View allAll Photos Tagged Rodd
We drove west of Victoria and explored Fort Rodd Hill with its wonderful lighthouse. Further on, we walked Whiffin Spit Park at Sooke, had lunch at the Best Western Premier, and finished the day at the East Sooke Regional Park for a hike.
My wife and I went to photograph the Fisgard Lighthouse at Fort Rodd Hill, near Victoria, British Columbia. As we began the 20 minute walk from the entrance, we encountered two very pleasant women -- volunteers in a large, golf cart-type vehicle. I mentioned that we were heading to the lighthouse and they offered to pick us up there before the park closed. We quickly accepted because the park would be closing in about an hour and a half and this would give us more time to take photos. Importantly, less walking would decrease stress on my wife's ailing knees, which the woman in the passenger seat understood because of her two knee replacements. She displayed her empathy by pointing to the long scars on each of her knees.
After a short walk, we found a high point from which we could photograph the lovely lighthouse without walking all the way down and my wife and I began clicking away. Following many shots from various angles, we started retracing our route back to the car. Within moments, the two ladies reappeared in their cart and said they had been looking for the guy (me) in the canary yellow baseball cap. We apologized for not meeting them at the lighthouse and thanked them profusely for their kindness in tracking us down. This was how we met Mary (driving the cart) and Kathy, strangers number two and three.
We expected to be taken straight back to the parking lot. Instead the ladies asked if we would like them to drive us down to the lighthouse, even though there was not much time before closing. We happily agreed and, to our surprise, they told us we could get out and they would pick us up in 15 minutes. What a break for us. Not only were we at the lighthouse without the long walk, but, better still, visitors had left.
As promised, Mary and Kathy came back and offered to give us a short tour of the park. Again, we quickly accepted and thanked them for their continued kindness.
These women were so sweet and exceptional that asking them to be part of my strangers project happened spontaneously. I told them my wife and I are both amateur photographers who post photos on Flickr. I explained the Flickr groups, 100 Strangers and The Human Family, and that their purpose was for members to photograph strangers with their permission, but that was only half the commitment. The other, equally important, half was to find out salient facts about the person being photographed and include that in a write-up accompanying the photo. Without hesitation, they both agreed.
When we returned to the entrance, my wife, also in these groups, went to interview the young woman, a parks employee, who was our first contact as we entered. I stayed with Mary and Kathy, took some photos and listened as they shared about their lives.
I asked if they were a couple and they said yes, they have been together 28.5 years. Kathy revealed how she almost died twice, the last time from an asthma attack. Mary related that, in 1999, prescription medications created a brain problem that was akin to a stroke. She lost her short-term memory and her ability to walk, talk and independently care for herself. Given her current vitality, there were no clues about this previous health issue.
It took Mary two and a half years to regain her functioning. She decided to go back to cross-country skiing, which she had done before her medical difficulties. Amazingly, five years after beginning to ski again, Mary represented Canada in cross-country skiing at the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver.
After Kathy's asthma scare, they decided to take a year and travel, RV-style, in the U.S and Canada. They were home in Whiterock, BC only three months when they realized they wanted to be on the road again. The couple ended up applying and being accepted to be camp hosts for Parks Canada (living in their RV 24/7 in the park) at Langley, BC and transferred to Fort Rodd Hill/Fisgard about four years ago.
Both Kathy and Mary agree that, in life, we should never give up, no matter how bleak things appear at the time. Kathy wishes there was more love in the world. From my brief experience, Mary and Kathy are more than doing their part in being loving.
I gave them my email address and got theirs. They said it would be nice if the four of us got together for dinner and I told them we would love to do that. It looks like we have made two new friends.
Find out more about the 100 Strangers project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.flickr.com/groups/100strangers.
To view more street portraits and stories from The Human Family Group, visit www.flickr.com/groups
/thehumanfamily.
While my wife was lining up a shot of Fan Tan Alley, a narrow passageway to shops in the Chinatown section of Victoria, a woman who was walking toward us in the alley ducked out of the way to accommodate the photo. As she exited, we thanked her for being thoughtful and she responded with a friendly smile. This lead to a pleasant chat during which I explained my participation in The Human Family and 100 Strangers groups. She said she was also an amateur photographer, loved the idea and had time for me to take her photograph and tell me about herself. Thus began my wonderful experience with Susan.
The area was less than ideal for taking a portrait because it was teeming with tourists who stop off in Victoria, 3000 to 4000 per ship, after disembarking from the four to five cruise ships a day that visit this capital of British Columbia (BC) during summer.
