Reflections of Floating Clouds and Blue Sky
All photos by Jim Fowler.
Listening to friends in the Club talk about their photo excursions to London and Tokyo invokes in me just a little envy. For a photographer, travel to an exotic location filled with unique architecture is very stimulating. When the Club announced a day trip to Vancouver highlighting a few of the modern architectural wonders built in recent years, it suddenly seemed like a good reason to get up early and spend the better part of a day in Vancouver with my camera.
The Club chose a weekday for the event, in part because seniors can travel for free on B.C. Ferries as foot passengers from Monday through Thursday. Add to that a Compass Day Pass ($9.40 for seniors), which allows unlimited use of public transit (both bus and SkyTrain), and you can ride downtown from the Tsawwassen ferry terminal, get off and on as much as you want, and return any time within 24 hours of your first boarding. What a bargain!
I had three objectives: the Deloitte Summit building on Georgia Street, the Vancouver Public Library next door, and the bizarre, top-heavy Vancouver House building near the north end of the Granville Street Bridge.
About 15 Club members were on the 7:00 a.m. ferry. Without discussion, we headed for the cafeteria lineup (which foot passengers can enter while drivers are still boarding) for a leisurely breakfast. Afterwards, we went upstairs to the open air on Deck 6, where I was able to engage in photographic discussion with several of our very keen members. Before long, it was time to head down to the foot passenger exit on Deck 4.
Reflections of Floating Clouds and Blue Sky
It was a beautiful day, with a mix of sun and cloud—a fine combination for sky reflections on modern glass-covered buildings. We arrived at the Waterfront SkyTrain Terminal at about 10:00 a.m. A few quick shots of the old terminal building, and then we were out on the street. Immediately surrounded by various glass towers, I reached for my camera. I love a shot in which a building wraps itself in reflections of floating clouds and blue sky.
There were four or five cruise ships at dock, so the waterfront was busy. The outside walkway around the Convention Centre allows views of the docks, Vancouver Harbour, and the North Shore.
Passing through the corner of Granville and Hastings (where I worked in an office about 50 years ago), there were some remains of what I remembered, but a lot had changed. Even the lanes were being painted!
A Pile of Glass Blocks Stacked All Higgeldy-Piggeldy
I walked east a few blocks and then south to Georgia Street, and there it was: a pile of glass blocks stacked all higgeldy-piggeldy on each other—the Deloitte Summit building.
The Vancouver Public Library was right next door, across Homer Street. The ninth-floor outdoor garden was open, so I went up and, after a brief discussion with a friendly security person (who wondered if I was a professional photographer), photographed the rooftop suspended over BC Place Stadium, looking like peaks of whipped cream hanging on strings.
I texted our group leader: “I won’t make it for lunch. Don’t wait for me.”
I wandered south and a little west, heading for the north end of the Granville Street Bridge. I detoured past the south end of the Courthouse (which I know well), capturing anything that caught my attention along the way.
What a Bizarre Sight
Suddenly, there it was: the Vancouver House building. What a bizarre sight, especially when viewed from the side, where the narrow base twists and expands as it rises.
Quite apart from its astonishingly top-heavy appearance, the building is a showpiece of pure geometric patterns.
By this time my feet and left knee were arguing about which felt more pain, so I found the nearby Roundhouse SkyTrain Station, tapped my card, and was off to the ferry terminal. I made it in time for the 3:00 p.m. ferry to Swartz Bay. A quick text to my wife, who had offered to pick me up at the terminal, a quick samosa and some water, then a leisurely nap on the ferry, and I was home in time for supper.
What a perfect day of photography.