pier Archives • Michael Russell Photography

The pier at Belcarra Regional Park (təmtəmÍxʷtən) near the main picnic area in Belcarra, British Columbia, Canada.

pier at picnic area of belcarra regional park on burrard inlet

Fishing and Crabbing Pier at Belcarra Regional Park (Purchase)

In November of last year I visited təmtəmÍxʷtən / Belcarra Regional Park in Belcarra, BC. I was hoping for some fall foliage, but I didn’t find all that much. Regardless of the fall foliage situation, there are always nice views from the pier at the main picnic area, shown in the photograph above. I did like the small hint of leftover color in these various tree species along the shoreline near the pier at Belcarra (below).

trees shoreline of belcarra regional park on burrard inlet

Trees along the shoreline of Burrard Inlet at Belcarra Regional Park (Purchase)

The photograph below shows another view, from 2015, looking towards the waterfront property along Burrard Inlet. The name of the park was changed somewhat in 2021, where the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation’s name for the area, təmtəmÍxʷtən, was added to the official name of the park. The first nations names on parks here are written in the International Phonetic Alphabet, which takes some getting used to. The approximate pronounciation of “təmtəmÍxʷtən” is “tum-tum-ee-hw-tun”.

Waterfront Property in Belcarra (Purchase)

Woodhaven Swamp

Many years ago when I was still using film I photographed a few scenes at Woodhaven Swamp. You can just glimpse this from the road, but it is a rather nice, short, walk around a swampy area filled with snags and the usual wetland plants and animals. When I arrived in November a Bald Eagle was sitting on one of the logs on the water, no doubt sensing my camera had a wide angle lens on it. The eagle was not courteous enough to stick around for the switch to my longer lens. Was still neat to see that close though. I completed the short loop trail along the Woodhaven Trail and made the photograph below of the boardwalk/bridge on the eastern side of the swamp.

Boardwalk along the Woodhaven Trail at Woodhaven Swamp (Purchase)

The edge of Woodhaven Swamp has a mixture of live and dead trees and a lot of wetland species. I saw a few Flickers here and there, no doubt making good use of the decaying wood for insect acquisition. The still waters of the swamp lend quite well to reflections, and I’ve always seen some interesting ones here.

tree reflections at woodhaven swamp in belcarra regional park

Tree Reflections at Woodhaven Swamp (Purchase)

The loop around Woodhaven Swamp is called the Woodhaven Trail which also connect to Sasamat Lake. I’d tried ot visit the lake but my favourite spots are now no parking areas and the main lot had a film production taking up most of the space so I just moved on. I should revisit this spring before the crowds!

boardwalk woodhaven trail at woodhaven swamp

Woodhaven Swamp Plant Life (Purchase)

For more photographs from Belcarra Regional Park and the surrounding areas in the Village of Belcarra and Anmore Village, visit my Anmore & Belcarra Gallery.

Sunset from East Beach in White Rock, British Columbia, Canada. Air pollution and/or smoke from a recent fire in Squamish account in part for the atmospheric conditions.

Sunset from East Beach in White Rock, British Columbia (Purchase)

-click to enlarge-

I’ve often joked that I only photograph sunsets if my back is to them. This is often true as a nice sunset will cast some interesting light on various subjects – from plants to mountain peaks. I find most sunset photographs uninteresting unless they have a subject enhanced by the evening light. A sunset on its own is not generally one of those subjects.

The pier at White Rock, British Columbia makes a good subject in the evenings, and the foreground in the first photograph here helped. I can’t think of very many recent photographs I have made where the sun is in the frame. This is something I tend to avoid, even though those “sun peeking out from behind a tree photos” seem popular these days. The top photograph illustrates this best, but this evening had an atypical haze and coloration in the sky. I presume this was a combination of smoke from a rather large port fire in the City of Squamish (the night before) and pollution from Vancouver. I believe this caused the halo around the sun as well. I’ve had several times when smoke from fires of various sorts have either enhanced atmospheric conditions or just made them unworthy of pursuit – I’ve been “smoked out” on a number of occasions. I think this made the photographs here more interesting, though the somewhat unnatural colors have to come with an explanation. I always try to avoid “overcooked” colors, but this one matches the way things looked on this evening at White Rocks East Beach. I did have to do some toning down of the saturation in the sky to get to this point, however.

The sun sets behind the White Rock Pier and Vancouver Islands mountains

Sunset and the White Rock Pier (Purchase)