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.