Morning at the Beach - Landscape Photography

When is a wide angle too wide

There are times when in landscape photography, a wide angle lens is just simply too wide.  When the sky has nothing to offer, but it's color, and when the ground has nothing to offer either.  It's not easy sometimes to photograph the mood of a landscape, when the sky is blue, and the ground is flat and feature less.  Yet there is a certain mood in the air, like that morning on the beach.  There was a mist coming from the ocean, and hanging low on the beach, but the sky was featureless and I had to work hard to find something interesting on the ground.

Big Zoom

This is a perfect time, when the big zooms come out to play in landscape photography.  This is a perfect time to focus on something far away, instead of up close, and that's what I did.  The mist coming out of the ocean, created this incredible mood.  The people walking along the beach became ghosts, appearing and disappearing.  With a long zoom, you can capture a beautiful mood, and add a completely genuine human element to the landscape.  Here are some shots from that beautiful morning.  Enjoy!

Mac

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Candid Beach People - Street Photography

Street Photography... what streets?!?

I don't know if you can call this street photography, as there are no streets really... so what do you call beach people photography?  I guess I'll stick with street photography, since to me that definition basically says, that these are candid photos of people.  Just the setting is a bit different from a street.... it's a beach.  Anyhow, now that we got this out of the way, let's continue. I really enjoy photographing people.  I am normally the biggest introvert you'll ever meet, and going out among people and taking their photo, scares the crap out of me.  I'm usually the creepy creep, training my lens on you, from far away :)

Candid Photography

When people are not aware that you are taking their picture, they behave as they normally would.  The moment they spot a camera pointed at them, their behaviour changes instantly.  They either hide, give you a fake smile, or just pretend to ignore you, but their natural behaviour, that moment, vanishes with out a trace.  This is why I try to use either a very wide angle lens, or a long zoom.  The wide angle is perfect for hip shooting.  What I mean by that is, you pretend to adjust settings on your camera, and without raising the camera to your eye, you take a photo.  Or you carry the camera nonchalantly in your hand, and point in the general direction and hope for the best.  Wide angle lenses are best suited for this, as it is hard to miss the subject.  Other lenses require lots of practice, to know exactly where to point to get that awesome image.  Changing from a 17mm to a 35mm lens had disastrous effects, as none of the hip shooting images came out.  I just didn't know how to aim the lens properly.  So my tip to you is... try hip shooting, or find some balls and don't be afraid of people :D

Here is some examples of beach street shooting, enjoy!

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Long Beach - Landscape Photography

Long Beach... Here we come!

After a full day of traveling from Vancouver, we finally managed to get across to Vancouver Island.  Personally I though the trip across the island to the west coast is going to be relatively short and smooth.  I was wrong.  The nice smooth highways turned, narrow and winding very quickly, and that slowed us down considerably.   It would be a great place for some wonderful landscape photography, unfortunately the roads being so narrow, there was hardly any place to pull over.  This is the time where you soak up the landscape and store it, not on a digital memory card, but a biological memory card in your mind.  It's not easy, being presented with really spectacular British Columbia landscapes, and not being able to capture it with our cameras.  We also had our destination, and a search for a place to stay to consider, and the day was coming to an end.

Arrived

After a long and tiring drive across Vancouver Island, we have finally arrived at the west coast, and started searching for a place to stay.  Almost immediately we found a small bed & breakfast that was quite reasonably priced and very nice.  Still had some a couple of hours, before the sun went down into the ocean, so we drove around looking for a good spot for a beach landscape photography :) . Windy, sand blowing, and a little cold, the beach was far from what we expected.  I dared not the change lenses on the camera, and even though I didn't, I still ended up with a whole bunch of sensor spots on the Sony cameras.  Fuji X-Pro 1, faired a lot better.  No spots, even though it was blasted with beach sand just as bad as the Sony NEX cameras.  Interesting.  Here is what I managed to capture during the last hours of that long day.  Enjoy!

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Traveling British Columbia - Landscape Photography

Traveling British Columbia - Landscape Photography

Driving close to the coast for a sunset spot, proved to be quite difficult.  We have made a couple of bad decisions and ended up in many private driveways, with no access to the shore.  We thought at the start that by the ferry terminal we should find some part of a beach that we can photograph the sunset.  Not so.

Luck

After close to 2 hours of driving back and forth, we finally managed to find a tiny little beach, that wasn't marked private.  Problem was we still had plenty of time before we can try out landscape photography skills on a local sunset.  So we found a spot and waited, and waited, and waited. During that wait, Kasia read books and I observed people around me.  I tried to photograph them, but our location did not give us a lot of chances.  Here is what I came up with that day.  Enjoy!

