Wild Pacific Coast

The coastline near Tofino is part of a series of trails called the Wild Pacific Trail.  The highway between Tofino and Ucluelet is full of walking trails down to the beach, some easy walking, others with hundreds of steps down to the beach.

We stayed at the Best Western Tin Wis Resort just outside of Tofino.  The name means "calm waters" as it is located in a sheltered bay.  Here is a photo of the beach just outside of our room at low tide.  Nice and calm, the Pacific isn't so rough...

Once we drove outside of our sheltered bay, the Pacific was much rougher. There was a group on the beach taking surf lessons.  Now I understand the reason for the many surf shops.

Here is a shot of Mary Ann watching the surfing lessons, trying to pick up a few pointers.

Closer to the south end of the peninsula, the coastline was much more rugged.  The trees were definitely windblown.

Once we reached Ucluelet at the south of the peninsula, the weather was a little better.  There is a short walking trail through the rain forest to the lighthouse.

That wraps up the blog posts from Tofino, now we are back in Victoria.  Maybe another few blog entries before heading home...

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. And feel free to share this blog with your friends. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side.

Thanks for reading...

Mark

Bear Watching in Tofino

Tofino is well know for two activities, whale watching and bear watching. The weather has been overcast and rainy since we arrived, so the thought of heading out into open water chasing whales did not have much appeal. But what did appeal to us (well Ok, just me), was travelling along a sheltered shoreline in a zodiac looking for bears.

At low tide, the bears come out of the forest down to the beaches in search for crabs, or clams. Salmon are not heading inland to spawn until autumn, so this is the only source of protein for the bears. We signed up for a two and a half hour bear watching trip. There are many tour companies offering bear watching, but we chose Remote Passages, since they specifically designed their tours for photographers.

They used small zodiacs to get in close, and the groups are smaller, no more than 6 people. There were only three of us on our tour. Our guide Peter knew the islands pretty well, and wasted no time heading for bears.

As I mentioned, the weather was typical for Tofino, overcast and rain. The tours are very well organized - we watched a safety video and were fitted with survival suits, rain coats, gloves, toques, and ski masks to keep the rain from much of your face.  While travelling in open water, the rain seemed heavier, each raindrop felt like we were being hit in the face with rocks, so the ski masks really helped.  Before long we were scanning the coastline for bears, and it didn't take long to find them.

Peter thought our first bear was a juvenile, or a small female because of the smaller size.

She kept looking up at the trees, so Peter quickly found a small cub up in a nearby tree.  Mothers teach their cubs to climb trees when the mother is away from them looking for food.  Once she realized it was safe, she called the cub out of the tree.  We then realized there were two cubs, very small, probably 3 or 4 months old.

She spent most of her time watching the beach and the tree line for predators, she was not too concerned about us in the water.  The cubs were not really interested in looking under rocks, they were more interested in wrestling with each other.  Kids will be kids.  Eventually they made their way back into the forest to safety, and to feed the cubs.  At that age, they would still be breastfeeding.

We moved along as well, and we found a larger male looking for food.  He was quite a bit bigger that the female.

He could easily turn over rocks that were 100 pounds or more with a single paw, his left one at that.  He kept an eye on us, much more than the female, and grunted at us a few times to let us know it was his beach.

In addition to the bears, we saw bald eagles and sea lions.  But after a couple of hours, we were finished (and soaked).

A tip for photographers - use a Storm Jacket to keep your camera and lens dry in the rain.  Best gadget in the camera bag that day.

Given the cold, and rain, Mary Ann was a trooper - she took one for the team.  I was quite happy out on the water, but I think she was done after about 5 minutes of bear watching.  Been there, done that.  She was very happy to get back to shore...

Thanks to Peter and all the staff at Remote Passages for their hospitality!

Next up is a few from the Pacific coastline. Stay tuned.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. And feel free to share this blog with your friends. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side.

Thanks for reading...

