Unexpected Wildlife Photography

While we were in Manning Park for their Dark Sky Festival last weekend, we decided to talk a walk around Lightning Lake to explore the area a little bit.  I had never been, so when we pulled into the day-use parking lot, I knew I had to grab my camera for the adventure. 

It actually ended up to be a great opportunity to not only take some breathtaking landscape photos, but some animals actually stopped to pose for me along the way.

Manning Park, Lightning Lake
Spruce Grouse
Manning Park, Lightning Lake
Baby Squirrel

The shade was very cool, and the sunlight was gloriously warm that day.

Manning Park, Lightning Lake
Manning Park, Lightning Lake
Manning Park, Lightning Lake
Manning Park, Lightning Lake
Manning Park, Lightning Lake

That One Time When Noel Gallagher Shot Me with His Guitar

Pemberton Music Festival 2016
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Shot during the 2016 Pemberton Music Festival in Pemberton, B.C.

I’ve been seeing reminders popping up from previous Pemberton Music Festivals, which was sad due to the cancellation of this year’s. It made me think about some of the shots that I took from last year, and this one always gets me. It appears that Noel does not like photographers.

The view from the Westin Whistler

Westin Whistler Weekend - Our view

At work, I have a screen saver that cycles through my flickr stream, and this photo popped up the other day when I came back to my desk.

I took this a few months ago when Rebecca and I had a great weekend at the Westin Whistler as their guests. We were able to experience an amazing look behind the scenes in their kitchen while their very talented crew of chefs prepared some amazing food dishes for a local children’s hospital banquet and fundraiser.

I’ve always like how I was able to catch the way the clouds sit over the mountains on the other side of the Sea to Sky Highway from the main Whistler Village. You could stare out the window for hours, watching the clouds hover over the slopes.

Always remember what it’s like to be a kid

Photowalking with The Reverend Don Deeley

I shot this while crossing the Burrard Inlet in a Seabus to the north shore. This kid was a giddy as I often am while looking out the same windows at the city. It always makes me think about how lucky I am to be living in this city, and how thankful I am to all of my friends and family that made it possible for me to achieve everything I have.

I think that in a lot of ways, I’m still a kid at heart. That’s why I took this photo.

Love with an iPhone

Love with an iPhone

Just a little fun with long exposure, Rebecca used a drawing app on her iPhone 3GS to make her screen pink and did her best to spell out “love” in reverse. When you shake the phone, the screen turns back to being white, and that’s how she got the white circle to show up around it. I just had to figure out all the settings on my camera to get this to work, and around the fourth or fifth time, it came out like this.

This photo was taken in my parent’s driveway back in Iowa after the fireworks had just finished for the 4th of July, and this is why you always go back to spend time with your family. Visiting always makes us feel loved.

New Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 for Christmas

As my endeavours into the DSLR world continues to grow, my first push into having multiple lenses for my Nikon D90 grew over Christmas when Rebecca got me a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8d. It’s certainly an adjustment to have this in my arsenal, and I’m doing my best to get a good feel for it, even if it means being annoying to anyone within a shutter click.

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009

Hope everyone had a great holiday season! I know I did. 🙂

Knocking down radio towers

I never like to pass us an opportunity to see some carnage and destruction, preferably that of the controlled type, but this was a chance that doesn’t come along too often.

In my near 15 years of being involved in the radio industry both in the U.S. and Canada, I have never seen a transmitter site have its towers knocked down first hand. Using my Nikon D90 and a cheap tripod, I thought I’d use the opportunity to take some video such opportunity.

To give a bit of back story, this is the now former home of CKST (TEAM 1040AM). Built in the early 80’s, the five tower site has been replaced with a completely new site, not far from this location. This site was slated for eventual demolition, but recent site inspections discovered some structural problems on the base of two towers that the need to bring them down became extremely urgent. In fact, this information was discovered late last week, and this past Monday’s appointment with experts in knocking down towers like this was bumped up.

As you’ll see in the video below, my video techniques are a little rough, but the sound of each, 240 foot tower hitting the ground was impressive. By the time I captured the third tower coming down, I figured out that static shots of each collapse worked much better on my cheap tripod, hence that annoying crunching sound of sorts. Live and learn.
Continue reading “Knocking down radio towers”

Photos from the CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

On an early October 4th morning, I ventured down to Concord Place with Rebecca to check out this year’s CIBC Run For The Cure. Across the entire country of Canada, people were running and walking to raise money to help find a cure for breast cancer. Being that we were invited to check out the festivities, I knew it would be a great opportunity to get some more practice in with my Nikon D90. This would be the first, large scale event with my new camera, so it was tough to pass up.

I should mention that this is the first time since 2007 that I haven’t participated in the Run For The Cure. We were invited to run by the organizers if we wanted, but the jam filled weekend of BarCampVancouver and other sixty4media projects kept us fairly swamped that weekend. Perhaps next year, and I’m always up for a good run, no matter what the cause.

That being said, here’s a selection of photos that were some of the best to me. I’m still getting a handle on technique, but these types of events are incredibly fun while difficult to shoot. So many great opportunities for getting great captures, but you just have to be in the right place at the right time.

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

This cat was cruising along on top of this guy’s head as he set out from the start line. With all of the dogs participating in the event, I can see why. Still, the way it’s perched on top of the hat makes me think that this is a regular thing. Just need the perfect Lolcats caption for it.

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

Pamela Martin, ladies and gentlemen. Quick eye contact, raised my camera, and she flashed me that perfect, Channel 9 smile.

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

I saw these three in the distance. They were all pushing themselves to make it to the finish line, coming in around the top 10% of all the other runners. One of them waived to go ahead and finish without them, but they instead locked hands, one of them let out a “we can do this!”, and put their heads down to finish that last 100 meters together. Kind of pulled on the heart strings.

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

A “most interesting man in the world” moment.

CIBC Run For The Cure 2009

You can see all of my photos from this event on Flickr. Rebecca has a full write-up as well.