but here is the second part of the BC trip, ranging from Smithers, up to Stewart on the border with Alaska and west to Prince Rupert.



Nicole takes flight while snowshoeing on Hudson's Bay Mountain.




A totem pole looks out over the river.




I love the perspective in this shot of the pier in Hyder, AK, how the lines of the structure align with the mountains lining the fjord.




Kind of abstracty, these chunky and rusting bolts hold together the boardwalk in Stewart.




We were very lucky to be treated to this sunset in Prince Rupert, although it was a bit of a race to get to the viewing spot in time.




I like how natural features like these braided river channels are scale invariant, and could be tiny little trickles or, as they are in this case, mighty rivers.




I was watching and shooting this bald eagle for several minutes, and took what I thought at the time were a few great shots. Sadly, once I got a look at them on my computer, they were all blurry. This was at the limit of my 75-300 mm lens at 1/400 exposure, maybe I need to set the shutter speed even faster in the future for better results.


And that's that. The next photos to appear on here will be from Connecticut and New York, as that is where I have moved to!

BC loop Part #1

The photographic highlights of a two week journey through BC, with side trips into Jasper, AB and Hyder, AK.




Contrast and brightness adjusted brought out the colour of Nicole's ski jacket.




Mt Fitzwilliam and the Yellowhead Highway.




Frozen Moose Lake (HDR image) alongside the Yellowhead Highway.




Maligne Lake, frozen, and sparkling in the bright sunshine.




"Scattered Showers" HDR image taken while snowshoeing on Hudson's Bay mountain near Smithers.


Check back soon for the second installment!

Bike ride out to Iona Island

For the first time in months, after reinflating my tyres, I jumped astride my bike and went for a ride. After spotting people walking around on the beach at the edge of the Vancouver airport, I figured it would be a good place to explore and ride around on (especially since it looked flat!). It also gave me the opportunity to cross the north arm of the Fraser River on the relatively new pedestrian and cycling bridge, which I am happy to report was a pleasure. Although I took a slightly roundabout route through Richmond to get to Iona Island, there were some interesting photographic subjects on the way.




Water #10 sculpture, part of the Vancouver Biennale




Fraser River




Industrial site that I can see from UBC




Massive log chained up alongside log rafts

Short Track Speed Skating

The only ticketed event that I made it to was the short track speed skating at the Pacific Coliseum. Despite being passed up by several full buses, we made it in time to the venue. After standing in the rain and then passing through the security checkpoint, we made it just in time to catch the only Australian skater, Tatiana Borodulina. She won her heat in the 1000 m event. Unfortunately, since I am still bereft of a telephoto lens, I couldn't get a good shot of her, but the following events, the men's 500 m heats and the women's 3000 m relay final, yielded some OK photos.

The funniest thing from the whole night was that the fries had to be called "savoury spuds", presumably not to interfere with a certain Olympic sponsor "family restaurant".




A false start by the Belorusian skater during the men's 500 m heat.




The chaos of the changeover during the women's 3000 m relay final.




The Canadian team celebrates with the crowd what they thought was a bronze.




The South Koreans despair after being disqualified after finishing in first place, while the Americans were jubilant after being promoted to bronze - despite finishing almost a whole lap behind the South Koreans.

Vancouver 2010

The Olympic circus is here - this is a selection of the festivities through my lens. Enjoy!




The Olympic flame - safely kept away from the marauding crowds behind a lovely chain link fence.




Large sections of Granville St and Robson St are closed to vehicle traffic, returning the streets to the people - and the people are making their claim. I personally think that most of Granville and Robson should be permanently closed to car traffic, the footpaths widened and just allow buses to run up the middle.




And the climax of Stephen Colbert's second day of filming by False Creek - giving in to the crowd's chant of "Ride the Moose! Ride the Moose! Ride the Moose!". He took it one step forward by waving the Canadian flag around too. Classic. Can't wait to see the show next week!

Winter in the Pacific Northwest

A bit of a change from the previous post - here are some images from the rainy and foggy state that is Washington.




Nooksack River valley (north fork)




Nooksack Falls and the river fading into the mist




The pipe is part of the hydro power installation at Nooksack Falls.

Summer in Australia

Well, for two weeks anyway. A very welcome break from the grey of Vancouver. Here are a few selections:




Seaford beach looks incredibly beautiful - and it can't all be due to the polarising filter.




A day at the cricket (1st Test vs Pakistan) - one of the most boring days of Test cricket I've ever watched! At least the clouds let me make an interesting HDR image.




The Surf Life Saving lookout building on the beach at Lakes Entrance is very brightly coloured.




It must have been a good day for gummy shark fishing at Cape Conran, because there were filleted carcasses all over the beach.

A winter's day at the Getty Center

What better way could there be to spend part of an 11 hour layover at LAX than to head out to the Getty Center via two buses? This was a welcome change from grey and rainy Vancouver, on the way to even sunnier days in Australia. And an excellent opportunity to use my newly acquired circular polarising filter.




Looking over the garden.




Looking up from the garden.




The cacti garden at the southern end of the site caught the soft afternoon light, and the mass planting of these round ones tricks the eye as to their actual size.




The white of the waxing gibbous moon and the building against the ultramarine sky.