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It Makes Me Mellow

 

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White Rock

I love taking photos of chaos.  I love when the shot is busy, lots going on.  I love lots of colours, details, movement.  I find taking calm or placid scenes challenging because they are a lot less forgiving than the busy ones.  The shot has to be perfectly level and the light optimal.  I’m lucky that because of where I live geographically I get plenty of practice, at least for calm ocean/water shots.  Above is in White Rock, a wealthy suburb of Surrey.  It’s hopping in the summer with a great pier and a strip of restaurants (Uli’s being a personal favourite) but in the winter it’s much more subdued and serene.

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Howe Sound

Howe Sound is a lovely, calm inlet north of West Vancouver.  This was taken somewhere between Lion’s Bay and Squamish.  Both the weather and the sea were calm that day, a typical West Coast October.  Not too cold but definitely not warm.  The ocean isn’t quite a completely calm piece of glass, but still flat enough that it was a bit of a tricky shot to get right.

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Mount Triglav National Park, Slovenia

We took this peaceful scenic detour through one of Slovenia’s most iconic landscapes (Mount Triglav is on their flag) towards the end of our trip there.  First of all, Slovenia is awesome.  The people were warm and generous and the natural beauty was absolutely gobsmacking.  Go there.  Anyway, this was the typical view of our drive – shades of green and yellow, quiet, bright.  Manicured hayfields and alpine homesteads dotted the landscape.  Some of the stress of driving in a foreign land (temporarily) melted away.

 

 

Croatia (Part 3: Split)

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Split.  Split is very cool.  The main attraction of Split is Diocletian’s Palace, the retirement home of Roman emperor.  Mountains on one side, Adriatic Ocean on the other, palm trees aplenty!  We stayed at a pansion whose owner may or may not have been some sort of Croatian gangster named Ivan.

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Split was pretty laid back and super interesting.  The only part that I found particularly cheesy was a ‘reenactment’ of some sort of proclamation by the Emperor himself (some schmuck in a toga).  You better believe that those bedazzled, be-visored cruise ship tourists got their iPads out for that one.  One of the many things I liked about Split was that you were never too far from the sea.

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The Mediterranean climate proved for some lovely, bright sunny photos, and the ancient architecture a perfect model.

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It’s amazing to me to be able to photograph real, authentic, ancient bits of history and architecture, like this pillar, an original feature made from red marble native to the region.

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I like to try and imagine what some of the areas that are in disrepair would have looked like in its glory days, like the above tower used to have a domed roof, according to historians.

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On a more personal note, I got spend my 31st birthday within these walls.  I got some delicious pizza, Croatian cream cake and liquor, thanks to the generosity of our host Ivan.  Definitely one of the cooler birthdays I’ve had.

Croatia (Part 2: Korcula)

 

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Korcula, Croatia

The second part of our Croatian adventure was to the island of Korcula.  Korcula is a sleepy, beach-y island, much quieter and humbler than its glitzy neighbour Hvar.  We wanted to go to one of the Dalmatian islands and seeing as Ma, Pa and I are all pretty introverted, we chose the quieter island.

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The island ended up being a vacation within our vacation.  We’d met back up with Pa on our last day in Dubrovnik and decided to take it easy on this tranquil rock.  As you can see, the waters are just as beautiful and inviting as they are outside of Dubrovnik.  IMG_8031

The climate was Mediterranean – warm, some palm trees, rocky and the architecture Venetian – lots of red tiled roofs.  Korcula was fun to photograph because of not only its stunning natural beauty, but because of the whole laid back feel there.   The locals love to talk about their maybe native son Marco Polo and you can visit his perhaps birthplace.  It wasn’t too crowded so you weren’t rubbing elbows with everyone like we were in Dubrovnik and not cursing every clueless selfie sticky-carrying doofus who ambled into your shot.

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Like Dubrovnik there were plenty of laneways and staircases, just without the people, so you could get mysterious shots like this one.  I often think back to Croatia and if I had to choose only one part to go back to and spend more time, it would be Korcula.  Maybe.

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Croatia (Part 1: Dubrovnik)

Croatia is becoming a pretty popular travel destination, and for good reason.  One of its most recognizable cities is the walled fortress called Dubrovnik.  Ma, Pa and I travelled there in September 2014 as part of our month-long sojourn to the Balkans.  The first day and a half that we were there Pa was holed up in the Klinika Ortopedia in Sarajevo having 13 screws put into his elbow while Ma and I explored the city.