I snapped a few shots of Susan against a building, but was not pleased with them. Later, my wife suggested posing her under the Fan Tan Alley sign and, although I did not think it would work, that is the one I chose.
Susan was born in Hawaii to American parents. She has lived in Langford, BC (a bit over eight miles from Victoria) since 1973 and loves Canada. Per Susan, it is a peaceful place, not fast paced and has a nice lifestyle.
Three years ago she found a new partner after being married for a long time and she is much happier now. Susan is at a point where she is going to live joy. She looks forward to a satisfying journey for the next season of her life.
Susan explained that she is a people person, very visual and likes to watch other folks. She made clear a number of times that the strangers groups are a neat thing and she was going to check them out on flickr. This was good because her willingness to cooperate was tested by me twice during our conversation. First, I noticed a bride in a gorgeous, lace wedding dress with her well-dressed groom and their photographer -- in the middle of Chinatown on a Friday afternoon! I was so shocked at this good fortune that I rudely walked away from Susan to take some photos of the couple. When I returned, rather than being upset, Susan was glad I took advantage of this stroke of luck.
Not much later, my wife pointed out a young man with a most unusual haircut who we had seen on another street earlier. At the time, I wanted to take his photo, but he was quite far from us and I chose not to run after him. Now, all of a sudden, this guy started walking down Fan Tan Alley. My wife and Susan both told me to go get the shot, which I did. Again, Susan was happy I got my pics. I really appreciated her flexibility and am not sure I would have been as patient if I had been in her shoes.
What is the most important thing you have learned about life, I asked. Susan replied that we should treat people with the same respect we want. Her advice is that we are all equal and everyone should relate to others in that way. She said we do not need prejudice in this world. I totally endorse that concept and told her so.
After more than half an hour together, we exchanged contact information, said goodbye and a delightful meeting concluded.
Go to my The Human Family/100 Strangers album for more strangers photos and descriptions.
See 100 Strangers to find out more about the project and look at pictures taken by other photographers.
Visit The Human Family Group to view more street portraits and stories.
Today's photos are piles of s**t with associated fungi. Sheep dung.
Rod Wood Staffordshire UK 16th October 2021
Fisgard lighthouse was the first lighthouse built on the West Coast of Canada and dates back to the 1800s. It's a welcoming sight for naval ships returning from deployment. I visit it often and always enjoy the view.
For the Lego dating site.
Railgun
Ordnance
Delivery
Device
Because the controversy demanded I build this.
And because Super Troopers is pretty darn funny.
Heading into Victoria, we passed the Fisgard Lighthouse which is located in Colwood, B.C. at the Fort Rodd Hill National Historic Site. I have visited this light a few times and it is one of the nicest in British Columbia. The light remains active and the station was established in 1860. The tower is 21.5 metres tall (71 ft.) The attached keeper's house is now used as a museum. At the time of its construction, British Columbia was still a British Colony and did not become part of Canada until 1871.
Fort Rodd Hill - a National Historic Site - is a coast artillery fort built in the late 1890s to defend Victoria and the Esquimalt Naval Base.
Family members are intently studying something in the parking lot at, as far as I can tell, Fort Rodd Hill, a historic site on the west side of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in 1967. Their transport is this white 1963 Valiant Signet 2-door coupe.
Other cars visible include, on the left a brown 1962 AMC Rambler Classic Cross Country station wagon, on the far left a 1963 Chevrolet Impala sedan, and front right another Valiant, this time a 4-door sedan with a 1957 "rose mist" Olds behind it.
Thanks to flickr members Grant for help with car ID's, and Michael for brand name corrections.
Other opinions and ID's welcome in the comments.
Epson V500 scan of a 35mm Kodachrome slide.
Photo probably taken by my mother-in-law.
It's always exciting to get out there and explore new places. This past weekend those new places happened to be the historic park at Fort Rodd Hill, and Sooke BC. I was told by family to visit the Fisgard Lighthouse at some point, and I'm glad I was finally able to get out there! It's a beautiful old structure and property.
Fisgard Lighthouse is located within Fort Rodd Hill park, out at the end of a small rocky spit stretching into the harbour. It's the oldest and first Lighthouse built on Canada's west coast.
Fujifilm XT-2, Rokinon 12mm f2
Colwood, BC Canada
Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site, on Fisgard Island at the mouth of Esquimalt Harbour in Colwood, British Columbia, is the site of Fisgard Lighthouse, the first lighthouse on the west coast of Canada.
Fisgard Lighthouse is about 6.2 miles by boat or 7.8 miles by car from downtown Victoria. Automated in 1929, the light shows a white isophase light of 2 second period in a sector from 322° to 195° at 71 ft above mean sea level, and in other directions it shows red shutters. The white 48 ft tower is floodlit below balcony level.
