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2022 Calendar Photography of BC

2022 Calendar
Photography of BC

I thought it would be a great idea to write stories about each image in my 2022 calendar so that if you purchased one (or just want to read the stories) you have an intimate knowledge of how I arrived in the situation to take that particular photo. Let’s do them in order!

January 2022

This photo is from Princeton, the day before I broke down. Living in a van, I was always using the app iOverlander to look for parking spots for the night. There was a rest stop north of the Similkameen River, a few kilometres out of town along Old Hedley Rd. I got there and the pullout was buried in several feet of snow. Apparently they don’t plough rec sites in winter. The scenery was spectacular though, and I didn’t mind catching photos of the winter wonderland. That night I stayed near the Weyerhauser Plant. Less quaint but easier to get out of. That night the temperature dropped to -20 and my furnace and starter weren’t happy. There’s a video that I recorded but never ended up posting about the day my van broke down in Osoyoos. Maybe some day. This horse (and a few others) were on the way to the original rest stop. My purpose of going there was, obviously, to see the winter wonderland. 

February 2022

Denman Island. In Google it’s described as: Island destination for picturesque nature views & a small community with a quiet village atmosphere. This is where I spent my birthday in 2021. Christin rented a studio and was there for a month. I took Armondo and drove there to have a roof and shower for a few days (and see my friend on my birthday!) Prior to this trip, I had always thought of Denman as the place that makes chocolate that you pass through on the way to Hornby Island. Both facts are still true but there’s more to it than that. We stayed on the north shore, looking at Hornby, and went on several little hikes/walks. This one was to the Gladstone Way Beach Access point, the beach apparently has no name that I can find. I could do a calendar with pictures from this area alone.

March 2022

Elfin Lakes! I absolutely love this location! Actually taken during fall of 2020. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone. I hiked up here with two friends, and learned that my hiking boots hurt my feet a lot. We saw a bear on the way back down, literally ON the path. We had to very carefully walk around him (or her) but he/she seemed happy eating berries and wasn’t bothered by us. The hut you see here was closed due to Covid, but the tent pads were spectacular, overlooking Garibaldi Park. 

April 2022

During one of my trips to the Sunshine Coast, I happened to be dining at Canoe’s on the waterfront in Sechelt at Davis Bay. The sky started doing this pink thing and I ran to grab my camera from the van. I’m so glad I did! I may have put an excessive amount of sunsets in this calendar, but, I like them. I’ve since started using this particular sunset in other images and making interesting pixelated versions of the sky. I may do a blog post about that at some point in the future.

May 2022

Welcome to the “hidden waterfall” at Sombrio Beach. My cousin Junne sees a man in a hat in this picture. Hi Junne πŸ‘‹πŸ» Despite the fact that it is listed in Google, I may not have found it had it not been for a couple I met along the way, who hiked with me to the beach and knew where the waterfall was. It is almost identical to a waterfall in Iceland that I saw in 2019 called Gljufrabui! I should probably do a calendar of Iceland, or at least a blog post. I don’t actually think I’ve even finished looking at all my pictures from Iceland.

June 2022

Birches in Northern BC. Imagine my surprise and delight to see hundreds of kilometres of birch trees along our bike route last summer! This was one of the first photos taken on the “great cycle trip of 2021” from Prince George to Watson Lake, YT. I can’t tell you how happy they made me. I have more images of these trees than I care to admit, let’s just say I’m glad it was digital so I didn’t have to carry extra “film”. 

July 2022

Klein Lake at Sunset. This is a bit of a magical spot, and I wouldn’t post it except I don’t think all that many people read my blogs (due to extremely infrequent posting). In any case, I love how the sunset reflects in the water. I like the lens flare. It’s kind of a cool peaceful sunset. I’m surprised that no one was in the lake at that moment. Maybe I should have jumped in. This was taken during one of my van adventures on the Sunshine Coast. 

August 2022

The Pine Pass, in the Hart Ranges of the Northern Rockies of British Columbia, connects the Peace Country of the province’s Northeastern Interior. If you look on my Instagram you will see Bijoux Falls. I’ll never forget seeing the windy road snake uphill from the beginning of the pass. Oof.  This is our reward for cycling up and over our first pass, Lake Azouzetta. Also the second and final calendar photo from the Epic Bike Trip of 2021 with Christin. I’m lucky I managed to arrive in time to see this. I left late that afternoon, and rolled into the campground moments before sunset.

September 2022

Here we are, back in the van (Armondo) after the bike trip, and heading back south through the Okanagan because I had to return bike gear to someone I borrowed it from. Obviously I stopped at this lookout over Kamloops Lake to enjoy the epic landscape and sunset. You can barely see it in the picture, but there’s a train on the opposite side of the lake, creeping around the north side. Coming from a rainforest, I really appreciate the arid landscape of this region. Since all this driving around, we had that storm in November which wiped out the Coquihalla, a road I frequented. I’m eternally grateful I got to experience the province so intimately.

October 2022

Sunset from Cortes Island looking over at Vancouver Island. Also the cover shot. I don’t think I would ever be able to figure out what mountain this is, but I know it’s in Strathcona Provincial Park on the Island. Never having been on Cortes before, I’ve never seen this angle of those mountains. The sun set just to the right of the peaks. Let me know if you want to see that picture. This will also prove to me that people occasionally read my posts 😁

November 2022

Oh look, a sunset. This one is at Jordan River on the west coast of Vancouver Island. This is another spot I have a bajillion photos of. Also taken during my #vanlife phase, all of the campgrounds were covid closed on the circle route from Lake Cowichan through Port Renfrew to Sooke. I drove past this point a few times (see this blog post image) and saw vans parked there. Eventually I pulled over and parked there. People were having a fire on the beach and everyone was really friendly! I made some overnight friends, and when the sun set, the tide was out, and I ran out with both cameras to capture both wide and close up shots of nature and lumps of sand (and reflections, obviously).