Mark

Two Days in Tofino

May has been a busy month.  Mary Ann and I are in Victoria, BC to help celebrate her brother Phil's 60th Birthday.  We are travelling with her mother Bea and her niece Aimee and her seven month old son Simon.

I've always wanted to visit Tofino, part of Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island's west coast.  Because of the timing of parties in Victoria, the only chance Mary Ann and I had to travel to Tofino was the day after arriving. We arrived in Victoria on Tuesday May 20, then took off for Tofino on Wednesday for two nights.

Tofino is a resort town on the west coast, about a 4 hour drive from Victoria.  The drive north to Nanaimo is over a well developed highway.  Once in Nanaimo, the drive west over the Vancouver Island Mountain range becomes a little more adventurous.  Port Alberni is about half way across the island, and the roads from that point on are little more than logging roads.  Mary Ann is not the world's best traveller where cliffs and hairpin turns are involved, so that part of the trip was memorable....

Clayoquot Sound has been inhabited by First Nations people for the last 5,000 years or so.  The west coast of Vancouver Island was explored in the 1770's by Spanish explorers.  The current town of Tofino was settled by Europeans in the early 1900's as a fishing town.  Once the logging roads reached the coast in the 1950's, Tofino became popular as a tourist destination. Today, the tourism industry is the largest industry in the area.

The town is a mix of nautical businesses, such as commercial fishing, sport fishing, whale watching and bear watching, as well as the tourism industry such as resorts, restaurants and shopping.  The wharf was an interesting place to hang out, with lots of interesting buildings.  These buildings probably began as fish processing plants, but are now shopping and restaurant destinations.

The age of the locals and visitors was much younger than we had expected.  In addition to the typical middle aged tourist (ourselves included), a surprising number of young people lived, worked or were visiting the area.  Hence the popularity of the dozens of surf shops and coffee shops in town.

Rhino quickly became our favourite coffee shop.  They make home made donuts every day, and the "Bro Nut" is not to be missed.  A breakfast sandwich made of a fried egg, bacon, lettuce and tomato, all on a fresh donut.  And the donuts are made from a beer batter.  All the major food groups! We were ready to trade in our Starbucks cards for one of theirs....

And some of the housing was a mix of old and new, many of which had been converted to aft galleries and boutiques.

Even the harbour was an interesting collection of float planes, and a few float-houses.  We found out, that this is an economical housing option since these houses do not pay real estate taxes.

Next up is our Bear Watching adventure. Stay tuned.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side. It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you. If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics. You should then see the signup box on the right side.

Thanks for reading...

Mark

Capturing a Moment in Time

It has been said that photography is all about "Capturing a Moment in Time". That split second shutter release, where everything in the image is sharp as a tack.  When I'm shooting wildlife and nature, that is the goal.

Or is it always about the sharpness of an image?  As I became a better technical photographer, meaning I can capture sharp images, I'm beginning to realize that there is more to this.  I'm fascinated by the ability to take a two dimensional image (capturing that moment in time), yet somehow capture a sense of time and motion.

That is the focus of this blog entry (get the pun?).

This image was taken while shopping on 5th Avenue, NYC.

Another technique is to keep everything in the frame sharp, except the subject of the motion.  In the image below, its the taxis that are the subject in motion.

I find that images with people in motion are very interesting.  The image below was tricky because of the bright lights from the signs in Times Square.  A shutter speed too slow, and the lights would be overexposed.

There are many other techniques for capturing motion, here is an example of panning the camera up and down while taking the exposure.

Here is an example of zooming in while taking the exposure.

And finally, one of my favourites, a multiple exposure.  5 shots, blended together in camera.  For a subject like Times Square at night, I love the chaos, the lights, the cars, the people...

So, depending on your objectives, not all images have to be sharp as a tack. Having said that, the attraction to art (and photography) is a personal thing, and this may not be for everyone.  But it is something I find more and more fascinating.

By the way, here is a link to galleries of all of the images front he New York trip.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side.  It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you.  If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics.  You should then see the signup box on the right side.

