Saturday the 24th I decided to shoot landscapes in the morning. I'd been out birding in the early morning a few times out around Ladner, and I was always sorta struck by the farms in the early morning light. So I finally gave in and did a morning of mainly landscape. (I did manage to get a few birds in the landscape, as you might expect of me.)

I headed forth at 7am, which is really a little too late to get the real early light on things. I only got one subject lit by reddish light. I pulled over to the side of the connector (the highway that runs from the south end of the Queensborough Bridge over to just north of the Massey Tunnel) and pointed my camera northwest. So this is a farm in northeast Richmond, I guess.

I continued my drive towards Ladner and Tsawassen through the Massey Tunnel, and stopped at the flooded field to the right of the road to Tsawassen. There I found this Bald Eagle enjoying a little breeze. I took this shot with a highly non-recommended procedure; I had two teleconverters (a 1.4x and a 2x) inbetween my zoom lens and the camera. This setup requires a ton of light and generally makes for blurry pictures. Most of the pictures I took this way are unusable.

After that little experiment, I went down to the base of the ferry jetty and turned right down a road that I'd never been down before. It leads immediately onto Tsawassen Native land. Off to my right, I spotted a field full of Great Blue Herons. So I got out and took a few shots of them, one with the Roberts Bank Superport behind.

And one with the train line behind.

It was fun to have to really play with the camera to try to get the effects I wanted...the problems seem quite different than the ones that I face in photographing birds.

I moved on from this spot, stopping every now and then to photograph a farm or some farm equipment. Here's one of the farms.

As I was driving around, I had my way blocked by a container train, so I parked the car and got out and took photos.

I continued to stop and take photos of farms, slowly working my way westward. I got the following shot, which really seemed to want a wider format than my usual 3 by 2. Widen your window if you can't see it all. :o)

I soon ran into the road that goes along the shore, which I usually take when I go to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary. Since I was in the neighborhood, I decided to head over there. On the way, I stopped and took a few photos of this field.

Reifel is on Westham Island, which is a small island that is all farms and nature preserve. On the main road across the island, I got the following shot. I'm not sure what the building is, but it's an interesting shape to have sticking up out of the field.

And thus ends my morning of landscape. Later in the morning, and in the afternoon, I got a few interesting bird photos at Reifel. Nothing new in the way of species, though; just the usual suspects. I'll post a few of those photos in my next entry.

All the best,
Tom