December 2022

This was taken in September 2021, on the Sunshine Coast. I was working for Hipcamp as a photographer, and I went to “Christian Park” where this man has spent the last ten years landscaping a gorgeous plot of land, and building this cabin. The sky cleared and I was there alone so I sat outside on the lawn for a good 30 minutes taking various photos of the milky way. This was my last month of vanlife, and probably one of the last trips I went on in Armondo. I returned home shortly after and sold him the following month.

Now it’s your turn, feel free to let me know what you’d love to see in a calendar for next year!

I have photos of Iceland, macro nature shots, tropical locations, trees. All the trees. Thanks for reading! 

A week in the life Nov 2021

A week in the life Nov 21, 2021

This is primarily a writing exercise. I wanted to outline one of my weeks, mainly for posterity. Highlights include visiting the English Bay Barge, forest bathing and supporting artists at the Eastside Culture Crawl. Read More

Photography of Mechanical Rooms

Mechanical Room Photography

This is kind of funny but it’s not a joke!
Every now and then I’m sent on assignment to photograph buildings inside and out, cover to cover. This often leads to my photographing things I find hilarious…mechanical rooms! Also, electrical rooms, elevator rooms, and parking lots. For the purpose of this blog I’ll just show you some of the mechanical rooms, and hopefully I made them look somewhat appealing.

The Cool Grey

Calming isn’t it? Peaceful you might say. One of the 2022 colours of the year is called “skylight” and it’s a pale grey colour, very similar to the walls and ceiling in this room. You wouldn’t expect a forward-thinking mechanical room would you?! This one is quite clean and well maintained, with little clutter on the floor. We like mechanical rooms like this.

Warm wood

I may never fully understand why some people need pictures of rooms like this (I actually DO understand why, but I still find it amusing, and so does every building manager who has the pleasure of escorting me to all of these rooms). It’s probably worth noting that I am no longer asked to photograph these rooms. I think it could have to do with checking safety equipment.

Work with what you’ve got

I do my very best to enhance the mechanical rooms so that they look their best. Having a wide lens capable of letting in a lot of light, is extremely helpful. If you, or anyone you know, is looking for a top notch photo of a mechanical or electrical room, look no further. πŸ™‹πŸΌβ€β™€οΈ

 

Nice pipes

Yup, even mechanical rooms have their good sides. As you probaby know, I have a thing for lines and patterns (and reflections, but you don’t find those as often in mechanical rooms). No shortage of lines though. Look at all these pipes! Oh, and the lighting. Often the lighting is, well, poor, or at the very least extremely yellow, so in many cases, these images look better than being there in person. I guess that answers my earlier question about why someone would hire me to photograph them.

Racing Stripes

Fancy walls are very important in mechanical rooms. You can see how the lighting discolours the walls on the left, and the orange reflects a little. I mean, it might as well be enjoyable for the building manager or maintenance person who spends time in the rooms right? I have to say, I do enjoy going to these rooms simplly because it’s outside the scope of “normal”. 

Gotta hit them angles

What do you think, are you enticed to go see the mechanical room in your building? These are the neatest, cleanest ones I’ve seen, many do not score as high. I’d be amused to know how yours measures up, feel free to share! 😁

Vanlife Adventures in BC

Vanlife Adventures in BC

Well, as most of you know by now I’ve been on the “road” since January 15th, living mainly in my van Armondo.Read More

How to prepare for your headshot photography session

How To Prepare For Your Photo Shoot

Here are some tips for how to prepare for your professional headshot photography session. Your headshot is a powerful marketing tool that is often the first thing a client seesRead More

Minimalism and Design

Minimalism & Design

What is it about minimalist design that we love?

Perhaps it is the concept of potential. It’s like a blank slate where anything is possible.Read More

Olympic Peninsula Photography Workshop with Art Wolfe

Olympic Peninsula Photography Workshop with Art Wolfe

The rainy season is upon us and it’s the perfect time to catch up on long-overdue writing. In spring of 2019 I went to our sister rainforest in the Olympic Read More

Vancouver Realtor Josh Kepkay

I never seem to find/make time to write about the amazing people I do business with! As a real estate and architectural photographer, I work with a LOT of realtors Read More

Gallery of Vancouver Images

CLICK HERE FOR GALLERY OF VANCOUVER IMAGES

Reading the post is optional πŸ˜‰I’ve been trying to think of ways to be useful during the pandemic while shoots are at an all time low. There are no events for me to photograph, and social (physical) distancing guidelines discourage headshots so I thought I’d revisit my best pictures of Vancouver and share them with you! You might not be able to have a shoot, but you probably still need photos. In case you need any content for social media, these images are all sized correctly for Instagram, and have a small watermark on them.

These images have been taken within the past two years, and constitute a small collection of Vancouver neighbourhood images, a few view and aerial images, and some images from backcountry hikes I’ve been on.

Everyone is sending out Zoom background images, but when I went to test to see what resolution you need, it turns out you can only put a background on a Zoom meeting if you have the premium version (which I do not). So, I thought I’d stick with Instagram.

The link to the gallery is here, and you can download one image at a time, but download as many as you like! If you want to crop out the watermark, feel free to do so but please credit me @suzannerushton if you decide to use it. I’d love to see them in your feeds!

I feel like these images are perfect for realtors, designers, anyone living in Vancouver who doesn’t want to go outside and take photos right now, or any tourism based business. Or maybe you don’t live here and just want to be reminded of Vancouver.

Regardless, without further ado, here they are again

CLICK HERE FOR GALLERY OF VANCOUVER IMAGESRead More

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