East Van Visitor
Hiking Brunswick Mountain
You can download my GPX or KML files for use in your own GPS trackers or mapping tools.
Brunswick Mountain is the tallest peak in the North Shore Mountains at 1788m and has a panoramic view of Howe Sound and other popular peaks including the Lions. My Garmin told me I climbed 1561m over a 17 km round trip with grades over 40%, which made for a long day. The effort is worth it in the end though, it's not often you get to look down on Mt. Harvey, Sky Pilot, the Lions, and everything else around. The hike starts at the end of Sunset Drive in Lions Bay, but there are only a handful of parking spaces and this is the trailhead for several popular hikes. It's pay parking and they will ticket you. Nothing is free these days, not even hiking.
The 2D profile for the hike is shown below. It gets progressively more steep as you go.
The trail gets into dense coastal forest immediately. I took a different route up on the lower slopes than I did coming back (see map above), and it was steeper so I don't necessarily recommend that section of trail. I did find an old truck frame though which is slowly sinking into the forest.
From the initial section of gravel trail you will come to the route marker showing the way to the Lions and to Brunswick. Don't miss the marker otherwise you are climbing the Lions. The way to Brunswick is narrow and over grown, easy to miss. Once on the Brunswick trail you start climbing through the forest with only slugs to see. The trail never seems to end and around every corner is just more of the same. New views at all, you just have to get through it.
As I was hiking I started to encounter fog/clouds and I was worried that the summit might be in cloud cover but I pressed on hoping for the best.
The trees eventually start to thin out but the trail gets even steeper from this point.
After more climbing, you start to see the first views through the trees. You have already gained significant elevation by this point, but there is plenty ahead.
You will come to an intersection with the Howe Sound Crest Trail and there are makers on several trees. You can head left to Brunswick Lake, Hanover Lake, or Deeks Lake. To the right is Mount Harvey, the Lions, and eventually Cypress. Straight ahead (and up) is Brunswick, it should be somewhat obvious at this point.
The trail isn't always obvious, but there are orange markers to help lead the way.
The views are starting to get good though, making the effort easier.
The last section of the climb is steep and sometimes loose.
You will reach a plateau where you can finally see over the mountain, but the true summit is just to the right.
Some views before the final summit push.
The summit is actually three separate peaks. This is peak 1 (which you can see in on the map at the top).
If you want to try and tackle the other two peaks it is possible without any special gear. This view doesn't show it clearly but there is a definite gap between all three peaks with the gap between the first and second being the most tricky. Obviously a mistake here has high consequences so I don't recommend it unless you are comfortable with such hiking.
The gully between the first and second peaks. It's a long way down.
Raven keeping me company.
The approach to the second summit is a bit sketchy. I'm not a fan of heights and I just mad sure not to look down too much.
Once on the second peak, you will find some remnants of a structure that is now a bench. You can see the view back to the first peak here as well.
Final push to the third peak.
The third and what seems like the highest peak of the three. Standing on the highest point in the north shore, which is a very cool feeling.
It's a harsh life for the plants and animals up here.
Hikers on the first peak. Don't want to slip here.
Some final views from the summit, then the long road home.
Mount Harvey in the valley, Lions in the distance, Howe Sound to the right.
Focus Shift Shooting with the Nikon Z7 and 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro-Nikkor
None of my previous cameras had the focus shift feature so I decided to give it a try today. We had great light and my wife's flowers are in full bloom and made for good test subjects. There was a very slight breeze but the alignment seems to have done a good job with the slight movement between frames. If you don't know what focus shift shooting is you can read a bit about Nikon's implementation here. Essentially, the camera will take a series of exposures while slightly adjusting the focus between each frame. This allows a razor thin plane of focus to actually move through the subject thus getting it all in sharp focus. You need to stack the files into a single image using post processing techniques, today I tried this in Photoshop and Zerene Stacker. I had better results in Photoshop but admittedly I'm a rookie with Zerene.
One thing to note, despite having a very fast computer, processing 30 or so images, each a 45 megapixel raw file, brought the PC to its knees :) Might be time for another upgrade. I did four stacks with Photoshop and I'm sharing my Zerene shots at the end, they have issues.
I think all of the flowers shown here are varieties of dhalia.
