Blues Bash

Throughout the summer the Inner Harbour hosts a steady stream of festival events. The ladies above are watching a group performing as part of the Vancouver Island Blues Bash. You can see the group they were watching a little more clearly through my telephoto lens in the photo below.

Canada 150

As part of the Canada 150 celebrations a very large CANADA 150 sign was installed on Ship Point Pier and quickly became a popular jungle gym for kids.

The O'Brien Family

Sunday evening I chanced to hear this group performing as part of the Night Market on Ship Point. This is the O'Brien Family, a very accomplished group that were a pleasure to listen to. Below is a video of one of their performances a few years ago to give you some idea of their sound.

Night Market Music - Dave Harris

When I left Karly Summers and walked down Ship Point Pier through the night market I was happy to find our fine local one man band, Dave Harris, at the other end of the pier. Dave was in excellent form and I always enjoy his music. Once again, I initially was photographing using a wide angle lens (24mm) in the above photo and then I switched to the portrait lens (85mm) for the photo below. And, once again, as in the pair of Karly Summers photos (yesterday's post) I prefer the portrait photo below. It's a difficult choice that ultimately comes down to whether you want context or not.

Night Market Music - Karly Summers

Friday night I went down to the Inner Harbour to check out the Night Market. As I neared the end of Ship Point Pier I heard a voice that reminded me of Carole King - that kind of warm friendly sound. The singer in this case was Karly Summers, a Victoria singer/songwriter. As I had planned to shoot the Night Market I was using a 35mm wide angle lens when I took the photo above. Then I decided that I would experiment with an 85mm portrait lens and took the photo below, which I much prefer. You understand now why I find photography such an interesting hobby - I get to think about all that left-brain technical stuff while my right brain is enjoying the sight of a lovely young woman making beautiful music. To give you a taste of that music I have embedded one of her videos below. It's not one of my videos, it's from her YouTube channel where there are more videos.

S.A.L.T.S.

Here's two more ships that always stir up the wanderlust in me like a whiff of a warm, spice-laden breeze. On the right is the Pacific Grace and further away just left of center is the Pacific Swift, two sailing ships owned by S.A.L.T.S., the Sail and Life Training Society. Lucky youths can learn to sail on these ships and may voyage in local waters or to some of "those far away places". The Pacific Grace was loading up for a voyage just as the Pacific Swift appeared to be arriving from one.

Those Faraway Places....

I was infected by wanderlust when I was very young and though it has been somewhat cured by a life spent in out-of-the-way places in Africa and Asia it still kindles anew when I see a boat as lovely as the one pictured above.

Songhees Point

A bright clear afternoon after a morning's rain inspired me a few days ago to revisit some of my favorite Victoria views. Above is the view from Ship Point Pier at one end of the Causeway. Here we are looking at Songhees Point with the Johnson Street Bridge on the far right and Laurel Point on the far left. Just to the right of the center is the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort. We'll have a closer look at that tomorrow.

The Zenith

Here's a super yacht I've noticed the last few times I've been down to the Inner Harbour. It looks pretty nice from the outside so I thought I'd check it out online. It turns out it's for sale - $41,000,000. Yeah, you read that right - forty-one million dollars. Well, at least that's what it cost to build. If you want to get an idea of how the super-rich, those 1 per centers, live, click HERE to take a look at the slide show of the various interior features. I guess this is the sort of boat that will park at the new marina when it is completed.

National Aboriginal Day

June 21 has been celebrated in Canada as National Aboriginal Day since 1996. Here in Victoria celebrations spread over several days took place this year on the grounds of the Royal BC Museum and on Ship Point Pier adjacent to the Inner Harbour Causeway. Above is one of the singers from the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation. On the left are a couple of elders from the Squamish Nation and some of their dancers performing a Wolf Dance on the right. The weather was great and many people turned out to get a taste of aboriginal life and culture.

Jump Ship

Last weekend saw the second annual Jump Ship competition at Ship Point. This is a mountain bike acrobatic competition involving some of the best riders in the world. A series of dirt mounds were erected on a barge tied to Ship Point Pier (adjacent to the Inner Harbour Causeway) and riders leapt with their bikes from a high tower, bounced up and down off these mounds and engaged in impossible stunts while airborne.

For Sale

If you've ever had a hankering to travel around in your own paddle wheel steamship, here's your chance. The vessel pictured above while moored at Ship Point is a replica of the SS Beaver, the first steamship on this coast and it's up for sale. You can read a little of the history of the original SS Beaver by clicking HERE.

Dragon Boat Festival

This weekend is the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival and on Friday the opening ceremony was held. Above is the altar on Ship Point Pier overlooking the Inner Harbour where members of the Ching Chung Taoist Church from Vancouver performed the traditional eye-dotting ritual that opens the festival.

It's an ancient rite that precedes every dragon boat festival. To begin, the Goddess of the Sea, the saints, and the immortals are invoked through the priests' chanting. Joss sticks are burned to cleanse and bless the arena of competition and competitors, and to charge the boats and their crews with the strength of a dragon.

The ceremony's climax comes shortly after, with the eye-dotting ceremony: this is when the spirit of the dragon is "awakened." According to Chinese mythology, the dragon sleeps in the mountains and travels to the water once awoken.

To "awaken" the dragon, the priests lead dignitaries down to the water's edge, where the dragon boats await. The guests take brushes in hand, dip them in pots of red cinnabar paint, and then dab the eyes on the "blind" figurehead of each dragon boat.

The boats are then decorated with special red ribbons that signify good fortune, smooth sailing, and blessings for the crew. At the end of the ceremony, the priests nourish and appease other souls who may have been present at the ritual by throwing them coloured beans - representing the five elements and directions. The priests also toss 18 ancient coins.
(From the Dragon Boat Festival website)

Below are the dragon boats that will race on Saturday and Sunday. The Dragon Boat Festival is held annually to raise funds for cancer treatment and research. It gets my vote as the best event of the year. Check their website for race times and the entertainment schedule.

Johnson Street Bridge from Ship Point

From Ship Point Pier where this photo was taken, Victoria Harbour stretches away in two directions: to the left, past the green Laurel Point towards the harbour exit and Esquimalt and to the right inland to the Upper Harbour and the Gorge. The reason I like this photo is that it clearly shows the Johnson Street Bridge (far right, with one span pointed skyward) as a significant feature of the landscape. The large building centre right is the Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort and Spa. To the left of the Delta Victoria are condominiums on Songhees Point.
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Check out the Johnson Street Bridge Victoria BC website for news and views on the fate of the "Blue Bridge."

Summer Sleepers 2

Like most cities, Victoria has homeless people. This person is catching a bit of shut-eye on the lawn above Ship Point on the Inner Harbour.

Night Market

One end of the Inner Harbor Causeway extends out onto Ship Point Pier. On summer evenings at the Night Market many artisans and crafts people display their creations: some splendid jewelry, exotic masks, unique T-shirts, exquisite glass work and much more. While you browse you can listen to the rhythms of the performers pictured above. The band is called Weak Patrol and the people in the picture are, from the left, Brad Kennedy, Caleb Kennedy and Jen Book. Click here to visit Weak Patrol's MySpace page and listen to some of their music. Feel the energy.

Fun!

Toot TOOT

Inspired by fellow CDP Bloggers Blognote of Arona Every Day, Snapper of Gabriola Daily Photo and Kim of Seattle Daily Photo I have been experimenting with black and white. Above is a band concert on Ship Point Pier. I liked this photo in color but it wasn't until I started to work with it in black and white that I was able to bring out the two tubas like I wanted. The tubas are shiny in color but much shinier in black and white.