Hey y’all. Here are some photos taken near Waterfront in Vancouver, on Canada Day. There was a special fireworks show in celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday. Aren’t they pretty?
Photos are taken with a Canon 7D, by my dad. However, yours truly edited the pictures, so you can just call it a collaboration.
Sorry that my posts are very sporadic. I am currently travelling in Shanghai, and soon I’ll be moving to Ontario for university!! Oh my! Exciting things are coming my way and to this blog.
You know it: northern lights. The highlight of Yellowknife is the lights. In a warmly lit cabin, I sipped on my steaming, 2-to-1-part mocha. I would suit up in my burrito-wrap-like coat and head outside to check up on the transient auroras. After I close the cabin doors behind me, I was instantly engulfed by the mystical and mesmerizing night. Diamond stars and swift northern lights blazed the dark indigo sky. I easily spent hours outside, negative 30 degrees, as I hurriedly scrambled to adjust my camera in this angle and that angle.
I got to give myself a pat on the back for not getting frostbite, especially for a person like me with extremely dry hands.
Every photo is unique. The auroras shift so fast you can’t get two photos that are alike.
Can we please take a moment to appreciate the Orion constellation (above) ? You probably think that I have some very sentimental memory of Orion but nope! I just talk about it a lot because that’s the only constellation I remember from Science 9. Also, because Orion’s belt is very visible, I like to point it out to everybody. Hahaha.
The lights are probably not what you would expect. The truth is that these auroras are actually significantly weaker in real life than photographs. Most cameras are more sensitive to light than human eyes; thus, the lense will do a better job of picking up the subtle northern wonders.
I have to mention this: taking photos of northern lights is very difficult! My AP calculus derivative test was easier than this!
Look out for my next post where I will offer some insightful and slightly experienced tips and tricks for photographing and editing northern lights. Hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed sharing these beauties.
Wow. A trip to Yellowknife for a city girl like me was very different, but still very fun. For my whole life I’ve lived in urban cities and suddenly going to a place where the weather is below freezing and no bustling shopping malls are in sight, I felt quite displaced. Nonetheless, I had a great, unforgettable holiday in Yellowknife with friends and family. (Yes, just wait for my “Yellowknife (Night) Adventures”. You’ll see why. Heehee.)
Let me tell you, you definitely do not go to Yellowknife for masterchef food, luxury hotel, or shopping (because you probably wouldn’t get any of those). You go there for the experience! The cold that was in Yellowknife was none like I have ever experienced. It was dry and chilling. My eyelashes froze up often. The air I breathed out froze in my nostrils. But if you cover up properly, the cold should not be a problem. The greatest advice I received prior to my trip was to wear two pairs of gloves: fingered gloves beneath fleecy mittens. Trust me, you do not want to expose bare skin to the sweeping, slicing winds, not even for a second.
The vastness of land was also very different for me. Standing on the frozen Great Slave Lake, I felt miniscule. The sun is rising from the horizon that is invisible to the eye. The farthest I could see from all around me was endless snow and trailing winds picking up snow particles. You really understand that the world does not revolve around you. I mean how can it when you are so tiny and the world is so gigantic?
One of the things I learned from the locals was the evident presence of global warming. The weather in Yellowknife has already changed over the decades, as it got warmer and warmer. Climate change is real, and we need to address this pressing issue with more seriousness and formality. I want to contribute more to our battle against global warming. If you aren’t convinced to join, go watch the video of a poor polar bear trying to climb atop a thin, global warming-ridden, floating piece of ice. It is heartbreaking.
The local (or as local as I could get as a tourist) attitude in Yellowknife was incredible. Everyone treated me with kindness, showered me with smiles. Their positivity, motivation, and courage are monumental and truly inspiring. Shoutout to everyone in Yellowknife who made this trip great!
Stay tuned for night adventures! They are the highlights of this trip. Hence, I saved the best for last (winkwink).
Hope this inspires some people to take a camera to an ordinary place and gain a whole new perspective on something you take for granted or got sick of. Burnaby Lake Trail is an extremely standard trail for Vancouverites, but my camera definitely lent me an alternative perspective on a place I pass by every week.
Stream with camouflaged ducks. Crackling White Barks.Tiny Bird Houses.Not Monet’s Water Lilies.
