Wild Drake Photography

Tag: Sooke

  • Bike Ride To Leechtown

    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.

    Leech town Historical Sign
    This Sign Marks The Site Of The Old Gold Mining Town

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  • Neighbourhood Walk

    This weekend was pretty busy for me and I only got out for a short walk around the neighbourhood.  Still, I look my camera along and found a few things worth taking shots of.  I found the pattern of the siding on the new construction to form an interesting pattern.

    A building being framed and sided with the wood forming a angled pattern
    New Condos Under Construction

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  • A Walk On A Cloudy Evening

    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.

    the setting sunlight casts shadows and an orange glow over the waves

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  • A Walk in the Woods

    One of the great things about living on southern Vancouver Island is that there are so many fantastic places to go for a walk or hike and its easy to branch off and see something different from the last visit to the area.  This most recent hike, being on Easter Sunday, there were many people out enjoying a sunny day near the Sooke Potholes.  Instead of going to the Sooke River, I branched off on the trail that runs next to Mary Vine Creek.

    This trail runs alongside Mary Vine Creek
    This trail runs alongside Mary Vine Creek

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  • Birds at Lannan Flats

    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.

    Boats in the Sooke Basin

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  • Phogtography?

    Okay, I may have made up a word (or maybe not), but I think that Phogtography suits what I did today.  I went out in the fog to take photographs.  Not content to just stay indoors on a misty, foggy Saturday afternoon, I decided to make the most of it and get out with my camera.  Foggy Bay

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  • 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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  • Time Changes Everything

    One thing is certain… no matter what else is happening, time goes on.  And with it, things change.  Some so slowly it’s almost imperceptible, while other things so quickly it seems if you blink you might miss them.  Somewhere between the extremes is the changes that take place in autumn.  Slowly the leaves start to change colour, at least on certain types of trees and other plants.  Then they begin to fall cover the ground like a colourful carpet.  Around here the rain starts to become more frequent and the rivers and creeks start to flow more swiftly.  In some cases they go from being almost totally dry stream beds to rushing flows of water.

    Ayum Creek is little more than a dry stream bed dotted with a few puddles in Late September
    Ayum Creek is little more than a dry stream bed dotted with a few puddles in Late September

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