Posts Tagged canada
May 5, 2010 – 7th Heaven
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on May 5, 2010
7th Heaven, Blackcomb Mountain, Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=353
Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! I realized as I was tying that last sentence that today would have been a perfect day to post a picture from Mexico. I don’t have one handy though, and I’m not even entirely sure I have one at all. I’ve been there a couple times, but I’m not sure I got anything picture-of-the-day worthy while I was there. Sad. Instead, here’s a shot from our other North American pals, Canada.
This was shot in the 7th Heaven area of Blackcomb Mountain, at Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort. Those peaks in the distance are all part of Garibaldi Provincial Park, and that’s all I can think of to say about this picture.
In other news, one of my friends asked me yesterday for some camera advice, which isn’t that uncommon of an occurrence these days. After spending a decent amount of time writing up a fairly detailed response, which contained a lot of advice I’ve rehashed several times in the past, I realized that I might as well save that work for a larger audience. Thus, I posted it here on my blog. You can also find it by clicking “Camera advice?” up above. Note that this is in addition to the My Equipment page, which contains exactly what it sounds like it would. Note that this particular camera advice was somewhat tailored for somebody in my friend’s situation, which is that she was confident that she wanted to go the digital SLR route, but was wondering what to do about which one to pick, and what lenses to start off with. If you’re just in the market for a decent point and shoot, or a full-featured camera that’s not quite as much of a commitment as an SLR, obviously that advice won’t be really applicable. But, feel free to take a read, and set me straight if required.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/800s, f/11.0.
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March 24, 2010 – Hiking on Whistler Mountain
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day on March 24, 2010
Half Note Trail, Whistler Mountain
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1101
Here it is, folks. The last image you’ll be seeing from me for a couple weeks. I know, I know, you thought this day would never come. For awhile, it sure seemed like it wouldn’t. But, time kept rolling on, as time does, and now it’s time for me to get the heck outta town. I would promise that I’d miss you all, but I probably won’t. I’ll be too distracted by fun stuff.
This picture was taken along the Half Note trail on Whistler Mountain. I’ve posted some other pics (well, at least one) from this same trail before. Whistler is a great place to go in the summer as well as the winter, because they have those magical lifts that take you way up into the high country, without you having to do any of the work. Ah, it’s a beautiful thing. That’s why I love Europe, because those kind of things are all OVER the place. Here in the northwest, they’re few and far between, and the mountains are steep, and the roads all follow the rivers way down in the valley, so if you want to get up to the pretty stuff, you have to work your ass off. Unless you ride up the gondola (and the Peak Chair) to the top of Whistler. Then it’s almost free! (Well, not monetarily, but whatever.)
This picture was taken with my super wide angle lens (Tokina 11-16), which I only acquired at the end of last summer. (Thus, it hasn’t been used too much.) It should get plenty of use this summer. Although, it might not, because I *also* got my hands on the Tamron 17-50, which is itself much more wide-angle than any lens I was using before (previously 28 was as wide as I could get). The difference between 17 and 11-16 is a lot less than the difference between 28 and 11-16, so I may find myself able to get most of the wide-angle shots I want with the other one, we’ll see. Or, more likely, *I* will see, and you will just continue to see random pretty pictures. That works too.
Have a great couple of weeks!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 lens. 1/250s, f/11.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 11mm.
Popularity: 38%
March 15, 2010 – Shannon Creek
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Picture of the Day on March 15, 2010
Shannon Creek
Monday, March 15, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1246
So I made it up to Vancouver over the weekend, and I checked out some Paralympic sledge hockey. Amazing stuff. I posted a quick video here (Make sure you watch it in 720p):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEDMx0U7s5s
That clip contains the game tying goal, so make sure you make it to the end. We ended up seeing Italy vs Norway. Italy took a 1-0 lead in the first period, but then in the third period Norway tied it up, and then scored the game winner with only 1 minute left in the game. Exciting stuff, for sure. I was surprised at how physical the game was, they slammed into each other just as much as in normal hockey. Very intense.
