Ode to Andy Goldsworthy

This is a fine example of site specific art created by my husband on a trip to Dallas Road for a picnic supper. It was inspired by one of our favorite artists, Andy Goldsworthy. - Fern

Polite Society

This sign is posted along the pathway at Dallas Road. I just love the polite tone of it. Whomever composed it was brought up right, their mother should be proud! - Fern

Sunny Day

Today the clouds blew away and we had a bright and balmy afternoon so I went along to my favorite spot on Dallas Road and photographed the scene above (again! - you can see a November shot of the same place HERE.)

Holland Point November

In case you're wondering if you've seen this before, you have. Several times. It's my favorite spot to photograph. It's Holland Point on Dallas Road and I love the way it changes with the seasons and weather.

May

August

September

One of the Joys of Retirement...

...is that one no longer feels compelled even to think about engaging in such behavior. However, despite the bitterly cold wind and icy waters near Clover Point, this fellow seems to be enjoying himself, or at least surviving. I braved the elements long enough to snap this photo. Then, feeling sympathetic hypothermia, I retired quickly to the nearest Starbucks for a hot beverage treatment.

Dallas Road November

While autumn definitely brings some brownish hues to the shoreline, things are still pretty green in this photo taken this afternoon. It looks warm and lots of people were out enjoying the sunshine and dramatic cloudscapes, but the wind was cold.

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Awards Part 2

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The Kreativ Blogging Award (see yesterday's post below) requires me to list "six things that make me happy." In my contrary fashion I instead am going to list 5 reasons why the City Daily Photo Blog World makes me happy.

• Nice Talk
  In an internet that is constantly cruised by trolls and foul-mouthed cruelies, somehow the City Daily Photo Blog world remains a network marked by truly civil discourse. Its members one and all seem to work consciously at keeping it nice, friendly, and supportive, both in the text of their posts and in their comments when visiting one another's sites. This is quite remarkable: an online community of people from all over the planet, representing many different cultures, political persuasions and religions somehow managing consistently to be nice to one another. The City Daily Photo Blog world is a shining example of Global Village consciousness being realized on a day to day basis.


• Entertaining
  The photographs that people post are often beautiful and always interesting.The accompanying text is generally informative, usually good-natured and often witty or downright funny. These City Daily Photo Blogs are quite addictive. I'd rather browse them for an hour than watch anything on TV.


• Photojournalism
  The mix of a photograph and some text is just right for me, both as an online browser and as a blogger. A photograph may be worth a thousand words but a photograph and a hundred words is probably equivalent to about three photos or three thousand words. That metaphor's a bit overextended but you get the idea. That complementary mix of text and graphic information is what made magazines so popular and it works in the blog world too.


• Discipline and Freedom
  I like the discipline. To post a photo and say something about it every day is not as easy as one initially considers it to be. Yet the supportive, interested atmosphere of the City Daily Photo Blog world makes it a pleasant task to work on improving one's communication skills every day. And while there is that discipline, there is also the freedom to post pretty much anything one wants.


• Learning
  I learn a lot. Particularly I learn that the world is modernizing rapidly. When I was growing up we thought North America and Europe to be the most technologically advanced societies on earth, the only really modern cultures. This mindset continues for many, as if we constantly move into the future while the rest of the world slumbers in their grass shack colonial past. It's the same kind of jolt I got when I travelled to South Korea a few years ago, expecting to find a somewhat backward Asian country yearning to be modernized. Instead I found a culture more plugged in and online than my own Canadian culture. Thus, it is salutary to see the fantastic malls and skyscrapers of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Tokyo and to learn that the people there are meeting the same types of challenges and problems as I am and share many of the same joys and sorrows.

Well, that's more than enough for today. More, tomorrow! In the meantime, I'm interested to hear what you have to say about this.

Listen...

gulls cry
slow waves
slap and sigh

Holland Point September

I spent a delightful day at a community corn roast here in my neighborhood of Vic West and took a lot of photos. As soon as I decide which ones I want to use I'll post them. In the meantime, here's a shot I took this evening of my favorite bit of coastline, Holland Point. I earlier posted a photo of it taken in August from just about the same spot and one taken in May from further back. If I didn't have photographic proof I would hardly believe that the landscape could change so dramatically.

Why I Love Ogden Point Breakwater

All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players:They have their exits and their entrances;And one man in his time plays many parts....

Stairway

There are thistles at the bottom......but it's all blue sky above.

Dallas Road August

Here we are on Dallas Road again, re-visiting a small headland I photograph almost obsessively though I've only posted on it once before. Anyway, this view is taken with a polarizing filter attached to the lens and it has a wonderful effect on the water and sky - deepening the colors of both so they look more like what is seen with the naked eye. The water here is often this color but this warm-looking aquamarine color is deceptive. The water is icy.

Prevailing Wind

Much of the vegetation that lines Dallas Road has been sculpted by the wind. This Horse Chestnut tree is a favourite of mine.

Landscapes and Figures

In Africa people love to have photo albums and they will bring them out and show them to you when you visit. Almost invariably, all the pictures are of people. No scenery, except perhaps as a backdrop to people. When I showed my pictures to people I found they flipped through any scenery/sunset/animal/flower shots until they found shots with people in them. I have grown to be a little like this myself. I always want to have some people in my landscapes. The couple above is strolling along Dallas Road where it borders Beacon Hill Park.

Dallas Road

Dallas Road follows the oceanfront around most of Victoria. It is much enjoyed by joggers, walkers, cyclists and, because of the nearly constant ocean breezes, kite flyers and riders. I photograph some part of it several times each week since the ever-varying combinations of sky, cloud and water colors make for a different photo every time.

Retirement

A very hot afternoon (at 7 pm just now it is still 26 degrees C - about 80 degrees F) and I took a long bike ride along Dallas Road, which follows the coastline all around Victoria. The ocean is just behind and below the trees in the background. This peaceful scene, on Dallas Road a few minutes from downtown, suggests all that is best about retirement.