Slow Photography #41 Three Days Photo Walking in Vancouver
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| Wheeled temple chariot at the Hare Krishna Festival in Vancouver. All photos/text are Copyright 2014, Jim Austin Jimages. |
How do you spend three days photographing in North America's most livable city? Plan your trip so you walk the city's neighborhoods. Allow time to meander and explore parts of the city you are seeing for the first time.
Here are a few ideas to capture the character and charm of a city. Our city choice: Vancouver.
Photography Tip 1:
Choose a central theme to guide your choice of subject matter. In Vancouver, "Culture" is the main theme. Of course, take a variety of other images, but by picking one theme you can define your subject matter and ideas.
Day One, Urban Exposures
Morning
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| Docked powerboat "Photographic" in a marina on False Creek. |
Rise early to enjoy the morning light. Head out on foot, and walk to the waterfront. In Vancouver, the city's boating culture offers reflections of yachts on nearby False Creek, an inner city harbor. Make time to create compositions of life along the water.
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| Boating culture: taking a phone call in your yacht tender. |
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| English Bay view from Pacific Street. |
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| Tourists and locals riding the aquabus across the harbor. |
Next, after a breakfast of waffles with fresh Okanagan Valley fruit on top at Le Petit Belge, walk across the street to the Vancouver library lobby. Its luminous interior, designed by Vancouver architect George Grant, offers an appealing visual scene as light pours in through its four-story windows to the atrium.
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| Interior of the $106 Million CAD Vancouver library. |
Photography Tip 2:
Find urban reflections that are unique to a neighborhood, such as a new high rise or skyscraper reflections. Explore on foot to seek out unusual light.
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| Urban exposure: reflections of a city. |
AFTERNOON
For a change of pace, head out on English Bay with a whale watch. Look for a group like whalesvancouver.com. Their pro wildlife guides will show you some unique photo opportunities from a zodiac as your group glides over the water.
Keep the gear light and take only one camera and lens. That way, the focus will be on taking pictures, not on your camera.
Photography Tip 3:
As you minimize your photo gear, make sure it is well protected. When you are out on the water, or wet or rainy weather, take lightweight rain protection for your camera that lets you access and stow your valuable gear quickly.
EVENING
For a late afternoon or evening exploration, check out Granville Street. Along the way, find a treasure at the Wildlife Thrift Store at 1295 Granville. There are many afternoon scenes to photograph and twilight is the perfect time to photograph the city as well. Set up your explorations to shoot at twilight just after the sun has set and before it gets dark.
Nearby, Vancouver's best high-rise, the Grace building, has a cubistic interior and interlocking staircases. In the Escher wing of the high-rise, details are reminiscent of the art of MC Escher.
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| Cars pause to let a bicyclist pass on Mainland Street. |
Then, as it gets dark, ride the "hop-on-hop-off" bus to soak up twilight's colors from the top of the Vancouver Lookout. Its admission fee is $15.75 CAD, open year-round.
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| Granville Street at night. |
Photography Tip 4:
Find unique urban details and architecture, try HDR and panos. HDR will bring out detail in high contrast light. For panos, many pocket cameras today have built-in panorama stitching to help you take panos. Remember to include interesting subject matter at the right and left sides of the frame in your panorama. For HDR in general, and for time exposures at twilight, consider taking your tripod, ND filter and remote release.
Day Two, Urban Exposures
MORNING
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| An impression of a downtown city park in the summer. |
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| Sculpture climbing on English Bay. |
Take an early photo walk through the city's parks. Inhale the sea aromas of Sunset Beach Park. Make a point to visit the newly-expanded Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. Its "Big Reveal," the expanded renovation, will get your kids enjoying views of beluga whales and rays (open year round, to pre-purchase tickets just Google search Vancouver Aquarium tickets).
AFTERNOON
Try the lunch at The Sylvia. Take photos of its bistro and hotel details before you dine on Bennies at the bistro.
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| A marble lobby at The Syvia Hotel and bistro. |
If you are lucky, your outside table will let you hear the bells, drums and exuberant chants of the 37th annual Hare Krishna Chariot Festival. Its worshippers chant and sing as they pull a thick blue rope, powering a rolling chariot temple along Pacific Street to Beach Ave, and then on to Stanley Park, where the group sets up a free feast tent to serve 20,000 people.
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| The Hare Krishna chariot drums its way down Pacific Street. |
To recharge, take a short stroll from the harbor to enjoy a subtle Japanese cha tea or coffee at Blendz on Davie Street. There, get some images of its colorful neighborhood culture.
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| Sari dresses meet tennis shoes at the Hare Krishna festival walk down Pacific street. |
Photography Tip 5:
To get close to parade action, leave the DSLR behind and take a small point-and-shoot pocket camera. Folks in a parade are more likely to stop and smile for a photographer with a smaller camera. For the Hare Krishna parade, to record the exuberant chanting, singing and drumming, I used a pocket- sized camera for stills and audio/video.
EVENING
After a sauna at the Club Soliel at Kings Landing, photograph a supermoon rising over the city skyline. To explore the feel of a new area, check out a brewery or one of Vancouver's 86 nightclubs. I choose the Yaletown Brewery and its friendly staff, who serve a tasty Super Hop IPA beer and pizza dinners like duck confit pizza.
Day Three, Urban Exposures
MORNING
Get breakfast on Granville Island. Try Terra Breads: its pastries are savory, and will put you in an energetic mood for an Aquabus ferry ride across False Creek. The shoreline of the river, as late as the 1960s, was used by lumber companies and sawmills.
Photography Tip 6:
Photographing city landmarks, it is vital to frame with originality. Compose your shots to include some history of the city as well. And, when you shoot well-known places, try to get twilight or night shots. Find scenes in the afternoon, then return closer to dawn to re-shoot your composition in the golden morning hours.
AFTERNOON
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| Vancouver's Chinatown is the largest in Canada, and one of the largest in North America. |
If the timing is right, catch the annual Chinese Festival. Walk, cab or bus it to the corner of Keefer and Columbia Streets in Chinatown. After sampling some scrumptious dim sum, you might meet Agent Seed Bomb. She is the one dressed up in seed pods. She hands you her web URL written on a dried leaf. Her attire promotes the multi- artist installation at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden.
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| Agent Seed Bomb. |
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| Gwaling Ma on her 90th birthday at Chinatown Plaza. |
EVENING
For your last evening, take a stroll past the Edgewater Casino, through Cooper's Park by the water, and back to your hotel to download all your urban exposures. Back up the images on your travel-sized external drive or device.
Summary of Urban Exposure Photo Tips :
Traval with fast, light gear for more time devoted to picture taking. If you take a larger DSLR, remember to pack a point-and-shoot and take chargers and extra batteries for both cameras. Walking around a city gives us unique views that we otherwise will miss when driving. Set aside uninterrupted time to explore the character of the city, and go into unfamiliar neighborhoods. As you cherish your time, be open to capturing any outdoor cultural events you might see.
Keep it light and fun, and you'll return from your trip with unique urban exposures.
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| Leading a www.jimages.com photo workshop | . |
Thanks for your visit. Jim
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