10 March 2010

Ah, Vacations!






(Photographs copyright 2010, all rights reserved.)

I'm back! Surprise, 'tis I!

Yeah, ok. No one noticed I'd even gone, I know it...and I bet Schuyler's going to put up prettier pictures than mine, too. Sigh.

However, these photos are of what I consider to be one of the greatest places on the planet. I know everyone will have a favorite place that they like better, and that's just fine. We hiked through coastal rain forest (Cathedral Grove) in pouring rain and didn't get wet because of the trees, then went on to the Little Qualicum River (not so little), and on a perfect, sunny, gorgeous day, we went to Dave's Peak (And who the heck was Dave, anyway?).

We hung out with The Boy's parents, did a lot of hiking, eating and drinking and had a grand old time. The trip involves trains, planes, automobiles and an hour and a half ferry ride, but it's always worth the trip.

(Check out that moss!)

4 comments:

  1. Welcome back! Wait: you were gone?

    Dang, Messy - you have a great eye. A little dark in the woods, though - are you open to a recommendation? The camera shake that causes the blur is inevitable, even with a fast lens like you have on your G10. When I vacation I think about vacationing first and photography is like tenth or fifteenth on my list, but a place like Vancouver Island begs for it. I would carry a monopod. Not a whole tripod, unless you want to buy a $500 compact 4 section carbon fiber unit (um, no thanks, for me), just a single leg. You can brace and shoot down to 1/10 or even slower if you're careful, and increase your depth of field too, and get more detail in the shot without blur.

    You have such a good eye for composition!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks!

    That blur just might have a little bit to do with the fact that it was raining as well. It was weird weather that day. Generally I try and brace myself - knee to stump/elbow on knee, but if I'd done that I'd have ended up sinking up to my eyeballs in all the moss.

    I just HAD to use a flash on the bottom shot. The Boy contended that I should have gone for the gloomy/scary thing, but the trees were so pretty I couldn't resist.

    Time to shop for monopods... I wonder if they go on sale.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh Messy, I love those pics! I love the patterns of the rain forest. I've walked in it but haven't seen it the way you do.

    The way you captured that crashing wave is magnificent.

    On top of that it sounds like you had a great vacation!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kati - I took a series of pictures of the river over the course of the hike - it's quite a sight. The noise is astounding, but you can't hear it at all if you're 20 yards or so away - the forest muffles everything.

    I can see why Europeans were so intimidated by that place when they first got there.

    ReplyDelete