Detail
Flower 2
Detail
Flower 3 (my favorite one)
Detail
Black and white conversion. Might need a bit more work but that is all the time I have today for editing :)
Detail
A couple of samples with Zerene. I tried both the DMap and PMax types but preferred the Photoshop stack to either. The DMap one has some very strange artifacts in the OOF areas, no idea why.
Vancouver Aquarium Macro
I have been to the Vancouver Aquarium many times before and always enjoy the visit. Today I took my six year old twins once again, and brought along my macro lens for some shots. Before we left the house, I noticed some of our flowers had recently been covered by rain. 
Even though the tanks and displays don't change too often, you always witness new and interesting behaviour by the animals that live there. It's always worth a return visit.
The best part of our visit today was that there were many butterflies on display in the tropical section. The kids loved it.
A Visit to Pacific Northwest Raptors
Last weekend, my wife and I visited The Raptors for an all-day raptor experience. Located a short drive from Duncan on Vancouver Island and definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. We enjoyed it so much we brought our kids and their grandparents the very next day so they could experience it as well. Not only did we get to hold some awesome birds on our glove, we got to see the flying demo and participate in the Hawk Walk. Overall, a great time and highly recommended if you want to get up close to some birds of prey.
Plenty of photo opportunities as well, here are a few of my shots. All taken with my new combo of the Nikon Z7 and Nikkor Z 24-70 f/4 S.
Golden Eagle
Gyrfalcon, which was also in the flying demo. Very cool.
Lindsay holding this beauty.
Great Horned Owl, possibly my favorite. During the flying demo he gets so close to the audience you can feel his wingtips on your head.
Bald Eagle. Just awesome to see such a beautiful bird up close.
Boomer, the entertaining Kookaburra
Spectacled Owl
Turkey Vulture
Red Tailed Hawk coming in for a landing during the Hawk Walk.
Saker Falcon
American Kestrel
Nikon Z7 : High ISO, IBIS, Focus Peaking
I took a walk around my neighborhood with my kids to look for fall mushrooms and flowers. I wanted to test a few aspects of the Nikon Z7 including high ISO shots, ability of the in body image stabilization (IBIS) to steady shots at slower shutter speeds, and the focus peaking (which none of my previous cameras have offered). To test, I mounted my 105mm f/2.8 VR Micro Nikkor lens on the FTZ adapter and headed out. It was late afternoon light with some heavy tree cover at times, I first tested focus tracking by trying to get some shots of my kids. I was quite disappointed with the performance of the Z7/105 combo, the tracking was terrible. The camera missed almost every shot, even with the kids just walking. The 105 was never a good performer in this regard and it continues it's poor performance on the Z7.
Regardless, I tested on some static subjects and the results were quite good. Fairly clean output at ISO 3200.
Test of manual focus with peaking, worked very well.
This squirrel was running around and I managed a shot. It's acceptably sharp for web use but not ideal.
This girl was moving on the web and the web was also moving in the breeze. Of 30 or so shots only two yielded results worth sharing.
This shot was at 1/80s hand held but I tested as slow as 1/5s and could get reasonably sharp photos. I don't think that would have been possible with my D810, even with a VR lens.
Nikon Z7 First Shots
One of my favorite places to visit is the Vancouver Aquarium, and that is exactly where I went to test out the new Nikon Z7. I only had a short amount of time so only two test shots but more to come soon.
Squamish Bald Eagles (Again)
This was my third time in Squamish to shoot Bald Eagles, and it will likely become an annual excursion. Not only do I love Squamish and Brackendale, it is a great opportunity to practice wildlife photography with a photogenic subject. Unlike my previous trip to the area when I visited in January, this time I came when the eagle concentrations were much higher. There were several occasions when I saw up to eight eagles all trying to get one or two dead salmon, unsurprisingly some fights broke out.
As I was heading to a new location to begin my search for eagles, I saw an interesting log pincer thingy (correct name) and had to stop. I managed to get a shot with my wide angle that included the Stawamus Chief in the background.
(As always, click to view larger. You can also just scroll through all of the photos in a slideshow)
Getting to the beach at the south end of Squamish was more fun than expected due to deep snow. Once I arrived, there were no eagles to be seen but I did brave the elements to get this long exposure shot before I packed up and went searching for the elusive birds.
First stop was near the SPCA. Mount Garibaldi was looking majestic as usual so a quick shot was necessary.
I did find a single juvenile bald eagle
Pretty sure he saw me.