I realize that I’m spending all this time talking about that video rather than about the picture I posted. Whatever. It’s just a picture of Shannon Creek, we’ve all seen this stuff before. So, back to the Paralympic hockey thing. When I was up at the regular Olympic hockey game several weeks earlier, I sat right behind several professional photographers who were shooting for newspapers and magazines. Most of them had this one particular Canon lens, a 70-200. (Although two of them had the Image Stabilized version.) So I decided to stop by Glazer’s on Saturday morning and rent it for myself. And HOLY CRAP it’s a nice lens. Crystal clear, razor sharp, focuses like a dream. LOVED it. Also, I remembered that my camera (The Rebel T1i) takes HD video, so I figured this would be a good time to see how it did. I was really happy with the results. That’s using the default resolution settings for the video, it actually has one higher setting too (which presumably is 1080p? I’m not sure, I don’t know the official pixel counts for 1080 vs 720. All I know is I uploaded that one video to YouTube and it now has the option to view in 720p.) So, if you had any question about the T1i’s video capability, there you go. That’s raw, right off the camera. That should also answer any questions about my videography abilities. They suck, clearly. But that’s not what we’re here for. 
Yup, Shannon Creek. Move along now.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300 mm VC lens. 1/40s, f/9.0, ISO 200. Focal length: 28mm.
Popularity: 23%
February 26, 2010 – Cheakamus Lake
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day on February 26, 2010
Cheakamus Lake
Friday, February 26, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1099
So I mentioned yesterday how I already had today’s picture picked out. That was true, but this isn’t it. I realize earlier that, while I absolutely LOVE that picture, the version I had online was a little bit over-sharpened. (This one is too, but it’s not quite as drastic.) So I need to revisit it, and maybe I’ll use that one in a week or two. Instead, you get this one, which was actually taken on the same day as that other one. Blah blah blah, I realize that it’s really all the same to you guys, as long as I post a picture at all. But this way I’m keeping it straight in my own head.
This is the view over Cheakamus Lake from the backside of Whistler Mountain. You can’t ski to where I was standing when I took it (well, you CAN, but it’s out of bounds, so it would require hiking all the way back up to where you started), but you can hike there. This was along the High Note trail on Whistler mountain. (Which makes a big loop, although you can shorten the loop to something easy to do in 2-3 hours by taking the Half Note trail which branched off about a quarter mile from where this was taken.) This spot is a little ways below the top of the Symphony Express, if that helps you place it at all. Obviously, it’s a pretty nice view from up there.
This trip took place very soon after I picked up my awesome super-wide-angle lens this summer, the Tokina 11-16. Since I wasn’t very happy with my other lens at the time (the super-zoom Tokina 28-300), I ended up putting the wide angle on the camera for the entire hike. Which was kind of an interesting experience. The pictures you can get with a super wide angle are way different from any other kind of lens, so it really makes you think differently about framing your shots. But it was definitely fun. Although now that I’ve gone to the Tokina 17-50 as my workhorse lens, I haven’t found myself reaching for the wide angle as often. (When your workhorse lens starts at 28, that leaves a LOT of ground on the wide-angle side. At 17? Not so much.) But that’s okay, it’s still there if I need it.
Hahahahaha, I just took a look at the EXIF data on the image, and it turns out that everything I wrote in the last paragraph is basically totally wrong. Whoops. Turns out this was NOT taken with the Tokina, in fact it was taken with my Tamron 28-75, which means I had ALREADY swapped out my 28-300. (And then I eventually traded the 28-75 for the 17-50, which is basically the exact same lens except that it’s more wide-angle). And, that’s the lens I used for this picture, which means that what I said about not changing my lens at all during the hike was also a complete lie. Ha!
This brings to a close Whistler/Vancouver week on the Picture of the Day, thanks for reading! Come back next week for the rest of the world.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-75 mm f/2.8 lens. 1/250s, f/10.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 28mm.
Popularity: 29%
February 25, 2010 – Shannon Creek
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Picture of the Day on February 25, 2010
Shannon Creek
Thursday, February 25, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1249
As promised, here’s this week’s shot of Shannon Creek. See? I always follow through with my promises, even if it’s for something that’s not particularly interesting or even desirable. Well, most of the time. Some of the time, at least. Whatever. This is another result of one day a couple summers ago on the way up to Whistler for the weekend. We stopped at Shannon Falls park, and I spent a fair bit of time playing around in the rocks in the creek below. I got a huge number of decent shots (although very few if any great ones), so they make great Picture of the Day filler. Like this one!
