brandon

Yesterday morning I went and bought a Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS USM lens. It was overcast here yesterday so I didn't take many pictures or at least any worth sharing. Today however it was a bit nicer out with the odd sunny break. Anyways heres the pics.......And I just gotta plug Canon's Image Stabilizer......all these pics were taken hand held....no tripod, no monopod.....just me getting a workout hoisting the 3lb lens....I'm sure Wulff knows what I'm talking about. I should also mention my main target subject today was the Northern Harrier....with a few other species mixed in Red-Winged Blackbird Northern Harrier Pics.... And now for some others here is some airplane flying overhead 2 Drake Northern Shovelers and 2 pictures of a Great Blue Heron enjoy

happy bday dude

amazing pics man........perfect lighting and some great scenes

happy bday beans!

If you read my last post, "Easter Sunday", you would have noticed I mentioned I wasn't happy with some pictures I took of a waterfall at Cypress Falls Park. Well today I decided to make the hike back to the waterfall and I came out with the picture I was hoping for. I also took 3 other pictures along the way. Here is a bridge I've photographed before but I approached it from a different angle this time and I liked the way the light was hitting it. These next 2 are just Cypress Creek pictures from 2 different viewpoints along the trail And finally for the waterfall picture.....enjoy

awesome picture man!

Headed to Cypress Creek and Whytecliffe Park today with a lady photographer friend of mine who hasn't seen many of the sights in the area so I was more of a guide today than anything but still snapped a few photos for myself. This first one is of Cypress Creek......and I'm sure it looks just like a bunch of other Cypress Creek pictures I've posted....but here it is anyways We hiked further than I had ever been at Cypress Creek and found a second waterfall......however I'm not happy with the photos of it so I'll be making a special trip back to get some good shots of it. Next we went to Whytecliffe Park Here is a fella kayaking Here is a photo of an Arbutus Tree.......they are an orangeish/red colour and basically have no bark.....definatly a cool looking tree and a panoramic photo of Whytecliffe Park on the left, and some of the million dollar houses in horseshoe bay on the right that beach/bay on the left is one of the main scuba diving spots in the area due to how sheltered it is and there were quite a few divers there today. anyways hope you enjoy them

thanks guys.......and deano......i had a similar experience earlier in the week. I was on my way to my first job and there was a bald eagle perched on the cross of a church with the sun rising behind it.......but of course no camera.....would have made a cool looking silhouette

as the sun was getting low tonight I headed once again to lighthouse park in west vancouver.......I've been there at least 10 times now so finding new ways of shooting the lighthouse is getting to be more and more of a challenge. anyways here are 3 shots of the lighthouse this one is my favourite of the night and on my way back to the parking lot, which was quite a long walk in the dark (won't forget my flashlight again), i heard/faintly saw something coming towards me and land in a tree just off to my left.....'twas a barred owl.....oh and when i say tree just of to my left, i mean right there.....these two pictures were taken with my 18-55mm lens freaky eyes eh? enjoy

Tonight Vancouver was blanketed with dark black clouds....but only Vancouver.......Richmond, on the coast, was gorgeous....so I headed there for some sunset pictures. This first one is an HDR of the early stages of the sunset Here is a shot of the end of the sunset and finally, my favourite picture of the night. The sun and clouds in the original picture were quite ugly.....dull sun with little colour and the sky was too overcast looking. I tried a few different effects in photoshop and thought this one added a dramatic effect to it......and for those wondering, the bird is a juvenile bald eagle

sorry for the double post mods can you please delete this......thanks

Last time I was at Buntzen Lake I only hiked up the East side of it, then right back down the way I came. Today I decided to make the entire trip around the lake which is normally an 8km loop.....however the bridge at the south end is out due to flooding so a 3km detour is needed to get back to the parking lot. It was overcast all morning and I was hoping it would clear enough for some decent landscape photos but the clouds stuck around for the whole hike......and nobody wants to see pictures with a white sky right? Since I had already photographed the East side of the lake I did'nt feel the need to take any more pictures there.....but once I made my way around the north end of the lake and back down the west side, I started to get the itch to take some pictures......this is the best I could come up with lol.... an old foundation for a hydro tower after that exciting hydro tower foundation photo shoot I continued on my way. I eventually came across a stream and after a bit of bushwhacking to get off the trail I set up for these 3 photos..... well that's all from Buntzen Lake for now...... Being as how I only took 3 decent photos at Buntzen Lake, I decided to try and find a place to setup for some sunset photos. Tsawwassen Beach was my target area and I wasn't let down.... I took this first picture this way just because I liked the way it flowed......also the reflection of the cloud in the little pool Here is a CLAM waiting to be BAKEd by the sun..... This is just a photo of the sunset with a flock of seagulls passing in front of the sun's rays The sun broke through the clouds one last time before ducking behind the mountains and during that time it lit up the beach I was on.... I'm sure you guys have learned that I enjoy taking panoramic photos.......so the sunset wasn't complete without one.... and I almost forgot this shot of one of the BC Ferries passing through the sun's rays enjoy