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Dubrovnik was really fun to explore.  There are all sorts of laneways, staircases, doorways, the kind of adventure that you crave when you’re a kid.  It’s also a photographers dream (when you’re not overrun by cruise ship tourists).  Every lane is different, a plethora of different colours, shops, lights, people.

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The walled part of the city is a peninsula that juts out into the blue-green Adriatic Sea.  I felt like I could not get enough photos of the water.  Don’t get me wrong, I love B.C. but the waters of the Adriatic were like nothing I had ever seen.  They were so clear and enticing.  We were drawn to the outer parts of walls, not just because of the bountiful gelato shops, but because the sea was there.

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The sea is a fantastic combination of being calm and playful.  A decent amount of wind makes it perfect for sailing and the smooth bits make it ideal for sea kayaking.  I like the way the water hits the rocks, like an aquatic firework.

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Croatia mostly identifies itself as catholic, but inside Dubrovnik’s walls are several different churches of different christian denominations including eastern orthodox and, as seen in this wedding here, jesuit.  Although I don’t identify as being “religious” or theist or deist of any kind, I do love photographing churches and I enjoy the grandiosity of this scene.

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When we were exploring we came across this: an open gate framing a green palm frond and the wall with painted blue letters “Buza ->”.  I like the mystery behind what’s on the other side of this.  A balcony?  A walkway?  Maybe nothing.

What’s on the other side of this doorway is a steep staircase leading down to a bar perched precariously on the westernmost tip of the wall where you could enjoy an overpriced beverage in a plastic cup.  Worth it.

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Somewhere Beyond the Sea

Like I’ve previously mentioned, I love the sea.  I was born and raised on the west coast of Canada, so going to the beach has been a staple activity of mine since I was a kid.  Also, Ma is a sailor, and both of her parents were sailors so I feel like some of that love is in my bones.  That’s probably why I have so many shots of the ocean and why I love photographing it so much.  It’s very colourful, temperamental and unpredictable.  Profoundly dramatic.

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This is the Pacific from when Ma and I went to Ucluelet last year.  We were both totally gobsmacked at the awesome power of the wild Pacific, the energy of the waves on the rocks, the sea spray, the colour of the sky reflected on the water.  Also technically speaking, this was the point in the photography journey where I stopped relying on Canon’s fantastic “Creative Auto” setting and started shooting on Manuel so that I could learn “on the job” as it were about adjusting ISO and aperture.

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Here is the Adriatic Sea from Zadar, Croatia’s Marine Organ.  I love the way the water would climb up onto the concrete steps, splatter and retreat, different every time.  No two waves are the same.  The blazing red sun had just set leaving this pastel palette over the landscape.  I laid flat on my belly to try and get as far down as I good, and I’m happy with how those other photographers are reflected in the puddle.

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I love that the ocean also has reflecting power, sometimes glass, sometimes a funhouse mirror.  I love that the Lions Gate Bridge’s string of lights is reflected in the harbour, and although slightly distorted, still beautiful.  I feel like the Pacific Ocean here is mysterious, inky and secretive, not letting us know what is going on in its depths.

 

Like A Bird on A Wire

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The Story: Vancouver has a lot of parks, and one of them, Queen Elizabeth Park, has a great feature – The Bloedel Conservatory.  The Conservatory is home to a plethora of different flora, fauna and finches (as well as other birds).  I sat in one bird-heavy area for a few hours and got some good shots of all different varieties of finches, a couple of pheasants and some cockatiels.  If you haven’t been there, you should head of up there for a fun and relaxing afternoon.

Why I love It: This little guy is just so friggin’ cute.   He looks so fat and happy, like he has a smile on his little face.  I also really like that I was able to achieve a nice creamy bokeh in the background.

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The Story: The Lower Mainland has a pretty fantastic cherry and plum blossom season in the early spring time.  Ma and Pa have this plum blossom tree in the front yard that they planted when my sister was born 34 years ago, and although it blooms very briefly, it is still a beautiful display of vibrant pink puffs.  It attracts some of the local bird life – mostly chickadees but sometimes when you’re lucky and patient, you can spot a hummingbird or two.

Why I Love It: This little guy was fussy.    Every time I would get remotely close he would zip away, so I had to be super stealthy and super patient to get even this close.  In this shot I like that his wing is fully extended and that he looks frozen and still in the air, although he was buzzing all over the place.  And seriously, how cute is he?