Traveling British Columbia - Landscape Photography

Traveling British Columbia - Landscape Photography

Traveling British Columbia - Landscape Photography

Traveling British Columbia - Landscape Photography

Traveling British Columbia - Landscape Photography

Traveling British Columbia - Landscape Photography

Summer Evening at Qualicum Beach - Landscape Photography

It's been a while since I have shared some of my shots taken during our summer travel on Vancouver Island ( you can check the last installment from that trip - record of our visit at Victoria’s Craigdarroch Castle in Beautiful British Columbia - Part 7).  During our stay on the Island we have been lucky to spend an evening at Qualicum Beach, being guided by one of our photographic friends, who was kind enough to take us to his favorite part of the coast and, though, the tide was high and most of the beach was covered with water, we still had a chance to take a wonderful walk,  admire the views and, of course, snap a few shots ;D.  It is such a pleasure to watch the sun disappear behind the horizon, making the sky burn! Landscape photography can be so much fun!!! I miss those summer days.. I hope sharing these pictures will take your minds away from this long and cold winter. I took mine off, for sure.  Enjoy! :D Kasia

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Concentrate on the details

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Rocks and rolls..

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The dreams we dream..

The sun goes down, the stars come up..

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Beautiful British Columbia - Part 6 - Travel Photography

Long Beach, one of the most known places in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on Vancouver Island.  Quite a beautiful place, full of sand and driftwood. We have visited it one misty morning (with one short stop in the evening), taking a long walk, enjoying a breeze and the sound of waves.  Lot's of cool stuff to find and take pictures of! As beautiful in the morning as it is in the evening sun.. We were lucky to get a very good light both times (which is not always the case with travel photography) and here is a few pictures I have taken while visiting.  To check our previous post, just click on the following link: Beautiful British Columbia - Part 5 - Travel Photography. Kasia

When we were leaving the beach the second time, I could not resist taking picture of these shoes hanging on the wires.  It's funny, but I think I have seen such things everywhere I have visited.. What is it with people's need to leave them like that?!

To be continued..

Beautiful British Columbia - Part 5 - Travel Photography

Our adventure with travel photography continues.  Some of what we saw before you can check out in my previous post: Beautiful British Columbia - Part 4 - Travel Photography. We've spent a couple of gorgeous evenings at Chesterman Beach. It is one of only a few places on this end of Vancouver Island (close to Tofino) where you can enjoy a sunset.  It was a bit chilly with a strong wind picking up sand that was showering us mercilessly and I was glad I took both my cameras with me, because I wouldn't dare to change a lens in those conditions. And there was a lot of things to capture and without my 200mm lens I would miss out on a lot of shots.. But even if I was there without them I would still enjoy both evenings a lot. It is so relaxing to walk on a beach, watch other people going on their strolls, listening to the waves crashing around you.  Add to it a beautiful sunset and you are in for a treat! Here is a few shots from both  outings. I hope you enjoy!

Kasia

To be continued..

Beautiful British Columbia - Part 4 - Travel Photography

After a day of hiking around Vancouver (see Beautiful British Columbia - Part 3 - Travel Photography - our visit to Lynn Valley) we've decided to do a bit less walking and took a drive to the Horseshoe Bay to explore it a bit and search for a location for a sunset.  We've stopped at a few places along the way and ended up staying for a few hours on a little rocky beach. Don't ask me where these shots were taken, because after a while I completely lost any idea of where we were.. The tide was still pretty low, when we've arrived and it allowed me to take my macro lens and take a closer look at some barnacles and seaweed as well as the surrounding views.  The unfortunate thing about travel photography is that we can't always wait for a better light, having limited time at a certain location. But even with that in mind, using a bit of a different angle one can manage to get a few lovely shots. Here is a few of those from that outing.. Kasia

To be continued..

Beautiful British Columbia - Part 2 - Travel Photography

Jericho Park with its beach were for us the first place to visit in Vancouver, BC.  We have been very lucky to bring with us sunny weather and we were definitely enjoying our evening stroll in the park and the beach.  As I have mentioned in my previous post - Beautiful British Columbia - Part 1 - Travel Photography travel photography allows us to practice shooting in all sorts of environments and this was a pleasure to do so with shiny water, reflecting the sun and in dark shade of park trees.. Here is some of what I saw and captured during our visit.. Kasia

To be continued...

Missing the Beach - When the Weather Turns Cold

It's been rather chilly outside lately and my thoughts are drawn to the memories of Spain and beach, hot sun and waves.. I have been slowly going through some more photos from our April trip to Spain (I did bring a couple of thousand of them back, after all...) and I thought I'd share some of the images of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea and the beach in Almerimar, where we've spent some time enjoying the sun, waves and pebbles, not mentioning a beautiful sunset. So here they are, with my hope that they'll warm all of us up just a bit ;D.  Enjoy! Kasia

Sunset Love

During the last family photography session, we thought it would be good time to take advantage of the beautiful sunset, and have a little session with just mom and dad.  To capture them, and their love.  It was a great mini session at the beach, and the sunset just added that extra something to the experience.  Enjoy!

