brandon

No worries Photoz. I know what to look for and I never put myself in a dangerous situation. Those bears were all more occupied with eating blueberries than to take on me. It's situations where food is scarce that bears become aggressive and desperate, however in a provincial park situation you have to be more careful than with a bear thats in the true bush becuase with so many people hiking, you never know how many people have already ticked it off before you show up. I will however refer to the people who were out picking blueberries today as fools.....its amazing how an all black animal can completely dissapear in a tiny green bush....I sure wouldn't like to surprise one in IT'S berry patch.

Photoz, Personally I don't think of myself as a "fool". I was in very close contact with black bears last summer when I was a hunting guide and I also studied them for 2 years in college. I know what signs to look for if a bear is getting aggressive and know when to back off.......I believe I actually mentioned that in my post. People actually were thanking me for letting them know there was a bear and loved giving their kids the opportunity to see one. I'm sure most of the other people who have viewed this topic also think i'm a "fool" but I know what I was doing and overall I was not in any danger......keep in mind all those photos were taken with a 300mm zoom lens maxed out......thanks for reading everybody, Brandon

Today I made the trip to Mt. Seymour again and I always hope to see some wildlife but it seemed the bears were everywhere today. About 10 minutes up the trail I hear some bushes move about 20ft to my right and I happen to turn and meet eyes with about a 200lb black bear. It took off into the bush headed toward a clearing so I ran back down the trail and positioned myself where I thought it might come into the clearing. Here are a few pics of that bear.... I get another 10 minutes or so up the trail and people tell me theres another bear up aways on the right. I hustled over to that bear and man was this one in a bad mood. He did 2 mini bluff charges at me....never actually charged but made the motion that he was going to......with some stomping of its front feet and some huffing and puffing. I only really got one picture of it because I just wanted to get the hell outta there lol......This bear was quite larger than the other one...here he is... After that experience I headed up the the Second Pump peak at 1435m elevation....Here is a self photo I took On the way back to the parking lot I saw a group of people gathered and looking up on this hill.....this is what they were looking at Hope you enjoy the pics...

lol yeah sunrise shots are rare for me...especially on a weekend......i take my sleep very seriously lol

That's an awesome picture! I really want to get some good star trail photos with mountains in the background and seeing your photo just gave me plans for tonite lol. I'm going to head up Mt. Seymour and see what kind of star trail shots I can get or just stars in general. Here is a 30 minute exposure photo I took from 1030-1100 one night back in Orillia. There was a street light to the back right of the camera which gives that extra light you see....

Great photos Kev. I myself haven't been to grouse or Capilano yet because theyre just too touristy. I prefer the off the beaten path places. Plus if i'm going to do a suspension bridge it will be the Lynn Canyon one for free......there is no way I can justify spending almost 30$ to go to the Capilano one. I also try and take photos of places that other people really haven't photographed before. One reason I stay away from the touristy spots.......and the fact that I HATE crowds lol....but those are some solid panoramic photos.....supposed to be nothin but sun here all weekend so I'll hopefully get some more pics......and thanks Gary for that explanation......a lot of the highways here are like that.....but it sure is a pain in the ass if your stuck on the side that turns to one lane.

well no wonder you guys aren't catching fish with it........its clearly made to lure bats not fish

Great report.....all those bass are makin me miss the bass fishing of Ontario lol

Alright heres another night time photo. I don't mind taking pics at night but I've been working long hours at work so by the time I get to any location, taking photos in the dark is my only option. Hopefully on the weekend I'll have some day shots. Anyways here is the Lions Gate Bridge taken from Stanley Park with the mountains of North/West Vancouver in the background. The shutter speed was set at 30 seconds for this shot.......enjoy.

just a Canon EOS digital rebel SLR 6.1 megapixel. I think it's the first digital SLR that Canon came out with. I bought it used a few months ago and It after it being 4 years old its still workin great.

Theres Lake Sturgeon in Ontario.......some rivers up in Northern Ontario have them and I know the Detroit River has them too.

