In that order.

I'll never get tired of photographing this pier.





Fort Street, one of the stores with delicacies

Relatively recent installation, part of 12-items series with hands.






Yes, that pier again. Sorry.



And to finish, brilliant colors of the sunset at the breakwater.

Everyone's doing it, right? Selection of the best shots of the past year, 10-12 or so. I did it last year as well, and came to 16 images selected. Let's see if I can restrain myself better this time around.

Well, what do you know... it's 28. So much for that restraint. And I eliminated quite a few of those that made first cut. Whatever remained is what I just can't make myself to remove. As I think of it, it's no wonder that I have this many - between three new lenses and camera, I had a lot of shooting done, noticeably more than in 2012.

Among all the spring flowers, this one made the cut thanks to composition. There were a lot of very colorful tulips it fought and defeated.

Butchart Gardens. This shot is one of my bestsellers for the year.

 This guy (gal?) was one of the first to help me test my new 50-200 f/2.8-3.5

...and this B&W was one of the first with my new 7-14 f/4...

 ...together with this pirate in front of Sidney Pier Hotel.

 One of my favorite serene Sidney sunsets.

Sidney Pier, wasn't easy to pick among those as it always presents photo opportunity.

Fireworks on Canada Day in Sidney.

Interaction between the two elevated this shot from "just another turtle."

 Himalayan Blue poppy after the rain

Great Blue Herons' antics. dances and fishing brought quite a few shots this year, and it was difficult to choose between them. This one eventually looked the most royal.

 Many moon shots run... this one made it to the finish line.

One ferry ride yielded 4 images that I couldn't leave out.




Fall season... don't know how I survived the selection process, try to pick couple of a few dozens...



Too blue not to include:

The most intense fog skewered by sun rays I've ever seen:

Quiet foggy scene:



Rainy downtown in the night:


 Breakwater. Again, one shot of many that were close.

 Butchart Gardens with snow one the ground:

Being a rare occurrence, snow brought very different look to the familiar scenes. Different, fairy-tale-like and quite magical. Have to say, it looks much colder than it actually was - suffice it to say, all this snow wasn't there the next morning :)

Since it's such a rare view, it's quite difficult to keep the number of images in the post reasonable. While I do my best to show the best compositions, light etc, the temptation to show some shots simply because they illustrate this unconventional look is difficult to overcome. So, let's compromise: I will try to cull the obvious junk, and you bear with the rest, maybe return to this post another time if you get tired. Deal?

(Little addition for the gearheads. Most shots are taken at ISO 1000, all of them handheld, with shutter speed down to 1/25s)

With that in mind:

The entrance...

...walking toward the Sunken Gardens,

and looking to the right

Iconic view of the Sunken Garden. You know, the viewing platform where you can immediately recognize those who see it for the first time by the AHHHs and WOWs they issue when the view opens. Both ahhs and wows are well deserved, the view IS mangnificent.

Down at the ground level


This is newer part of the Sunken Garden, a path created couple years ago

Back to the "Red tree"

Five Gold Rings pond. Especially majestic part of the gardens with the snow.


Walking around the pond...

...and looking to the right:

Looking back at the pond (you see now the spot across the water from which first two Golden Rings photos was taken)

Ross Fountain:

Never before did I find this bench a subject worthy of being photographed. With snow though it made the cut

These falling lights behind the goose (OK, swan) are difficult to show in a still shot. Had to drop the shutter speed even more to keep the motion effect.

The red light on the tree makes snow look like a cherry bloom.









Hopefully you made it to the end! I will try to keep the number of images down from now. I promise. That I will try. Will I succeed is, well, another matter.

December is a great month for photography - with all the illumination everywhere how can it not be? I really like night photography, so it's a double bonus. The only problem is, it's so pretty that you end up with more photos than you can possibly put in a post and realistically expect your viewers to look at, not just scroll through hurriedly. So, what do you do? Well, break them down by a few posts! With that in mind, let's start with some Butchart Gardens amazing light show and some downtown beauties.


