Swiftsure 2011

The latter part of May is when Victoria starts to wake up from winter. After Victoria Day (May 24) weekend, the following weekend sees Victoria hosting the Swiftsure International Yacht Race. Here we see some of the competitors leaving the Inner Harbour for the start of the race last Saturday morning.

Gorge Waterway

One of the main roadways in Esquimalt is Tillicum Road, which includes Tillicum Bridge. It crosses the Gorge Waterway and I have often wanted to stop and take pictures but am usually in too much of a rush. However, tonight I made a special trip to do this and while my timing was somewhat off due to the setting sun, I think it shows off Esquimalt-Gorge Park (Formerly Gorge-Kinsmen Park) quite nicely. For a view of the bridge this was taken from, click here. - Fern

Strait of Juan de Fuca

Growing up in Victoria and always living a few blocks from the water, I have an affinity to the ocean and it's ever changing moods. -Fern

"Somewhere Saturday" - Seattle, USA

I've visited or lived in some of the world's most beautiful cities but one of the nicest and most interesting is relatively close to Victoria. I am speaking of Seattle in the State of Washington, USA. As is so often the case with places that are nearby I had never spent any time in Seattle until recently, although I had passed through it many times on my way to other places. Today's photos are of the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum building designed by famed architect, Frank O. Gehry. It's only one of the many interesting things to see in Seattle. There are four Seattle Daily Photo Blogs - one two three and four. They're all worth visiting but I recommend especially the first of these not only for the quality of the photos but since I have had the pleasure of meeting the photographer, Kim, several times, both here and in Seattle. It's a wonderful city.Above, looking up inside the entrance to the Science Fiction Museum one can see the monorail whizzing past.

Morning Dew 2

Early this month I posted a photo of morning dew. I didn't mention in the post that it was taken as an experiment in that I used a telephoto lens. It worked well to give the effect I wanted though it is not what a telephoto is generally used for. Today's dew photo is another experiment that used a unique feature of the Sony a55 DSLR Camera - one of Sony's newer models - and a legacy lens - a Takumar SMC 55mm 1.8 lens with an extension tube. Unlike most macros the camera was not mounted on a tripod. This is a handheld photo. Usually the amount of blur due to shakiness would be more noticeable but the Multi Frame Noise Reduction feature of the Sony A55 was used here. The photo was shot using ISO 3200, a setting that would normally produce considerable "noise". However, the Sony A55 enables one to set a high ISO (up to 12,800). With a single press of the shutter release it rapidly takes five exposures and then merges them to reduce the noise. This enables one to shoot relatively fast so that reasonably sharp hand held macros are more possible. The photo above was shot at 1/200 of a second with the lens stopped down to f11. If you look carefully you can see the photographer's head (baseball cap) and shoulders silhouetted in the dewdrop and some clouds in the sky above his head.

Salsify (Tragopogon porrifolius)

Salsify or Oyster Plant (Tragopogon porrifolius) is an invasive species that was imported from Eurasia and Africa to North America because of its edible roots. Though not much eaten nowadays its purple blooms continue to decorate roadsides and other waste places. Apparently salsify roots have a flavor similar to oysters, hence its other common name, Oyster Plant. Also common in our area is the yellow variety, Tragopogon dubius.

Victoria Day Parade

Victoria Day is a national holiday in Canada but is an especially big holiday here in the city named for the English queen whose birthday is being celebrated on that day. The parade is a long tradition and it never fails to delight. As usual, there were lots of marching bands but I thought the tyranosaurus (left) was a nice feature. As for the 12 year old on the right, getting to ride a growling dirt bike in an outfit like that is pretty awesome, but doing wheelies down Douglas Street in front of an admiring crowd - well, I hope he went home happy - it's not gonna get much better than this.