Search

Tag Archives: Vancouver

Categories blog

Photographing Vancouver – Electric Harbour Tours

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

This was a special day. As soon as I arrived in Vancouver I started posting pictures on my social media accounts.  These were picked up by the Meet in Vancouver convention bureau team. They messaged me as they found out that I was both a runner and a photographer. They delivered two wonderful gifts to my hotel. One was a special pack of natural products for the after run experience.  I also received a trip for two with Electric Harbour Tours around the bay.

High Rise Living
Reflections from the front of the boat

On the last day I took up the offer of the boat trip. Captain Spencer was my guide and we set off in our boat around the bay. During the trip, we saw the harbour seal who scavenges around the left overs in the harbour.  We got close up and personal with the harbour air floatplanes.  We also got views of derelict structures with wonderful barnacles growing on them.  There was lots of history about the bay and tales about the boats in the marina. Captain Spencer kept me amused with his stories. There were fantastic sea views and amazing skyscrapers to view from the relaxing voyage of the eclectic boat. It was a great finish to the conference.

The harbour seal
Up close with the float planes
Barnacles on a ladder
View from the front of the boat
Captain Spencer
Categories blog

Photographing Vancouver– Stanley Park

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

Stanley park is the centre of Vancouver. A large natural reserve near to the city and it has so much to see in it.  I did some running around on my first morning and used my iPhone to take pictures of the eastern tip of the park. The water is still and offers lovely reflections of the marina and the city. I got there by running down Robson street and used that as my starting off point into the park. 

View of the Marina
View of Vancouver from the Park
A lighthouse on the north perimeter

For the Summer solstice, I walked to the Eastern side of the park and captured the sun going down.  Crowds had gathered near to the English Bay Beach. The sunset was golden and a lovely end of the day

Summer Solstice

For my last day in Vancouver, I ran around the Eastern perimeter underneath the road bridge and then headed down through the interior of the park.  I stopped at Siwash Rock to take pictures as it has nice views of the western part of Vancouver. I kept running past the upper tip and then made my way home. I headed southwards through the park. I quickly found that you can easily loose your bearings in the park especially if you are tired with your running.  Once again I used my iPhone to take pictures on the run, and I was pleased that I came across the rose garden which is a peaceful place in the park with lots of colour. Then I found Robson street and it was back to the hotel. It was a long but rewarding run.

Siwash Rock
Siwash Rock
Categories blog

Photographing Vancouver– Around the Marina

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

The conference is intense but during the lunchtime breaks, I was able to take time out and stroll around the seafront.  Vancouver is a photogenic city and there is always something happening.  You can spend many an hour just watching the harbour float planes taking off and landing in front of the conference centre.  The marina has beautiful yachts and colourful house boats.  There are people just enjoying the outdoors, cycling and running around the Marina. The city does have its homeless problem but I did like the ingenuity of the person who hung his hammock on the house on stilts.  The aluminium house is known as the “crooked house on stilts”, or LightShed by Liz Magor. When I looked the next day the hammock was gone. All pictures by my Sony RX100v5 either on P or S setting.

Even though the view is breathtaking, it is time to take a stroll outside.
Float planes landing and taking off
A single figure goes forward into the land of high rise living.
An ingenious way to find a bed for the night.
Colourful House boats in the Marina
Space Venus by Salvador Dali

The last picture is of Space Venus by Salvador Dali. This picture was taken on the Friday. I learnt that the statue was vandalised and the golden egg taken on the Saturday night after we left to go back home. Details of this were reported in the local news.

Categories blog

Photographing Vancouver – Playing Tourist

by Damien Walmsley Posted on

Vancouver is a beautiful location for a conference, and it was my third visit to the city, previously visiting in 1999 and 2009. Therefore, as the year was 2019, I was due my usual visit 🙂  We had some down time prior to the start and my post doc, Marco and I wandered around Canada Place before heading off for the Capilano suspension bridge. 

Canada place has the iconic sails and every day there was a different cruise ship in the dock.

Canada place with cruise ship in dock
A sail from Canada Place

Twenty years ago the Capilano suspensionbridge and the associated park was very quiet.  Not now.  It is a major Tourist centre with both a tree canopy and cliff walk.  Both of these were spectacular and made good use of the natural resource.  The trip over the suspension bridge was a slight worry.  There was a high volume of visitors and the picture shows the large number of people who were crossing at the same time. The statistics are awesome 450 feet (137m) across the valley and 230 feet (70m) above the Capilano River.  If you are scared of heights it is not the ideal sightseeing tour.   The movement of the bridge did provide a photographic challenge as it was never still.

Indian carvings
Pine needles
The suspension bridge with people
North American Kestrel

On the other side there was a canopy walk in the trees although my photographs do not fully represent the views that you were able to see.  The light was difficult with both dark and bright areas.  It was much easier to take photographs of beautiful birds of prey including a North American Kestrel.  One lady was reprimanded for getting to close to the birds.  “They do bite” said the handler!   We also successfully completed the cliff walk which took us out over the canyon. 

We then caught a local bus back to the bay but stopped on the North Shore where we captured postcard views of the city through artwork in the grounds of the local park.

View from the North Shore
A tangled art work with the city in the background

It was back to the conference and after the opening reception we caught taxis to Seasons in the park. The restaurant was in the hills high above Vancouver.  It was possible to catch the light as the sun was setting.  Thank you to the British Dental Journal for the opportunity to see and photograph Vancouver from a different angle