Posts Tagged ‘vancouver’
Tulip Flower
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Last week I headed into Vancouver to photograph some of the spring flowers at Queen Elizabeth Park. The flowering Cherry Trees were out in full force, but they are so popular each of them had a crowd of tourists, locals, and photographers around them. I chose instead to concentrate on some of the other flowers in the park.
Sometimes direct sunlight can be a tough condition to photograph wider landscape scenes. These tulip flowers, however, were nicely lit in the bright sunshine. I like how the cup like flowers appear to be lit from the inside when the sun shines on them from this angle.
Tags: british columbia, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, queen elizabeth park, spring, tulips, vancouver
Posted in Photography | 2 Comments »
Fall Maple foliage and the Bloedel Conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park
in Vancouver, British Columiba, Canada
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Another one of the photographs I made in October at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I liked the look of this waterfall (enough water, but not too much) along with the fallen leaves and some Fall foliage in the Japanese Maples hanging over the pathway.
More of my photography from Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Park can be found in my Garden Photos Gallery.
Tags: acer japonica, british columbia, fall, fall color, fall foliage, japanese maple, maples, parks, path, pathway, queen elizabeth park, trail, vancouver, water, waterfalls
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Fall Maple foliage and the Bloedel Conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park
in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
(-click to enlarge-)
In October I made another trip into Vancouver to photograph Queen Elizabeth Park displaying some Fall foliage. Most of the colour was provided by various Japanese Maples (Acer Japonica) in the gardens there. I will probably return this Spring to photograph the Magnolia trees in bloom, as well as the tulips and other Spring bulbs.
Tags: acer japonica, british columbia, fall, fall color, fall foliage, japanese maple, maples, parks, queen elizabeth park, vancouver
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I always find it difficult to narrow down a years worth of photographs into one list of the “best”. It is a good exercise, however, to really sit down and go through your work and determine what images best fit your current vision for your photography. I did this back in 2010 and 2011 as a part of Jim Goldstein’s project and I am please to enter my images again for this years version.
All of these photographs are available as Fine Art Prints.
So in no particular order these are the “top” (probably better termed as favourite) photos I have made in 2012.
Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park Spring Panorama
(Coldstream, British Columbia)
(more…)
Tags: bald eagle, balsamroot, bellingham, birds, birds of prey, bridges, british columbia, broadleaf arnica, broadleaf lupine, bubo scandiacus, Canon EF 1.4x Extender II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, common paintbrush, cosens bay, delta, district of kent, fall color, fall colours, first narrows bridge, flowers, fraser valley, fraser valley bald eagle festival, haliaeetus leucocephalus, harrison, huntoon point, japanese maple, kalamalka lake, kulshan ridge, lakes, larrabee state park, lions gate bridge, lupines, magnolia, mount baker wilderness, mount baker-snoqualmie national forest, mount rainier national park, mount shuksan, mountains, night photography, okanagan, owls, queen elizabeth park, reflections, silver lake, silver lake provincial park, snowy owls, spring, stanley park, sunset, suspension bridge, thompson okanagan, tipsoo lake, top 10, trees, usa, vancouver, vernon, washington state, wells peak, western anenome, wildflowers, wildlife
Posted in Photography | 25 Comments »
Panorama of Downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park
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I have not posted a large panorama in a while. This is a 14 exposure panorama of the iconic view of downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park. Canada Place is the building on the right and is used for convention center space. The next building is the new Convention Center. Next to the Convention Center is the 2010 Olympics torch (you can just see the top of it) and then we have the Seaplane Terminal. I was in the park looking for fall colors, and was initially attracted to this scene due to the great leaf color on the right hand side near the seaplane terminal. I made another row of photos to catch more of the buildings but the light had changed in the 3-4 minutes from the first exposure and the result was not pretty. So I only included the lower row. I’m going to have to get better with my timing or just work faster next time!
Tags: barnet inlet, british columbia, canada place, coal harbour, convention center, panorama, seaplane termina, stanley park, vancouver
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Lights of Canada Place
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I’ve always enjoyed the shape of the Canada Place building in downtown Vancouver. I remember it being one of the few distinctly shaped buildings in the 80′s (in addition to Harbour Center, Science World and BC Place). While Vancouver’s skyline has many new additions – Canada Place is still one of my favourites. Recently they replaced the covering on the 5 sails and projected images on them during the Olympics. Photographing them from Stanley Park I recently made this image of one of the various projected images currently on the sails. These change every few minutes or so – and sometimes this can cause some unwanted effects in a 30 second exposure! I was careful to make this image within just one variation in the lights. I like the various colour versions but this one is probably my favourite – the lights are relatively subtle.
