Holiday – Day 1 – Vancouver

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.
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!

Fast boat on Deep cove Indian Arm
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.

Indian Arm Deep Cove sailing
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,

Seals staring at us on Indian Arm Deep Cove sailing
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.

Imker-1

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.

Vancouver flower

 

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
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!

Vancouver skyline

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