Swallow's Landing II

Yesterday's view of Victoria was taken from the terrace visible in the upper right of this photo. This rather ungainly looking stairway leads from the West Bay Walkway to the two Swallow's Landing condominium towers. While it is not the most attractive stairway, it was designed to protect and preserve the fragile ecosystem beneath and around it known as the Matson Conservation Area, the last remaining bit of the Garry Oak Ecosystem on the shoreline surrounding Victoria's Inner Harbour. This has been preserved in perpetuity by the developer of these condominiums. It's looking a bit frowzy now but this landscape always looks its best in the spring and early summer.

Swallow's Landing

I am happy to share with you today my new favorite view of the Victoria Skyline. This is taken from the terrace of a pair of condominiums called "Swallow's Landing," overlooking the Matson Conservation Area along the West Bay Walkway. I'll tell you a little about this project tomorrow. For those of you who might be interested in yesterday's seal pup, he was there again today and I was a little better prepared with an 80-200mm zoom lens. Some of the people using the walkway are concerned that he is sick or wounded when they see him lying on the cement like this. Wikipedia, however, assures us that when not hunting or feeding, harbour seals like to pull themselves out of the water and rest on convenient rocks. To me he looks very happy and healthy and it is a treat to see him dropping off to sleep, losing his balance and snapping awake again.

Pup

As if to provide the perfect example of yesterday's discussion of my discovery of the digital teleconverter function of my Sony Alpha 550 DSLR I encountered this seal pup taking a break while I was out for my morning walk yesterday. I wasn't even carrying my camera bag, just the camera with the kit lens, an 18-55mm zoom, when I spied this little fellow lolling on a boat ramp along the Westsong Walkway. With the zoom maxed out at 55mm I focused in on him and took a few shots. Then I switched to "live view" and pushed the teleconverter button which gave me the equivalent of 110mm - not much of a telephoto but it still effectively halved the distance between me and this Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina) pup. I suspect this is a feature of my camera that I will be using regularly.

Moon

The new digital cameras have all sorts of capabilities that are not immediately obvious so, to those of you who are as backward as myself, I suggest you start experimenting with all those buttons and controls you normally don't touch. Although I've been using my latest camera almost daily for over six months I just discovered that it has an interesting and useful function I hadn't even imagined. It's a built in digital 2X teleconverter. This is like being able to double the magnifying power of whatever lens you're using. Above is a photo that is a first experiment with this function using the 300mm telephoto lens times 2 to yield a whopping 600mm. Lenses with this power typically sell for thousands so this is a very nice feature. It also means that I can carry fewer lenses around with me since I can, if necessary, extend the focal length of the lenses in my bag through the use of the built-in teleconverter. I write "if necessary" because, although Sony says,"The system reproduces pixels on a 1:1 basis so there's no degradation in picture quality," it seems to me that there is a bit of image degradation. But if one needs that magnification it's nice to have the option without always carrying around a heavy telephoto lens.

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What's normally on my camera or in my camera bag?

1. The Sony kit lens - an 18-55mm zoom, or some other mid-range zoom


2. 90mm macro lens for closeups


3. 10-20mm wide angle


4. 75-300 or 500mm prime telephoto

I usually have some idea what I'll be shooting before I leave the house so the telephoto or the macro may get left behind. I get a little choosy now because this stuff is heavy and if you spend all day lugging around two or three lenses that never come out of the bag you start to try to think ahead a bit. The flip side, of course, is missing a great shot because you don't have the right lens with you. The teleconverter mentioned above probably means I won't carry around a telephoto lens unless I know I'm likely to encounter some wildlife or some other special situation requiring telephoto or I'll carry a shorter-range, lighter telephoto like an 80-200mm.

Selkirk Trestle Sunrise

Residents of Victoria West, like myself, are lucky in that we have access to waterfront both to the north (The Gorge) and to the south (the Inner Harbour). Where I live is about equidistant from the two bodies of water. Usually I have been walking down to the Inner Harbor and along the Westsong Walkway since this offers more expansive views across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the mountains of Olympic Peninsula. There is often a cruise ship or the Coho car ferry visible as well, while the Gorge is a little more domestic with lots of kayaks and canoes and our local rather diminutive mountains. However, the other morning before sunrise I went down to the Gorge and was pleasantly surprised to find that dawn is like the philosopher's stone that turns everything to gold. There's lots of beauty and interest in the Gorge's smaller scale. The above photo of Selkirk Trestle is nearly a reprise of one I took almost two years ago. This is where the Galloping Goose Regional Trail crosses the Gorge over what used to be a railroad trestle. The Galloping Goose Regional Trail is for pedestrians and cyclists only and is used extensively by a growing number of commuters who prefer to walk, run or ride on two wheels.