Cleveland Dam

Cleveland Dam North Vancouver

Built 1954

Height 296 feet

Width 642 feet

Concrete 144,000 cu/yds

Reservoir 16,500,000,000 gallons

Vancouver waterfront at sunset

Here are a few pictures from last week in Vancouver. Nice to get away from the usual surroundings, great way to see things in a fresh new way photography wise!

Vancouver Island Roosevelt Elk

Quite a number of years ago a small herd of Roosevelt Elk was transplanted to Vancouver Island. Over the years their numbers increased and original herd split into a number of herds. A couple of days ago I finally had the opportunity to photograph some of these Elk.

I took a number of pictures hand held with the Sigma 120-400, it was near dusk but the Sigma was up to the task and did a great job in the low light! Here are two of the better captures.

The duck didn't duck

Better known as lunch!

This eagle snagged a duck from the water (in a cove out of my site unfortunately) and brought it back to it's perch to eat. You can see the feathers floating away as the eagle plucks them out.

More miscellaneous Eagle pictures...

Here are a couple more miscellaneous Eagle pictures.

I took the top picture just after a nasty rain squall, the Eagles were trying to get their wings dried out!

And the bottom picture, I was out taking some boat pictures and found this Eagle just sitting on a broken off tree watching me, so I took it's picture too!

Seaspan panorama

I took this panorama with my cell phone and am posting it from my phone as I'm away from my trusty old desktop computer for a couple of days. Hopefully it comes through ok...

Thinking Warm

 

As I sit here at my computer staring out the window watching it snow I decided something warm would be in order. So I fixed a cup of coffee with some Irish cream and started looking through my Maui sunset photos.

Mushrooms

As soon as the rain started and the temperatures cooled off the mushrooms came out. I have no idea the names of any of these or whether they are edible or not, but I do know is that there are mushrooms of many different sizes, shapes and colors that grow here on Vancouver Island!

Dew on clover

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago before our first frost. Since then the temperature here has gotten down as low as -5° C. or 23° F. and most of the more delicate plants are done until next spring.

Blustery day in Hardy Bay

Northerly outflow winds over here on the West Coast of Canada has given us cold temperatures, clear skies and blustery winds, oh and some nice photo opportunities as well! These are both taken with the Sigma 120-400 at 400mm and cropped to about 30% of the original.

Random Hawk Photos

 

 

Now these birds we do have in abundance around here. They don't like to sit and pose for you but they are just about everywhere.

 

We ran across these when we were driving from one spot to another looking for eagles. There were three of them in one spot looking over a couple of fields for something to eat. 

 

Once again, these were hand held at 840mm and cropped about 50%. I had to park the car in the middle of the road and jump out with the camera in hand as the hawks flew by.

Random Eagle Photos

 

Just because we have so many of those darn birds flying around here. LOL

 

Aaron and I went out to a nearby lake this weekend to try to get some photos of an eagle we knew was out there. Once we got there we ran into a pair of adults and a pair of juvenile eagles. The adults pretty much kept their distance but the pair of juveniles treated us to a couple of minutes of up close flight time just as we pulled up.

 

I have to say that I am very proud of these photos. Not that they are anything great, because they could be a lot better, but because they were shot handheld at 840mm! (and because they are eagles)

 

The eagles didn't give me time to set up my tripod so I had to just grab the bazooka lens (Nikon 600mm f4 with 1.4 teleconverter) and start shooting. The high frame rate of the D3s helped in getting some of the shots.

 

Of course once I took the time to set up my tripod they flew away and stayed far away the rest of the day.

Me and my (Texas) shadow...

Can you buy 32 inch x 60 foot jeans outside of Texas? Though this would appear completely normal for anyone from Texas the rest of us would find these shadows extraordinarily long and tall! :)

Fall scenery

Some random fall pictures from Northern Vancouver Island.

Morning Light

 

What can I say? It's getting cold here so I have to go to the warm photos.

 

These were taken last year. The second photo is the island of Moloka'i shot from across the channel with a Sigma 150mm-500mm lens.

More boring Kansas

Here are three more reflections. Hope you enjoy them!

Paris By Night.

No tripod!

Intimidating Ideogram

Even a caveman could figure out the meaning of this sign!

Notre Dame Paris

Something warm for a cold morning

 

I woke up a temperature of 23 degrees this morning. I needed something warm so I turned on the heater and went looking through the Hawai'i photos.