To remind everyone: this week is Vancouver/Whistler week on Picture of the Day. Loosely using the Olympics as inspiration, I’m using only pictures from around Vancouver and Whistler. Although, since I have already picked out the picture for tomorrow, I can say with authority now that my set of Whistler and Vancouver pictures will include zero pictures from in or around Vancouver. It will be 3 from on Whistler mountain, 1 from Blackcomb, and this one, from just outside Squamish (which, to be fair, is probably closer to Vancouver than to Whistler.. but it still doesn’t count.)
To really get the anticipation going for next week, I’ll go ahead and say now that I’ve picked another theme: I’m going to post only pictures that are NOT from Whistler or Vancouver. Ohh man it’s gonna be CRAZY. I can’t wait!
Notes: Camera: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300 mm VC lens. 1/40s, f/9.0, ISO 200. Focal length: 154mm.
Popularity: 17%
February 24, 2010 – Changing Leaves
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Fall Color, Macro, Picture of the Day on February 24, 2010
Changing leaves
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1088
Rather than suffocate all of you with a neverending set of mountain vistas from the twin peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb, I figured I should mix in some other stuff too. Like this one. This could have been taken anywhere, really. But it wasn’t, it was taken a little ways up the Singing Pass trail, which starts up the hill from right near the Whistler gondola. I really really wish I had gotten the bottom of the leaf in focus too, but I didn’t. It’s a textbook example of one of the really annoying things that can happen with digital. The shot looked great on the camera’s little screen, so I moved on, confident that I got the image I wanted. It wasn’t until much later (when I got home) that I realized my mistake. I was working with a pretty small depth of field as you can see, so what I *should* have done was gotten more square on that leaf in front, such that the whole surface would have been within range. Instead, I came in from a little bit above, so the bottom was just out of reach. (That, and the leaf was a bit curled in on itself.) Careless, careless, careless. Sigh.
Still a beautiful couple of leaves though, so it’s not a complete waste of time. Check back tomorrow, that’s going to be the day that I’m going to get the picture of Shannon Creek out of the way. (You didn’t think I’d go a whole week of PICTURES OF CANADA without tossing one of those in there, did you??)
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-75 mm lens. 1/125s, f/3.5, ISO 400. Focal length: 59mm.
Popularity: 43%
February 23, 2010 – Hiking on Blackcomb
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day on February 23, 2010
Hiking on Blackcomb Mountain
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1335
As I mentioned yesterday, this week I’m going to be posting only stuff from around Vancouver and Whistler. In honor of the 2010 Paralympic games. You heard me right, the Paralympics. Eff the regular Olympics, I’m doing this in honor of… the games that won’t start until March. But whatever, they will happen, and they are awesome, even though they don’t get the love and respect that the regular Olympics get. Or, maybe I’m doing it for ALL of the athletes who are only in it for the love, and not for the opportunity to put themselves in front of tv cameras so that they can build a public persona and score sponsorship deals. Or, perhaps the only reason is that I’m sitting on a lot of pictures from around the area and this way it makes it easier to choose which picture to use each day. Hmmm…. yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s the last one.
And, all that being said, I don’t actually have any pictures from around Vancouver. Mostly just Whistler. Actually, I think I have one or two, but they’re not online yet, and it’s even money on whether I’ll get around to digging them up before the end of the week. So, you get Whistler. And.. Blackcomb, like this one.
This is a picture that I took while hiking around the top of Blackcomb. They’ve always had the gondola on Whistler mountain open for hiking and mountain biking in the summer, but only last year did they actually start promoting hiking on Blackcomb. They did have one of the glaciers open for skiing though, but it was either not allowed or not encouraged or maybe just not publicized that you could go up there just to walk around. So this was the first time I ever actually got around to doing it. It’s a moderately less convenient experience than the Whistler option. On Whistler, one gondola ride and you’re up there. (Although you can also walk over to the base of the Peak chair and ride that up to the actual summit..) On Blackcomb, you have to start on the Wizard chair from the upper village, then you hop on the Solar Coaster. From there, you board A BUS that drives you over to the bottom of Seventh Heaven. You ride up that one too, and finally you’re at the top. Takes a good 45 minutes to get up there all in all. Then the skiing drops off the other side of the ridge from the Seventh Heaven chair. I heard they had recently designated a couple hiking trails up there too earlier in the summer, but I only had a little bit of time, so I just farted around the top of the lift for awhile. Definitely cool, but I think Whistler is better for hiking. If you’ve got enough time, definitely do both, but if you’ve got to choose, go with Whistler and hit up the Half Note trail.
