I took this early on a Sunday morning before these seaplanes loaded up with passengers for remote places in inside British Columbia. These are a familiar sight in downtown Vancouver and fun to watch land and takeoff. I have stood here watching the pilots carefully inspect and maintain these aircraft before loading up and heading off into the wild blue yonder.
Stanley Park Path
This is a path through Stanley Park in Vancouver. This is one of world’s great urban parks, easily on par with Central Park, some would say it exceeds. The air is cleansed by the abundance of trees and walking on this path you could easily forget you are in a major city. If I was king of the world my first decree would be that every city must have a big beautiful park like this. But in the meantime, Vancouver will do.
Click on photo to enlarge or obtain a beautiful wall hanging
Vancouver Taxi Stand
If you live in Vancouver or you’ve ever visited you know this taxi stand, it’s in front of Canada Place and you can pretty much always get a cab from here. It’s at a confluence of the subway, ferry and cruise ships. But once in a while when things are slow they end up waiting here for the next fare and if you look you’ll notice them all reading or surfing on their phones. That’s not so unusual, we all do that, fill up our spare moments with info from our cell phones. In fact, they’re not really cell phones anymore are they, more like digital appendages don’t you think?
Click on photo to enlarge
Gastown Steam Clock
This is a well-known steam clock in the Gastown section of Vancouver. I took this as I walked by on a warm summer evening last August. Every ten or fifteen minutes the clock will begin blowing steam and the attached whistles will sound. As silly as that sounds it’s really fun to wait it out, like waiting for a geyser. This is one of my favorite sections of town; with the old architecture it stands in contrast to the ultramodern architecture just two blocks away. It’s said there used to be tunnels below the city that were used by the well heeled. Presumably they were used to convey “businessmen” to the more seedy sections of town to satisfy out their whims and pleasures. Though with the way Vancouver has grown, what was once “seedy” is now the pricier section of town. Perhaps if the tunnels still exist they are used in reverse?
Click on photo to enlarge
Sunday Foot Race
A few Sundays ago along the harbour front in Vancouver, BC.
Water Street Cafe
I’m in Vancouver this week and I was lucky enough to meet a local photographer +Suzanne Rushton for a bit of a photowalk. We toured Gastown which is the old section of town full of character. I love these little cafes on the back streets, seems like somewhere in Europe. I think I will come back here another evening and be that person in the cafe enjoying a long lazy repast of cheese and wine, all the while soaking up the evenings ambiance.
If you ever come to Vancouver, give Suzanne a shout, she really knows this town and can help you get some amazing shots.
Naval Station
This is a naval station that rest on a little island inside Vancouver Harbour. At first glance when you see this and read the sign you think it can’t be because it’s so small. I think it’s a holdover from the days the harbour needed to be defended, I have never seen a naval ship here. However, there is one reminder that is unmistakable. Just to the left of where I’m standing is an active cannon (that’s right, I said active) in a big cage. Every day of the year at precisely 2100 hours the cannon discharges. It reverberates through the downtown towers in an unmistakable “report” that is sure to startle any non-local unfamiliar with the tradition. I, for one, will always consider this naval station and the accompanying cannon blast an indelible part of the great city that is Vancouver.
Port of Vancouver
According to Wikipedia about 75 billion dollars of cargo passes through this port every year. What that has to do with anything I don’t know, I just looked that up in hopes it would spark something for me to write about. I know nothing about this port other than its really big and really busy. That word “really” is from the days I lived in California, people say that a lot there, really. I know it’s busy because whenever I’m in Vancouver there is a constant twenty-four hour a day stream of ships in and out of here. I took this from atop the Vancouver Lookout, which is one of those space needle kind of buildings that gives you a great view of everywhere. So there, I managed to just about fill up a paragraph.
Obtain an awesome print, even if I don’t always know what I’m talking about.
Shannon Falls
Couple of weeks ago I drove up to Shannnon Falls from Vancouver. At over a thousand feet the falls are too big to capture from the ground, at least for me. Just a short walk off the road you can stand within a few feet of this massive spectacle. And this is only the third largest fall in the province. On this afternoon I walked along the trails under the thick canopy of evergreens with the cool mist wafting from the falls. Something about this is rejuvenating because I left with more energy than I came with despite having traveled from Florida earlier in the day.
Low Frequency Waves
Last week in Vancouver I stopped at Ambleside Park on my way back to the hotel. It was late but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to get the full moon behind the bridge. I climbed down a rock and concrete barrier in total darkness to get my camera down close to the still waters of the bay. I started shooting and saw a ship approach the bridge. Perfect; a bridge, a moon, a ship; elements for a composition. From the ship’s bow I couldn’t tell how big it was as it slowly approached head on, then it turned slightly to head out to sea. It went under the bridge and I began to see it’s profile, much bigger than I thought. As it came alongside I realized it was some type of a super-massive cargo ship, maybe seven hundred feet or longer. I watched in stunned awe as it passed slowly in the night with the low sound of the engines, hardly breaking a wake. Hardly. About a minute later the glassy still water started to move and large low frequency waves began to wash on shore. In effect a mini tsunami. The sound of the wave breaking along the entire length of the shore broke the silence as I grabbed my tripod and jumped for higher ground. Let’s just say I was a little lucky. Perhaps there was no harm, but I left there a little shaken from the ordeal and wondering if I had let my enthusiasm overpower my better judgement.