Vancouver tips

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woodleica

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Will be in Vancouver,BC this weekend. Any recommendations of spots to photograph in? Both street life as well as park/landscape/architecture? Any info appreciated.
 
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Too much to see

Too much to see

but here is a tour I have done with visitors before. Have lunch at Granville island. Then go to Deep Cove 20 min from the city, after deep cove go to Lynn valley suspension Bridge, cross it and walk along the river then Go up Grouse mountain or drive up Cypress mountain to the view point for a free view of the city. Go aound 430pm and you can see the city in day and night. Drive up to cypress mountain ski chalet and have hot chocolat . Have dinner on Denman or Robson Street, then have a drink at cloud nine, a revolving resturant over looking the city. www.cloud9resturant.ca hope this helps. oh and you can take pictures while you are doing all this.
 
Yeah, way too much to do in a weekend. For gritty street shooting the Downtown Eastside is as bad as it gets. Chinatown has lots to offer--including excellent food. Architecture--what do you like? Lots of newer stuff downtown--Convention Centre, for example. For older commercial buildings look around the area north of Broadway and west of Main. You could spend days exploring the harbour and waterfront. Lots of rail activity if you like trains. Take the Seabus over to the North Shore. The beaches will be quiet now but still present some wonderful photo opportunities. Stanley Park is a must see. I could go on but the possibilities are endless. My advice; for a short weekend trip don't try to cover so much territory that you start to stress out--enjoy the city, enjoy the people, enjoy the food, take lots of pictures but don't obsess over them.
 
Vancouver isn't great for street photography. Most people are only outside to smoke, talk on their cell phone, or walk to the next store.

My best photos have come at night when all the suburbanites come downtown to get drunk
 
The most street life in the city is on Commercial Drive, north of 1st Ave (towards the moutains). If you are into scenic stuff, try Stanley Park in the area immediately adjacent to the West End apartments, or the area around the Aquarium. This area is open enough to get some light. People are also frequently out and about on the seawall at the bottom end of Denman St. The problem with Vancouver this time of year, or anywhere else on the north west coast, is that it is frequently overcast, if not actually raining, so you are talking really low contrast. I am almost always pushing film this time of year. Sometimes I use FP4, pushed 2 stops.
 
Lynn canyon, fishing wharfs in steveston, Japanese mall out in Richmond. Make sure to grab dinner at guu izakaya.
 
Horseshoe Bay, north on the way to Whistler. about 20min from downtown. lots of water, mountains & people. Great fish & chips by the bay, & beer.
 
photogdave said:
Um, I don't know. I live right at this intersection but I had way better street shooting when I lived in the west end!
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Maybe its a case of familiarity breeds contempt. Near the end of my time in Vancouver I got kind of tired of the entire west side. Now when I visit I just head east. I like also like Main street all the way from 33rd down to Hastings, but its a very wide street with lots of fast moving traffic. The Robson street suggestion is interesting if crowded shopping streets are your thing.
 
Having lived in Vancouver for a couple years, I found that the best places to shoot weren't where you would think. Of course the most people are around Commercial, downtown/Robson, Granville island and all the junkies, addicts and zombies in the DTES for people photography and you can get great opportunities. But they are not THE BEST if you're looking for something unique in my opinion -they're either shopping, walking somewhere or in the case of the DTES, probably too dangerous to get seriously into it if you aren't street smart with that population. For people, I like Broadway/Commercial down to kits, around the beaches and Main street. The best landscapes in Vancouver are sometimes where you wouldn't expect to find them, where the hills slope down just off Broadway facing North or just outside the city or up the windy hills of ritzy West Vancouver. I can't even talk about architecture.
 
You know, the ovaltine might be a good place to burn a roll off if its still open and you're interested in the dtes without the typical junkie thing. I haven't lived in van in 5 years and only visited a day or two here and there since, so i might be behind a bit. Architecturally i find Vancouver-proper to be boring, but if you have time to venture up into some of the public buildings the sight lines are pretty incredible. Emras suggestions are spot on, China town is interesting. I might have overlooked it but i'm surprised no one mentioned Stanley park, its close by and pretty outstanding.

Have fun.
 
woodleica said:
Will be in Vancouver,BC this weekend. Any recommendations of spots to photograph in? Both street life as well as park/landscape/architecture? Any info appreciated.
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If you want to have a look at my web site, I have organized most of my pictures by lo9cation so it might give you an idea of some of the spots.

Cheers,

Luc
 
Fawley said:
Maybe its a case of familiarity breeds contempt. Near the end of my time in Vancouver I got kind of tired of the entire west side. Now when I visit I just head east. I like also like Main street all the way from 33rd down to Hastings, but its a very wide street with lots of fast moving traffic. The Robson street suggestion is interesting if crowded shopping streets are your thing.
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I think that is the case. I've lived my entire life in East Van and I'm starting to find the burbs more interesting for shooting things that you don't normally expect to find interesting. The strips malls of Burnaby, the heavily Korean areas of Coquitlam, the old areas and railway tracks of New Westminster.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. I'm actually going to be in town to see Freeman Pattersons talk at the Macmillan Space Center on Sat, a photographer whose work I admire. Will check out your recommendations and do some research on what's been posted Passed through many times on the way to Whistler, Banff and the like, but haven't really explored and for the first time planning to spend an entire weekend.
 
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