Yesterday was my last evening class downtown, so I guess I’ll have to find another another excuse to take night shots from the False Creek bridges. This time I was prepared with two sets of fresh batteries and got to the bridge a little later than previous weeks to coincide with the fireworks.
I’m glad to report that apart from all of the tripod geeks there was at least one person using the railing to balance her SLR. I mastered my fear long enough to learn a few lessons about timing the exposure just right to catch the fireworks in full bloom. There’s quite an art to it: maybe with some more practice I’ll do better than 2 decent photos out of 40. But I’m satisfied with the results and I think I’ll take a break from heights for a bit.
Running late for my class downtown, I decided to take the bus. Apparently I was running late for that too, but the driver kindly stopped when he spotted me tearing down the sidewalk. Out of breath, I thanked him briefly. He responded with a comment about my height followed by asking how tall I was (6′3″). That’s when things started to get weird.
The driver rambled on good-naturedly about his concerns for the safety and well-being of tall people. He claimed to belong to an organization called the Society for Prevention of Risk and Injury to Tall People. “SPRIT-P,” he said calmly, “is the sound that a tall person’s head makes hitting the ground.”
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Last week’s night photos worked out so well that I decided to try my hand at it again. There’s a whole art to balancing the camera on the railing and framing the shot in your mind, but I think I’m getting the hang of it. You see, it’s too dark to make out what’s on the LCD screen and I can’t use the viewfinder because the railing is in the way. Not to mention my irrational fear of heights — normally I’m practically walking in traffic just to keep my distance from the railing!
I uploaded quite a few photos to Flickr today, most of which I had hoped to write about. But I think you’ll have to settle for a summary instead.
Alouette Lake (Part 1)
At the end of May we spent a three day weekend with friends canoe camping on Alouette Lake. It’s a large-ish lake nestled in the mountains at the edge of Golden Ears Provincial Park. The weather was great on our paddle up to the narrows, soft evening light reflecting off the glassy water and rich colours all around. We were treated to great food by Agnes the whole weekend, including turkey dinner with all the fixin’s.
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In an effort to put in some km’s prior to next week’s Pacific Populaire, Agnes, Miranda and I went for a 61km ride yesterday. Traffic was light due to the long weekend and the weather was cool and overcast, making for a decent enough afternoon cycle.
I really enjoyed the route, cobbled together from the 50km & 100km Populaire routes currently listed on the BC Randonneurs’ website (I say “current” since they were different only a month ago when I last checked). So, in the interest of creating resources that other local cyclists can use, here’s a brief review of our route.
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