British Columbia Magazine

Do you have any big ideas for the rest of  2013? How about trying to ascend Fairweather Mountain, British Columbia’s highest peak? Our contributors writer Andrew Findlay and  photographer Steve Ogle did just that and came back with quite a tale (and all their digits!) as well as some amazing photographs and video footage. Put on a sweater, make a hot drink, and enjoy these images from the team’s adventure, profiled in our Winter 2012 issue. You can view the photos here and the video below.

Video

David R. Gluns of Nelson has photographed a vast range of landscapes for British Columbia Magazine, from granite spires to canoe circuits and wildflower fields. Here, he shares this advice for great landscape images:

“Add the human element. People give landscapes scale.  They also help create the sense of ‘being there’ for the viewer.  Not only do I like to have people in my images, I also like them to be wearing a bit of colour, so that they “pop out” and draw the eye in. On the other hand, clothing needs to be chosen carefully so that it’s appropriate for the person and what they’re doing in the image.  Visually, you get more impact with one person than a group as it allows the viewer to identify with that person. What if you don’t have a person to add?  Set up your tripod and make yourself part of the scene.” 

For examples of this technique see David R. Gluns’s website or his photo gallery on our website, Hiking the Great Divide. 

We’ll be sharing more helpful photo tips over the coming weeks.  Don’t forget: the deadline to enter the British Columbia Magazine Photo Contest is February 20, 2013!

To help you take better wildlife photos, Paul Colangelo, who had the very difficult task of photographing elk for our current issue’s cover story, “Operation elk” (Fall 2012), offers the second of his wildlife photography tips:

Observe your subject and be patient

“Spend a lot of time observing the animals. This will help you understand your subject and detect patterns in their behaviour, which will allow you to anticipate their movements. Be patient. It can take time for wildlife to accept your presence and carry on with their regular behaviour,” he says. “Finally, you simply have to put in your time. I often think of all the incredible scenes in the wild that are unfolding at any moment. If you spend a lot of time with wildlife, a great image is bound to reveal itself.

This photograph of a coyote was taken after observing the animal for a week. The coyote would emerge at this spot every morning just before sunrise to try to catch the beaver as it left its lodge, which was in the bank beneath the coyote. I waded into the lake, set up a couple of flashes for some fill light, and waited for it to arrive.”

Happy shooting… stay tuned for another wildlife photography tip from Paul, coming soon. Click here to enter our Photo Contest.

To help you take better wildlife photos, we turned to Paul Colangelo, who had the very difficult task of photographing elk for our current issue’s cover story, “Operation elk” (Fall 2012).  Here is Paul’s first wildlife photography tip:

Know your subject. “Research the behaviour and evolution of your subject. Knowing the what, where, when, why, and how of the species’ behaviour will help you anticipate the animal’s moves, and just as importantly, it will help you create a shot list,” advises Paul. “For example, knowing that mute swans perform a poetic courtship ritual, I aimed to show their behaviour in a manner that suggests romance in this image.”

Happy shooting… stay tuned for another wildlife photography tip from Paul, coming soon. Click here to enter our Photo Contest.

In his work documenting the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast region by air for a book project, photographer Chris Harris of 100 Mile House has sought out surprising compositions and angles. The above image, featured in the Spring 2012 issue of British Columbia Magazine (”Flight plan,” page 16) may be the most surprising image of all.

When Harris first spotted this green lake from his plane seat, it appeared “small, shallow, and ugly” but then he noticed a single canoe hovering on the surface, its shadow so clearly visible below. He composed just one photograph before moving on.

Back at his office, he was struck with the mystery. The image seemed to show a flooded landscape of forest and small lakes, with the canoe floating above the treetops. He couldn’t recall exactly where in the area north of Clinton he had composed the image, or what the surrounding terrain had looked like. He asked around, but no one could figure it out.

After much sleuthing, Harris now believes that the depressions are simply holes on the lake bottom and that the apparent small scrub forest is just weedy vegetation exaggerated by optical illusion.

Either way, the image is a captivating example of the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast’s photographic potential. “I find aerial photography exciting,” says Harris, a regular contributor to British Columbia Magazine. “The discovery of new subjects from unusual perspectives is endless.”

For more of Harris’s breathtaking aerial images, see the bcmag.ca online photo gallery, or visit the photographer’s website: chrisharris.com. Fly Over: An Aviation Legacy of the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast, a joint project between Harris and writer Sage Birchwater, will be available in fall 2012.

Writer/photographer Shanna Baker wistfully remembers her first “serious” camera: a Minolta XTsi, a gift from her parents. After high school, she toted that film camera around for six months on her travels abroad. Wary of thieves, she slept with it tucked in her sleeping bag every night. Raised in the Okanagan, Baker has spent much of her free time over the past six years amassing passport stamps and fattening her portfolio of stock travel images—from tribal rites in Niger, to the riotous beauty of an Indian market.

