sights of vancouver city

Jericho beach overlooking downtown Vancouver

Jericho beach
blossoming cherry trees at the kits

stanley park

totem poles

stanley park, overlooking bc place and harbour centre


vancouver yacht club
jericho beach

work in progress

rays of light beneath the clouds

white, red and navy

100+ years old holy rosary church, yaletown

glass building

view of kerrisdale quay, north van

budding cherry tree

canada place, waterfront

canada place

harbour

bc place

harbour centre lookout, viewing deck

citadel heights overlooking grouse mountain

Portmann bridge

yellow cab

Robson's fabulous fashion strip

clock tower

Jesus is the Light

bench

lady bug

westin plaza glass building

pillars and bicycles

pigeon savoring french bread crumb

Vancouver Public Library

solitary stroll on a deserted alley

chinese lady, selling chinese herbs in chinatown

souvenir shop

It was not-so-sunny last Saturday. Hazy. Chilly. But good enough for me to have the courage to go out and enjoy the remaining days of spring break vacation with my family. I was surprised because we visited familiar places more than we expected. Originally, we just thought of going to Vancouver Public Library and Robson strip and maybe chill-out in one of the Starbucks coffee shops afterwards. I have been really planning for like years now to visit Vancouver Public Library. I haven’t been there at all. With my passion and love of books, I don’t know why I haven’t been able to visit this magnificent landmark, I can’t believe it myself!

So, off we went to downtown! I brought along with me my Nikon DSLR. I really am enjoying my new SLR camera. It was a birthday present from my husband. Isn’t he such a sweet guy? One day I was organizing and editing our old family photos, I asked myself -- why not take it to the next level? I am always up for a challenge anyways and always interested to learn something new. From then, I’ve become taken with the art of digital photography.

Photography to me is an art of interpretation. A way to capture a memory and a moment in time. I have always been interested in capturing great images from my own perspective. But with my previous Canon digital camera, it only offers point-and-shoot feature, so you can't really do much about it. It’s not a crappy one at all, in fact I had used it to numerous occasions and vacation travels already. My husband knew all along that I have been getting disappointments and dissatisfying results from the shots taken, and so I was not really surprised when he gave me a new DSLR. I was ecstatic!

As we walk along the bustling streets of downtown Vancouver, I had so much fun time taking some shots. A lot actually - from high rising towers, modern architectural buildings, busy streets, local shops, landmarks, and other interesting subjects that caught my eye, one of my favorites is the deserted alley. I liked the connection of the narrow pathway and the leading lines created by the alignment of the electrical posts.

We walked block by block, from Yaletown to Georgia, Hastings, Pender, Burrard to Robson. It's always fun getting around the city with my family, they are so sweet actually, and always very supportive, they understand me well, why mummy has stop walking everytime, and has to take hundreds of photos all the time, they do get-me why I do some silly things sometimes.

As they crossed the street, I was still on the other side of the street, so occupied, so focused, and took as much shots I can possibly take. I leaned. I kneeled. Stooped and bend. And had tried different position just to get the right composition while I looked through my viewfinder. I continuously clicked the shutter away and made sure the foreground have the right balance with the background. And most importantly, I followed the rule of thumb - the rule of thirds.

When I am taking photos, I try to make my photos interesting enough the way that other people want to see it, making it simple too without any distracting scenery. Right now, I am not concentrating much about the technical aspects of the photography just as yet, such as shutter speed, aperture, depth of fields, etc, which I think can be learned later on. I am still a newbie anyways and still much to learn about photography 101. Overall, we had a great time and I was satisfied with the result. My husband thought that my shots were great, and so with my kids.