...and a bit closer:

5 Gold Rings:


Waterfall










Lets move to the downtown now. Chinatown, Gates of Harmony:

A few street shots, wet surfaces from the recent rain add the atmosphere:



Christmas tree parade in the Empress Hotel:




Hope you like those lights because when we get to the next post, there will be more of them, with a nice surprise. Stay tuned.

December proves to be a fruitful month for photography so I think I better break it down by a few posts, not to pour too many shots in a single post. I will keep all the Christmas lights images for the following posts. So, here are a few highlights other than those lights.

This guy sat on the large tree watching me in a rather good-natured way - either he was not hungry or I didn't fit in his "I can carry this to my nest and eat later" idea.



A few shots on the full moon night. Breakwater...




... and Beacon Hill Park. They've added nice lighting to the fountain.




Now, this is how they sell Christmas tree here. First, with hanging tree is more or less typical:



Second, with flowers to plant, is not so much, for the rest of Canada at least:



Finally. an unusual series to finish this post. We had a centimeter or so of snow this night, not enough to stick to the ground but enough to create exotic photos of a hummingbird in the snow. We made a deal - I feed her, she poses for me.









Look forward to those Christmas lights!

Most of November was devoted to mastering new camera in various conditions. That explains the big variety within a single months, from wildlife to sunny landscapes to night time shots. Enjoy!


My lunch must be swimming by right about now...

The best fishing spot is in a sunken boat!

Are you listening to me??

Staredown

One sunset...

... and a few sunrises:






Downtown in the night is always spectacular. For the gearheads, all shots below are taken handheld, at ISOs ranging up to 3200.






One of a breakwater in the night








Couple of Mt. Baker

 A few cormorants on guard at the Sidney Pier

and one observing the boat floating by.

Time to end the fall theme I guess, so here are some more colorful shots, but first - a few taken during a very foggy week.

This "curtain" of mist was probably the most unusual fog I've ever seen.


Beacon Hill park enveloped in the mist




Transitional shot: some fog and some colors:


And full colors assault once again!





Hobbit's car?


OK... red and yellow probably get tiresome, so let's let your eyes rest on some blue

Are you ready to be blinded? After this collection the world will look black and white to you for a few days.

There is no comments to separate photos, none needs them, IMO.

and some non-categorized subjects. Before I unleash barrage of autumn colors on you, let me show you variety of images - I mean, when you see something pretty you just shoot it... err, photograph it.

This is just before the storm, about an hour or two.

And these three are after.



Absolutely unrelated duck family...

...and sheep family.

It's been a while since I showed any sunsets. Let's correct that mistake.





Couple from the Butchart Gardens:



A few from downtown and Beacon Hill Park.
Iconic postcard view:






Get yourselves ready for the autumn color assault...

This guy posed in Beacon Hill Park. I selected 3 poses:



Average-sized canoes...

...and for no reason whatsoever, luxury car. Anyone feels 007-ish?

Now, for something completely different, some amazing views from the ferry:


...and from the shore:

Found a few more that fell through the cracks!

Some meteors


Some lizards


Some forests

Some average-sized canoes...

... and acrobatics using canoes as a background


Some strange pieces of wood

Some butterflies,

birds and phones,
  and strange plants.

Some nice picnic spots,

waterfalls,

deadly birds

and moody moons.

All in all, pretty productive, dontcha think?

Gotta take a break from techno theme (2 posts in a row with cars?). A few shots from August and some missed from earlier months that return us to usual stuff - nature, landscapes etc.

This thing can't decide whether it's a bus or a boat

Guardian

Fog at the breakwater

Some flowers. Sorry.





Some stones

Some Black and White


Some sunset and big canoes.



Sidney Marina

Squid met Heron

One more collector car gathering, this time in Sidney.