For our cover photo, and our Spring 2012 feature “Focus Group,” she raised her photography to a new level—high in the Bugaboos at a photo school with esteemed nature photographer John Marriott. Baker, our Associate Editor, was eager to learn the nuances of landscape photography, which she describes as a “different skill set.” Marriott’s class did not disappoint.

“It was a phenomenal experience to be in this jaw-dropping alpine environment and do nothing for three days but shoot it. It was a photographer’s dream trip.”

The Spring 2012 edition of British Columbia Magazine is on newsstands now, or download a digital copy instantly by clicking here.

To contributing editor Larry Pynn, this grainy colour slide from 1986, taken in remote northwestern British Columbia’s Mount Edziza Provincial Park, is proof that outdoor equipment has come a long way, baby.

“I’m shown wearing a tasteless yellow-and-white baseball hat, bold-striped shirt, wool army-surplus pants and, gather ’round kids, an external-frame backpack.” With every step he took, that aluminum frame knocked against his head.

“I remember a lot about the first big hiking trip,” he adds. “My sleeping bag rolling down into a crater, a July snowstorm so thick we had to make camp where we stood, and wading through a chest-high swamp because we took the wrong valley coming down off the Mount Edziza plateau. But you know, I can’t remember a thing about that crappy little external frame backpack [aside from the head bumping]. Maybe gear isn’t the be-all and end-all of a great hiking trip, after all.”

Agreed. Though dare I suggest that our intrepid “Outdoor Advisor” might have looked just a bit happier in this photo had he been sporting a modern internal frame pack with cushy straps, ventilated panels, and weight-transfer technology?

Larry examines such modern features as applied to the day pack–which has evolved alongside multi-day packs–in the Fall 2011 issue. See “Day pack buying basics” for his tips on choosing size, panel configuration, hydration compatibility, material, and more.

In May, Associate Editor Shanna Baker and I took a road trip to the Tofino/Ucluelet area, travelling up over the beautiful ‘Hat (Malahat) on Hwy 1 from Victoria, then over to Port Alberni and onward to the west coast of Vancouver Island.  As we drew closer to Ucluelet, a relentless rain began, forcing us to slow down and enjoy the drive on the winding mountain roadway. To our left, vestiges of the winter’s snowfall remained, while streams rushed with spring runoff to our right.

Our first stop was the new Kwisitis Visitor Centre at the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve of Canada. If you are in the area, I encourage you to stop in and check out this facility, formerly known as the Wickaninnish Interpretive Centre.  The timber structure, which also houses the Wickaninnish Restaurant, is perched on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, on one of this country’s most beautiful white sand beaches.

Writer Elizabeth Nolan profiled the centre in our Summer 2011 issue, but we wanted to show it to you in one of our Editor’s Videos. Interpretive designer Donald Gunn trekked over from Saltspring Island to show us the 20 brand-new exhibits, most of which were developed in close collaboration with the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations.

Click here to watch the video. Note: Keep your volume on high: the sound quality isn’t the greatest, and our outdoor scenes are pretty windswept!

We hope the video will give you a taste of the beauty of the park and a preview of the interesting new exhibits on display at the Visitor Centre.

Visitors to Gowlland Tod Provincial Park in Saanich on southern Vancouver Island can now take a break, on us.

British Columbia Magazine recently became the first organization to sponsor a bench in BC Parks’ “100 Benches for 100 Years of BC Parks” program. Our park bench, complete with commemorative plaque, overlooks the beautiful Tod Inlet.

Fun facts about the bench:

-it looks like it’s made of wood, but the “cedar” planks are actually comprised of recycled plastic.

-the planks are ergonomically arranged for optimum relaxation.

-the first 50 people to visit our bench will win a lifetime subscription to the magazine. (Just kidding, but we do hope you’ll visit).

To sponsor your own bench see the BC Parks website. Benches are available at various parks around the province and cost $1500.

In a small magazine team, staffers often have to step way outside their regular job descriptions to get a task done. So I didn’t flinch when Art Director Ken Seabrook asked me to put on workout gear and pretend I was surfing, to help him plan an illustration. It was only when I had climbed up on my makeshift surfboard — a thin, very pliable piece of foam-core laid across a couple of wobbly stools — and tried to “pop up” that I started to have some serious doubts. Luckily I didn’t break my neck and Ken completed an interesting illustration. You can check it out on page 62 of the Winter 2010 issue (”Surfing essentials,” Outdoor Advisor).

Do you see a resemblance? Ken did take some liberties — I never ride “goofy” foot, but his surfer does have better style.