Our beautiful Doge Durango. We drove 3000+ km’s in three weeks. Love that car. This photo was taken near Princeton, on Highway 3.
OK, last set of holiday pictures, I promise! I just love showing images… Our trip through the Canadian Rockies ended in Vernon. No idea why the tour operator would have us spend two days there: there’s really very little there. Except that it is… Canada. So I took my camera and drove around looking for sights I would not see otherwise in Holland. From there we drove back to Vancouver (beautiful drive!). I spent another day with a camera in Vancouver. Truly a city of glass, water and steel!
Vancouver at sunset, photographed from Stanley park. The sun sets over the ocean, whichnis behind you at this point. You’re in the shade at this point, because the sun has dipped behind the horizon, but it still illuminates the buildings of Vancouver. Meanwhile the sky behind the city is turning pink. It’s quite the sight, especially when there is no ripple on the water!
The best way to quickly get to see a new city is a Hop on and Hop off bus! You have them in most cities now. You buy a one or two day pass and the bus drives you around all the major sites. You can get on and off where you want. It’s a great way to quickly see everything. Yes, of course it’s very touristy and you only see the things they want you to see, but there’s is an audio guide, and you simply get to know the city quickly. My recommendation is you do the tour first thing, and then decide which parts you want to investigate more.
Vancouver Hop Hop off bus in W. Cordovastreet. The best way to get to know Vancouver quickly!
Which is what we did yesterday. And wow: we like Vancouver. What a great and beautiful city! It’s always funny to us as Europeans when Americans and Canadians talk about buildings that are really old (a hundred years!), but truth is Vancouver has an interesting history and you can see the various stages of development well.
Sea planes
In my photography I concentrated on two things yesterday: sea planes and architecture. I had only ever seen planes land on water in movies. So it was really cool for me to see an airport on water, right downtown Vancouver. Also a great opportunity to further test the XF100-400 lens with the 1,4 converter. And wow: it did not disappoint!
Vancouver: city of glass!
The other thing that blew me away about Vancouver was the architecture. It’s just amazing. I’m proud ofthe city if Rotterdam where I come from, with it’s tall buildings and skyscrapers — but Vancouver is something else! Writer Douglas Coupland called Vancouver ‘the city of glass’ because of the many condominiums towers. Check out this gallery of architectural images. The image at the top of this post was taken around 9PM from Stanley Park where you have a great view of the skyline.
We have arrived in Vancouver, Canada! So excited to be here. I am here with Sophie to attend the wedding of my brother-in-law, Jobie, to his fiancee, Terra. We’ve attached a little holiday to it Since being on holiday for me means taking lots of pictures, I intend to keep a running account here on my blog with some of our adventures.
You may wonder: how are you on holiday if you are still taking pictures? Isn’t that your job? Do you never stop? Ah – good question. Well, no, not really. You see, photography is my passion. What makes it holiday is that I get to take the photo’s I want, and there’s no client leaning over my shoulder saying: now take a photo of this product, speaker, building, person… I get to do what I want!
Also, I am playing my my Fujifilm X-E2 and my new lenses. And I have to say I am very impressed. For the wedding I’ve also brought my Nikon D800 and a set of lenses. But for walking around, hiking, and general holiday photography M intend to use the Fujifilm mostly.
Arrival and first half day
We are arrived here safely after a great KLM-flight. For some reason KLM put us in Premium Economy, which was really nice, We left Amsterdam at 13:25 and arrived here at 14:00 on the same day. Always inteersting how you can fly for nine hours, watch four movies, and then arrive at roughy the same time you took off. We picked up our rental car. I had reserved a small SUV (Hey, it’s Canada!). Years ago someone taught me to always ask for the possibility of a free upgrade. They guy at the desk just smiled and said nothing, but when we were shown to the car it turned out to be a Dodge Durango — if you don’t know what that is, think of a small but comfortable tank Guy who gave us the keys said: Ah, I guess he gave you a nice upgrade, Indeed! Pictures later.
Then to the hotel (Sandman, downtown Vancouver, nice enough) and to dinner at my brother-in-laws). Got back to the hotel at 9 PM and fell asleep before my head hit the pillow. Woke up at 3 AM. Jet-lag kicking my butt.
First full day: out on the boat
Je weet dat je niet meer in Capelle aan den IJssel bent als ze vrachtwagens zo vervoeren.
So my brother-in-law is a successful entrepreneur here and owns a nice house and fast boat. Best way to relax, he says. Here are some photo’s I took from his boat.
Took this following photo with the XF100-1400 and 1,4 extender. 1/1000s af F6,9. Pictures was taken from a boat well over 50km/hr, at a boat going the opposite direction at the same speed. Still, it’s tack-sharp. I am so impressed with the ability of these lenses!
De foto is 100% scherp, ook al werd hij vanuit een stevig bewegende boot genomen met een zeer lange lens!
It was gorgeous weather. We went fast and slow. The scenery changed by the minute.
I made the same photo without a boat in the frame, but found that adding the boat gives a sense of scale. You get to appreciate the grandeur of the place…
One reason to go to Canada is to see wild-life. This was the first wild-life we say: a bunch of seals staring at us from a distance,
Fujifilm X-E2, XF100-400 with 1,4 ext, F7, ISO 800
Went back to my brother-in-laws place and swam in the pool. His fiancee keeps bees. She had to inspect the beehive. So she got on her suit and opened the boxes. I took some photo’s of that. Here’s one I really like. Amazing how calm the bees are. I wore nothing but my swimming trunks and was quite close – and they never bothered her or me.
After she was finished I noted this flower in their garden. Again, I’m just showing this because it demonstrates the amazing lens. This is with the XF100-400 and 1,4 extender at 560mm, 1/500s, F8, ISO800.
After dinner we got back on the boat and sailed in the opposite direction, towards Vancouver. As we had driven home the previous evening I noted how the sun was setting behind Vancouver’s pretty amazing skyline. I thought it might be great to capture some images of sunset from the water.
Iron workers memorial bridge
As we got closer to the city, a problem emerged. The sun was setting beautifully; the colors were amazing — and my camera battery warning light came on. Ai… and I only have the one battery with me for this camera… Pretty soon the camera stopped working al together. We sailed all around the city, which was amazing, but of that I can show you nothing! Fortunately I get to sail the boat back, which was a lot of fun also. Good first day!