Aghhhh, I love Lightroom! Hahaha. Stay lucid peeps.
This past weekend, I got the opportunity to visit the Eastern coast of Vancouver Island. What a wonderful place with hidden gems inland and by the sea shores. The island is cozy and speckled with populated, busy towns- all of which have their own unique features. I went to all of these places:
Nanaimo, Parksville, Coombs, Duncan, Victoria, and Chemainus.
The BC ferry, from Vancouver Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo, marked the beginning of my weekend adventure. I can totally see why Derek from Grey’s Anatomy has a thing for ferry boats. If you stand near the bow of the ferry, watching the ocean waves rush past you, you get surge of motivation and inspiration (starts the day a good way, am I right?). Plus, the view was spectacular and the lighting was on point.
BC Ferry
Next stop from Nanaimo, where I stayed overnights, was Parksville, which was a homey, welcoming town. The lunch stop at Bread & Honey Food Company was delicious (praise the spicy tuna sandwich!). I had to visit Parksville beach because it looked so pretty on google images! The precise location of photo below is not 100% because we simply typed in “beach” into a GPS, and the robotic woman did all the navigating work. I am sure the various seashores near Parksville Community Beach all have spectacular, serene sceneries such as this one:
Parksville Community Beach
Little QualicumFalls, near Parksville,was a tourist attraction that entailed a small hike. Basically, it was a loop, going up and down, along the waterfalls that ran down the streams from each other. Near the lowest portion of the waterfalls, you see this view below. And near the upper most portion of the waterfalls is a steady, tranquil stream that small children were playing in.
Little Qualicum Falls
Definitely stop at Coombs if you are passing by. The Old Country Market not only has a fruitful collection of everything you need in a kitchen and in your stomach, it has fricking GOATS ON THE ROOF. Now that’s something you don’t see everyday.
Coombs Old Country Market
Next day, I hit Duncan. It was a friendly, cultural town. The historical museum was cool. And the totem poles that were scattered around the busiest streets of the town were extremely beautiful. The craftsmanship of these storytelling art pieces were top quality. The Sea to Sky totem pole (featured image), by Harold Alfred, is a representation of BC’s best elements, water and air.
Next was Victoria, BC’s capital. I have previously visited Victoria, so this time I went for 2 things: Red Fish Blue Fish and Parliament Building Tour. The fish and chips at Red Fish Blue Fish was AMAZING-no wonder I had to wait one hour to order. The Parliament Building is an architectural wonder. If you think the exterior is awe-ing, wait till you visit the inside of the building. Gold molding, mosaic flooring, and velvet draping make the parliament building truly formidable.
On the return trip from Victoria to Nanaimo, I made a pit stop at Chemainus, where I found the cutest ice cream shop- Baby Bear’s Ice Cream Shoppe. You are given a coin upon your payment and order, and they make the waffle cones right in front of you! Then, you can lounge in the three bears/fairytale themed garden. So cute! Just curious, anyone else a super big bubblegum ice cream fan? Ahahaha.
Baby Bear’s Ice Cream Shoppe
Nanaimo, my homebase for the weekend, was an excellent place to take long walks on the beach or go kayaking. I had a lovely stay in Nanaimo! Some good food places would be Gabriel’s Gourmet Cafe for brunch and Power House Living Food for creative, raw, vegan food.
Venturing Vancouver Island was very fun! And I know I will be back one day to explore the islands more! Highly recommend to everyone. Thanks for reading! Ttyl.
PS. I got Lightroom, and I am obsessed with the way my photos are turning out! The application is very pricy but the results are so worth it.
Grand Central Station9/11 Memorial SiteView from Empire State BuildingHigh LineOne World Trade Center
My favourite photo from New York is of the One World Trade Center. I was incredibly lucky to be able to capture this photograph on that beautiful day. I love the reflections of the cloudy sky on the building. Often times, great photography is all about luck.
This is NYC’s famous cake shop, Lady M . They are famous for their crepe cakes, which were extremely delicious. Just don’t let your greed get the better of yourself, and you will be able to enjoy these cakes like most people have. 😛 I was (just a little bit) greedy and ate too much. HA HA.