That’s it for today! Have fun watching the games, just don’t buy anything that they’re selling.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300 mm VC lens. 1/160s, f/10.0, ISO 200. Focal length: 55mm.
Popularity: 23%
February 22, 2010 – Black Tusk from Whistler Mountain
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on February 22, 2010
Black Tusk from Whistler Mountain
Monday, February 22, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=869
Wow, Monday again. Not totally unexpected, but still. I decided that this week, I’m going to post only pictures from around Vancouver and Whistler in honor of the Olympics. This probably would have been more appropriate to do LAST week, but you know how it goes – with the time-delay broadcasting and everything, it took this long for the idea to reach the west coast.
Today, you’re looking at the million dollar view from the top of Whistler Mountain: the view out toward Black Tusk. (Yeah, that little cliff-thing poking up there on the left.) Given the predominant weather patterns we get here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s never a sure thing that you’ll be able to see it, but when you can it’s pretty cool. You can basically see it from anywhere along the top ridge (basically anywhere between the top of the Symphony Express and the Peak Chair), and I think this particular view was most of the way from the Peak Chair to the Saddle. (Blah blah blah, yeah, I realize you probably haven’t been there and thus these names are all meaningless. I’m totally just showing off how well I know the mountain at this point. Because I am awesome, obviously.)
Honestly, I’m fairly surprised that they placed the ski courses where they did. They put them all way down at the bottom of Whistler Mountain. But if you’ve been to Whistler more than once or twice, you know that the lower mountain sucks way more often than it’s good. I mean, you’re dealing with more than 5,000 feet of vertical here. The top of the mountain is nearly always fantastic, and the bottom of the mountain is nearly always crappy. So… why put the courses down where it’s crappy? Not only that, imagine how much more awesome the views would be as the cameras followed the racers down the hill if they had this kind of background instead of just grubby trees everywhere? I mean, sure, the visibility tends to be better down low (because when the fog rolls in, the upper mountain is worthless), but still. Hmm. Whatever, I’m sure they have their reasons. Grumble grumble grumble.
See you all tomorrow, right?
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (Point and shoot). 1/400s, f/11.0.
Popularity: 25%
February 10, 2010 – Shannon Creek
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Picture of the Day on February 10, 2010
Shannon Creek
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1229
Not too long ago, I posted another picture of Shannon Creek. This one came from the same day. That day, I spent awhile playing around among the rocks and the stream. I got quite a few pictures that were at least good enough to bring into Rate Dave’s Photos to see how they looked at this size. Not all of them are any good, but they’re at least all interesting in their own right. Also, as you can see here, I played around with making a lot of them black and white. If you’ve been reading for awhile, you know my thoughts on black and white (in the digital age, it’s kind of cheesy, it’s like a cheap parlour trick to add drama to a shot – or at least that’s how it feels when I try it..) But I figured it would be fun to try on these images.
The obvious difference between the black and white shots and the color shots is that it immediately changes the emphasis of the shot. Before, in the full-color shot, my eye was drawn to all the different shades of green and brown mixed in, both in the rocks and plants above the water, but those under the surface as well. Once you make it black and white, suddenly each rock changes from one unique shade of brown to a mashup of texture. Still unique, but for a different reason. The focus of the shot becomes how all the different textures (of the rocks and the water surface too) play together.
I gotta be honest though, I’m still a color-guy. I’m still just not feeling this black and white stuff. Probably because I’m not very good at it, but still.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300 mm VC lens. 1/125s, f/5.6, ISO 200. Focal length: 39mm.
