I’ve tried to get out with my camera a number of times recently, but everywhere I’ve gone there have been large crowds so I changed my plans. I decided to get up early… really early, and head down to the Sooke boardwalk before anyone else.
Sooke Harbour
By really early, I mean I was down at the waterfront by 4 AM to do some night photography. While there was nobody at the boardwalk, off to the east there was a crew on the fishing boat and it was lighting up everything around as it pulled away and slowly glided past. Once it faded off in the distance in the Salish Sea I was able to turn my camera to the south-east and focus on the Milky Way.
The glow from Port Angeles below the Milky Way
Next I took a little time to have breakfast and wait for the light. As the dawn approached, a heavy fog blanketed the harbour to the east and slowly began to spread along the southern side of the harbour past the boardwalk. I had been hoping to get a good photo as the sun lit up the Olympic mountains to the south-west, but with the rapidly approaching fog that didn’t happen.
Blue Hour over the Olympic Mountain Range
The fog that blew past completely obscured East Sooke.
A Lone Buoy in the Fog
While it wasn’t quite what I was expecting for a sunrise, it was still a beautiful morning and any day I can get out with my camera is a good day!
This will be the fourth consecutive year I have compiled a list of the top ten favourite images of the past year. I was first inspired to do so after seeing Jim Goldstein’s blog project on his JGM Galleries site, where he encourages photographers to participate by linking a post with their top photos of the year. There are always a lot of great images there and I’d encourage everyone to go check them out.
This year I could have picked more than ten images, but I was able to narrow it down. I list them as my “favourite” images rather than “best”, because while they may not be technically perfect, each one is special to me, in some way.
As quick as it came in, the water recedes
The first image is from Botany Bay, in Port Renfrew. This is a fascinating area, as the adjoining Botanical Beach features some amazing tide pools and geological features. I liked the effect from the receding water taken with a longer shutter speed here which produced interesting patterns. I have only recently started trying to sell/market my images, and this was the first large print that I sold.
Catching a wave
For this image, I was sitting on a small island (at least it is at high tide) in Cox Bay, Tofino, BC, watching surfers in the distance. It took a fair bit of patience to get this image, where the wave was large enough that it provided a nice curl behind, and looming over the surfer, but eventually I got what I was hoping for and was able to retreat to the beach before the rising tide was able to trap me on the little rocky island.
Rainbow over the beach resorts
The day after I captured the image of the surfer at Cox Bay, I was out on the beach with the intent of getting some sunset images. There was a light rain falling and when I turned back towards the resorts, there was a beautiful double rainbow above them. While the second rainbow was not as bright, it was also above the brighter one and I couldn’t easily fit it in the image. While the sunset images were okay, they were not nearly as special as this lovely rainbow scene was/is to me.
Sea Stacks Rising
The west coast of the Olympic Peninsula, in Washington state, is only a short trip south from Vancouver Island, but this year was the first time I made the trip “down south” to visit it, and I’m glad I did! what a beautiful place. It was a foggy/misty day and these sea stacks in the distance almost seemed to be floating in the pastel shades of sunset.
Sea Stack Sunset at Ruby Beach
Ruby Beach, on the Olympic Peninsula, is a popular location for photographers, as I found out, but it is still easy to get some interesting images without other people in them. Photographing in a location like this left me wanting to search out more sea stacks!
San Josef Bay sea stacks on a cloudy day
My quest for sea stacks to photograph led me to the farthest northern tip of Vancouver Island. While it was a long drive, including some brutal gravel roads at the end, it was well worth it. The hike in to San Josef Bay was pretty easy, but the rainstorm that started just after we arrived on the beach was brutal and kept us in the tent most of the time until the next day. In the morning, the tide was out and the sea stacks looked magnificent, with interesting patterns in the sand around them.
Simple lines of a pier reflecting in calm water
At various times throughout the year we can get a lot of fog around the water. While this limits some types of photography, it opens up others to explore. I like the simplicity and symmetry of this image.
I have not done a lot of astrophotography, primarily because I keep finding excuses not to, even though I enjoy it. I wish I had a wider & faster lens, or that there was more interesting scenes in the foreground, or that it wasn’t so cold, or cloudy (okay, that last one might be a little more legitimate)… One of the few times I did get out this year was during a meteor shower and once again, I was glad I went out. After no success capturing much in the way of meteors, I thought I’d try getting a couple images of a portion of the Milky Way over some of the trees that were getting a bit of light from the partial moon (I don’t remember the phase, but know it was not a full moon). As luck would have it, not only did I get the shot I wanted, it included two meteors streaking side by side, just over the trees.
Historic Aircraft Flypast of BC Legislature
After a quarter century, last year was the first year I wasn’t in the military during Remembrance Day (Veteran’s Day in the US), however, I wasn’t able to attend a ceremony. This year I had the opportunity to attend the ceremony at the BC Legislature grounds, where there were huge crowds and it was hard to be in a good position to capture interesting photographs. When I saw the historic aircraft were doing a flypast of the Provincial Legislature building I quickly adjusted my position so that I would be able to capture this image of a plane on either side of the dome, with Captain Vancouver (the gold statue) standing above & between them.