Here is a link to the full gallery from NYC.

We are off to Victoria BC tomorrow to see Mary Ann's brother Phil and wish him a Happy Birthday.  Hopefully I will have some interesting images to post while we are away.  Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading...

Mark 

Times Square

No visit to New York City would be complete without a visit to Times Square. It is such a central part of NYC, that almost all of our walks somehow took us to Times Square. Our first reaction was disbelief. Being bombarded with advertising, the crowds, the vibe.

Friday afternoon we were there looking for theatre tickets.  There is a discount ticket book in Times Square that opens at 3:00 o'clock every afternoon, offering discounted theatre tickets for that evenings performances.  But they do not offer tickets for many of the most popular shows.  We wanted to see Wicked, but that is one of the most popular shows on Broadway, and those tickets are not discounted.  But the thought of paying full price meant $200 or higher for a pair of tickets seemed a little outrageous.  So we settled into the lineup waiting for 3:00 o'clock with hopes of finding tickets for something else.

While standing in line, two guys walked by saying they had six Wicked tickets for sale.  My first thought was that it was a scam, so I didn't pay much attention to them.  Mary Ann did not share my pessimism, and immediately began a conversation.  It seems they were teachers from Idaho with their classes on a field trip to NYC, and had 6 tickets left over.  Who could make this stuff up? The tickets seems legitimate, nicely printed, and she had the price negotiated down to $50 per ticket.  What was the worst that could happen?  So for $50 each we took a chance and bought the tickets.  Here is Mary Ann with her two new friends from Idaho.

Besides, if they were scalpers, why would you have your pictures taken with your victim?

Turned out the tickets were legitimate.  Wicked was awesome, highly recommended.

That leads me back to Times Square... The Gershwin Theatre is on 51st Street, in the block west of Broadway, so after the show we just had to walk through Times Square to get back to our hotel.  Didn't I say above, that all roads lead to Times Square?

If our first reaction to Times Square was disbelief during the day, it was disbelief-on-steroids at night.  Many of the shops were now closed for the day, but the crowds had somehow multiplied.

Notice the crowd at the lower left corner of the picture above.  This young artist was spray painting street scenes of NYC that were very cool.  I guess even graffiti artists are entitled to make a living.

There was a strong police presence throughout Times Square, so we felt safe at any time of the day. In fact there is a police station right in the square.  In neon signs of course, to blend in I suppose.

Quite the evening. It didn't seem to bother anyone that it was near midnight by this time.

Here is a link to the full gallery from NYC. Stay tuned, there is still more to come.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side.  It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you.  If you don't see a signup box on the right side, then click on the blog heading and that should take you to a webpage with better graphics.  You should then see the signup box on the right side.

Thanks for reading...

Mark 

Sunday in Central Park

We met Nicole for brunch at a cafe in the Upper West Side.  Nicole is the daughter of Dan and Mary Jane, friends from Cleveland.  She moved to New York about a year ago and loves it.  After brunch we decided to go for a walk through Central Park on our way back downtown.

On the way, we passed the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, a massive Cathedral on 110th Street.  In terms of size, it is the largest Anglican Cathedral in the world, and the fourth largest Christian Church in the world.  By the way, the difference between a Cathedral and a Church, is that a Cathedral is the seat of a Bishop of the Church... who knew?

Anyone who knows me, realizes that I can't resist photographing big, old buildings. We were in for a treat when we stepped inside.  The Cathedral is the current installation of an artwork called "The Phoenix", by Xu Bing, a Chinese artist currently residing in New York.  The work was commissioned in 2008 to hang in a new office complex in Beijing.  He was so moved by the poor working conditions of the Chinese migrant workers, that he used only construction materials found on the building site.  After its completion, the owners of the office complex rejected the artwork because of its humble beginnings.  Since then, the artwork has toured Beijing, Shanghai and will be on display in the Cathedral for one year.