 

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls

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The Story: Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia seems to be photographed by everyone all the time these days, and there’s a good reason for it – it’s absolutely breathtaking.  It’s 16 terraced lakes connected by a series of waterfalls.  Part of the reason the water is so clear is because there is no mud – the chemical makeup of the area turns all the mud/dirt in the water into limestone, making so the water cannot be muddied.  This was my first view of the lakes, and I couldn’t get enough.  I seriously took about 200 photos of the lakes and waterfalls.

Why I Love It: This is not the typical Plitvice Lakes shot, but I feel like it’s still incredible.  My favourite part though is the colours – red, orange, yellow, green and blue feature in this.   And I really want to dive into the pool at the bottom.

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The Story: A lot of natural beauty can be found in the Howe Sound area.  One day my girlfriend Brit took me and her boyfriend (and my good friend) Kurt on a tour of her old stompin’ grounds in Squamish.  She took us to the estuary, downtown Squamish and then to Shannon Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in British Columbia.  There is a pretty little hike up to the falls and along the way is more little streams and waterfalls.

Why I Love It: This isn’t the main part of Shannon falls, but I thought this little waterfall was really pretty.  I love that you can tell how clean and clear the water is, how smooth the rocks look, just unspoiled nature.

Stormy Weather

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The Story: This was our final day on Korcula, the sleepy, wallflower island compared to its ritzy, bustling larger island neighbour Hvar in the Dalmatian archipelago.  Korcula is also thought to be the maybe birthplace of possibly real person Marco Polo.  The weather had been fantastic, sunny and warm without being hot.  In this photo however, a storm was a-brewin’.  The wind picked up in the evening, then the pizzicato of rain drops, then my midnight it was a full on rager – torrential rain, high winds, thunder and lightning.  We woke up to catch our 0600hrs ferry and there was not a cloud in the starry sky.

Why I Love It: I love the different shades of blue and grey in this one.  I also love that sense of impending doom with how dark the clouds are.  As a pluviophile, the thought of incoming rain warms the cockles of my chilly heart.

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The Story: November of last year Ma and I had decided to go to Vancouver Island for some storm watching, so we chose to stay in Ucluelet, a darling little one-street hamlet placed on the tip of a peninsula on the south-west part of the Island.  Our full day there we decided to hike the Wild Pacific Trail, a walk that takes you along the west side of the coast line and passes a historic lighthouse.  I was determined to get some gloomy, rainy shots of the coast and Pacific Ocean and Mother Nature brought her A-game.  Both wind and rain were strong, persistent and pervasive, soaking both Ma and I down to the skin through our water resistant gear.  Although the weather could have been considered miserable, Ma and I were in our element in the rain, by the ocean.

Why I love It: As previously mentioned, I love the rain so looking at this photo brings me great comfort.  I love how unsettled the sea looks with the spray on the rocks.  I also really like that I shot this in colour, though it looks washed out and I feel like the monochromatic feel of the shot makes it feel like the ocean and the sky are bottomless/limitless, they go on forever but you cannot tell what is lurking in the depths/past the horizon.

Might As Well Jump

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The Story: This is the famed Stari Most, the Old Bridge of Mostar, the simple, historic piece of architecture that sparked my interest in the city of Mostar, the country of Bosnia and the whole Balkan area.  The story behind the bridge itself both broke my heart and warmed it.  The people of Mostar see the bridge as more than just a structure, they consider it an old friend and when it was bombed into the river in November of 1993 the water ran red (it was made from local pinkish stone called tenelija) and the people cried, ‘Our old friend is bleeding!’.  The bridge was reconstructed in 2004 using some of the original materials fished out of the river and was opened with the releasing of doves to symbolize peace not only in Mostar, but for the world.

One of the more popular spectacles is watching locals dive off the bridge.  They will tease and posture until they’ve raised enough money, and after what seems like a hopeless debacle, they jump.

Why I Love It: My favourite part of this the action of the diver’s body – arms open and outstretched and heels kicked up so there is a clear space between the jumper and the bridge.

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The Story: See above

Why I Love It: this is the quintessential bridge shot that everyone gets, but I still love mine and think it’s unique.  I love the blue sky against the emerald river, and I love how powerful and stoic the bridge looks, a truly captivating piece of architecture.