Sorry this post is non-fishing or non-nature related but hey, theres water in these pics lol. Anyways tonite I waited till it got dark and drove across the bridge from Vancouver into North Vancouver. My goal was to take photos of the Vancouver waterfront. The hard part was finding a place on the North Van shoreline where I could do this from. Eventually after dead end upon dead end I found a nice little park. While I was there I saw some seals playing out in the water and they were headed towards this marina that was attached to the park....it was private though....anyways one day while its light out I'm going to try and sweet talk my way into that marina and photograph some seals. But enough rambling........heres the photos... This first one is Canada Place. I tried a bunch of different shutter speeds and settled on 20 seconds. I really like how the long exposure time gave every light it's own streak in the water. And this next one is just a shot of the marina I previously mentioned. again sorry for this not being fishing/nature related but hopefully you enjoy......thanks for reading oh and if you feel like it please vote for my photo "say whaaaaat"...just click on this link.....all votes are greatly appreciated http://www.picture.com/voteforme/photovote1.asp?PID=2335336

Yeah I slowed the shutter speed way down for those. It was dusk so I dropped it down to 6 seconds. The night Shots are also with a slower speed anywhere from 3-6 seconds.

Today after work I headed back to Cypress Creek to take some photos of the same area I was in before but from a few different angles this time. A few turned out alright but it was such low light that my auto focus wouldn't pick up anything so most of the pictures weren't as sharp as they should have been because the focus was manual and again in low light. I also stopped at Cypress Provincial Park on the way home and parked a lookout and waited for the sun to go down.... This is the Lions Gate Bridge leading from Stanley Park to West Vancouver. Ambleside beach is in the foreground with Downtown Vancouver in the background. And this is the Lions Gate Bridge again as it leads into Stanley Park with the Vancouver Downtown/Waterfront in the background

Well photo opportunities today sucked. It was brutal up on the mountain. Clouds rolled right over the peaks constantly and there was no view whatsoever. I was originally planning to hike to the first pump peak, then onto the second pump peak and finally the Mt. Seymour summit. The second picture will explain why I stopped at the first pump peak. I only took about 15 photos today....normally its 75-100. But anyways here are a few.... A couple of hikers head up through the mist to the first pump peak This was my view from the first pump peak toward the second pump peak as well as the Mt. Seymour summit. Instead of risking getting lost I called it a day and headed back to the parking lot. And lastly here is a pic of my hiking shoes which are only about 3 weeks old...As you can see I've hiked the s**t out of them...Please take my advice and do not purchase 40$ hiking shoes from Canadian Tire if your going to be doing a lot of hiking. Wet rocks and bare soles can lead to slips and falls. But i cheaped out and got them and I'm just going to wait it out for my real shoes to be shipped here from ONT.... thanks for reading

thanks guys. It's an old growth rainforest and its just amazing. Theres not even words to describe how cool it is there......and the best part was no bugs.....whereas up on the mountains the black flies and mosquitoes wanna carry you over the edge. And that creek runs right into the bay but it gets so narrow and shallow at places that i doubt theres anything in it.......well i know now there isnt but maybe when the water level raises.....some of the pics show that the rock has been carved out by the water so it clearly gets a lot higher than it was.....however i didnt see any baitfish or really anything in the water for that matter.....at least now I'm finding all the places NOT to fish when I get my gear lol.......I appreciate the kind words too everybody....gives me motivation to keep heading out there to take more photos......thanks again

I was about 15 yards away for that first picture which is closer than i recommend being unless you know the signs to look for when the bear has had enough. When it did start to get agressive it was about 40 yards away so I had plenty of room to back away.