Popularity: 15%
January 25, 2010 – Grass
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Picture of the Day on January 25, 2010
Grass
Monday, January 25, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1091
Another weekend, come and gone. Would have been nice if I had gotten out of bed to enjoy it. Oh well, too late for that now. Today’s picture takes us back to this fall, when I was up in Whistler for the weekend. The weather wasn’t what I’d call ideal, but of course complaining about it doesn’t help anyone. It still turned into a great weekend, because how could any weekend away from home not be great? This picture was a bit funny, because I just happened to turn around when I was walking the other way, and I thought it looked kind of cool. I didn’t actually think it would turn out though, or even if it did I figured it’d just be a throwaway. Heck, even on the camera screen I was kind of meh about it. But I liked it on the big screen. I mean, it’s not like my favorite picture ever or anything, but it’s good enough to look at. I think the contrast in the sky saves it.
That’s all the time I have for today, I’ll try to make tomorrow’s post more substantive, it’s been a while since I’ve really written anything meaty.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-75mm lens. 1/400s, f/16.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 40mm.
Popularity: 17%
January 11, 2010 – Shannon Creek
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, British Columbia, Picture of the Day on January 11, 2010
Shannon Creek, Squamish, BC
Monday, January 11, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1259
Hello everyone, hope you all had a great weekend. I spent a fair bit of time going through some older pictures that are on my home machine, in an effort to get them ready to be archived. Once they’re off of my actual hard drive, they’re much more of a pain in the butt to go through and such, so I’m trying to go through a bunch of pictures from hikes and stuff in the past couple years that I just haven’t had a chance to get to yet. This weekend I was actually only able to work on one particular day, back in July of 2008, when Julie and I drove up to Whistler for the weekend. We stopped at Shannon Falls, just outside of Squamish, and I spent a bunch of time walking around the creek down below taking pictures of the rocks and such.
I’m not sure why I hadn’t taken the time to go through them before, but there turned out to be quite a few that I liked quite a bit. The lighting was really nice, and it worked out really well with the rocks, which were all really pretty, rounded and colorful with lots of interesting detail. I even went against my normal routine and played around a bunch with black and white. Basically what I’m getting at is that “Shannon Creek” will soon become the new “Shi Shi Beach”, because I’ve got a big ole’ pile of these pictures now, so I’ll be doling them out periodically whenever I feel like it’s been long enough since I posted the last one. (And by the way, it’s pronounced “Shy Shy”, not “Shee Shee”.)
Despite the fact that I didn’t have a tripod with me, for many of these pictures I tried to use as long as a shutter speed as possible. (With running water, that’s how you get it to look smooth and soft – since the rocks and such don’t move, they still come out nice and sharp, but if you use a fast shutter speed, you’ll just catch the water in mid-splash.) I was using my Tamron 28-300 mm image stabilized lens (since relegated to the worthless junk pile as I’ve mentioned before), so I think I went as slow as 1/30th or 1/40th of a second for a couple of them (this one’s at 1/50th), which obviously isn’t long enough to REALLY smooth it out, but it’s slow enough for some interesting results.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Tamron 28-300 mm VC lens. 1/50s, f/11.0, ISO 400. Focal length: 33mm.
Popularity: 21%
December 11, 2009 – Glacier Express, Blackcomb
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on December 11, 2009
Glacier Express, Blackcomb Mountain
Friday, December 11, 2009
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=876
Hello again everyone, welcome to another Friday during ski season! To celebrate all of the upcoming turns this weekend, here’s a shot taken on the Glacier Express chair on Blackcomb Mountain. (Which is of course part of Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort, where the 2010 Olympics will be held.) I say that, but it’s not actually clear if I’ll be making it up to the hill or not this weekend. But a man can dream, a man can dream…
The day that this picture was taken was exceptional for a lot of reasons. It was taken over Thanksgiving weekend, and before we headed up there they hadn’t really gotten any snow at all, so all of the rooms were super cheap and there was nobody there. But once we got there it started Dumping. (With a capital D, did you notice?!) So the skiing was fantastic. Plus, while the weather on this particular day looked pretty crappy down in the village, once we got up top, as you can see, it was really beautiful. (Don’t believe me? Here’s another example.) That always brings a smile to my face. Know what else brings a smile to my face? The fact that all that great stuff happened on my birthday. Actually, that’s not the whole story. Birthdays don’t bring a smile to my face any more. This was in fact the last birthday that did so, because it was my 29th. Ah, those were the days.
Make sure you get outside and enjoy your weekend, it should be a great one! Even if you’re not a skier. What do you people do with your time between November and May??
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD700 IS (Point and shoot). 1/1000s, f/5.6.
Popularity: 15%