HDR Photography
It’s sort of hard for me to believe upon revisiting this shot that it was taken on a college campus, or that beyond this stand of trees is a relatively well traveled street. This is just one of many things that struck me as awesome about UBC’s campus.
To finish off my week of playing car photographer, I present a shot of a very pretty Ferrari 328 GTS which is often seen parked around campus. Here I was really playing with the depth of field, and I may have gone a little overboard. Still, I like the effect, it makes the car look fast, even when its parked.
This shot was just taken to test out a new lens and to play with the depth of field, but I like it so much I’m posting it here. There’s something about that lime green that is just asking to be photographed. This is a car that would stand out pretty much no matter where it was parked.
Another shot of the previously captured Nitobe Memorial Garden (here, here, and here), you can see the previously featured 77 Log Bridge but here you can see more of the island that is at the center of the pond central to the entire garden. The water is almost improbably still here, considering its proximity to a large university campus. The contrast of light and dark (and hot and cool, though this is harder to convey in a picture) was what I found appealing about this vantage to begin with, and the trees offered a nice frame for the sun drenched water.
Everything about BC is gorgeous in early August, including the swanky condos near UBC’s campus. Walking through this development I wondered how far I’d strayed from campus, but this is basically directly adjacent.
If you give people a maleable surface and some privacy they will almost undoubtedly deface it. This is certainly true on this soft, well-worn sea cliff on California’s coast. It was difficult to make out much of the writing but it is evident that someone sure wanted to make sure that heart would endure. Almost makes one wonder if the original artist periodically comes back to touch up and admire their handiwork or if the heart just serves as a painful reminder any more.
The relative safety of the fire trails above Berkeley you can survey most of the rest of the bay, in this case I’ve got a nice vista of downtown Oakland which makes it seem much more reputable (but maybe less charming) than it is when you actually walk into downtown proper. When you’re down in the thick of it all you often forget how green the bay area actually is, something you are reminded of from the hills.
The Nitobe Memorial garden (previously featured here) is full of water features, each with their associated symbolism. Featured here is one of several water falls. On this particular occasion I was shooting free hand and so the washed out highlights are somewhat unavoidable here, but there is something I find appealing about the effect created by the falling water and its spray in and about the rocks at the foot of the falls contrasted with the pool only a little further on.
Shorewood beach at low tide is a completely different place from Shorewood beach at high tide, a place filled with tranquil tidal pools and beach combers. At low tide there are sandy beaches whereas at high tide the beaches are rocky. Pictured is the row of houses which is adjacent to Shorewood beach as shot from about halfway out to the low tide point.
My parents were recently doing some much needed repair work to one of the walls of their basement during which I was able to snag this shot of the wall in the midst of the repair work. The struts were just there to keep the rest of the house from sagging while the wall from being put in but it is slightly alarming at first glance how much those struts are flexing (not entirely the result of lens distortion!).
If you have never visited the Nitobe Memorial Garden on UBC’s campus you are really missing out. It is an authentic Japanese garden which is painstakingly maintained. Strolling through you get the feeling that not a single rock is out of place, and that ever leaf is placed precisely where it ought to be. It’s really the kind of place you could spend an entire afternoon walking through and enjoying.
Pictured here is one of the bridges, the so-called 77 Log Bridge. I fee like this shot really captures the tranquility of the garden, reflected in the stillness of the water.
It may be hard to imagine that a kid that grew up in and around Seattle then went to school in Bellingham never managed to make it up to visit Vancouver, BC but somehow this describes me. Not that I never made it to Canada, I visited Victoria, BC plenty of times in high school. Now having visited I’d estimate I missed out on a lot by not visiting sooner. In the Vancouver environs is the beautiful campus of the University of British Columbia which is really something. I’d say that UBC’s campus is, in many respects, precisely what a campus should be. Here’s a college campus which is incredibly close to major metropolitan area but which has somehow managed to completely surround itself with nature.
Pictured here is a shot in the late afternoon of one of the myriad of green spaces on campus, a rose garden perched atop a parking garage. What better way is there to hide an ugly, but necessary, facility than to cover it with something people want to look at? The view of the water and mountains beyond are just bonuses as far as I’m concerned.
Another shot from Shorewood’s community beach, this time looking to the south at (from right to left) Three Tree Point, Seahurst park, and the waterfront houses on Standring Lane. The water was exceptionally calm on this summer evening and the gentle lapping and soft lighting were extraordinarily relaxing. At low tide you can practically walk straight across to Seahurst beach, but alas this was taken at an extremely high tide.
As much as I like the California ocean beaches for being the epitome of ocean beaches, I think my favorite beaches are the ones around Puget Sound. They may not be particularly sandy except at low tide, and the water may be too cold to really enjoy even during the hottest part of summer but Puget Sound is always so calm and subdued. It’s a gentle lapping of waves rather than a roar of the surf.
One of things I remember most about growing up where I did was the view of the moon’s light reflecting off of Puget Sound. On particularly calm and clear nights the moon’s reflection will be particularly clear, almost like there are two moons. It was a little cloudy on this particular night but it was still a spectacular sight; it almost looks like a painting.
Decaseconds 