Landscape
While in Port Renfrew earlier this week I decided to check the San Juan River estuary for elk in the morning. I came across a lovely scene with 6 or 7 of them grazing in the meadow and a short while after watching, a great blue heron took flight right towards them. It's incredible what magic moments await us in nature if we only take the time to be out there and experience them.
Canon 5D MKII, Canon 70-200 f/4L IS @ 190mm, 1/400 sec @ f 4, ISO 3200
Back home now after 2 weeks summer vacation and 2804 km of travel through the BC interior and parts of Alberta. Quite the change in scenery from my usual trips to see big trees! This time it was big mountains and gentle rolling prairies. The focus of the trip was to spend some relaxing time with my partner and not to shoot that many photos but I still snapped a few. Here are some of my favourites from various parts of our trip which included seeing Waterton, Banff, Glacier, and Revelstoke National Parks, amongst many other areas :)
While visiting Tofino last weekend, my partner Jackie and I were treated to a fantastic little boat tour by local photographer Jeremy Koreski. Not only is Jeremy a highly talented photographer but he's also a very kind and generous human as well. On his new boat, we zipped around the Tofino coastline before getting dropped off for a hike on Meares Island's Big Tree Trail. The forest there truly lives up to its name. Clayoquot Sound is in a class of its own and I hope to spend more time there this year exploring its wild reaches. Big thanks to Jer for the tour and congrats to him as well on success in the Capturing the Coast contest :) Here are some shots from the day.
A young bald eagle takes flight near Meares Island in Clayoquot Sound.
2014 was an adventurous year and full of new experiences. From the thousands of images shot, I've tried pick a few favorites and create a personal top 10. Here they are (in no particular order). Hope you enjoy and here's to a fantastic 2015!
I've always wanted to photograph a full moon rise and this year I finally remembered on the right day. After racing to Cattle Point in Oak Bay, I laid down behind a patch of camas flowers which provided a unique frame and caught it just in time.
I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for sunrises and sunsets. It's a great excuse to get out into nature and the colorful display is always something beautiful and different. Here's a classic coastal sunset as seen amongst the idyllic Gulf Islands.
Even though I have been to Carmanah Provincial Park many times before, it wasn't until this year that I actually made it to see the famous Three Sisters - a tight cluster of giant Sitka spruce trees with a spot you can sit down in the middle of.
This past summer I visited the Canadian Rockies for the first time and was blown away by their raw magnificence. Here, mountains and forest are reflected in the crystal clear waters of a small lake, creating a surreal landscape view.
Also from my trip to the Rockies, a golden-mantled ground squirrel curiously approaches during one of our day hikes.
Spring in the deciduous forests near Lake Cowichan is breathtaking. After my partner came across this magnificent bigleaf maple tree in the Fall, I was excited to see it bloom. A 15mm fisheye lens allowed me to capture its full glory.
One constant throughout the years is the stunning and surprising beauty of nature. Almost like magic, fleeting moments of sheer natural wonder pop in and out of existence, treating one to the most dazzling displays of colour and form. Seen here, rainbow fog beams shine through the old-growth forests of the Upper Walbran Valley early in the morning.
Certainly not the most beautiful place I visited in 2014 but definitely the most shocking, this burnt old-growth clearcut in the Klanawa Valley was like a scene from Armageddon. The photos from this expedition provided a stark reminder of the continued gross mismanagement of BC's endangered ancient forests.
Each December I visit the Harrison Mills area on the Lower Mainland to photograph the thousands of bald eagles that arrive during the fall salmon runs. This year however, high water levels covered up the dead fish causing the eagle numbers to drastically drop while I was there. Luck did afford me this one close-up view though of an eagle fanning his/her feathers in the warm sunlight.
Not only a highlight of my year but a highlight of my life, the climb of Big Lonely Doug - Canada's second largest Douglas-fir tree - is something I will never forget. One of my hopes was to catch a classic side-on view of a climber looking like an ant on the tree - much like the famous National Geographic photos of tiny people dangling in the giant Sequoia. The nearby logging road provided a unique vantage point and helped achieve the perspective. To see the rest of the photos of the climb, please click here.
Autumn, with its rich oranges and yellows, is a beautiful time to be outdoors in many different parts of the world. Here in British Columbia however, in a land where evergreen trees tend to dominate our forests, one has to look a bit harder to find areas bursting the colours we so closely associate with the season. So on an overcast weekend in October, my partner and I went exploring around the creeks and rivers near Lake Cowichan on southern Vancouver Island to find just that. In this region you'll mostly come across younger stands of bigleaf maples and red alders that have grown back after decades of logging but in some places it's still possible to come across small pockets of old-growth deciduous trees. These rare, gentle giants are typically covered from root to crown in thick layers of mosses and licorice ferns, which stand out even more when the leaves have fallen off the trees. Below are a few images from our colour-filled trip. Where are your favourite places to go hunting for Fall colours on the Island or around BC?
To kick of the summer of 2012, two friends and I decided to take 7 days and hike the 75km West Coast Trail from Port Renfrew to Bamfield on Vancouver Island. It was an incredible time to say the least! Below are 10 of my favorite shots from the 1000 I took.
West Coast Trail 2012
WCT bliss
West Coast Trail tide pool at Camper Creek
West Coast Trail sunset log
West Coast Trail Tsusiat Falls at night
cave reflection
Tsusiat Fog
Boardwalk and spruce
West Coast Trail Fog
West Coast Trail km 0