The installation is made up of two birds, a male and a female, each 100 feet long, that hang in the nave of the Cathedral.  They are lit by hundreds of small LED lights installed throughout the birds.  They practically glow on their own. Spectacular.  I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.

Central Park is exactly as seen in the movies.  A massive park in the middle of Manhattan, that is loved by locals and tourists alike. The park is an oasis in the middle of the city. I can understand the attraction. Once inside, the noises of the city melted away, in favour of birds chirping and dogs barking.

The park is full of streams and lakes, thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Nicole and Mary Ann enjoying the walk.

Keeping in mind that Central Park covers 843 acres, there are many ways to get around.  No cars, but you can rent bicycles, or take a horse and buggy tour, with a little history thrown in.

And let's not forget the musicians...

If country is not your style, then walk another few minutes for something else.

These gentlemen could be part of a symphonic orchestra they were so enjoyable.

The walk through Central Park was just what we needed, finding a little quiet time in the city that doesn't sleep (sorry for the cliche).

We came out of the park on the east side, which happened to be 5th Avenue, a shoppers dream.  Tiffany, Sak's, Prada... you name it.  I wonder if Nicole and Mary Ann planned it that way? Luckily for me, neither wanted to do any shopping. Instead, we made our way to the Rockefeller Centre.

Many of the tourist guides describe the view from the Observation Deck of the Rockefeller Centre (otherwise known as The Top of The Rock), as being better than the view from the Empire State Building. We we impressed...

Nicole and the NYC Skyline.  A spectacular place to view the skyline.  Maybe next time we will try the view from the Empire State Building.

Once I finish with the photos from the trip, I will post a link to the full gallery. Stay tuned, there is still more to come.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, don't forget to review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side.  It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you.

Thanks for reading...

Mark 

Saturday in NYC

Saturday in NYC.... Why not play tourist?  We decided to make our way to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, and take a ferry to the Statue of Liberty.  The first hurdle was trying to understand the subway system.  The staff at Grand Central Terminal were very helpful and pointed us in the right direction.  Just a quick subway ride down to Bowling Green Station.

Being a Saturday, the line ups for the ferry were long and frustrating.  Little did we know that we could have booked the ferry tickets online, and saved the aggravation.  Remember that for next time.

The Statue of Liberty is very impressive, just the sheer size, she does make a statement to anyone in the harbour.

Tickets could be purchased (online only) to walk up the stairs within the Statue to her crown, but the tickets were sold out through August.  Remember that for next time too.

Another site we wanted to visit while in Battery Park was the 9/11 Memorial.  We had no idea what to expect, nor did we expect to be so moved by the memorial.  The first task was clearing the security checks.  Much the same as airport security, all bags were x-rayed and we had to pass through metal detectors (empty your pockets, belt off, etc.).

The site is still under construction, but the memorial fountains are finished.  That was the focal point of our visit.

There are two fountains, representing the North and the South Towers.  Each fountain has exactly the same footprint as the building which fell. As can be imagined, the size of the site is massive.

Each fountain is surrounded by railing bearing the names of each person who died in the tragedy.

We overheard one of the volunteers talking to a tour group.  The names of those who perished are cut in the plaques so that the sun will shine their names on the pool of water at the top of the fountain.  The water then flows over the edge carrying their names into the abyss.  The process continually repeats itself, their names never to be forgotten.

Flowers were plentiful.  The visitors were from all walks of life - some from the military, school groups, tourists.

But by far the most touching moment was when Mary Ann pointed out the names of women who perished carrying unborn children. And there were many.  How do you try and understand the senseless loss of life?

A very tough afternoon, but one that we were glad we experienced.

I'll finish with one more image, perhaps more artistic, as my tribute to those events.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, you should be able to click on the heading "Saturday in NYC", and be redirected to the website (much better graphics).  Once there you can review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side.  It will be much easier for me to stay in touch with you.

Thanks for reading...

