Wet Weather

Lots of rain lately. Here's what the strait looked like this afternoon from Saxe Point.

Winter

It was unseasonably cold here for several days - we even had a light dusting of snow - but it has warmed up a bit the last few days though still damp and cold. Here's what it looked like along the West Bay Walkway this morning.

Worth a Second Look - 8

Yesterday's photo reminded me of another photo I posted a year earlier, in 2010, entitled "Curiosity". This photo was taken at the Harbour Ferry stop in the Inner Harbour. The two boys were excitedly peering at the anemones and other undersea plants/animals that grow on the underwater parts of the dock while their parents were sitting placidly on the bench behind them. Here is the caption I attached to the photo at the time:

Though we never really lose our curiosity completely it does seem to be one of those characteristics that fades as we mature. I suspect it has to do with the growth of confidence and decisiveness. You can't act with confidence unless you feel sure that you have a firm grip on the nature of reality. There is no place for wonder in such a state of mind. Yet curiosity is what enables us to explore the world, meet new people and learn new things, a process that should never end.

Worth a Second Look 5

This from Victoria's Victoria Day Parade in 2011. I photograph this parade every year and of all the dozens (or hundreds) of photos I've taken of the parade this is my favorite. I think it's pretty hard to go wrong with a bunch of bare legged teen girls leaping with such energy, but the black-suited marchers in front of them make a nice contrast and the low angle in this photo also contributes to the sensation of bursting upwards into the blue spring sky. I've tried a crop that cuts out a lot of the right side of this photo but I ended up not cropping it since I like the way the relatively empty space on the right makes the photo feel less crowded. Those little girls sitting on the pavement are also sharing this low point of view so I like to have them there too.

Autumn on The Gorge 3

In the last couple of photos of the Gorge we have been looking south towards the city. Here we are looking in the opposite direction, up the Gorge towards the Tillicum Bridge.

Halkett Island

Towards the middle of the Selkirk Waters lies this small, rocky island. Local First Nations people often used such small islands for burials. The one pictured above is now called Halkett Island. A plaque on the Selkirk Walkway reads as follows:

In 1850, the "Island of the Dead" contained subsurface burials, but was mostly covered with small sheds, burial boxes and canoes containing human remains. The deceased were often placed in a fetal position and wrapped in a cedar bark mat. Adults were placed in a European-made, metal trimmed trunk and children were often placed in wooden cracker boxes.

Life sized carved wooden memorial figures representing prominent individuals were a common feature of burial locations.

The Lekwungen people, from the old Songhees reserve across the water, came to the island at twilight for feeding of the dead ceremonies. Sticks with chunks of sap were thrown into a fire to keep it blazing until midnight. Ritual words and chanting proceeded, as food to feed the dead was thrown into the fire.

Burials were no longer placed here after 1867, when a fire set by three Victoria boys got out of control and burned off the island. The boys' parents were heavily fined under the Indian Graves Protection Act. The island was taken away from the Songhees in 1924 by a Federal Indian Reserve Commission, but was restored to them by court order in 1993.

Joseph Pemberton, Victoria's most prolific early map maker, gave the name Halkett to the island in 1851. The Halketts were a well known, prominent British Navy family at the time.


(From a plaque placed on the shoreline near Halkett Island by the City of Victoria)

Autumn on the Gorge 2

Like yesterday's photo, today's was taken from the Selkirk Trestle, but looking south towards the city.

Autumn on the Gorge

Many of the trees along the water's edge of the Gorge are turning now. I took this photo near the center of the Selkirk Trestle, an old railroad bridge that has been repurposed as part of the Galloping Goose trail for walkers and cyclists.

Worth a Second Look 3

I posted the photo above back in February of this year but the original (below) is from June 2015. I liked the original enough to post it. It's got a nice lines that run across the photo and up and down that make a dynamic opposition to the diagonal line of the skater's body. But after I had thought about it for awhile I realized that the color in the photo was distracting from those dynamic lines. I tried a few monochrome versions before I arrived at the above. As well as the composition I like how it exemplifies the kind of natural grace many kids have. This boy's stance, his one legged balance, couldn't be more perfect if he'd been trained in classical ballet.

Mount Douglas Park 4

Here's another kind of mushroom I encountered on my recent visit to Mount Douglas Park. These ones appear to be a favorite meal for slugs.

Mount Douglas Park 3

Well, forest trails and autumn leaves are fine but what I really went out to Mount Douglas Park for was to see if any mushrooms were up yet. Above is the first one I saw. We've had a couple of days of rain lately so I expect that next time I'm out in the forest I'll see a good selection of these autumn delights.

Mount Douglas Park 2

Mount Douglas Park has a splendid grove of enormous Bigleaf Maple trees. At this time of year they provide this perfect autumn carpet.

Mount Douglas Park

It was a bright, windy autumn day today so I thought it might be a good day to visit Mount Douglas Park and take a walk through the forest. As usual, it was inspiring, awe inspiring. We are very lucky to have such forest giants within easy reach of the downtown core.

Worth a Second Look 2

Here's a photo I don't think I've posted on this blog though it's been on my wall for a couple of years. It's a street scene taken on Douglas Street in downtown Victoria in 2014. I think if you look closely you'll soon see why I like this photo.

Worth a Second Look

Posting a daily photo blog is really challenging for a photographer. It's hard to come up with a new photo every day. And I'll go so far as to say that it's impossible for even the best photographer to come up with a great photo every day. I figure I take about 3 or 4 photos every year that I am genuinely satisfied with. The remaining 400 or so that I post are adequate but generally not worth a second look. So, from time to time from now on I plan to take a second look at photos I am pleased with. I'll try to write a bit about why I think they are worth "a second look."

The above photo of a Falun Gong Drummer was taken during the Victoria Day Parade in May 2016. For me there's a lot to like in this photo. First, the drummer is having a good time. Second, I like the bright, vibrant colors. Third, it's got dynamic lines running diagonally across the photo in both directions that make you feel the movement. And finally, the subject is in sharp focus and the rest is nicely blurred. Comments are very welcome.

Autumn on Work Point

Cold nights lately are making the leaves turn. Here's what it looks like on Work Point, the westernmost end of the Inner Harbour.

Rainbow Park

Here's a view I photograph often, for two reasons. First is that I like it and second is that it is always the first view I see when I walk down to the West Song Walkway. It's always different according to the weather and the time of day.It's actually a small park called Rainbow Park - a few benches overlooking the harbor, a picnic table on that little spit, a doggie bag dispenser and a drinking fountain. It's a great place to start a walk either towards the city or west towards the West Bay Marina.

Autumn

Glacial Grooves

Wherever the bedrock is visible on the coastline of Victoria you will see these large grooves gouged out of the rock. They were made by glaciers grinding across the rock as they flowed down to the ocean, about 15,000 years ago. I read up a little on ice ages today because it suddenly occurred to me that the planet has had great periods of temperature fluctuations in the past. There have been about a half dozen ice ages in the last couple of million years, times when it got very cold and much of the world was covered with ice and then it warmed up again, all without the benefit of our pollution. The scientists' best guess at this time is that these global temperature fluctuations were caused by cyclical wobbles in the earth's spin and orbit, possibly in conjunction with changes in the ocean currents due to the shifting of the continents. Apparently we are still in an ice age since the defining characteristic is that there are areas that are permanently covered with ice, though these are rapidly receding.

Moonrise

When the moon finally did escape the clouds enough to be seen it had not risen over the skyline like I imagined but much further south. Oh well, it was a nice way to spend an evening. I suspect the moon does rise over the skyline here but not perhaps until next spring.