Thursday, May 4, 2017

Victoria's Inner Harbour at Night

I had reserved a hotel right down by the waterfront in Victoria, 1 block from the Inner Harbour, the highlight of Victoria for me.  So after we left Butchart Gardens we drove down the highway, and found our way downtown (after carefully perusing Google Maps so we wouldn't get too lost).

After catching our breath, we headed out to find someplace to eat.  The Inner Harbour is interesting, with lots of boats coming in and going, and at least on sunny weekends, lots of people.  The B.C. Legislature sits on the south side of the harbour, lit up like this at night.

We did find our way to a restaurant in Trounce Alley, known for its tapas.  Reminded us of Barcelona in Spain.  We had a huge sampler platter for two with a dozen interesting choices, which we couldn't eve finish - delicious!

Walking back around the harbour I experimented with some reflections, all of these just hand-held exposures at a high ISO of 1600.

The harbour itself sported lots of reflections and lights, under a looming partly cloudy sky.

But that Legislature building was the photographic highlight.

We walked around right in front of it to get this picture on the way to the hotel. 

From where we could look back to the famous Empress Hotel that sits on the east side of the harbour, a looming landmark for just over a century, and now a National Historic Site.

*****

Back here at home we're suffering from a second 'Texas Low' in a week.  This radar image of the last storm (which has filled all the rivers, streams and creeks to capacity here), shows well the long band of precipitation extending from the Gulf of Mexico to Ontario.  Since the landscape is already totally saturated from this storm (the one that brought deadly tornadoes to the southern U.S.), we're expecting some local flooding here over the next three days.  But next week should be a great time to photograph waterfalls!  Very unusual for early May, as are the snow flakes forecast for Sunday!

15 comments:

  1. Beautiful night shots! I like about any photo taken at night...

    We have had rain, rain, and more rain.

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  2. Outstanding, and so beautiful, like diamonds all sparkling. Take care with that rain and weather forecast.

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  3. These night shots are fantastic!

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  4. Those are some very good photos right there, google maps are so helpful I use it here too.

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  5. Excellent night time reflections of Victoria, with the rain here we should be good for the summer once its done.

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  6. Great reflection shots. And the weather here has been strange, to say the least. Yesterday it made it all the way to 80 degrees after 59 the day before. Today it should rain most of the day, if the forecast is right. Lots of thunderstorms and lightning last evening! :-)

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  7. Nice night shots! I love it when buildings are lit up at night.

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  8. I've gotten so used to Victoria's landscape through Ben and Fern's blog. Terrific shots, especially the legislature.

    We're getting the rain too, and we don't need it. Places up and down the Ottawa Valley are dealing with flooding conditions.

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  9. The Parliament buildings are lovely at night! I wrote a post (including night shots) about my visit to Victoria BC in 2015 while cruising to Alaska!

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    1. Looked up your 2015 post. Great pictures in that evening light. No cruise ships in town this time!, but interesting to see where they dock.

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  10. Gorgeous photography, FG.
    Yes I used the walk in the woods shot for my header---thanks for liking it.
    We had a storm blow through her yesterday---crazy weather everywhere.
    MB

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  11. What a spectacularly beautiful city, especially by night. Thanks for posting these photos and sharing your experiences in this lovely city.

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  12. The reflection pictures are beautiful. Good luck with the flooding!

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  13. I have never had much look with night shots, but these were terrific and hand-held as well!

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  14. Whoops meant to say much luck, but I have done a lot of looking :-)

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