Fresh off a photography course designed to help develop / discover one’s creative side, I went on a hike with my camera and from a distance, and I spotted an interesting looking feature on an Arbutus tree. After a closer examination, I decided upon the look I wanted and set about the process of making the image. I knew some people would find it interesting and others would not care for it.
The blog has been silent for a little longer than I would like, but that’s because there have been many changes going on lately. Many, but not all, have little to do with this blog. I have decided; however, to try and raise the bar on the blog, so, over then next while there will be some visible changes around here. The first of those is the URL (or website address) has been shortened, by removing “wordpress” from it (although the old URL will continue to redirect to the new one). The site is now officially wilddrakephotography.com
Look for more changes soon.
Once again the weather was beautiful and it made for a perfect day to head to downtown Victoria for a walk through the street marked set up for Car Free Day. Several blocks of Douglas Street were closed off to traffic and various booths, stages and other things were set up along it. It attracted about 20,000 people and was well planned.
This year is the 7th annual Sooke Secret Garden Tour, and the first time I took the opportunity to check it out. Not only does the $20 tour fee allow entry to all the different sites, the profit goes towards supporting the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra. The weather was spectacular and there were a steady stream of people visiting each of the gardens.
For more than a month I’ve been telling myself that I should get my bike out and go for a ride. I only picked it up last year, after not having a bicycle for more than a decade. Today I decided I would actually take it out on a ride and I would take my camera with me to hopefully get some interesting photos. In order to do this, I drove up to the top parking area at Sooke Potholes Regional Park and then got on my bike to travel along the Galloping Goose Regional Trail. My destination was a little over 7 km away and was the old site of Leechtown, a one time gold mining town. Now there is little left, except for some rusting machinery scattered around the bushes and a marker indicating where the site was. Nonetheless, I wanted to see it for myself and with my camera in my backpack (which seemed to weigh about 10 kg), I set off on my bike for the first time in about 8 months.
I recently wanted to go for a walk near the water to take some sunset photos, but it was overcast and not the best day to do this. As the location I had planned was a little farther away than I wanted to go that evening, I decided to stick close to home and am pleased that I did. I was able to catch a little of the setting light on the small waves before I moved closer to the water for some bird photos.
Just over a five minute drive from home, I “discovered” a great new location for photography. Maybe not so much discovered it as realized what has been right under my nose for ages. The Sooke Region Historical Society describes the Lannan Flats area on a local historical marker as such: “The Lannan family farmed hundreds of acres along the shores of Sooke basin in the early 1900’s. In summer community picnics and horse racing took place on these salt flats. Earlier, in 1864, Ash’s Landing, east of Lannan Creek, was the starting point of the government trail leading to the Leech River gold rush site”. It’s a little early for summer picnics and I don’t think the area has seen horse racing in decades, but it is still a great spot to get down to the relatively sheltered waters in the Sooke basin and take some photos.
When I know I’m going to have some idle time I like to bring my camera with me. Such was the case today, as I had my car in for servicing and knew I’d have several hours to spend around downtown Victoria. There are so many things to see and photograph around the area it’s easy to spend hours wandering around taking photos.
Wild Drake Photography 