Also came across a Great Blue Heron
Plenty of crows, which I used to practice my focus tracking for flying birds.
A gang of seagulls.
A few shy ducks.
This is the reason the eagles are here in high concentrations, plenty of dead or dying salmon to eat. Other bird species also enjoy the annual feast.
Finally, in the most popular spot there were plenty of eagles. These were all found off Government Road near the Watershed Grill restaurant.
This one looking like he has found something interesting.
As I said previously, fights were not uncommon though rarely seemed to result in any real damage.
I shot a LOT of photos to only get a few worth keeping. Not an easy subject to photograph.
The seagulls don't stick around to ask questions when they see the eagles coming in.
Another fight sequence.
This guy wanted to make sure the young eagle knew who the boss was.
And a few more shots. It certainly won't be my last time visiting the area.
Squamish Bald Eagles
I was eager to try out my new Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 VR lens that I received for Christmas from my lovely wife. I knew that Bald Eagles were likely still in Squamish as I had been there previously. I ventured out one very old morning to see what I could capture.
The sun was rising as I pulled into Squamish and I noticed it was illuminating Mount Garibaldi. I decided to see how the lens performs for a long distance landscape shot. Nice detail despite the distance.
The rig
The shot
I then walked around one of my favorite spots in south Squamish and did encounter a few eagles.
One thing I realized is that I have a lot to learn about wildlife photography, especially birds. Learning how to use a telephoto lens has a fairly steep learning curve, and trying to capture birds in flight makes it even harder. I took a lot of shots but only have a few keepers and even those I'm only mildly satisfied with. Having said that, the combination certainly does help in comparison to shooting with my iPhone.
Eagle shot with iPhone
Same eagle with a Nikon D810 and Nikkor 200-500 f/5.6 VR lens. Anyone claiming "gear doesn't matter" hasn't tried to shoot wild eagles.
I relocated several times but had a hard time finding eagles. I found out later that there are much higher concentrations of eagles in early December and by January they have started to depart as most of the salmon that they are feeding on are gone. It was still a beautiful day so I made the most of it by shooting some landscape shots. Even some with my iPhone.
My trusty Tacoma, it never disappoints.
This was actually a hand-held shot with the Nikkor 200-500 lens. Shutter speed was relatively long but the VR system helped me get an acceptably sharp shot.
After more driving around and looking in a few spots I have never visited before I did find a few more eagles. Didn't get the focus or composition right in all of the photos, but I did get a lot of practice in tracking eagles in flight.
Finally, a comparison of iPhone vs Nikon. See that moon in the top right?
Now a little closer with the telephoto.
Nikon D800 vs iPhone 4S
I was at Newell Lake near Brooks, Alberta with my brother a few weeks ago and as the sun was setting I tried to capture a few photos. It was a warm evening which would have otherwise been pleasant if it wasn't for the swarm of mosquitoes. I was literally getting destroyed by the things, but pushed on and got some shots. The specific location for the shots was this small peninsula.
First, the iPhone photo (showing the Nikon D800).
Next, the image from the Nikon D800 with Nikkor 14-24 f/2.8 lens. This is actually a 7 shot exposure bracket combined in an HDR image using Photomatix.
Both images scaled to 2048 on the long edge. If you look close, I think you will agree that the D800 has a slight edge in image quality here :)
Antrodiaetus pacificus Trapdoor Spider
I was walking my dogs near the University of British Columbia (UBC) today and came across a spider I have not encountered before. It looked like a small tarantula: similar body shape, hairy, black, and rather menacing. I only had my iPhone 4S with me (wish I had the D800 and 105mm VR Micro) and took a few photos before moving on.
It turns out this is a trapdoor spider (or folding-door spider) and fairly common in this area. They are not often seen because they tend to stay in their burrow. This one is specifically Antrodiaetus pacificus, and it is a type of tarantula. It is likely a male out of his burrow in search of a mate.
More info on these guys here (PDF). Also found this great video on Youtube (see below).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUa-Fc088NU
UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research
Last weekend, my wife and I paid a visit to the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research (at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver). Despite having lived in Vancouver a combined 35 years it was the first visit for both of us. We were very fortunate because one of the volunteers, Dana, took us for a private tour as no one else was there for a tour when we arrived. He spent several hours with us, taking us first on the Greenheart Canopy Walkway, which is a series of bridges and platforms in the trees. It's a bit wobbly, but fun at the same time. Also, you get an interesting view from up there that you don't often see. The canopy system is hung from the trees but is done in such a way that it doesn't harm the tree, it's rather amazing actually and the only one of its kind in Canada.
