Wild Drake Photography

Tag: sky

  • Top Ten (favourite) Photos of 2022

    Top Ten (favourite) Photos of 2022

    Well another year has come to an end and once again I have put together a collection of the top ten favourite photos I have made during that time. As always. it is not necessarily the technical ‘best’ photos of the year, but the ones that are special to me for one reason or another. Once you have had a chance to review them, I invite your comments or questions and would be interested in knowing which one(s) you liked best, and why. Please note, that these are not in order of preference. Without further ado, here they are:

    There you have it. I’m sure you wonder why I didn’t provide an explanation of my photos this year. That’s because I’m making some changes and trying something different. If you check out my YouTube video, you can hear more about the images and my thoughts.

    From the images above, you can see that 40% are black and white, 5 involve water, there’s an abstract one, one animal and one night shot. As for the cameras I used, they were the iPhone 13 Pro, FujiFilm GFX100S, the Canon R5 and the Canon 6D Mark II, with a variety of lenses.

    As I was mentioning, there are more changes coming, and I expect 2023 to be a big year in photography for me. I’ll let you know more about those things soon. I hope everyone has a very happy, healthy 2023!

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  • Hiking, Photography and Creating on YouTube

    Hiking, Photography and Creating on YouTube

    As I recently mentioned, I have started to create videos on YouTube, following along on when I go out photographing on my hikes around (mostly) local areas. With all the time I have spent on creating videos, I have had less to spend on the blog, so I thought I’d give a little recap of some of the recent hikes I’ve been on. Each of the locations mentioned has a hyperlink to the video, and it would be great if you could view some (or all) of them, like those you enjoy, and leave a comment or two on YouTube to let me know that you thought.

    My new hiking / photography companion, Cosmo

    In my first video, I visited Sheringham Point Lighthouse, at Shirley, BC and I brought my new hiking buddy, Cosmo. He’s since made appearances in several other videos.

    lighthouse at Shirley BC with blue sky
    A beautiful day at Sheringham Point Lighthouse

    Next, I took a quick, exploratory trip up to Mount Washington, to see some snow. My other frequent travelling companion, Henrietta (who you’ve met before) was introduced in this video. I had never been there before and I know I will be returning at some point in the future.

    Fresh snowfall on Mount Washington

    I then went to Mary Vine Falls, which is in Sooke Potholes Regional Park, and an easy hike from the trailhead. As of this time, it is the most watched and liked video I have published.

    January brings lots of volume to Mary Vine Falls

    A trip up to Tofino and Uclulet followed, and I visited Amphitrite Lighthouse.

    The light shines brightly at the Amphitrite Lighthouse

    On the same trip, I stayed at my favourite resort on the beach just outside the town of Tofino. I hiked around the trails at Cox Bay at that time.

    Storm watching is always enjoyable at Cox Bay

    For my most recent video, I travelled just past Port Renfrew, and visited Fairy Lake, where there is a unique little tree growing from a mostly submerged stump in the middle of the lake.

    The Fairy Lake tree is probably the most photographed tree in the region

    Most of my excursions are local and not planned long ahead, however I do have two more significant photography trips planned for later this year. One just a little further than I’ve been before on Vancouver Island, and another outside British Columbia, so keep an eye out for my upcoming posts and videos.

    As far as my YouTube channel goes, before I started it, I thought I’d start slow, and do one video a month. As soon as I began, I realized that would be too infrequent and I wanted to get some content out there before slowing the pace a bit, so I have been publishing a new video every Sunday morning. Very soon, I will be settling in to two videos a month, coming out on the First and Third Sunday’s of each month. This should allow enough time to get new, interesting content and process it, but hopefully not too infrequent to grow my followers. Thanks for checking out this post, and I hope you were able to watch some videos as well. 🙂

  • A Vancouver Photowalk

    For some time now I have been getting out with my camera less than I would like, so when I saw that there was a “Valerie Jardin’s Hit The Streets Photowalk” taking place just across the Salish Sea, in Vancouver, I thought it would be a great photographic opportunity and a chance to meet some other photographers.  The photowalk lasted about two hours and went from Granville Plaza, near the waterfront, around the Vancouver Art Gallery, past the Vancouver Public Library (VPL), Central Branch, and back to Granville Plaza.

    Canada Place, Seabus terminal, mountains, trains, partly cloudy
    A Bit of Everything

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  • No More Snow

    After more snow than we are used to around here (that would be pretty much anything more than a trace that disappears the same day), we are back to ☀️ sun and rain ☔️ showers.  I had the chance for a quick walk around town and saw the birds hanging out together.

    A flock of pigeons on power lines
    Birds on a Wire

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  • More Phogtography

    I enjoy getting out with my camera pretty much any chance I get, but foggy days are special, because they can transform the ‘ordinary’ scenery to something very different.  Today was one of those days, so I decided to go to the boardwalk in Sooke to check out what was in store for me this time.

    a bird rests on the boardwalk on a foggy day
    Thick fog on the water

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  • Exciting Changes

    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.

    bald eagle in the blue sky
    Time to Soar

  • December . . .

    Once again it has been far too long between posts and there have been fewer opportunities to get out and take some photos.  Somehow it always seems like there is less time in December than any other month.  Life gets hectic with shopping, holiday events to go to, family gatherings and there’s always something unexpected coming up.  Even the days are at their shortest… although that can sometimes be to the benefit of the photographer who likes to sleep in.  That is when the sunrise and sunset are at decent hours, making it much more convenient to get out with a camera and just enjoy the world around you.

    Sunrise Flock
    A December Sunrise.

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  • Lac Assal, D’jbouti, Africa

    The salt can be seen on the shore at Lac Assal. It's solid and sharp enough to cut yourself on.
    The salt can be seen on the shore at Lac Assal. It’s solid and sharp enough to cut yourself on.
    Lac Assal is a salt lake and the lowest point in Africa
    Lac Assal is a salt lake and the lowest point in Africa