My motivation to be out and about with my camera this last few weeks was to capture the colour of the leaves before they fell to the ground. While there is a wonderful range of colours in the total landscape including orchards and gardens my focus was on the natural landscape.

Ponderosa pine is the predominant species of trees in the Okanagan area. Douglas fir, Engleman spruce and other conifers are also present depending on elevation, soil and moisture conditions . Deciduous trees including alder, birch, aspens, cotton wood and maples provide the colour. They tend to be located where there is greater access to moisture. So, I sought out hillside depressions and local area creeks.

The closest and most popular waterway is Mission Creek, a major tributary to Okanagan Lake. It’s a beautiful area with a very popular walking trail. I find the upper reaches of Mission Creek to be more desirable as it is not as busy and has more interesting compositional opportunities.

Powers Creek runs through Glen Canyon

I also made trips to the ranchland above Lake Country, B.C., Kalimoir Park and the Regional Parks around Mill Creek, Bertram Creek and Glen Canyon. All of these locations provided me with great opportunities and I think some pretty good results.

On all the trips to these locations I was blessed with bright, sometimes filtered sun. The lower angle of the sun served to brighten the orange and yellow leaves.

Fast rushing waters of Powers Creek in Glen Canyon

The images I’ve included with this article were made in the Glen Canyon Regional Park along Powers Creek. I loved how the colour of the leaves enhances the surrounding textures.

I hadn’t been to this part of Powers Creek before. The canyon itself is very narrow. Somewhere in the upper reaches of the canyon there is likely a water fall. I’ll have to check that out on a future trip to this area.

Fall colours surround Powers Creek as it emerges from Glen Canyon

Sometimes, I think I’ve been spoiled by all the photography I’ve been able to do on Vancouver Island this past 4 or 5 years. At home, I’ve caught myself thinking, “There’s nothing to photograph around here!” That of course is a myth. There are many photographic opportunities in the Kelowna area and in the Okanagan Valley. It’s just a matter of getting ‘you know what’ in gear and getting out there with my camera.

One would assume, based on  the images I have included below that the the Fascieux Creek Wetland is located in a rural area far from urban development. Its not! It is located in the Okanagan Mission area of Kelowna. Bounded on opposing  sides by two major city streets and on its other two side by townhouses and apartment buildings it’s an urban wetland.

When I was setting up for this image I didn’t realize that the water was frozen until this group of ducks came shuffling into my view finder. 

This little wetland has an area of about three and a half acres and is a popular walking area for local residents. It  is fed by a network of streams, some now encased in culverts, that ultimately empty into Okanagan Lake. 

From my home to the Fascieux Creek Wetland is about a 15 minute drive. I had no idea that it existed until a friend mentioned it to me several years ago. Since then, I have made countless trips to capture literally thousands of  images of the critters and plant life that reside there.

Red wing black birds, hawks and a variety of ducks are just some of the birds that frequent Fascieux Creek. But the most impressive and my favourite is the Great Blue Heron. I’ve photographed the resident Great Blue many times. Grudgingly it seems, he has allowed me into his space to let me make some very interesting photographs. 

Also present in this wetland are muskrats, beaver, raccoons, rats, weasels and turtles.  I’ve even found a nest of garter snakes.  The most important resident is the beaver. I think he falls into the category of a keystone species. Without the beaver the water level would not be consistent. This allows all the other species to thrive.

The beaver is also an engineer, always constructing dams. City workers show up every now and then to remove the dams only to have them rebuild somewhere else in the wetland. It is an interesting dynamic which the beaver always seems to win.  

Within the Fascieux Creek Wetland are areas of quiet water, beautiful refections, tangled bush and fallen, dead trees.

Initially, there was lots of  open water in the wetland. Photographic opportunities were available in all seasons of the year. Now, as a consequence of the beaver’s engineering  and the resulting the higher water level there is a proliferation of reeds and bull rushes that have clogged up most of the open areas of water.

Some of the branches on this tree are dead. Most of the leaves from the other branches are on the ground,

The best times to make photographs in the wetland now are in late fall, winter when the reeds are pushed down by snow and in the spring before the reeds start to grow. I’ve learned where and when to find many of the wetland’s species. Those that are nocturnal are more difficult to observe but I have spotted their tracks in the wintertime snow.

There are other small urban wetlands in the Kelowna area that I am starting to pay attention to so I don’t spend as much time as I used to at the Fascieux Creek Wetland. It, however, is still my ‘go to’ place to find interesting images when I just need to get out with my camera for an hour or so.

Artwalk this year occurs  in Lake Country, B.C. on the 7th and 8th of September.  It is an annual  celebration of art from the greater Okanagan community. As many as 7,000 visitors make their way to Lake Country to enjoy the work of many talented artists. For me,  it is a wonderful opportunity to interact with  other artists and with the hundreds visitors that come to view and perhaps purchase a piece of quality art work. 

A jury panel reviews the work of all  artists.  Photographers, unlike other artists, submit the work that they hope to display to the jury panel. Those pieces that pass the jury test are eligible for entry into Artwalk. Other artists have their ‘body of work’ juried. Passing that test allows these artists to enter Artwalk without further jurying.

My involvement with Artwalk began in 2010. Since then I’ve had my work pass the jury test every year but one. That year I tried something on the ‘wild’ side. I liked my submissions but sadly the jury wasn’t into ‘wild’.

The gallery below represents most if not all of  images that were accept by the Artwalk jury from 2010 to 2018. As I worked on this blog article I enjoyed going into my files to retrieve these special images. Each of them has a different pathway of development. It’s interesting to see what technique works with a specific image.

The most popular image has been “Old Victoria”, a view of the buildings along Wharf Street in Victoria, B.C.  It’s the last one in the gallery below. Late one afternoon I was walking near the Delta Hotel across the harbour from Wharf Street. The sun was low and bright and seemed to bring the faded colours of the building walls to life. The process I used made it look look like a painting.  “Old Victoria” printed on canvas and framed looked fabulous. It was juried into the 2015 Artwalk where it quickly sold. Subsequently, four additional prints were sold.