Fisgard Lighthouse was built in 1860 to guide vessels through the entrance of Esquimalt harbour. It was named after HMS Fisgard, a British Navy ship that spent time in the Pacific. 
Fisgard Lighthouse and its sister station Race Rocks Light, were constructed in 1859–60, to ease the movement of naval ships into Esquimalt harbour and merchant ships into Victoria Harbour. The light stations were also seen as a significant political and fiduciary commitment on the part of the British government to the Colony of Vancouver Island, partly in response to the American gold miners flooding into the region: some 25,000 arrived in 1858 for the Fraser gold rush.
The cast-iron spiral staircase in the tower was made in sections in San Francisco.Local legend claims that the brick and stone used in construction were sent out from Britain as ballast; in fact local brick yards and quarries supplied these materials, while the lens, lamp apparatus and lantern room were accompanied from England by the first keeper, Mr. George Davies, in 1859. The cast-iron spiral staircase in the tower was made in sections in San Francisco.
Fisgard first showed a light from the tower at sunset on 16 November 1860. Colonial Governor James Douglas petitioned the British government to build the lighthouse. Captain Richards supported his position. Construction was supervised by Colonial Surveyor and Engineer JD Pemberton. Architects John Wright and Hermann Otto Tiedemann did the design of the lighthouse and the picturesque gothic red brick residence adjoining it.
Permanent steel shutters were added to the landward side of the lantern room some time after 1897, when concussion from the 6-inch guns at newly built Fort Rodd Hill caused cracks to appear in the lantern windows. The last keeper to actually live full-time at Fisgard was George Johnson; Josiah Gosse, Fisgard's final keeper, had permission from the lighthouse authority to live ashore (nearby on Esquimalt Lagoon), and row out to Fisgard every evening.
In the early 1940s, the acetylene lamp in Fisgard's tower was replaced by a battery-powered electric light. In 1950–51, a causeway was built out to Fisgard Island from the foreshore at Fort Rodd Hill by the Canadian Army; this was intended as a military obstacle, but also provided direct access to Fisgard Lighthouse.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and please know that any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated!
Sonja
Colwood, BC Canada
Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Site, on Fisgard Island at the mouth of Esquimalt Harbour in Colwood, British Columbia, is the site of Fisgard Lighthouse, the first lighthouse on the west coast of Canada.
Fisgard Lighthouse is about 6.2 miles by boat or 7.8 miles by car from downtown Victoria. Automated in 1929, the light shows a white isophase light of 2 second period in a sector from 322° to 195° at 71 ft above mean sea level, and in other directions it shows red shutters. The white 48 ft tower is floodlit below balcony level.
Fisgard Lighthouse was built in 1860 to guide vessels through the entrance of Esquimalt harbour. It was named after HMS Fisgard, a British Navy ship that spent time in the Pacific. 
Fisgard Lighthouse and its sister station Race Rocks Light, were constructed in 1859–60, to ease the movement of naval ships into Esquimalt harbour and merchant ships into Victoria Harbour. The light stations were also seen as a significant political and fiduciary commitment on the part of the British government to the Colony of Vancouver Island, partly in response to the American gold miners flooding into the region: some 25,000 arrived in 1858 for the Fraser gold rush.
The cast-iron spiral staircase in the tower was made in sections in San Francisco.Local legend claims that the brick and stone used in construction were sent out from Britain as ballast; in fact local brick yards and quarries supplied these materials, while the lens, lamp apparatus and lantern room were accompanied from England by the first keeper, Mr. George Davies, in 1859. The cast-iron spiral staircase in the tower was made in sections in San Francisco.
Fisgard first showed a light from the tower at sunset on 16 November 1860. Colonial Governor James Douglas petitioned the British government to build the lighthouse. Captain Richards supported his position. Construction was supervised by Colonial Surveyor and Engineer JD Pemberton. Architects John Wright and Hermann Otto Tiedemann did the design of the lighthouse and the picturesque gothic red brick residence adjoining it.
Permanent steel shutters were added to the landward side of the lantern room some time after 1897, when concussion from the 6-inch guns at newly built Fort Rodd Hill caused cracks to appear in the lantern windows. The last keeper to actually live full-time at Fisgard was George Johnson; Josiah Gosse, Fisgard's final keeper, had permission from the lighthouse authority to live ashore (nearby on Esquimalt Lagoon), and row out to Fisgard every evening.
