I just arrived at Stanley Park and noticed a small patch of wild crocus growing under a tree. They were lit perfectly by a ray of sun that poked through the large, dense trees of Vancouver. This is one of those moments in photography when the timing is everything.
When I saw this Dragonfly land on my English Ivy, I immediately rushed to get my camera. I didn't want to scare it away, so I moved around as carefully as I could, trying to find the perfect picture. Just as I started to get frustrated with my efforts, the dragonfly flew away.
An extreme low angle of the 4 foot Allium flowers I spotted at the Rose Pavillion in Stanley Park, Vancouver. Complete with some lens flare at the personal request of J.J. Abrams.
I found these three Allium flowers in the Rose Pavilion at Stanley Park, Vancouver. They were around 4 feet tall, not a giant by any stretch of the imagination, but still quite tall for a flower.
It really looks like the bigger Starfish is holding onto the smaller one. I took this picture from the Sea Wall in Stanley Park, Vancouver.
Kyoboku is Japanese for "giant tree", a fitting name for this picture since it was taken just outside the Kinkaku-Ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan.
A spider hanging out at the Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, Japan.
Pink and Yellow tulips from the Canadian Tulip Festival, a 10 day festival that is held each May in Ottawa. A tradition of over 60 years, it is the largest tulip festival in the world!
This picture was taken at Commissioners Park during the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa. On the banks of Dows Lake there are nearly 300,000 tulips that bloom each year, in 60 different varieties. These tulips were a gift to Canada, to preserve the history and heritage of Canada's role in liberating the Dutch during the second World War. You can read more about this festival by clicking here.
I saw this baby Japanese macaque monkey at Iwatayama Monkey Park, in Kyoto Japan. The monkeys in this park roam freely with the people, the staff only ask that you don't stare them in the eye for too long!
The December 2013 Ice Storm was devastating to many in Ontario and the surrounding areas. The weight of thick ice accumulation caused utility poles and trees to collapse, leaving many without heat or electricity during the coldest period of the year. Taken in Toronto, this picture captures one of the few moments of beauty that occurs to a landscape crushed by ice.
A low angle of a Black Capped Chickadee against a cold, winter sky. Reminds of me Totoro for some reason...
This bird is known as a Black Capped Chickadee, but spell check is convinced it's a Black Capped Cheesecake. If you bring any seeds or breadcrumbs to the Lime Kiln Trail in Ottawa, and wait patiently with your hand out, the birds might come to eat from your hand. I got this picture as one of the birds was looking at my Dad, determining if it was safe enough to drop down for a snack on his palm. Turns out the elderly Italian man is well trusted in this forest!
A long angle shot from the Gio-ji Temple of Arashiyama, Japan.
We stopped under this tree for some shade and water. It's a beautiful tree hanging over a bench near the entrance to Stanley Park, on the edge of Coal Harbour in Vancouver.
I'm not sure exactly what flower this is will become, but I took this picture in North Vancouver, at Waterfront Park. The detail of the trichomes is best seen when the image is fully zoomed. Click the + symbol in the top right of the image and check out those plant hairs!
Red Begonia flowers from the Stanley Park Pavilion in Vancouver, with a vintage twist.
I don't know which name I like more, Black Eyed Susan or Rudbeckia Hirta? I spotted these beauties in a flower bed at the Stanley Park Pavilion in Vancouver.
I discovered these Eryngium flowers at the Stanley Park Pavilion in Vancouver. I absolutely love how the bokeh turned out in this picture, it almost looks like a painting.
Bokeh, you say?
This is a Pickerel Frog, not to be confused with the Northern Leopard Frog. You can tell the difference between the two species by looking at the shape of the spots. The Pickerel frog has square spots, usually in rows, and the leopard has round spots in a more random pattern. I took this picture at Sandbanks Provincial Park in Ontario.
I took this photo in Lynn Canyon Park, a temperate rain-forest located not far from our home in North Vancouver.
These flowers are actually quite amazing. They root in the soil beneath the water and the flowers and large round leaves float to the top. At first I thought this was a lotus, but after researching I realized it is in fact a Water Lily. I took this picture at Beaver Lake, within Stanley Park, Vancouver.
There was a rather large group of ducks hanging out at Beaver Lake in Stanley Park, Vancouver. It seemed to me that this one duck was the big boss of the gang. It was larger then the rest and it stood on that rock watching over everything for a while; long enough for me to snap a picture!
These are Mallard Ducks from Beaver Lake, the most common of "dabbler ducks". They spend a lot of time on shallow water, tipping up so that they can scrounge for plants and insects. But in this picture they are just hanging out and looking pretty cool with that lens flare.
Punk, Corn Dog Grass, Cumbungi, Bulrush, Typha, or Cattail, this is a flower plant that goes by many names. I took this picture on the Lime Kiln Trail in Nepean, a beautiful suburb of Ottawa.
Growing up we always had a lot of plants and flowers around us. My Dad would take care of the vegetable garden and my Mom would take care of the flowers. This is one of the many Orchid flowers my Mom cares for in her flower room.
Here is another one of my Mom's flowers. There are many types of Lily flowers but this one is a Lillium Candidum, also known as the Madonna Lily. She kept this Lily flower outside during the sunny summer days.
This beautiful 8-foot Rhododendron bush is located at the entrance to Chiba Garden in North Vancouver, a small Japanese Edo period garden. The garden was built to celebrate Western Canada's deep ties to Japan, and to symbolize the friendship between sister cities North Vancouver and Chiba, Japan. The size of this "woody plant" was a real treat to see and capture, given that a flowering of this scale is rarely seen outside of Asia.
I took this photo on the Lime Kiln Trail in Ottawa's Greenbelt. My mom took a picture of me taking this picture because she thought it was funny that I had to lay in the the dirt to get this shot. Totally worth it to see those tree rings!
Another photo from the the Lime Kiln Trail. Did you know that the Birch Tree is sometimes known as "The Watchful Tree" because of the eye-like impressions in the bark? Can you spot any eyes on this tree?
I was enjoying the sunset at Third Beach in Stanley Park when a Seagull started to walk by. I got down to take a picture and was waiting for the bird to walk right in front of the sun so that I could get a silhouette. An older woman sitting next to me cried out to warn me, "there's a seagull walking into your picture!" Not knowing I was taking a silhouette picture, the kind lady eventually approved of the final image.
This crow is reflecting deeply on life. I took this picture at the Burrard Dry Dock in North Vancouver.