Hatley Castle

Before we leave Hatley Park National Historic Site here is a photo of the castle. I plan to have a look at Victoria's other castle, Craigdarroch, next week.

Esquimalt Lagoon

Here's another scene I have not visited since the early summer and now the leaves are turning on the far side of Esquimalt Lagoon where Hatley Castle is just visible. I wanted to try out some new extension tubes that enable one to use an ordinary lens as if it were a macro and shoot close-ups. To the right is a sample - there's lots of this Gumweed (Grindelia integrifolia) growing all along the shore of the lagoon,

Harvest Time

Well, the leaves are turning already - summer's almost gone and it seems like it only started yesterday. There hasn't been much real hot weather here this year, just a few days here and there. Today's photo is one of the statues in the Italian Garden at Hatley Castle. There are four of these, each representing a different season. I think today's is the one representing the autumn harvest because of the sheaves of grain she is holding.

Hatley Castle 6 - Italian Garden

Before we leave Hatley Castle here's a look at the Italian Garden. I love Victoria City's hanging baskets but in the Italian Garden at Hatley Castle the hanging baskets are so lush and luxurious they make the city's look pretty tame.

Hatley Castle 5

When the castle's owners had died and the children were all grown and had moved out, they decided to sell the castle as the upkeep was very expensive. Unfortunately, the first thing they did was to auction off all the furniture so there is practically none of the original furnishings left. Added to this is the fact that the castle has been used by both the military and the university for a number of different purposes so the rooms are a bit barren looking. Above is the drawing room where Laura Dunsmuir would hold her gala evenings. It is still an impressive room. Below in the games room is one of the original pieces of furniture, a full size pool table that has never left the room. It was built there by a team imported from the UK.

Hatley Castle 4

This is the entrance hall of Hatley Castle. In the photo above we are looking back towards the entrance doors. Apparently in one of the X-Men films, Hugh Jackman (the Wolverine) jumped from this balcony for some reason. In the photo below we are standing in front of those doors and looking up into the gallery that is above the hall.

Hatley Castle 3

Before we go inside the castle, above is the classic postcard view of the main entrance, the porte cochère. Below is the opposite view, taken from inside the porte cochère looking up the hill towards one of the Royal Roads University buildings. The reason I've included the view below is the step-like structure in the center foreground, just beside the trash container. This stone construction was placed there to enable the ladies of the house to mount their horses easily and gracefully when they wished to go riding. It was also used by guests descending from carriages.

A Little Privacy Please

Although James Dunsmuir and his wife had a long and successful marriage (10 children) they clearly had different agendas as they aged. The door above is off to one side of the castle and is a discreet private entrance to the building insisted upon by James Dunsmuir so that he could bypass his wife's penchant for large social gatherings and slip unnoticed into his study, the door of which was directly opposite this outer door. You may also notice that the doorknob is higher on the door than is usual - that was to discourage small children from using this entrance.

Hatley Castle

Before we take a look at the interior of Hatley Castle here is a look at the exterior as seen from one of the gardens. The castle and grounds are a Canadian National Historic Site. The castle was built in 1906 by Lieutenant Governor James Dunsmuir. His father had made the family fortune in Vancouver Island's coal mines and had earlier built Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria. Hatley castle now serves as the administrative center for Royal Roads University, also on the grounds. The castle has also been used for several Hollywood films, most recently, X-Men. It is also a popular venue for weddings, banquets and other social functions.

Another Young Musician

This makes a nice transition from yesterday's photo of a young girl playing a violin - here we have a cherub playing a mandolin. He's perched above the gardens surrounding Hatley Castle. I went out there yesterday to take a look at the interior of the castle since in the past I've always gotten sidetracked in the magnificent gardens. We'll have another look at those and some of the rooms inside the castle in the next few days.

Hatley Castle Fall Colours

Here's a shot of Hatley Castle from the southern side of Esquimalt Lagoon. The castle now houses part of the administration for Royal Roads University, some of whose buildings can be seen behind the castle.

Lens Distortion

Last year around this time I was exploring the way lenses distort reality. All lenses distort reality to some extent. (This, in my opinion, puts paid to the purist argument about the truth of images taken directly from the camera without further processing as against images that have been altered or enhanced after being downloaded from the camera.) Notice in the top photo how the Hatley Castle's walls appear to slope inward. This was caused by using an ultra-wide angle lens at its widest setting (10mm) in order to get the whole building inside the frame. The problem I was trying to deal with had to do with how to correct this lens distortion. The solution I found is below. Sometime later I returned to Hatley Castle and took a whole series of shots (10) with a 50mm lens. 50mm lenses are generally agreed to produce photos that are most like what our eyes see. These were then stitched together and straightened using software called Hugin. It produces enormous panoramas (the original of the shot below is over 10,000 pixels wide). The end result (below) is certainly much closer to what we see. The next challenge is to photograph the Legislative Assembly Buildings using the same technique. Stay tuned!

