I enjoyed the scenery and photographic possibilites at Biggs Park near Nanaimo so much that I shot there on back to back evenings. I remain a bit confused as to what to call the area. The very tip of the peninsula is “Jack Point”, the park is called “Biggs Park”, but the BC Ferries terminal that it is adjacent to is “Duke Point”. Regardless of what the area is called, I enjoyed the sunset I was able to witness – and the sandstone formations (tafoni) always make for interesting foregrounds.
I also was reminded of what I thought was an already learned lesson in that walking back to the car along a trail in the dark is best done with a flashlight! 🙂
Sunset over Lummi Island with some sandstone Tafoni at Clayton Beach in Larrabee State Park – Bellingham, Washington State, USA.
Clayton Beach at Larrabee State Park
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In March I was lucky to have Alan Majchrowicz give me a tour of Larrabee State Park in Washington State. Thanks again Alan! We were lucky and had some good light at the end of the day. The rocky shores just south of Bellingham are not like the ones I’ve spent more time on around Vancouver – these are mostly sandstone. Much nicer to walk on the sandstone – its like built in grip for your shoes! The water has also eroded the rock surfaces into all sorts of interest shapes and patterns which makes choosing a composition a bit difficult – there are so many great possibilities! Sunsets like this are not something I have done a lot with in the past, and I even brought out the 6 stop ND filter for some of it. Waiting for a 116 second exposure is not something I am used to – but I quite like the results. I will have to do much more with that filter in the future!
Cars (and a bicyclist on the left) cross the Lions Gate Bridge from Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia to/from North Vancouver at night.
Vancouver’s Lions Gate Bridge from Stanley Park (Purchase)
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I think that I photograph the Lions Gate Bridge from one angle or another every time I go to Stanley Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I just can’t resist. Yesterday I again tried photographing the bridge from this overpass on Stanley Park Drive. I’ve been here before, and pulled off a lucky (for me at the time) film shot of this about 10 years ago. Since making the move to digital I’ve never been quite happy with my results, or there simply hasn’t been enough traffic to make a nice long exposure trail from the headlights and tail lights. I think the key was not trying this at 1 am on a weekday this time around!
If there is sufficient traffic you can do a few things to try to get a good light trail across the bridge. I usually count how long it takes the the cars to get out of sight from my end of the bridge, and see if I can have an exposure long enough to try to get the whole light trail. Completely forgot to do this last night but it worked out anyway. From the variations I made yesterday, this one was my favourite for a few reasons. First, you can see the faint outline of Grouse Mountain in the background – another benefit of not shooting this at 1am. Next, the light trails are mostly complete from one end of the bridge to the other, and there are even two lane changes that took place at exactly the right time to create a crossover. What is truly something I will be unlikely to replicate again is that dotted light trail you see coming up the left side of the bridge on the sidewalk. A cyclist was coming in our direction with a flashing headlight on his bike. I didn’t notice this at the time but upon reviewing my exposure noticed it in the LCD. I do think it adds a bit of uniqueness to most images I’ve made from this location.
More of my bridge photos can be found in my Bridges Gallery.
In May I was on my way back from Kelowna and passed by Bromley Rock Provincial Park. Was raining a bit, but wasn’t so much that I couldn’t get out and try my new ND filter for a long exposure (15s) shot of the Similkameen River.
