Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Was Santa good to you this year?  Thus far, I've had a great Christmas.  I received a couple of great new photography tools (among a number of other wonderful gifts), and now I'm excited to get out and use them in the coming weeks!  I hope everyone has had the chance to spend the holidays with loved ones as I have.  Everyone have a gear new year!

Black and White Photography

If you spend the time to go through my galleries at this stage you won't find many black and white photographs.  I'll be honest, I more often than not find that my photographs are much more pleasing when in colour than when they've been converted too black and white.  I'm starting to warm up to it a little more though, especially after taking this gem, from my Around Vancouver Gallery.

As it turns out, it also happens to be an HDR photograph, and I must admit, I think it looks fantastic.  (Of course I suppose I'm more than slightly biased)  So, I'm warming up to a more monochromatic world.  It looks even better as a print - it looks even better framed!  So, what do you think, are you a fan of black and white?

Snow hits Vancouver (part deux)...

A couple of weeks ago I posted about Vancouver's cold weather, and the snow.  Unfortunately the rain has returned.  A rain warning was in place today...  Yuk!

To me Vancouver is one of the most beautiful places in the world for one reason.  Every winter there are a few days when the cloud parts, and you can be on the coast, and see our gorgeous snow covered mountains as a backdrop behind the city.  In the recent snow fall I captured one of those moments at sunset.

I'm in the process of having this printed for myself now, and I'm very happy!  Check out my galleries to purchase your own copy.

Always carry a camera!

For week's I've been trying to find some fog in Vancouver.  Every morning I'd wake up and look outside to see if it's rolled in.  For me, I just haven't had any luck!  This past week I was driving into town from UBC, and voila fog!

Now granted, it's not completely taking over the scene, but at least it is obscuring the other trees in the background.  The moral of the story?  If I didn't have a camera with me, I never would have captured the moment.  As soon as I looked at the field, I immediately pulled over and started taking some pictures.

Cypress Mountain's Snow

Today I had the opportunity to go snow shoeing for a couple of hours on Cypress Mountain.  Some argue Cypress is the best "local" Vancouver mountain.  I'll be honest, I think that the views from the snow shoe trails on Grouse are way nicer, but also infinitely more expensive.  A bit of a trade off I suppose.  I managed to capture quite a few nice pictures on the trek.  Here is a picture of tonight's very ominous looking sunset from the mountain.  Where did our day of sunshine go?

Take a few moments to have a look at my local Vancouver Mountain (Seymour, Grouse & Cypress) Galleries.

Snow hits Vancouver..

Amazingly we have some not so mild weather, in fact we've actually had a little bit of snow.  As I write this, with the wind chill, it's due to be -17 tonight - Yes, -17 in down town Vancouver.  BrrRrrr!  I'm excited for the expected dumping of snow we're apparently due to receive this year, mostly because I won't be driving in it.

This past weekend I managed to get out, and shoot a number of pictures both Saturday, and Sunday.  My favorite type of weekend!  I explored parts of Mitchell Island, Kits Beach, and the South Dikes in Richmond.  Lets just say I'm glad I don't shoot film - lots of pictures!  The best part about that is I'll be editing, and uploading in the next couple of days.  One of my favorite captures from Richmond:

I love the sprinkle of snow, and the yellow flowers, but then I suppose I'm a little biased.  You can see the image in my Flowers, Trees and Plants gallery.

Vancouver's Spanish Banks

A few weeks ago I went down to explore the Spanish Banks beaches.  I'll admit that for whatever reason, that particular vantage point of Vancouver isn't one of my favorites, however on that day I captured a couple moments that I really liked.  I love the pop of green from the seaweed on the rocks.

 I also uploaded another picture with the city in the background that you can find in my Around Vancouver Gallery that you can check out as well.