Standing On Guard
This WW I soldier, stands on guard above the memorial with memorial plaques tributing the fallen Canadians of past conflicts. The Canadian flag above flaps rapidly in the wind and is well lit on a dark night. Beyond any artistic merit there may be in this image, it means more to me than all the rest.
I hope you enjoyed this years top ten and that you go to check out the other photographers lists on the JGM Galleries Blog when they are posted in January, 2019. Hope to see you all back here next year!
I have done very little night time photography, but hope to do more in the future. It will be fun to explore astrophotography and light painting and then post about it here for you to enjoy.
Night at the Sooke Marine Boardwalk
The Sooke Marine Boardwalk is a great place for a walk at any time. It stretches between the Rotary Pier, near the bottom of a long staircase from the south end of Murray Road, to the long winding pathway & up to Ed Macgreggor Park. During the day there are lots of people wandering about it and you’ll often see people crab fishing off the pier and boardwalk.
Ghostly Walkers on the Marine Boardwalk
There are always a few boats anchored in the harbour. Some of them seem to remain in place almost all the time, while others come and go.
A Sailboat in the Sooke Harbour
A clear night at this time of year made for almost ideal conditions to watch the sky for meteors and other celestial events.
Stars and Forest
The year has been going by quickly and soon it will be time to reflect upon the past and look toward the future. With that in mind, it won’t be long before I start work on my top ten image list of 2018 (which, as usual, will be published in January) as well as and exciting new project I will announce before the end of December.
After seeing some fantastic photos from other photographers this past year, my attention was brought to JMG Galleries “Blog Project: Your Best Photos From 2015” and I was inspired to go through my images from 2015 and put together my own top ten list. The ten photos I chose for this are some of my favourites and cover a variety of styles. I hope to take some even more creative and interesting photos over the course of 2016 and have an improved batch of top ten photos for next year.
One thing going through my photos from 2015 has done, is given me the opportunity to see the progress I have made and realize that what I once thought was really good, now I see there is room for improvement in. It should be a fun year. I hope you will have a chance to enjoy my posts.
Sunbeams Illuminate the Path on the Wild Pacific Trail, Ucluelet, BC
Early in the year, I took a trip to Tofino and slipped down to Ucluelet for the day, were I enjoyed a hike around the Wild Pacific Trail. I always find this part of Vancouver Island to be a very special place.
Empty Shell
On a hike in East Sooke Regional Park at low tide, I climbed up a small rocky island and found this egg shell. At first I wondered if a little bird had hatched, but I noticed it wasn’t in a nest and there seemed to be some dried yolk on the rock just in front of the egg shell, so I was left believing another creature had lunch.
Caught in Flight
Sometimes I like to go down to the waterfront in Sooke and just watch what is going on. This time there were quite a few birds around, including these ducks, skimming over the water on a quiet morning.
A New Low
Once upon a time… one of my favourite photography sites, Oopoomoo, had a project called the “Chain Mail Chicken“, where they had several rubber chickens that they sent to photographers all over the country, to photograph and tell a story about. I had been on the list to have one of the chickens visit me, but it flew the coop before it arrived and I never had the chance. Not satisfied with this outcome, I met Henrietta chicken, and helped her search for her missing relative. This was quite a fun challenge, and I enjoyed writing the story of Henrietta’s quest.
Mary Vine Falls
As you may have noticed, many of my photos are taken while I am on hikes, including this photo of Mary Vine Falls, near Sooke Potholes Provincial Park.
Where Be The Vikings?
On another trip down to the local waterfront, I saw this group of people rowing what reminded me of a Viking boat, across the calm waters of the harbour. I liked the look of it best with the selective colouring I used here.
Night Light(house)
This past summer I had the opportunity to stay after the park closed and take some photos of the park and Fisgard Lighthouse. There was just enough lighting from Victoria to illuminate the lighthouse and allow me to get the stars without too much movement.
Dancing Queen
The summer in Victoria brings with it many festivals and I had been at Busker Fest for this particular day. As I was walking between venues, I saw this young lady in her own world, dancing away with seemingly not a care in the world. It was almost as if she had planned the shot for me, as she was right in the centre of an ornate circle.
Hanging From A Thread
Whenever I travel, even for a short day trip to Vancouver, I try and make sure I have my camera with me. On this trip I had enough time to linger a little near Canada Place, where I saw this window washer seated on a tiny little platform, suspended by a couple simple ropes as he went about his day.
BC Legislature at Night
On a very rainy night in November, I thought it would be a good idea to take out my camera and get a picture of the BC Legislature building. I got soaked, but kept my camera dry enough to continue working.
As I said, there were a variety of styles and genres of photos here and I plan on continuing to explore my creative side, so I hope you enjoyed this review and will be checking back, soon!
Wild Drake Photography 