This is just one image from many I’ve recently added to my Vancouver Coast & Mountains Gallery.
Tags: blue hour, british columbia, canada place, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, downtown, night photography, skyline, stanley park, vancouver
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License Plates
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This is certainly not my usual photographic subject – but getting outside of your comfort zone is often a good thing. This wall of license plates was in Vancouver’s Chinatown on the wall outside of a store. Funny that in Vancouver there would only be one Canadian plate here, most of the rest are from American States. Perhaps it appeals to the tourists from the US more that way, not sure. Maybe the Canadian plates are comparatively boring? I posted this photo earlier on Google Plus and one suggestion was that people collecting something like this would find more interest in plates from far away. The plates found locally and in surrounding jurisdictions are comparatively boring because they are often seen. Thats as good an explanation as any!
Tags: british columbia, canada, chinatown, license plates, street photography, vancouver
Posted in Photography | 2 Comments »
The Lions Gate Bridge
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I think that I photograph the Lions Gate Bridge from one angle or another every time I go to Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I just can’t resist. Yesterday I again tried photographing the bridge from this overpass on Stanley Park Drive. I’ve been here before, and pulled off a lucky (for me at the time) film shot of this about 10 years ago. Since making the move to digital I’ve never been quite happy with my results, or there simply hasn’t been enough traffic to make a nice long exposure trail from the headlights and tail lights. I think the key was not trying this at 1 am on a weekday this time around!
If there is sufficient traffic you can do a few things to try to get a good light trail across the bridge. I usually count how long it takes the the cars to get out of sight from my end of the bridge, and see if I can have an exposure long enough to try to get the whole light trail. Completely forgot to do this last night but it worked out anyway. From the variations I made yesterday, this one was my favourite for a few reasons. First, you can see the faint outline of Grouse Mountain in the background – another benefit of not shooting this at 1am. Next, the light trails are mostly complete from one end of the bridge to the other, and there are even two lane changes that took place at exactly the right time to create a crossover. What is truly something I will be unlikely to replicate again is that dotted light trail you see coming up the left side of the bridge on the sidewalk. A cyclist was coming in our direction with a flashing headlight on his bike. I didn’t notice this at the time but upon reviewing my exposure noticed it in the LCD. I do think it adds a bit of uniqueness to most images I’ve made from this location.
Tags: bridges, british columbia, first narrows bridge, lions gate bridge, long exposure, national historic site, night, night photography, stanley park, suspension bridge, vancouver
Posted in Photography | 2 Comments »
Downtown Vancouver Panorama photographed during Blue Hour
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I have photographed downtown Vancouver from Stanley Park a few times in the past – with fair but not spectacular results. When my first DSLR was new I would try to photograph the skyline well after sunset. At that time of day there isn’t much contrast between the dark buildings and the sky, so these photographs did not turn out very well. I learned that if you photograph during “Blue Hour” there will be much better contrast between the dark buildings and the sky – with much better results! Blue Hour is the period of time between total darkness in the sky and sunrise or sunset. Just like the “Golden Hour” this may not actually last an hour. In Vancouver at this time of year I think the blue hour lasted about 20 minutes facing southeast though there was still good blue light facing west for about another 10 minutes after that.
This Panorama, taken during the blue hour after sunset, shows a dark sky but you can still see the profile of all the buildings. Much better than a photo taken when the sky is really dark!
FYI – if you ever photograph downtown from Stanley Park near the Nine O’Clock Gun is the location I made this photograph. I was still there at 9 o’clock… with a few others who had gathered to hear its blast. Well, this isn’t a cap gun, the shockwave was dramatic even though I was standing 50 feet away. There were some tourists and teenagers who were standing right next to the wire cage that houses the gun, and one passerby tried to get them to plug their ears or step away from the thing as it was almost 9. This sage advice was ignored and when the gun went off there was a lot of screaming and even some tears due to the noise. If you are out there photographing near 9 o’clock and the red flashing lights go off – plug your ears!
Tags: blue hour, canada place, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, dusk, evening, harbour center, panorama, stanley park, trade and convention center, vancouver
Posted in Photography, Techniques | 4 Comments »
About Michael Russell Photography
Cell: (778) 878-9074
