Sandpiper Beach

I took a trip last weekend to stay at a friend's cabin on Hornby Island.  It was near a beautiful beach called Sandpiper Beach.  The beach has a lot of interesting rock formations where the ocean has smoothed and worn at the lava and sandstone rock (I believe), causing hoodo and cave type formations.

There is also an abundance of tafoni on the coast of Hornby island.  The picture below has a small example of this interesting rock formation.

I played around with longer exposures of the rock disappearing into the ocean.  I like the result.

Fire Dance

Best Seat in the House

People make great furniture, ask any cat.

It's a Boy!

I took a trip to Calgary at the end of September for a very special little man.  One of my best friends had  a beautiful little boy named Grayson Warren.  I was going to try and do a full photo shoot for him, but he wasn't feeling much like being in the spot light that day.  So I just took a few shots of him hanging out with his Mumma, and his two "aunties."  He sure is a handsome little guy.

Just love how happy he is snuggled up to his Mumma.  Look at that smile!

Kitty Craze

Here are some new pictures of some familiar faces: Weechie, and Penny.

The Fruits of My Labour

I just wanted to share a few shots of some of my backyard bounty this year.  The sunflowers were a HUGE success and the bees were just loving them.

Our peach tree only produced one peach this year, but he was a big one, and very tasty.  We named him James, and eventually had to pick him for fear that he would break the branch he was on.

The ever-bearing strawberries have lived up to their name, although we have had trouble beating the slugs to a lot of them.

And it's been a big year for plums.  Not pictured here are the new raspberries, because we just eat them too fast, and the not so productive blueberries.

One of Those Days

It's just a cat nip kind of day.

Finding New Perspectives

I'm constantly reminded of how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful city.  But I think photography isn't always about the overall beauty of your surroundings.  It's about finding the moments in unexpected places.  Sometimes walking down side streets, or back alleys, climbing on things, looking through fences, kneeling down for a different perspective, or just sitting and observing your surroundings for a while can be the most rewarding.  My Dad and I spent an afternoon exploring downtown last weekend, and I came away with some shots that I'm really happy with.

For the two bicycle shots I used my Dad's wide angle lens.  It enables you to get in close to your subject, without loosing its surroundings.  This was pretty handy in the alleyways downtown.  This lens is definitely at the top of my list now. 

The fellow in this shot actually caught me taking the photo, I have a shot of him looking directly at me.

I found these guys by climbing on a short brick wall and looking through a fence into the storage yard behind a home decor store.

This photo is actually composed of multiple shots taken through a chain link fence, and stitched together.  I had to use my 50 mm lens as it was the only one that fit through the spaces in the chain link.

Discovery Island Sunset

This weekend I joined some friends for a kayak camping trip to Discovery Island.  The weather was fantastic, and the island was so beautiful.  I took so many pictures I'm going to have to split them into several posts.  The island is visible from Willows Beach, and is a 'short' hour and a half row away.  After arriving, setting up, and laying in the sun for a while we took a hike to watch the sunset on the far side of the island.  After which we tried to follow a deer trail through the woods, which resulted in us climbing around in the thistles for a good while before having to back track and go around to the actual trail.  Happily we made it back to our camp site moments before it got completely dark.  Here are some of the many many shots I took of the sunset.

Wild City

Since our usual dog park is of limits to dogs for the next couple months, we've started taking Charlie to Mount Doug on the weekends.  This beautiful forrest/mountain/beach park is only minutes from our house, and every time we are there we are astounded that such a place could be in the city.  The forrest is populated with huge maples, cedars, oaks, arbutus, and has some pretty big old growth.  There's even an old mine entrance along the trail, although the entrance is about Charlie's size.

 We couldn't fathom how this tree was supporting the 'second tree' growing at a 90 degree angle from a branch.

Last week the forrest floor was carpeted with these beautiful white wildflowers.  By the next week they were coming to an end, and being replaced by several others, including these purple Shooting Stars

And then there are the flowers blooming in my own yard.  These guys are so abundant, they practically are wildflowers.

Easter Weekend in Port Renfrew

One of my favorite places to go camping on the island has to be Port Renfrew.  This weekend I took a trip with a small group of 24, to go camping on the beach.  We had fantastic weather, and amazing company, and I couldn't have asked for a better time.

My beautiful friend Bethany and her dog Oz.

Josh and Belle enjoying some quality time.

Senior Oswaldo, you are such a heart breaker.

Our group gathered 'round the fire

We took a trip to Avatar Grove to check out the amazing old growth.

Kara sitting at the foot of a massive Cedar.

I really need to start filling in my panoramas more.

Some of the group checking out Canada's Gnarl-iest Tree

Adrian doing his pensive tree nymph impression?

We passed this old mossy bridge on the way back from the Grove.