Posted October 30th, 2009

Don’t Fence Me In

I recently flew down to Vancouver to attend the Abbotsford Photo Arts Club Annual Seminar, which featured Daryl Benson. It was a full weekend of lectures and presentations, no hands-on photography. Having arrived on the Friday evening, the only time I had to take pictures was after the Sunday session when I had a few hours before my late night return flight to Whitehorse. I ended up on Granville Island, which was the idea of my travel companion. Sleep deprived and getting weary of big city traffic and Vancouver's hard to navigate road network, I was a reluctant chauffeur into the urban core. The congestion, narrow road lanes lined with parked cars, and street configurations that defied my GPS had me quite agitated by the time we arrived. I was not happy to be there. I wandered the market area aimlessly and numbly until I came upon the tiny courtyard where this photo was taken. Tightly enclosed by a jumble of buildings and walkways stuffed directly under the 8-lane wide Granville bridge, it embodied the urban crowding that was oppressing me ... and yet, I found it strangely calming. It had plants, trees and water running into a little pool, a miniature park like setting that seemed an anachronism in this dark cave of a site. Photographing it helped relieve my tension and lift me from my low. 
Pentax K10D, Tamron AF 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 DiII LD IF Macro @ 18mm, 1/10s @ f/4, ISO400