There are a lot of vines in the garden, from all over the world.
It's not all plants and flowers.
Though there are a lot of beautiful flowers as well.
They also have a big garden with all kinds of edible things.
Including the most interesting way to grow fruit. These trees are trained to grow at an angle and only have branches in one plane. Because of the angle, the tree bears fruit much sooner than they would otherwise. Also, they are very easy to pick being no more than six feet high, some only a foot with branches parallel to the ground. I wish I remember what this growing style was, if you know please leave a message in the comments below.
UPDATE: The technique of training trees in this manner is called Espalier (thanks to Wendy Cutler!).
In one section, they have plants from all of the continents including a lot of desert varieties. Apparently there are fire ants too, though I didn't see any.
There is also a section of the garden dedicated to plants used in the medical field. This sundial is in the middle, accurate though doesn't adjust well for daylight savings time :)
We found this interesting bee hive, which was a temporary art installation. The solar panels provide energy to open and close it daily.
Finally, there is a fantastic water fountain the garden located in the amphitheatre. It was designed by William Pye who installs these amazing water sculptures all over the world. I'll have to go back to get more photographs.
Birds At Acadia Beach in Vancouver, BC
Took a short walk with my dogs on Acadia Beach today. The best time for birds, especially Great Blue Herons, seems to be on the rising tide early in the morning. The Herons like to walk around in the shallow water and pick off smelt and other small fish who are too dumb to notice a three foot tall bird.
I didn't get any stellar shots today but did see a Bald Eagle, a few Great Blue Herons, Geese, and a few of the usual suspects as well. Overall, a fun day and always nice when an eagle is around. The birds were quite far away so these are crops from much bigger images shot with the Nikon D800 and 80-200 f/2.8D lens. In cases like this, a longer lens would sure be nice. If an updated 80-400mm VR becomes available I may be tempted to sell the current zoom and go for the bigger reach. Teleconverters do not work with the 80-200. There was also a strong backlight so I had to dial up the shadow recovery introducing some noise.
I definitely got some better shots when I went to Brackendale to shoot the Bald Eagles with a borrowed 400mm f/2.8.
Impressive talons on this guy, wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those.
The geese didn't seem to care that a top predator was in the area.
The heron also went about his business catching fish.
I even managed to catch a crow in flight.
The image above was rescued from a very underexposed shot. The screenshot below shows the impressive dynamic range of the Nikon D800 which allowed me to recover the shadows and save the image, if only for web use.
Nikon D800 Macro and Focus Stack
When I was mowing the lawn, I came across a bee in the grass. I'm not sure what type of bee it is, but it could be one of the solitary ground dwelling types that can be found here. One of the wings was much shorter than the other and I don't think it could fly. I put the bee in a safe place and took a few shots. The shots were taken with a Nikon D800 and AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G IF-ED lens. I have another set of photos shot with the 105mm here (lower light, hand-held).
Update: I found out this isn't a bee after all, but a hoverfly (Narcissus fly). It mimics bees as a defense against predators. Very cool.
This shot is a single image converted from RAW but cropped from a much bigger frame. ISO 360, 1/125 second shutter at f/9.
I also took a few more images focus stacked them with Zerene Stacker, turned out better than I expected considering this is also a significant crop.
And a flower I shot shortly after, also a single image converted from RAW.
And an image I shot previously. The detail when shooting the D800 with this lens is just great.
Poppin' Pollen
Yesterday I noticed what I thought was smoke in the kitchen but had no idea where it was coming from. As I was looking around, I saw that a flower on the counter was shooting out pollen. I have never seen anything like this, so I had to grab my camera and shoot a short video. I have never seen anything like this!
I'm assuming this is not a common sight, otherwise I would have seen it myself before (we have a lot of plants) or I would have seen it somewhere online. Regardless, I had to capture it on video so others would not think I'm crazy :)
Shot with the Nikon D800, 1080p, 105mm f/2.8 VR lens. View the HD video on Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahIrYtJjMpU
A Visit to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary
Today I paid my first visit to the George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary located near Ladner, BC. It's a great spot to spend a few hours and I'll definitely go back more than once to see what species of birds visit this park. Cost is $5 to get in, well worth it. Here are some of my photos from the day.
