Camping At Nahatlatch Lake

Last week I had the good fortune to get out of the city for a few days. Along with a couple of good friends, we hit Hwy 1 and headed East past Hope and up Hwy 7 past Hell's Gate to Boston Bar. From there we took a left across the Fraser River onto what soon became a winding, dusty, gravel road.

Twenty minutes later we arrived here... Nahatlatch Lake!

What a gorgeous, quiet and private spot this is. The campsite had enough room for our three tents, there was a fire pit and across the road, our very own outhouse.

This was our home for the next few nights.

This was our view from the campsite as the sun set on Day 1 of camping...

And this was our dinner on Night 1! Mmmm gourmet burgers cooked to perfection!

Between dinner and dessert (Smores!), Mel even managed to get in a few Yoga poses.

Okay, so maybe those aren't 100% authentic Yoga poses, but hey, full marks for effort! Is it just me or is there a silhouetted moose head in this next one?

I've been wanting to get away somewhere far from the city for awhile, not just for my sanity, but for the opportunity to get some decent, starry-night-sky-long-exposure-pictures. Preferably ones that weren't polluted with the sodium-light-orange of high-density populated city and suburbs.

I have to say, I'm really happy with how these turned out.

Behold! The Milky Way!

These were taken on a 30 second exposure, ISO 1000, with a 10-20mm lens at f/4.  The only post processing done was a little de-noising and a tweak to the color.

When we were camping we were at the tail end of the annual Perseid meteor shower so not only was I delighted to see more shooting stars than normal but I was shocked to see the surprise cameo appearance entering the frame of this next picture!

I always wake up early when camping. This was the view from our lakeshore campsite at 6.15am. Like the night shots, this is also a long exposure (about 5 seconds) which is why the water looks so ghostly.

I'm thinking I should get up at dawn more often because the light was absolutely stunning. Then again, being surrounded by mountains, lakes and forests definitely helps create a picturesque scene...

These pictures were all taken about a 10 minute walk along the shore from where our tents were.

After a day of relaxation floating around on the lake and when it got too hot, swimming in the glacial water, I grabbed these next pictures.

The mist is actually dust kicked up by an ATV that passed by our campsite. It took almost twenty minutes for the dust to slowly drift across the lake.

After a fantastic meal of steak and talapia (thanks Derek for the mad campsite cooking skills!) it was time to relax by the fire for another night of stargazing and long exposure fun.

I love the glowing trails from the embers drifting up into the air.

On this night the lake was so calm I managed to get stars reflected in it. The smudgy column running down the middle of the picture is the Milky Way.

Here's the view directly over our heads above our campsite earlier in the evening (also showing the Milky Way). The dark orange at the bottom of the frame is the light from our campfire.

If you're looking for a beautiful, quiet and private camping spot, head up to Nahatlatch Lake (its about a 4 hour drive from Vancouver) - you won't regret it.

Until next time folks.

2011 WEEK 34 Pt. III: Olympic Village

Today I have for you the final part of my "Vancouver at night" series.

I ended my photographic adventure heading further East along False Creek to Olympic Village. Say what you will about the various screw-ups associated with this development in terms of politics, construction, ownership and financing, but I think they did a wonderful job of the waterfront area - and I'm not just saying that because I had so much success with my picture taking!

Here's a view looking towards the still under renovation Science World.

The forward leaning aspect of these apartments in this next one are really accentuated by the distortion of  my trusty Sigma 10-20mm. One of these days I hope to get my hands on an 8mm Fisheye, then we'll really have some fun!

All of these photos really highlight how the intensity and the colour temperature of the light can change the environment. The violet strip across the apartments on the left cast far more light in this picture than was viewable with the naked eye. The same goes for the eerie green hue of the building to the right.

Here's another entry in Vancouver's ever-growing list of bizarre sculptures... This time we have giant birds! I'd love to go back to this spot with a live model or two and do some forced perspective magic. Think of it as Attack of the Killer Sparrows!

Perhaps some enterprising catering students should construct the world's largest loaf of bread for these guys to feast on? Together with (a couple of hours later) the world's largest bird poop...

This art piece is a lot more traditional...

In the photo below. the bridge caused me no end of troubles when I took the photo and later when I came to do post-processing. Believe me when I say the photo IS level! I leveled the tripod and I tweaked the finished image some more in the computer and yet the damn thing still looks crooked to me... So either I'm crazy or its an optical illusion caused by the smooth curved lines of the girders.

These final 5 pictures are my favourites, perhaps of the entire night of shooting if not my entire 34 Week photo adventure to date.

The railing at the bottom of the above picture was an accident. It was so dark I couldn't even see it in the frame until after the 20 second exposure was completed - and yet it works! I like how it feels like one is looking out from the prow of a boat.

Now, in some of the above pictures you can see a glimpse of the highly controversial (and expensive to tax payers...) new roof of B.C. Place Stadium that is nearing completion. I've been fascinated by the enormity of the construction. The new roof is engineering marvel, so much so it was featured in a great episode of Discovery Channel's Daily Planet show - watch the video here. Despite this, from a purely aesthetic point of view, I haven't been much of a fan.

Until now.

I think the lights inside and out of the structure have only recently been turned on and as you can see in these pictures, on a clear, calm night it is a beautiful thing to behold.

In these pictures you can really see how the new stadium is well on its way to becoming an iconic feature of the Vancouver skyline. Compared to the old roof- the giant inflatable marshmallow- I think its actually a huge improvement.

All in all, I am super proud of the images I managed to capture during my 3 hr. nighttime photo adventure. I hope you've enjoyed seeing a side of the city that only long exposure photography can capture.

I've set the bar a little higher for myself now... Hopefully it won't be too long before I have success again!

Until next time folks...