Here in Vancouver it's a very overcast gloomy day with a pretty constant mist. Hiking Seymour didn't seem all that thrilling on such a crappy day so I decided on a shorter hike (maybe 1km round trip at most). I figured with these low light conditions it would be a good day to take some shots of moving water with a slow shutter speed. I hit up a website and checked for some local trails that met my specs and found Cypress Falls Park. It's about 30-45 minutes from Vancouver, located in West Vancouver. Now I mentioned this is a short hike but for most of the trail it follows the creek quite a ways up so for most of the photos I bushwhaked my way down to the bottom and it was worth every near slip and fall. There's no real need to post anymore about this place because I think the pictures show more than enough. The first two are just regular pics and the last 3 are panoramic ones. And sorry guys........no fish here either lol......enjoy

Smitty, that was Mystery Lake and in my opinion its more of a pond than a lake. There aren't any fish in it, just lots of mudpuppies. Its a very popular swimming spot on a hot day.

Well today was my lucky day. I headed up to Mt. Seymour yet again and was about 500-600 meters up the trail and I decided to stop and take a drink and just happened to look back down the trail....about 60 meters....and saw what I at first thought was some guy in black fleece crawling through the bushes lol....i swear i was only drinking gatorade. But i soon realized it wasn't a guy at all, but a 200lbish black bear. I quickly busted out my brand new tri pod, put my 70-300mm lens on and ran back down the trail. At this time the bear was off in the bush a bit but I still got a few decent photos of it. The one has some branches in the way but it still turned out alright. The bear then moved into this berry patch and i followed about 30 meters behind and set up on this big rock. It started huffin and puffin (if you've heard it you know what i mean) and I knew it was time to back off and continue my hike. The entire rest of the hike this yellow helicopter kept flying from the first pump peak to some other place a bunch of times. I figured somebody got lost or fell or something but some hikers on their way back down told me an older man passed away due to a heart attack at the first pump peak. RIP. Apparently the chopper was flying people from the peak to the parking lot or something. I continued to the First Pump Peak anyways just to see how the view looked today and took a few panoramic photos. Then all of a sudden I heard the chopper coming again and snapped a few really cool pics of it. Sorry it's another fishless report but it's all I got right now lol.......enjoy

nope no fish at all. just lots and lots of mudpuppies. When the weather is nice theres usually lots of people swimming up there.

Weather slightly cleared here later in the day and after work I decided to head up seymour again hoping for some good photo opportunities. When I got to the parking lot about 900m above sea level I was almost at the height of the clouds. Now I normally hate taking pics in these conditions because the lighting is horrible. But I looked up the trail a bit and the clouds were starting to roll right across this place where Mystery Lake is. I hauled my ass up there and took a few panoramic photos.......All taken within 2 minutes of each other I was kinda hoping for a rainbow to peek out of the clouds but not today. Hope you enjoy

I went for a drive up Mt. Seymour road tonight in hopes of seeing some deer to photograph. Well by the time I actually found one it was too dark for a good photo. This didn't stop me from trying though. I dont know what it is about the deer here but they don't run away. I got right up within 6-8 feet of this guy and took this first picture...and completely forgetting that I had the auto setting on the flash decided to fire.......now it's by no means photographically perfect in any way shape or form......but man is it creepy looking. Instead of photoshopping it to brighten it up I'm just leaving it like it is. I also put a few more pictures that I got of the same guy...enjoy

Oh man I wish i could fish here. Still waiting for my parents to ship all my gear out west. I'm still living out of a suitcase with everything I brought on the airplane. And my company had some payroll problems and somehow i was skipped last pay period so in the 6 weeks I've been here I've been paid once so I can't even go buy a rod/reel combo and some tackle to wet a line. But I assure you once I get some gear there will be fishing reports.

Got off work early again today and went up on Seymour again....further this time.....furthest I've ever been. I made it to the First Pump Peak which is at 1407m elevation and about an hour and change hike each way..... and that little thing you can see in the distance is the parking lot the hike started from......man im tired lol.....my legs are about to quit and walk off the job but these next 2 pictures make that hike totally worth it. West facing Second Pump Peak with the Mt. Seymour peak directly behind it East facing....probably one of my favourite pictures I've ever taken. hope you enjoy them and if you want any of the photos in this post or any others ive made for a desktop background just PM me and I can email you the fullsize without the watermark......hope everyone has a safe weekend