Photography

Photos I’ve taken of scenery, interesting objects and other things.

A shot in the park

Specifically, Burnaby Lake Regional Park.

I decided to get some exercise on a non-run day by walking to Piper Spit at Burnaby Lake (about a 12 km round-trip from my place). I took my camera in order to shoot many and assorted bird shots.

When I got there and opened my camera bag, the spot normally occupied by my camera was not occupied at all. Because I had left the camera back on my desk.

Whoops.

I took a few shots with the iPhone while I was there, then made my way back home (it was 32C by the time I got back, definitely an Africa Hot kind of day). I will now remember to actually check my camera bag before leaving, so lesson learned.

I took mostly scenery shots, and a seagull photobombed one of them. Here it is:

Run 694: For the first time in two days, another 10K!

View from Cariboo Dam, just prior to starting the run.

It was forecast to get up to 28C today, so I opted for a mid-morning run to beat the heat. Here’s my run report in handy list form, because I like lists.

  • Good News: I ran another 10K. Yay! I can now say it’s been two days between 10K runs, instead of 988 days.
  • Less-Than-Good-News: Around the 5K mark, an upper left thigh muscle began to twinge a bit. It settled after a few km and is fine now. I blame my body for being weirdly asymmetrical. It may also not surprise you that I am also left-handed.
  • Bad News: None, really. This run felt a lot harder than Monday due to the warmer temperatures (though they were not bad), but mainly the still-high humidity. Humidity is like a superpower designed to drain all energy from your body. It works very well!
  • Fun Fact: For whatever reason, I mistype “humidity” almost every time. I didn’t this time because I was concentrating hard enough for Mavis Beacon to sit up and notice.
  • Trail update: They are putting the final touches on the trail resurfacing near the dam. Where will they resurface next? (Please please please be the trail along the athletic fields.)
  • Sensitive subject: A few years ago I had a weird issue when running if my chest got wet, whether through perspiration or precipitation–my nipples would become strangely sensitive. It almost feels like this might be making an unwelcome return. It’s both weird and annoying. So far it is only hinting. I will give it a hint to go away and see if that works.
  • Award time: I got an award in the Apple Watch Fitness app for most calories burned in a running workout, 723. I find this somewhat odd that it didn’t happen years ago. Maybe I have more calories to burn now.

Award:

Finarly I did it.

Stats:

Run 694
Average pace: 6:12/km
Location: Burnaby Lake (CW)
Start: 10:00 a.m.
Distance: 10.02 km
Time: 62:08
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 22-25ºC
Humidity: 64%
Wind: light
BPM: 150
Weight: 165.6
Total distance to date: 5085 km
Devices: Apple Watch Series 5, iPhone 12, AirPods (3rd generation)
Shoes: Brooks Caldera 5 (198 km)

Is it art or is it yummy?

Why not both?

Desperate to take a photo of something yesterday, I took this picture of a banana sitting on a coaster. After, I ate the banana to reward myself for this bit of photographic improv. It was yummy.

Bird shoot ends with cat

After dinner, I went out for a walk to the park with my camera, hoping to catch some birds on digital film. Here is what I got:

  • Spooked several Northern flickers because I did not see them as I approached; no shots
  • Did not have telephoto lens attached when a spotted towhee sat on a branch in perfect light, singing away surprisingly close to me; by the time I got the lens on, it had flown off
  • Did get three shots of a single robin, all of them fuzzy

I thought of shooting a pic of a crow at one point, but even it flew away, too.

So instead I got this shot of a neighborhood cat snoozing on the front steps of its home:

Good kitty.

July 4, 2022 random photo/art thing

I’m not sure if I’ll be going out again today, so I wanted to take a photo of something because taking a photo every day is on my to-do list.

What I did was:

  • Take a figurine made for drawing and hold it up in front of one of my monitors
  • On the monitor: a collection of random objects in Canva, used as an experiment in making a logo
  • Shoot the figurine with my iPhone 12
  • Tinker with detail, light and color settings in Luminar AI
  • Post the results here!

I leave it to you, the reader, to interpret what this means, if anything. I got nothin’!

Brunette-Fraser Regional Greenway, June 30, 2022

It was a perfect summer afternoon (rather than 32C) so I spent an hour or so strolling the path around Sapperton Landing and environs. Here are a few shots.

View looking across the Fraser River toward Surrey.
High gloss waxed leaves.
Great blue heron stalking in the marshy shallows.
Song sparrow doing what song sparrows do.
Seaspan Tempest plying the waters, with the Port Mann bridge in the background.
Song sparrow alert in the grass.
Tree swallow taking a break.
Female cowbird atop a rusty pole.