Tag: Photography

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Photowalk: Iona Beach

Google Maps is chalk full of places for you to discover locations that are begging to be explored, especially with a camera. One of these is Iona Beach, an area Rebecca and I have wanted to check out for a while.

Iona Beach: April 2010

Once you get past the airport and head out to this narrow stretch of land, you can walk along a good mile of shoreline and vast sandbars during low tide. Aside from the number of tires and lumber products in my shots, this is really a beautiful place. You could easily spend a day at the beach out here, but the pet friendly folks were all over on this day.

The weather was cool and cloudy when we started out, but the sun and warmth eventually showed up as we hit the turn around point to venture back.
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Vancouver 2010: -2 days to go

2 Days To Go

I’m hearing a lot of chatter from all over about how stressed they are over everything going on right now in terms of what’s about to hit Vancouver on Friday. The fact that Cambie Bridge was shut down today for full dress rehearsal of the opening ceremonies gives me hope that they’ll be as entertaining as the Beijing. You really won’t be able to compare the two, but still, the rumors floating around hinting at cool things.

Pacific Centre Igloo

Now this is kinda cool, but it doesn’t help the stereotype of Canadians and igloos.

Team Russia on the streets

This is by far the most entertaining thing to see right now. This afternoon I passed two guys wearing San Marino gear, and about five minutes later, I learned about a country that I had never heard of before. And here I thought I had a handle on all of Europe micro-countries.

Towering Canadian Pride

Walking back from lunch yesterday, my co-worker and I saw them drop this flag from the crane. It’s actually double-sided with Italy’s flag on the other side, which was the side we saw when they first stuck it up there. It was pretty neat to see how they split this sense of pride. Might be something we need to do back at our place.

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Vancouver 2010: -3 days to go

-3 Days

Everyday since last week, the area around the Vancouver Art Gallery has been changing more and more. On my way to work this morning, I noticed not one but five different people out taking photos as I turned the corner to see this.

Posters from previous Olympics

Three days to go, and the city is certainly buzzing. The Today show is now broadcasting from the new convention center, and even KING 5 in Seattle broke programming to carry live coverage of the torch run at the Peace Arch, having the mayor of Blaine, WA give a hearty “Go Team USA!” at the podium with the Premier of British Columbia standing right behind her.

2nd & Cambie Crosswalk

2nd Avenue Road Closures

All the blue signs everywhere makes you wonder how soon all of this will be removed and when Vancouver will feel normal again. I actually wish it could stay like this, minus all the nervous energy, street closures, bloated budgets, helicopters, heightened security, and nagging sense of feeling overwhelmed by all of this. Doesn’t mean that it’s not fun or a tad bit exciting.

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Athletes are starting to take over the Olympic Village

I think it’s safe to say that the Aussies have arrived in Vancouver for the games.

Athletes taking over Olympic Village

I work near the Olympic Village, and there was all sort of chatter about the kangaroo flag that went up at some point yesterday on the side of one building housing athletes in the Olympic Village. We have a couple of Australians working in the building, and they were all pretty pumped to see it. “That’s how we roll!”

Athletes taking over Olympic Village

I kind of feel sorry for those athletes with views not facing out where people can see stuff like this as you drive or walk by the village. I really hope that VANOC doesn’t rear its ugly head and call displays of patriotism like this unacceptable, if not a security concern. That’s why I ran out to grab some photos this morning.

Athletes taking over Olympic Village

And yet another checkpoint to get into the village.

Southeast False Creek, where the Olympic Village, is getting more and more hectic. It’s a non-stop parade of people in blue jackets with Olympic rings on the back and credentials around their necks.

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Granville Street with new lights for the Olympics

Granville Street has been under construction for what seems like forever. Since about 2006, the downtown portion of Granville hasn’t been completely open as it once was. Getting close to the opening ceremonies for the 2010 games, these new lights have gone up all the way down the downtown core portion of the street.

Granville Street with new lights

I took this shot last night on my way home. Standing in the middle of Georgia and Granville, this is what it looks like at night, looking towards Waterfront. Not sure if the lights will stay up after the games, but they’re a nice touch.

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A frozen Field of Dreams

Frozen Field Of Dreams

I’ve spent a number of family outings at this place, but never have I been to the Field of Dreams during the winter time, especially in the middle of one of the coldest cold snaps that the Midwest has seen in a number of years.

I shot this from the backseat of the car. My finger tips still got numb from the mere minutes it took to take this picture.

My last time here was the July 4th holiday of 2005. My family spent the day there in the summer heat, getting in to take our turns at the plate, playing catch in the outfield, and having a little picnic under the trees, just near the picket fence of the house that is still there. Being there in the depths of this Iowa cold spell makes it seem even more of a distant memory.

It’s certainly worth the trek to see this landmark in the summer. Nothing compares to the imagery you get with the corn in the outfield and visitors all over the place just taking it in.

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Photowalking around the Iowa countryside

Rebecca and I are back in Iowa for the New Year celebration with my family. Even though it’s cold outside, and I mean really cold, we braved the elements to take a venture around the countryside to see what we could find and do a little photowalking.

Here are a handful of my favorite shots from the trip, all shot with my 18-105mm lens.

Iowa Countryside Photowalk/drive

Iowa Countryside Photowalk/drive

Iowa Countryside Photowalk/drive

Iowa Countryside Photowalk/drive

Iowa Countryside Photowalk/drive

Iowa Countryside Photowalk/drive

Iowa Countryside Photowalk/drive

The bridge in the above photo was built around the turn of the 20th century, and I’ve wanted to get some photos of it for a long time. It was so cold that I wasn’t overly happy with how a lot of them turned out, and you can see evidence of this in the photo below that Rebecca took of my while I was probably taking this exact photo above.

As cold as it was and as thick as my gloves were, it didn’t lend to a lot of time to mess around with any settings on my Nikon D90. In time, I hope to understand my camera more so I can plan ahead a little more. The -20F wind chills were just not the most ideal conditions to take the time to make such adjustments.

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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. 🙂

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My photo of Kirk McLean now being used on Wikipedia

While being held up on the couch yesterday afternoon with some sinuses getting the best of me, I got a quick message on Flickr requesting my permission to use one of my photos on Wikipedia. When I discovered that it was for Vancouver Canucks legend Kirk McLean, I was glad to fire back a quick response and say hell yeah!

The shot itself came from what has become an annual tradition for Rebecca and I, the Vancouver Sun Raise-a-Reader day.

Here’s the original shot of McLean as Rebecca is handing him her copy of that day’s Vancouver Sun to autograph, adding to our collection of papers from previous years.

Kirk McLean on Raise A Reader Day 2009

This is actually the second photo I’ve been asked my permission to use on Wikipedia. While it’s not being used as the primary photo for the entry, this photo is also being used on the entry for the current mayor of Surrey, B.C., Diane Watts.