nice fish old man

very nice Deano......you keep making me cold with your icy pics lol

the sky is just awesome in those pics man

I was invited to a cottage for the weekend up the sunshine coast....near Egmont and Earles Cove to be more specific. Saturday was a beautiful day and I spent the whole day hiking and exploring. Before even arriving at the cottage we stopped at Ruby Lake right on the side of the Sunshine Coast Highway. Here is a pic and a pano of Ruby Lake... Once I got to the cottage I checked out a map and spotted out a trail that leads through an ecological reserve to Ambrose Lake.... Crappy pic but I like the reflection Here is lonely me relaxing at Ambrose Lake and a 2 photo pano of basically the same scene.....sans brandon After the 6km round trip hike to Ambrose I uploaded some pictures to my laptop and took a little snooze. Upon waking up I took a quick 10 minute walk to the Earles Cove Ferry Terminal.... Here is a pano of the terminal From the terminal I headed into the town of Egmont where I took these 2 pictures from the docks After Egmont time it was dinner and a movie time. With darkness setting in I continued to edit some pictures when I got the idea to try some nighttime photography. Besides the moon on the night of the lunar eclipse, I really have no experience shooting the stars. So I headed back down to the ferry terminal and it figures the night I want some practice taking pictures of the stars, the northern lights are dancing across the sky. So not only now do I have to hurry and take some pics before the light show dies down, I also had to figure out what the hell I was doing. Now the ferry terminal has some pretty bright lights so I had to get beyond them however a fence was in the way. I spoke to the man working at the terminal if he would mind if I hopped the fence for some pictures and he gave me the OK...... 2 photo pano of the Northern Lights above the distant mountains with the Ferry Terminal in the foreground and one more of the N. Lights....the bright lights on the right are from a small logging community up the Inlet Today before I headed back to Vancity I hiked into the Skookumchuck Rapids. The only pictures I'm happy with is of Brown Lake which I passed on the way to the rapids....

awesome pics......i really like the second one.....perfect lighting and a perfect quartering away shot

got off work a bit early today and headed to the far reaches of West Vancouver to Whytecliffe Park. The park is a popular spot for scuba divers, however with it being so cloudy today there were none around. Most of these pics are similar and I couldn't decide which ones I liked best so I'm just posting them all......enjoy

beauty pic......I know that area very well

awesome pics.......I'm also a fan of the silhouettes......and looking forward to the deer shots

A co-worker got married on saturday in Vernon, BC(in the interior, sort of near Kelowna and Kamloops) and a few of us from work made the 4-5 hour drive for the ceremony and reception. Being that I'm still new to the company and really didn't know the worker that got married, I saw this as an opportunity to see a part of BC I've never seen before as well as a chance to take some pictures. Unfortunately the only real time I had to take pictures was in between the wedding ceremony and the reception. Basically I walked out of the hotel, saw this mountain on the west side of town and decided to hike my way to the top for a panoramic picture of the entire City of Vernon. This first picture is not a panoramic but just a random picture I took on my way to the top. The photo was taken facing south and includes the trail I hiked up on as well as snow falling in the distance..... And here is the panoramic photo...... enjoy

i think the tellers should get a talkin' to for cashing those cheques........I also found this quite ironic at the bottom of that story "Get news like this & more delivered to your door. "

Buntzen Lake is located about 45 minutes West of Vancouver and north of Port Moody......I went there for a hike yesterday and I have no need to post any details or any other pictures......this one tells it all

awesome pic.......the red really captures the eye

Today I drove to Belcarra Regional Park which is located East of Vancouver and took a few photos(280ish).....I did some research on the park and knew the spots I wanted to check out.....first on the list......White Pine Beach/Sasamat Lake here are a couple kids playing in the sand of White Pine Beach.... 2 shots of some lifesaving devices..... and here are two pictures taken on my walk around Sasamat Lake The next place I wanted to check out was Woodhaven Swamp. After walking a good distance along the side of this swamp I came to realize there was no real good place to get a photo from....so I had to resort to using my cat like balancing skills to manuever about 30' out into the swamp on a tree......thankfully the picture turned out alright and I stayed dry.... Next on my list of places to visit was Bedwell Bay. It is located on the eastern side of the peninsula that makes up Belcarra Park. There is a trail that leads all the way down the centre of the peninsula all the way to the tip. Once at the tip you have a great view facing north of Indian Arm and nearby Jug Island. I started along the Jug Island trail from the parking lot and after hiking for about an hour I was wondering if there was even access to Bedwell Bay. Sure enough there was a tiny trail to my right and it lead me right to it..... While exlporing the bay I came across this Cormorant warming itself in the sun.... I headed back up the side trail and continued north to Jug Island where I took this final picture.....