My first shot was actually taken in the parking lot, this girl was walking around in the grass right behind my truck (Mallard Duck).
Not sure what this guy is, someone needs to help me identify it.
Napping while standing on one foot, showoff (Canada Goose).
I think this is a Northen Pintail, beautiful birds.
Just a common blackbird, but a break from the waterfowl photos.
The ducks are everywhere.
I like how this guy shows up in camo, even a camo lens coat, and there are kids running around in pink and purple yelling.
Managed only a couple of good action photos.
And the geese are all over the place too. You certainly don't need a big zoom lens to get some good shots of birds here.
This guy was constantly hissing at me. Come to think of it, must be a female :)
Spring is here, flowers are popping up.
The first time I have ever been this close to Sandhill Cranes
Not the most graceful creatures when they take off though.
The Sandhill fly-by, they almost look like jets.
Out of nowhere, a duck fight breaks out. It was a ball of white water and feathers accompanied by a lot of noise.
[tag-gallery tag=duckfight columns=4]
This little guy was collecting all of the bird seed the visitors left for the ducks.
And what landed in the water the carp would clean up.
On my way out, I had to stop to take a few shots of these Snow Geese. There were hundreds of them.
I had to stop one more time as I was heading into Ladner as I saw these tow Bald Eagles in the tree. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good angle on them. More eagle photos can be seen from my visit to Brackendale.
They didn't stick around for long.
I had my lens on manual focus as it was having a very hard time getting the eagles among the branches. Unfortunately, when they took off it didn't make for a good shot. Too bad, this would have been nice.
Bald Eagle Photography in Brackendale
I took a trip with my friend Andrew to Brackendale to find some Bald Eagles. The eagles were not hard to find, but certainly not easy to photograph. Most of the time they were quite far away, but occasionally they would fly by a little closer. The eagles gather here to eat Coho Salmon that have died after spawning. I guess eagles are lazy, and prefer to let dinner float by rather than waste energy catching it.
I borrowed a huge 400mm f/2.8 lens with a 2x teleconverter from my boss, which was a huge help and allowed to me to get some good shots. I wouldn't say any of the shots from the day were excellent, there was heavy cloud cover and relatively low light which meant a lot of the shots were at ISO 400 or even 800. Add to that slower shutter speeds, and a lot of the shots just didn't turn out very well. Considering this was my first time at this location, the first time shooting the 400mm, and the first time on a dedicated trip to shoot eagles I think I did ok.
Aside from the eagles, we were treated to a few nice views during the day. Both shot with the 400mm, the darker blue image is a 3-shot HDR.
These are some of my favorite shots from the day. First, a juvenile eagle was flying towards me and about to land in a tree. Of the 5 shots I got of him, this is the only one worth posting. (In case it's not obvious, you can click the photos to view the bigger version).
Another flight photo, this one I attempted to pan the 400mm to get some shots, most were blurry or had only a part of the eagle in the frame. This one turned out better than I thought it would.
Sometimes, eagles are not the graceful and majestic creatures we think they are. When you have to go you have to go.
Some shots of the equipment used.
The following photos are not great, but I thought I'd include them as they capture a flight sequence and my attempt at capturing the eagles in flight.
And more, not good due to slow shutter speeds, but capture a moment when an eagle swoops in to steal the salmon away from the others. Incoming!
And the rest of the images from the shoot worth posting. They include a Great Blue Heron, which often go ignored when the eagles are there but they are no less interesting nor any less beautiful.
Brackendale, Sneak Peek
I took a trip with my friend Andrew to Brackendale today to find some Bald Eagles. The eagles were not hard to find, but certainly not easy to photograph. Most of the time they were quite far away, and occasionally they would fly by a little closer. I borrowed a big 400mm f/2.8 lens from my boss, which was a huge help but a monster to try and pan as an eagles did a fly by. Too tired to process photos today, but here are two from the trip. More to come soon. another When we first showed up at the main viewing area, the eagles were far away but this fellow was close and didn't mind posing for a photo. It's a Great Blue Heron, you can see a past photo I took of a heron here.
I also managed to capture a couple of eagles in flight, this was one of the better shots. The lens really is huge, so this is no easy task.