Shelagh's Lens
Bringing Vancouver and the world to inspired travellers
Beachcombing
We’re down by the water yet again; this is also from our afternoon at Whytecliffe Park. I love this washed up log with all its whorls, and the contrast with the texture and colours of the surrounding stones.
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Tree With A View
Enjoying the tail end of this Easter weekend, we spent the afternoon at Whytecliffe Park, where you can watch cruise ships, ferries, sailboats and more glide past your eyes. There were no seals in sight today, but I did get a great shot of the back side of a hummingbird.
We made our way over to the beach and, after scrambling up a rocky point, inhaled the clean ocean air and enjoyed this view. To reach this particular windswept tree, you’d want to follow the incline in the shot below, traipse up and over the summit of the point, and then down again, to the outcropping just above the waters.
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Tunnel Vision
After watching the birds swoop and fish around Florida’s Seven Mile Bridge, it was time to follow some steps to a landing adjacent to the underbelly of the bridge.
In our past home gardens, I loved creating repetitive sweeps of colour, form or much loved fragrance. I think that’s why I enjoy these two shots; despite the variations in lighting and atmosphere, they both benefit from the repetition of pillars that seem to diminish in size. This repetition is countered by variations in terms of the feathered inhabitants, which become more subtle as they are subsumed in the mists.
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Looking at You
The Florida Keys are home to cranes and an assortment of birds. I was glad to have pulled over by Seven Mile Bridge near Marathon, southwest of Key Largo and Islamorada, on a beautiful afternoon the day before this visit. 
On approaching the same spot a second day, I was treated to an entirely different series of images, as the sun, skies and waters were for the most part smudged by fog. You have hints of the spectacular water colour in the shot above, while I see the inspiration for a haiku in the elegant wing extensions below.
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Falling Off the Horizon
Key West, Florida. I snapped a number of shots as the waters drew in the sun, and thought about the frame in the context of our planet as the round, orbiting sphere it is. I’ve taken more than a few shots from plane windows from such a perspective, and shifted the angle of my lens.
The result makes me think of long-ago perceptions that the earth was flat, and a sense that these boats and buoys could readily topple backward end over end, scattering off the edge of the horizon and out of this frame – leaving only the waters and the sky.
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Tender
While I love photographing a range of subjects- people, landscapes, buildings and (as seen on my other site) florals, there’s a particular delight in being able to capture winged creatures.
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Bird and Cargo
It’s not often that an art installation pops up in the midst of one’s home, but that wasn’t an issue for this feathered friend, who nests in Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, an 83-acre property in Florida’s Coral Gables.
During my first visit to this gorgeous site, I was able to enjoy an exhibition – underway until the end of May 2015 – of Dale Chihuly’s glass sculptures. The happy integration of flora, fauna and glass are such that it would be easy to while away a full day here and return the next, still wanting more.
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Geometrics
Late afternoon on the last Saturday of winter, the Georgetown University men’s basketball team, cheerleaders, drummers and fans made their way across campus for a game against Utah.
Meanwhile, inside Healy Hall, rectangular sunbeams lit up the floor while their shadowy counterparts wrapped the brick columns and barreled through the door window.
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Pretty Flamingo
We had a flock of flamingos once on our front lawn, but they were the manufactured kind and a bit of housewarming fun arranged by a relative.
So, it was a real treat recently to see real, live flamingos in the flesh. I loved watching them twist and turn their necks before tucking them beneath their feathers as part of nestling in for comfort. While not sure just how I did expect them to sound, it was a fun surprise to hear their collective calls sound somewhat like ducks.
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In to the Sunset
Key West, the southernmost city in the continental US, is closer to Cuba than it is to Miami. Just a couple of blocks from the party street named Duval, you’ll find yourself in the Truman Annex, which has both historical significance and the most charming examples of Americana one could hope to find.
You’re also a short stroll from the entrance to a naval air base, an in-town lighthouse, and sites such as Ernest Hemingway’s Florida home. The city has an interesting healthy rooster population as well; more on them in an upcoming post.
Come evening, there are a number of spots from which you can enjoy a great sunset; I caught this one from Mallory Square.
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