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Urbex Rain Day

Urbex Rain Day
Urbex Rain Day in Vancouver on a Saturday Morning                                     Purchase a unique print

Saturday was an urbex rain day. Meaning that it was raining and I did a little urban exploration. I would say that pretty much every day is a rain day in Vancouver, but it’s that’s just how it is. For me it’s a perfect excuse to get out and shoot rainy scenes, totally awesome.

I live on the East Coast and I try to stay in that time zone when I travel west. The advantage is I wake up super early and that helps me get a good start on the day. When I come to Vancouver that means photography in the morning. So by the time the sun rises, which by the way it never does, I’ve already been out for a couple of hours. Bonus. The downside of course is I turn into a pumpkin at about seven in the evening. So as long as I do fun stuff in the morning or day, I’m good.

In this case the morning was rainy and as I said, totally awesome. Something about people with umbrellas makes for an interesting picture. I don’t really know what it is but I find it cool. We have umbrellas where I live, but people don’t walk where I live. They walk from the parking lot to the store, that’s most of it. So there are no busy streets with people dressed up carrying umbrellas. So anyway, I got a tonne of umbrella shots, maybe too many but I’ll worry about that later. For now, this is the first of my urbex umbrella shots.

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Entering The Port

Entering the Port
A cruise ship entering the Port of the Everglades in Florida                                         Obtain a fine art gallery print

This weekend I was in Fort Lauderdale where I captured this ship entering the Port of the Everglades. This was just one of a half dozen or so I watched from the beach in the predawn hours. My hotel faced the Atlantic so that I could see the ships all lined up single file as they waited to enter the port. The preceding evening it was the reverse with the ships streaming out in the opposite direction.

I walked down to the very end of the beach along the jetty at the entry to the port. Standing there the ships pass so close I could probably hit them with a beach ball. It’s a strange feeling standing there as a tremendous amount of mass passes only meters away. It overloads my simple mind. I’ll bet the people in those apartment buildings have quite the show each day.

The orange light coming over the apartment buildings is the light from the port bouncing off of the clouds we had Sunday morning. The whole scene was surreal and totally unexpected. I love little surprises like that, especially when I’m out with my camera. It’s been said that photography is fifty percent just getting out and putting yourself in a place where something might happen. Sometimes it works out and of course I get really excited when it does, kind of like hitting a great golf shot. This image for me is a three hundred yard tee-shot straight down the middle of the fairway. I better stop now before I start mixing my metaphors.

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Vancouver Cityscape

Vancouver Cityscape
Vancouver cityscape from Cypress Point                                        Purchase a fine art mounted print

This is the Vancouver cityscape as seen from Cypress Point. Its probably one of the best locations to get a panoramic view of the city at night, a must see if you are there. I was thinking about Vancouver because I’ll be heading back there soon and was wondering what has changed since I was last there. Last time there was a lot of construction underway and the joke was that the local bird is the crane.

I find that even when I’m away from home for a week or two, I always see little differences when I return. It might be something simple like a new store at the mall or a section of re-paved road, but something new that makes an impression on me because it wasn’t there when I left. When we see same things everyday, we don’t always notice the changes. I ignore a lot because it seems so commonplace, kind of like watching a clock move, we don’t really notice the hands moving but come back in an hour or so and they’re in a different place. So it is with my small town of Palmetto.

Now multiply that by a thousand times and that would be Vancouver. I’m curious to see what new buildings have been constructed, what might have changed at the airport, and maybe even what new shops are at the mall. I’m sure if I ask a Vancouverite they’d say not much has changed and I’d get a chuckle out of that. 

Having said all that, some things will never change; the beauty of Lions Gate Bridge (pictured here), Stanley Park and the amazing mountain peaks that surround the city.

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Typical Day in Collioure

Typical Day in Collioure
Typical Day in Collioure, France                                           Purchase gallery print

Actually, I have no idea if this is a typical day or not, I’ve only been here once. But because it was a Tuesday and not the weekend, I have to assume it was typical. I guess I’ll have to wait until I come back to be sure. The beach is protected by a seawall and the shops are all open and outdoor bistros serve beer, wine, coffee and pastries. Personally I could get used to this as a typical day. We stopped along here and had a drink at one of the cafes as we watched the everything around us. If I did live here I’d probably live to be a ripe old age, playing checkers or bocci ball with the other escapees from modern civilization. Then I’d sit and have a glass of red wine while I watched the people go by. Then I’d get up in the morning and do it all again. Just another typical day in Collioure, France.

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Gigondas Village

Village of Gigondas
Streets in the village of Gigondas have remained the same for centuries.      Obtain fine art print

This is the village of Gigondas which is in a mountainous area in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur northeast of Montpellier. Like many places in this part of France, Gigondas is known for its wine. Some of the vintners here refuse to change the methods of production that have survived hundreds of years from generation to generation. The town is on a hillside over looking the vineyards and these narrow streets climb up to a church overlooking the village. I took this on the way back down after surveying the surroundings and wondering how it is that these people manage to live apparent tranquil lives without all the big box stores and high tech gadgets. I think I know the answer to that.

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Brickell Key Miami

A birds-eye view of a little island in the middle of Miami. I took this from a hotel when I was down here recently. At night I sat in a lounge on the 36th floor and was surprised to find that most of these units were dark. I thought that was a little odd because as compared to other cities like New York or Vancouver. But then this is the middle of summer in Florida and I suppose most of these units are second homes or vacation getaways. Perhaps if I come back here in winter these will be all lit up like Christmas trees with escapees from colder climates.
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A birds-eye view of a little island in the middle of Miami. I took this from a hotel when I was down here recently. At night I sat in a lounge on the 36th floor and was surprised to find that most of these units were dark. I thought that was a little odd because as compared to other cities like New York or Vancouver. But then this is the middle of summer in Florida and I suppose most of these units are second homes or vacation getaways. Perhaps if I come back here in winter these will be all lit up like Christmas trees with escapees from colder climates.

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Skyscraper

To me this looks a little like a scraper of the sky. These are the clouds just as a thunderstorm passed only a few minutes earlier and just as the sun was setting, casting hues and colors across the sky. At that moment it looked so awesome that I had to scrape a bit of it up for myself. Lucky for you I saved a little.
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To me this looks a little like a scraper of the sky. These are the clouds just as a thunderstorm passed only a few minutes earlier and just as the sun was setting, casting hues and colors across the sky. At that moment it looked so awesome that I had to scrape a bit of it up for myself. Lucky for you I saved a little.

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Buildings in Manhattan

I was walking with some friends towards a diner for breakfast and just randomly looked up. I thought this view was cool and I almost lost track of my group as I lingered for this shot. There are a lot of places like this in the city. I think it would be a fun project to shoot this perspective from different locations all over Manhattan. So maybe perhaps this is the first of a series, just maybe.
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I was walking with some friends towards a diner for breakfast and just randomly looked up. I thought this view was cool and I almost lost track of my group as I lingered for this shot. There are a lot of places like this in the city. I think it would be a fun project to shoot this perspective from different locations all over Manhattan. So maybe perhaps this is the first of a series, just maybe.