Mark 

Springtime in New York City

Mary Ann and I went to NYC for the first weekend in May.  I had been to NYC on day trips for business, but it was the first time for Mary Ann.  We stayed at the Rosevelt Hotel in Manhattan, only a short walk to Grand Central Terminal. It was a great location, only a few blocks from Times Square, Broadway, shopping...

The first thing that struck us was the weather.  Prior to that, the weather in Toronto was cold and dreary.  The weather in NYC was noticeably warmer, and the cherry trees were flowering.

Here are a few images from Bryant Park, at 42nd Street and 5th Avenue.  The first is the Empire State Building, notice the leaf buds on the trees.  No buds yet in Toronto...

The second image is also from Bryant Park.  The locals were out enjoying the morning, so were we.

The weather was warm all weekend, with only the occasional raindrop.  Saturday was a subway to Battery park (more on the subways in future blogs), then the ferry to Liberty Island to see the Statue of Liberty. Liberty Island is covered in cherry trees, all in bloom, spectacular.

On Sunday we met up with Nicole, the daughter of friends Dan and Mary Jane from Cleveland.  Nicole moved to NYC a year ago and loves it.  After brunch we did a little exploring in the Upper West Side, and walked through Central Park.

Once again, the weather was warm and overcast (which is perfect for photographers), and the locals were out in full force. 

Mary Ann and I both commented on how friendly the locals were, not at all what we were expecting.  They were probably happy with the warm weather too.

There are so many more highlights of the trip, the warm weather was only a fraction.  Stay tuned for future blog entries.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, you should be able to click on the heading, and be redirected to the website (better graphics).  Once there you can review the archives at the right side for earlier entries. If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side.

Thanks for reading...

Mark 

Prince Edward County

Last weekend we had an opportunity to spend the weekend with our good friends Ron and Ricki and Ricki's brother Howard and his wife Dawn. Ron had organized a field trip for the Richmond Hill Camera Club (RHCC), and we were invited to stay with them at Howard and Dawn's house in Picton.  We would like to thank all for their hospitality.  Now on to the good stuff...

Picton is right in the middle of Prince Edward County, about a two and a half hour drive from our place.  The County has lots to offer visitors, especially photographers.  Ron and I were out shooting from morning until night from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon, and only managed to cover a small fraction of the County.  Of interest to us was photographing the old buildings, the lake, the sand dunes, etc, etc, etc...

I'm in the process of preparing a gallery page, but here are a couple of images to start things off.

This is the lighthouse at Point Traverse, the most south easterly point in the County, built in 1881.  The image was shot as a bracket of 5 images, processed as an HDR image in Nik's HDR Efex Pro.

This image was one of the storage buildings near the Point Traverse Lighthouse. It was also shot as a 5 image bracket, processed as an HDR image in Nik's HDR Efex Pro.

The County is packed with interesting old houses, barns and vehicles, a photographers dream.

We also photographed around the lakeshore.  These two images are from Point Petrie, also on the south shore of the County.  I used these photos to show how the same shoreline can be photographed two different ways, with very different results.

The first is a conventional shot of 1/30th of a second, just slow enough to see some motion in the waves.

The second shot was taken at the same shoreline, only seconds apart. The difference is that I added a 10 stop neutral density filter, which blocked enough light to allow a very slow shutter speed of 30 seconds.  The effect on the water is dramatic, leaving only a soft silky image.

I was practising that technique for use on our trip to Scotland in the summer.  Imagine a Scottish Moor in the mist, with lots of silky water... Can't wait.

I plan on finishing the gallery of the Prince Edward County images over the next week or so, and will include a link to it in future blog entries, so stay tuned.

If you are reading this blog for the first time, please review the archives at the right side for earlier entries.  If you have not already done so, please enter your email address in the "Follow my Blog by Email" box on the right hand side.

And finally, I was elected President of the Richmond Hill Camera Club for the next season.  Thanks to all our members for the vote of confidence.

Almost forgot... Mary Ann and I are off to New York for the weekend, so stay tuned for those images.

Mark