Grazing in the Grass

I went out to Esquimalt Lagoon recently to take photos of Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) for an artist acquaintance. For much of the winter there is a large flock of these birds that graze on the vast spread of lawn between Hatley Castle and Esquimalt Lagoon. Hatley Castle has been featured here many times.

Until I became a birdwatcher I was not aware that Canada Geese are primarily grazers. Grass and other foliage form the major part of their diet. The geese in the above photo are grazing very much like cattle or horses.

For those of you who may have other associations with "Grazing in the Grass", below is a link to the famous musical composition, one of my favorites, written and performed by Hugh Masakela.

Purple Martin (Progne subis)

Sometimes it seems like ecological disaster is inevitable and within a generation or two life on this planet will be very unpleasant. So it's nice to see that some of our changes are working and it is possible to reverse some damage. I was pleased to mention a few weeks ago the recovery of the Osprey population whose numbers were declining until DDT was banned. The local population of today's featured bird, the Purple Martin (Progne subis), was also in decline and they had almost disappeared from this area thirty years ago. This was thought to be due to competition for suitable nest sites from invasive species such as European Starlings, and because of the removal by humans of favored natural nesting sites such as dead trees. The resurgence in their population is due to the provision of nesting boxes such as pictured to the right. These have been designed to be especially attractive to Purple Martins and less attractive to competing species. The wire netting over the top and sides at the front of the nest is to prevent seagulls from snacking on the fledglings when they take their first peeks out the doorway. Above on the left is a male Purple Martin with a female of the species on the right. This colony of Purple Martins resides on the north shore of Esquimalt Lagoon below Royal Roads University and Hatley Castle. There is an article about them HERE.

Hatley Castle 3 - The Italian Garden

Hatley Park National Historic Site consists of the castle and the adjacent gardens. Directly beside the house is the Italian Garden, pictured above and below. It's a very formal garden with trees in tubs and immaculately trimmed and squared hedges, lawns and beds of flowers.

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Click here to see what the castle looks like from across the lagoon, in the autumn.

Hatley Castle 2

Here we see Hatley Castle from the Croquet Court, a sunken lawn area below the Italian Garden that is adjacent to the castle building. The bystanders so picturesquely posed were engaged in planning a wedding scheduled for the following day. As well as providing a backdrop for numerous Hollywood films, the castle, like other Victoria scenic locations such as Saxe Point Park, is often a venue for wedding ceremonies.

Hatley Castle

This magnificent edifice, Hatley Castle, lies on the rising ground overlooking Esquimalt Lagoon. As well as being an intriguing building in itself it is set amongst some splendid gardens - an Italian Garden, a Bog Garden, a Japanese Garden and a Rose Garden. Since I'm looking at Landscape photography lately I thought it would be fitting to examine some formal landscaping such as is found in classical gardens. We'll have a look at some of the gardens later in the week. Hatley Castle has an interesting history - it was built by James Dunsmuir, a son of the man who built Craigdarroch Castle, Victoria's other castle, and because it is so photogenic it has been used in numerous films and television shows such as X-Men and Smallville. In its day job it now is a part of Royal Roads University. Wikipedia has a good short article on the Hatley Park National Historic Site.

Statuary

A proper Italian Garden must have statuary and Hatley Castle's Italian Garden is no exception. There are several near life size statues amongst the flower beds and this one is particularly striking because of the white added around the eyes. On closer examination one can see that some teeth have been painted in as well, giving the appearance of a charming overbite. (I have a secret fondness for non-PC teeth, and no tolerance at all for the current obsession with ensuring that children's teeth have the mathematical precision of piano keys). I think this statue may be one of the three graces. There are at least two other similar statues in the garden.

Red at Hatley Castle

Here's one of the reds from Hatley Castle's Italian Garden. It's really a riot of blooms and the colours are only a part of the experience - there are some wonderful scents and sounds. And there are other things to see as well - check back tomorrow for a bit of an overbite....

Blues at Hatley Castle

More flowers and a busy bumblebee from the Italian Garden at Hatley Castle.