In the early 1940s, the acetylene lamp in Fisgard's tower was replaced by a battery-powered electric light. In 1950–51, a causeway was built out to Fisgard Island from the foreshore at Fort Rodd Hill by the Canadian Army; this was intended as a military obstacle, but also provided direct access to Fisgard Lighthouse.
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and please know that any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated!
Sonja
Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse.
The oldest lighthouse in Western Canada. A military outpost from the late-19th to mid-20th century. I have no idea how this place can be off the tourist circuit (which for visitors is a wonderful thing). What a hidden gem and well worth a stop.
Victoria, Canada
View of ESQUIMALT LAGOON from BELMONT BATTERY
Colwood, BC Canada
Tour through secret bunkers, military command posts and original 19th century buildings at Fort Rodd Hill, a west coast artillery fortress on active duty from 1895 to 1956.
Fisgard Lighthouse
Named a national historic site in 1960, a century after first showing its light, Fisgard is still a working lighthouse - although the last keeper rowed away in 1929. Fisgard was an early expression of government sovereignty on what would become Canada's west coast.
Generations of mariners - British and Canadian, naval and merchant - have relied on Fisgard as a landmark to find Esquimalt harbour's narrow entrance. With Race Rocks light, FIsgard marks the safe anchorage of Royal Roads, and also points the way to Victoria harbour for merchant ships.
Reference: .pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/bc/fortroddhill
This image is best viewed in Large screen.
Thank-you for your visit, and please know that any faves or comments are always greatly appreciated!
Sonja
General Electric Transportation Systems Genesis P42DC 4250-hp B-B diesel-electric passenger locomotive #911
----
Sigma 24-70mm 1:2.8 DG HSM EX
_DSC5713 Anx2 1600w Q50
'Rodd 21' during some pattern work at Pease. From the 439th Airlift Wing (439 AW), 'Patriot Wing' Westover Air Reserve Base, Chicopee, MA
Fort Rodd Hill - a National Historic Site - is a coast artillery fort built in the late 1890s to defend Victoria and the Esquimalt Naval Base. The Fort includes three gun batteries, underground magazines, command posts, guardhouses, barracks and searchlight emplacements.
Colwood, Vancouver Island, B.C.
Part of the Group: 115 of Canada's Historic Places in 2015
9/115
10/115
11/115
I love when we're made to think deeply about something. Socrates was a master at this, and had the best methods of teaching; ask your student what they think the answer is. This works greater than most methods, because we can't be taught anything we don't want to learn. We have to find the answers within ourselves.
It's like any piece of visual art. We don't much like to be told what we're supposed to see, as it's up to the viewer to collect anything from the image they so choose. Of course as the creator we can seek to draw the eye, to use lines, shapes, and angles to direct the viewer to a specific location in the artwork if that is our goal, but they will still see only what they choose to see.
This is where I've struggled in the past, and not so much struggled as much as overexerted myself. I used to explain everything! "And this is a broom, it has a red handle, and is standing against a shed wall. look at how the light hits the handle, and it's really shiny, and...." Any visual piece of art will cover all of this in finer detail than can be put into words. This as well is something that must be learned, not simply taught.
And so I still love to write, but less so about what can already be seen, and more-so about the experience I had while taking the photo. Experiences are everything!
The above image was captured at Fort Rodd Hill, in Victoria BC. It was an area of the grounds that I'd nearly overlooked, only noticing it on my way back towards the exit. I'm glad I took the slight detour.
Fuji XT-2, Rokinon 12mm F2
A Canadian Armed Forces Sea King helicopter does a fly past over Fort Rodd Hill.
LR re-edit of a 2009 favourite.
4931
On a sunny and reasonably warm Family Day in B.C.
Fort Rodd Hill and Fisgard Lighthouse National Historic Sites
Another interior shot of a gatehouse at Fort Rodd Hill. Again, this shows how HDR can balance interior and exterior lighting. Note subtle variations of light on the stove, the wall above the door, the ceiling and under the windows. Kinda blown out through the gate, but the room was dark and it was full sun coming through there. That ray was blown in all five exposures. No flash used here, of course.
www.flickr.com/explore/interesting Highest Position # 343 on Wed. Feb.8th 2012
The waterfront sites at Fisgard Lighthouse and Fort Rodd Hill are extremely photogenic, especially with the scenic backdrop of the Olympic Mountains in neighbouring Washington state.
The Strait of Juan de Fuca almost always offers a wide variety of ships, from small sailing vessels, to enormous cargo ships, and the proximity of the Canadian Navy base means that military craft of several nations are often seen at close range.
Wildlife at the sites includes Columbian black-tailed deer, river otters, mink, raccoons, harbour seals, and sea lions.