As I suspected might be the case, this Weekend Expedition was more of a working holiday, as we went over to help Catherine’s parents move. The ferry rides provided the majority of the good photo opportunities, but this is not a bad thing! A trip from the mainland to Vancouver Island provides a lot of photographic potential. Check out the results below to see what I mean.
Regular ferry service between Vancouver and Vancouver Island principally services two cities: Victoria and Nanaimo (home of the Nanaimo Bar). We took the trip from Vancouver to Nanaimo, from which we got a ride to Comox (thanks Sidnee!).
The mist-enshrouded evergreen hills of BC. I used to fantasize about living here when I was a boy, imagining all the amazing animals in this relatively unspoiled province.
Winter light on the seascape can do some odd things.
One of my favorite things to do on the ferry decks is shoot gulls. It is one of the best opportunities to practice in-flight shots from all angles.
On the outbound trip, there was even some blue sky. The gull looks surprised too.
Saturday evening we took in some local culture. In Cumberland, there was a Taiwanese Lantern Festival.
These large lanterns made for an interesting backdrop. Bounced flash off the ceiling allowed some detail to come out in Catherine and Julia.
Shooting in the dark! The ambient lighting is interesting at least.
The lantern festival culminated in a launch of aerial lanterns. I sewed up some stills into a movie to give a sense of what that looked like.
This was the view on Saturday morning. On Sunday morning, the wind was raging, and dozens of eagles flew right by the window. It was too dark for photography however.
The return ride was a little more choppy, but the seas are quite pretty in a grim and cold sort of way.
Vancouver from the north with 18 mm (check out the boring composition…how not to use a wide lens!). This shows the full extent of downtown to UBC.
Vancouver as seen from the North with a 300 mm lens.
This would be the faster way to go!
Vancouver is crowded, but this looks a bit isolated even for me!