Family at the beach

Recently we had a great pleasure to photograph a lovely family at the Astotin Lake.  I have to say, it was a wonderful time, and beautiful weather.  Time filled with laughter and happiness.  There is really not much I can say about the experience, only that it was one of those times when I really love being a photographer.  My wife felt the same.  It did not matter that one was shooting with Canon, and the other with Fuji.  It did not matter what lenses we had.  It was the beautiful family in front of us, and our ability to capture the fun, the smiles, and the love.

Cabo de Gata - As I Saw It..

You've all seen Mac's wonderful landscapes in his post Cabo De Gata and more Fuji X-Pro Landscapes.  It always makes me amazed how different two photographers can see the same place.  When Mac was concentrating on landscapes I took time to look closer at flora of the place as well as the wonderful and so different scenery. Of course we have stopped by the beach somewhere between the villages of Cabo de Gata and Almadare de Monteleva. It was with a great pleasure that we have all taken a walk there, searching for some sea shells that would make a great picture, looking at the waves and the blue sky. Such a lovely time to listen to the waves crashing on the beach. The wind was still strong and was ripping water off the waves to carry it inland, creating a haze that was obscuring the view...

On the way to the lighthouse I was asking Mac on occasion to make a stop by the road when I saw something interesting. As always the poppies were my favorite. Such wonderful islands of colour in this dry land! The grasses made for an interesting accent to the scenery as well as interesting rock formations emerging from the sea..

We took a short walk at some point in our trip. It was great to see the blue of the Mediterranean Sea meeting the volcanic rock.

And as we were leaving my boys decided to leave a little mark of our visit (don't worry, all environmentally friendly :))

It's a lovely, lovely place and well worth visiting, if you are ever close by..

Kasia

Sunset by the Sea..

It looked like it was going to be a lovely sunset, after we've gotten back from our Sierra Nevada adventure, so after a brief rest and some food (and boy, what a good food they have there!!!) we have decided to go for a walk on the beach.  It was still windy and with sun going down the temperatures were sure to drop as well, so we bundled up (well, just grabbled long pants and jackets, after all what is a little Spanish wind to hardened by winter Canadians!?), grabbed our cameras and took the kids for an evening stroll.

As you can see, we did not even get to the beach yet and the colours and light were already changing and making the world look magical.

And than we walked towards the sea..

And, as the night was approaching, the lights came up and it was a different sort of magic all together...

Kasia

Goodnight to California... and goodbye

I thought what better way to finish the series of posts from California and Disneyland, then with a lovely sunset at Santa Monica beach.  As typical to any sunset at the beach, lots of people came out. There were even some guys that had tripods, huge backpacks and set themselves up right by the ocean.  Personally if I had that gear with me I would probably find some secluded part of the beach so people do not walk in front of the camera, but that's just me.  So goodbye California, hope to see you someday....

Christa

I can consider myself lucky.  I have met one of my favourite photographers, whom I've blog stalking for a while now.  It's none other than Christa Meola. In my opinion she has an amazing way of capturing life as it passes.  It was an awesome meeting, although I was very nervous, almost like a student trying to pass an exam in front of a teacher.  Tons of things I wanted to ask, just completely evaporated out of my head.  It was quite interesting watching her work.  She used us as test subjects, and I was floored by the simplicity of it all.  One camera, one lens, no extra lights... everything very minimalistic, and very, very inspiring.  So a very big thank you, Christa for spending the time with us.  It was inpirational, educational, and wonderful to meet you! ..... I did manage to snap a few shots of Christa working her magic.... and here they are.... enjoy!

Being a fly on the wall in California

I love observing people.  Specially when they do not know they are being observed.  Yes, it's a little voyeuristic of me, but people are fun in their natural environment.  No posing, no artificial smiles, just pure humanity at it's best.  Most of these shots were done during our outing in Santa Monica, and some at Disneyland.  It was fun shooting those.  I find that having a long zoom for these works best.  One can be pretty far away, to be noticed.  Enjoy.

This guy was all over the park by the Santa Monica beach.  He was just moving from place to place, and dancing away his little routine.  Quite interesting display.

Santa Monica

What would a vacation in California be, without seeing the ocean, and sampling of at least one beach?  I thought exactly the same thing.... so off we went to Santa Monica.  Yes there are closer beaches to Anaheim, but Santa Monica it was for a few reasons.  The main reason, was that we were meeting up with an awesome photographer there, namely Christa Meola.  I'll get to that meeting in a later post.... but let's just say, this has made my day.  It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, albeit a little too windy at times.  The ocean was surprisingly warm.  At least warm  enough to get your legs wet.  The kids had a blast.  At one point my youngest, Sebastian, got pulled in a little by a retreating wave, and fell into the water..... of course I was snapping pictures :) ... Enjoy.

Weekend sunset trip part 2

This is the second part of the Alberta Beach sunset trip.  Enjoy.