LOOK, LOOK:
Okay, so this photo turned out great. 🙂
This cake, their Signature Mille Crêpes, was divine…at first. The first bite was amazing. My friends and I just looked at each other, astonished by the quality of the cake. It was nice and light in texture and creamy (ew, my least favourite adjective) and sweet. The second bite was good too. And then the third, and the fourth. By the time I was done 3/4 of this slice, I was secretly wishing for Chipotle.
Then I ate my second slice of cake, which was like a vanilla sponge cake. Yes, I ate 2 slices of cake in one sitting but to be fair that was my lunch ($16!!!! I don’t eat meat but that’s like 8 hot dogs!) and I needed the energy to continue touristy activities. After eating, I was over crepe cakes…for the rest of my life!
Overall, super good cake! Go there and have a slice with a friend or something. Don’t be greedy like me and ruin something amazing for yourself.
Situated in the heart of Manhattan, in Central Park, is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is a place for all ages and all interests. My experience there mainly consisted of excitement, fascination, and fangirling reactions (all from me). Prior to my visit, I made a long list of things I wanted to see like Ugolino and His Sons, Madame X, and Monet’s Water Lilies, but when I got there, reality dawned upon me, there was just too much too see. I had to be selective about what I wanted to see.
I spent most of my visit in the Greek and Roman Art section because it was a fascinating collection of art, mythology, and history.
Ugolino and His Sons is a beautiful sculpture, by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, that holds an captivating and eerie story. Ugolino and his sons were imprisoned and starving. His sons eventually died around 1288, and rumour had it that Ugolino was so crazy with hunger that he ate the corpses of his dead children. So was Carpeaux choosing to depict hunger or grief in Ugolino’s eternal gnawing of his fingers?
The museum was absolutely beautiful!
I hope these photos can inspire artists out there. I know that when I saw rooms of marble sculptures, I was compelled to sit down, observe, and to draw in my sketchbook. Something about the white marbled faces is mesmerizing.
A lovely installation piece below.
My number 1 to see was Madame X by John Singer Sargent (left painting below) mainly because I was practicing oil painting and my art teacher suggested Singer-Sargent as an inspiration. His paintings are captivating because they showed phenomenal skill but the lightly washed background makes them look effortless. All of his paintings were huge; Madame X was bigger than Madame X herself. This painting was initially criticized and considered rather scandalous! I think some people today would even consider Madame X’s attire to be modest. Anyways, I loved Sargent’s paintings, no matter how modest or scandalous they are.
The MET can easily be one of the best museums in America; it is a marriage of art, cultures, history, and wisdom, from the Egyptians to the Chinese. As a student, I was inspired greatly. Thanks New York!
Oh, and don’t forget to take a lunch break and eat on the steps outside the MET. And look out for a shady food truck that has MUSTURD on their menu instead of MUSTARD; don’t want turd on your hot dog, am I right? 😛
The one where I seeked more street art, visited Rockefeller Centre, got a tour in Radio City Music Hall, ate at Katz’s Deli, and watched the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.
See what I did there? A post about New York City is a very appropriate time for a Friends reference. 🙂
New York City has excellent street art. Near East Houston Street and 2nd Avenue, there is a great variety of graffiti and murals, just like the ones in the featured image. I highly recommend everyone to take some time to explore their city or the place they are visiting; you can find some pretty neat things! I took a candid photo of my friend as she studied this blue, undulant graffiti.
After looking at New York street art, I was inspired to create something too. But with more research, it became clear that majority of the art we saw were illegal? I always assumed that skate parks that were filled with graffiti were okay places to tag; turns out that it is illegal unless given permission by the owner. I guess I’ll stick to drawing in my sketchbook for now.
Murals that we saw were obviously legal; artist couldn’t possibly go unnoticed painting on a giant wall for hours and days. The one you see above is by OSGEMEOS, they are twin brothers from Brazil. A motif in most of their projects is bright, yellow people. OSGEMEOS also did the Vancouver Biennale in Granville Island! Pretty cool!
My friends and I got to explore Rockefeller Centre. As you can see, it was a beautiful day of clear, blue skies. The ice rink made me all Elf nostalgic. We grabbed lunch at Bouchon Bakery across the street from the centre; it was a lovely cafe type of place but had barely any seats. Their roasted sweet potato sandwich was way too oily, however, their giant pistachio macaron was made with perfection.
