After posting my last waterfall photo, someone asked if I had been to Mary Vine Falls. Not only had I not been there, I had never even heard of it! Funny thing is, it’s only about a 10 minute hike from a spot I’ve been to countless times.

So I ventured out on a Saturday morning to check it out. It was a beautiful day, so needless to say it was quite busy on the trail. When I got to the falls, there were 3 photographers already in place. I waited patiently for my turn, but by that time, more had gathered and were in line behind me. I fired a few shots off, but I couldn’t get to the position I really wanted to shoot from and wasn’t happy with the results.

A couple days later I went back, and this time I had the spot to myself for an hour and a half! It was glorious, and I came home with much better photos.

I spent quite a while on this edit, as I tried a new technique to ensure the foliage is in focus. This is a 30 second exposure, and as you might imagine, leaves move around with the slightest breeze. So this time, I took a long exposure, then another shot at 1/60s and stacked them. Now I have silky smooth water, and everything else is nice and sharp. Stoked!

#photography #longexposure #longexposurephotography #longexposurewaterfall #waterfall #forest #sooke #vancouverisland #canada #explorebc #explorecanada #tourismvictoriabc #tourismbc #victoriahype #travelbc #discoverbc #westcoastlife #pnw #pnwlife #maryvinefalls ...

One of my favourite aspects of photography, is finding beauty in just about anything. Sometimes, I find myself hundreds of feet in the air. Other times, I'm kneeling on the ground capturing the smallest details.

#photography #macro #macrophoto #macrophotography #macroworld #closeupshot #closeupmagic #nature #beautyinnature ...

Got some night photography practice in. Was hoping for the milky way, but the only clouds were lingering in that part of the sky. This dock and boat made for a pretty decent subject, with the town of Sooke in the background.

#night #nightphoto #nightphotography #boat #dock #harbour #sooke #sookeharbour #whiffinspit #smalltown #pnw #pnwlife #longexposure #reflection ...

Cradled rain drop. ...

The moon caught my eye as I was heading back in the house after roasting marshmallows (for s’mores) with my girls. Grabbed my camera and started firing off shots. Lunar photography is neat, in that it’s different from pretty much everything I normally do. Entirely handheld, fast shutter speed, fairly wide aperture. Basically, snap a bunch off and hope at least one is perfectly in focus. It’s hard to tell until you get back to a large screen and zoom way in.

Captured this with my 70-300mm lens, fully extended. ISO 100, f/8, 1/250s.

This one’s for my sister. While chatting last week she asked if I could take decent photos of the moon with my setup. Lacking confidence, I said “Yeah, probably.” While I had to crop in pretty far, this is definitely good enough for social media. ...

This photo is kind of a big deal for me. For the past few months, I’ve been spending an abundance of time learning about photography. From the basics of composition, to the most advanced editing techniques, and everything in between. But there’s one thing I haven’t been doing, and that’s getting out and actually taking photos.

Last night, I had planned to go out to my favourite beach, but the entire coast was blanketed in fog. I decided to make the best of my time out and went for a stroll down the beach. On the drive home, I noticed the last bit of sun hitting a section of a different beach out my window. So I parked my car and hurried down, hoping to at least get a few shots in. After nearly tripping on a river otter (seriously), I made it close enough and found a log that provided a decent bit of foreground.

So, this photo is a culmination of many things I’ve learned over the past few months. It’s my first time focus stacking, I tried exposure bracketing, I used a 2 second timer to avoid camera shake, I used back button focusing, I literally sat on the beach with my tripod about a foot off the ground. And to top it off, I edited this myself without the help of presets. I’m less interested in creating photos that are trendy with moody tones and denatured colours, and more interested in creating photos that are vivid and really show the beauty of this landscape that surrounds me.

If you made it this far, thanks so much for your time and interest. I really appreciate every like and comment I receive, and the support from my friends and family has been overwhelming. Thank you! ...