On the Road Again… and Having Fun

I am what I call an occasional photographer. Very seldom, if ever, is taking photographs the reason I go out, rather I take photographs when I’m out.

I took the opportunity on a September road trip through BC to the coast and back home again via the scenic route to play a little bit with my camera. Mostly I focused on composition and seeing what others might not, but a couple of times I also tried different settings. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. It’s not that I am “not interested in understanding how to make better photographs” as one professional photographer wrote in an article of the most recent copy of Photo News. It’s a case of “use it or lose it.” Because I am not out with my camera every day I have a hard time remembering what to do under certain conditions. So I experiment, but more often than not I let my very smart camera do its thing without any input from me. I get pleasure out of taking photographs, and that’s what counts. Here are a few of my favourites from the trip.

A morning walk in the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve in Chilliwack didn’t reveal any herons, but this spider web intrigued me and inspired me to experiment with aperture settings. I was thrilled when the colours of the rainbow were reflected in the web even though the leaves in the morning sun are overexposed.

Photographing wildflowers is my passion, and I like this image because of the one flower in focus while the rest and the background are blurry. I have not identified this flower yet, but I find it striking because of the purple and yellow together.

A beach walk on the coast was what we looked forward to the most. The bird life is usually very interesting and entertaining. Even though there were dozens of ravens about, this one was having a crab feast on the boulder all by himself.

I like this image because clearly I am on a ferry and going somewhere, but looking back at where I’ve been. A Bil Keane quotation comes to mind: Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That is why it’s called the present. So true…

While we were surprised we didn’t see much of fall colours on our trip, the big-leaf maples in Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Delta were spectacular.

Photographing wildlife is often about being in the right place at the right moment. We certainly were east of Vernon when we discovered first one, then three turkey vultures with wings spread out basking in the early morning sun. A wondrous sight to be seen and many photographs were taken, but when the mist started to dissipate the background made for a whole different picture. Even though two of the three birds no longer have their wings unfolded, this is one of my favourites because of the background.

Rain had fallen shortly before we walked the 3.8 km marsh trail at the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area. Raindrops add so much to a picture.

My absolute favourite image from the coast is this sunset picture taken from our Powell River hotel room balcony. Without the man on the paddleboard it would have been a good picture, but his presence on the water makes it so much better. If you look very closely, you can see his dog on the board with him!

Where will my next adventure take me? Time will tell…