Then, it was time to head to Radio City Music Hall…
We got a VIP tour at the music hall. The place was enormous with the capacity of a little over 6000 people. Although much of the building has gone under a huge renovation, some elements, like the women’s bathroom, remained relatively the same. I don’t know why out of the whole building I chose to take a photo of the bathroom. Sigh.
Dinner at one of the most iconic places from When Harry Met Sally, Katz’s Deli was mediocre. Watch out vegans, this place doesn’t have much for your stomachs. Their pastrami is really famous, but being a weird vegetarian wanna-be, I got the egg salad. Never had I seen so much salad stuffed between two slices of bread; I must have ate 6 eggs from that one sandwich. Definitely come here if you are a WHMS fan!
To end off the day, we returned to Times Square for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I finished the novel on the plane to New York, and I was hyped to watch it.
What an incredible show. Tyler Lea was amazing! Being a design student, the set was fabulous. It was minimalistic but still very effective at portraying different settings. I cried a few times during the show. The ending (before Christopher was explaining math concepts) resonated with me up to this day. HIGHLY RECOMMEND! 🙂
That is all for today. This series is super fun to produce. I hope you enjoyed reading !
I am elated to share my first full day in NYC where I found cool street art, explored the High Line and the Chelsea Market, visited Museum of Modern Art, and watched Amateur Night at the Apollo Theatre.
Super awesome day that began with wonderful weather which meant that I finally had the opportunity to wear my crazy, reflective Ray-Bans (many people had commented how bad-ass I looked, oh ya). My friends and I did a subway tour starting at Penn Station (below) where we learned that the old Penn station, a real piece art, was torn down for office and recreational buildings. Such a shame!
As we wandered through the streets…
We found some rad street art. Or building art? Just admire the size of the Bud Light compared the tiny people fixing up the paint. Cool!
This is one of my favourite street arts I found in New York City. I love the realism with the graffiti tags. She peers at the naughty travellers as they pass her with huge cameras and cellphones. Big thumbs up!
I took this photo because I love the teal, tiffany blue kind of colour. Also, New York has a huge population of sticker tags; you can get a good laugh if you spend time reading them.
We spent a few hours walking through the High Line which is an old, 1.5 mile railway that was converted into a park. There were plenty of public art on display and greenery. I decided to write a separate post about the High Line because I have a myriad of things to share with you guys,so look out for that! I highly recommend you to go check out this park 🙂
Lunch! Ah, one of my favourite meals. We decided to eat at the Chelsea Market which had a series of cute, hipster stores/booths. Apparently Oreos were first made here!
Every lunch spot was packed except for Lucy’s Whey, I guess because it is a cheese shop and not a restaurant or a cafe. An very important person who shall not be named said that Lucy’s Whey’s grilled cheese sandwich was the best they ever had. I got a grilled cheese (I can’t remember the name!) that had fig jam, and it was divine!
Next stop was MOMA, Museum of Modern Art. Wow, I had an amazing time! If you want to have an amazing time too, you need to do some homework and research about artists and paintings. I was dying to see Andy Warhol’s Campbell soups and Van Gogh’s Portrait of the Postman Joseph Roulin! I was blown away by Van Gogh and his mark making!
The real pieces of art will never compare to photographs so I recommend you to visit MOMA yourself. My advice to tourists is to visit MOMA before the MET because MOMA will seem small and insignificant after the MET.
Jackson Pollock’s works were also fabulous. He had a complete exhibition to himself. This painting which I forgot to record the name was special because you can see Pollock’s accidental handprints in the upper right corner. 🙂
To wrap up the day…
We went to Amateur Night at the Apollo Theatre where numerous African-American singers began their musical careers here. Ella Fitzgerald’s fame began here! The performers on Amateur Night sang beautifully, and we had so much fun participating as the audience, wooing and booing.
Afterwards, it was time to head back to our hotel. What an wonderful, busy day! All I wanted to do was to go to sleep but I had to wait in line to shower, perks of having 3 long-haired roommates.
Thanks for reading! Hope you stick around for the next segment. I have lots of exciting things lined up. 🙂
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