Leah Giesbrecht's photo journal

2011-06-10T10:53:00.000-07:00

Evening falling on the road to the northern rim of the Grand Canyon.

2011-06-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

Bryce Canyon, Utah, home to purple, pink, and orange hoodoos!

2011-05-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

The Coral Pink Sand Dunes in southern Utah. The dunes are made of red Navaho sandstone and home to yucca plants, toads, and kangaroo rats, which apparently never drink water, but consume all of their moisture by eating plants and seeds. The grains of sand making up the dunes are uniformly small, so the sand has a lovely, smooth, cohesive feel.

2011-05-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

Millions of years of erosion by wind and water on the Rim Trail, Grand Canyon, AZ.

2011-05-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

On the Hermit's Rest Trail in the Grand Canyon, AZ. Yucca plants, cactus, and lizards lined the trail.

2011-04-12T18:22:00.001-07:00

Camellia flowers in my neighbourhood. Some say the flowers are a symbol of devotion or perfection.

2011-04-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse, near Newport, Oregon. There are basking seals beached on rocks and tidal pools full of grass-green sea anemones below.

2011-04-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

A waterfall on the hike around Multnomah Falls, in Oregon's Columbia River Gorge. The hike takes a little over an hour, and at the summit you get an excellent view of the Columbia River.

2011-04-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

A view of Cove Palisades state park in Oregon. To get to this viewpoint, you hike through a juniper forest.

2010-11-01T19:19:00.001-07:00

On the road after camping in Trout Lake, BC. There was a new pile of bear scat every 10 feet.

2010-11-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

2010-11-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

Upper Arrow Lake, near Nakusp, BC. We saw a freshwater otter on the shore of the lake.

2010-11-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

A view of Mt. Hood, Oregon. Close to where this photo was taken there is a small community called Parkdale, a one-street town. It has the greatest hotel/restaurant, featuring obscure, locally brewed Oregon beer. We were lucky enough to visit on taco night. The whole town was there, feasting and enjoying the view of Mt. Hood, which you could see from the restaurant patio.

2010-02-02T18:32:00.001-08:00

2010-02-02T18:30:00.000-08:00

2009-11-07T15:11:00.000-08:00

A mountain on the way up to Rainbow Lake, which is the glacial lake Whistler gets its drinking water from. If you hike the trail to this lake in fall, you'll be surrounded by zillions of ripe wild blueberries.

2009-09-07T15:54:00.001-07:00

Style and technology, combined.

2009-09-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

Another mystery solved.

2009-07-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

This is the trail to Kokanee Lake, near Nelson. On the way up, I shared the trail with marmots, ravens, grouse, and too many deer flies.

2009-07-07T18:56:00.000-07:00

In Manning Park, you can experience snow, sun, wildflowers, fierce winds that will blow your hat off sideways twice, and some great mountain views.

2009-07-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

Foxgloves at Davie Bay on Texada Island, where they grow more profusely than anywhere else I've seen.

2009-07-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

2009-06-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

2009-06-06T19:55:00.000-07:00

2009-05-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

2009-05-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

Car culture? It's time to embrace bike culture.

2009-05-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

It is spring and the swamp orchids, or skunk cabbages, are in their full glory.

2009-05-06T09:22:00.001-07:00

For fans of Agent Cooper and a fine cup of coffee, this is for you. The cafe is located in North Bend, Washington and is next to a superb little 1950's movie theatre.

2009-04-30T15:44:00.000-07:00

2009-04-30T15:01:00.000-07:00

This is the moss-covered forest near Lake Quinault in Washington state. The trees are primarily maple and cedar. There is an abandoned homestead to explore close to this forest. If you continue into the park nearby, you can hike to Irely Lake through old growth forest and alongside a small river. We saw frogs, beavers and ducks along the way.

2009-04-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

2009-04-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

These are some great "post-war modern" signs found in downtown Cutbank, Montana.

2009-04-14T09:18:00.001-07:00

Driving near the Rocky Mountains in the East Kootenays.

2009-04-13T10:49:00.001-07:00

The flowers are coming up even though it frequently feels like November.

2009-03-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

2009-03-19T14:39:00.000-07:00

This was taken on Granville street near Robson, where they are ripping up the road for Canada Line construction.

2009-03-19T14:37:00.000-07:00

2009-03-13T20:54:00.001-07:00

If you ever need a beer early in the morning, someone once told me that the Yale opens at 10:30 am.

2009-03-13T20:52:00.000-07:00

2009-03-11T17:25:00.000-07:00

2009-03-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

False Creek at dusk is always a beautiful place to be.

2009-02-22T09:45:00.000-08:00

The view towards the water and downtown from North Vancouver, where they are building another barricade of condos.

2009-02-22T09:38:00.000-08:00

This is my old high school, Max Cameron Senior Secondary. It's abandoned now, the grounds are covered in tall weeds and parts of it are covered in grafitti. I think it's mostly used by kids to smoke illicit cigarettes behind, or by skateboarders who do stunts on its outdoor staircases.

2009-02-11T20:21:00.001-08:00

This is the view from the Pitt River bridge on a misty October day.

2009-02-11T20:19:00.000-08:00

2009-02-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

While making a website, I tried to find ones I admired in order to take some cues from them. One is the Peggy Guggenheim Museum site. I like the use of black-and-white photography at the top which gives the page good balance, the whitespace and the muted, coordinated colors.

Prada's site looks luxurious because it uses large blocks of solid, dark colors, yet displays clothes/models on white backgrounds to give clearer images. The contrast between dark and light works well, as does the use of moving images.

2009-02-11T06:58:00.001-08:00

2009-02-04T11:29:00.001-08:00

Recently Douglas College, where I attend the Print Futures Professional Writing program, redesigned its website.

The new site, with a large block of color and simple graphic, is more appealing and accessible than the old site. The new site has a less institutional feel and is brighter and more modern; the photos of the two Douglas campuses provide a detailed contrast to the simple block of color.

I think the new website, which is simple and colorful, will be more appealing to a younger audience and perhaps less appealing to more mature students. People who are accustomed to the old website will have to take a bit of time to learn the new locations of menu items, but the layout of the new page is quite similar to the old page and won't pose many frustrations.

The only weakness is the light color of the font at the top of the page that lists some menu items. The font is light enough that viewers might not notice these options.

2009-01-27T10:43:00.000-08:00

2009-01-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

Jakob Nielsen, "the reigning guru of Web usability" according to Fortune magazine, has worked to create cost-effective and efficient improvements to user interfaces, with the aim of making the Internet and its websites easier to use.

Nielsen has also worked to standardize interface components and to create guidelines for making usable rich Internet applications and content. His work matters to those creating websites and content for them because it makes the programs they work with more consistent and therefore easier to use.

2009-01-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

2009-01-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

In the spring of 2008, two ducks and 12 ducklings made their home in the pond in my yard.

2009-01-21T18:52:00.000-08:00

Revelstoke in December - a great place to snowshoe. Trails along the Columbia River and through the woods are within walking distance of town. If you need caffeine or cinnamon buns before trekking into the hills, go to the Modern Cafe or Conversations. If you need amazing pizza or pasta afterwards, go to The Village Idiot or Bad Paul's. Revelstoke also has a community art gallery full of eclectic, appealing things made by residents.

2009-01-21T18:46:00.000-08:00

As a blogger, I asked myself the question, "Who runs the web?"

The W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium, was founded in 1994 as a way to get all HTML vendors to agree to use the same set of standards and components.

Today the W3C is made of members most of whom represent large organizations that have a financial stake in the web and the programs that compose it. The W3C makes recommendations about web programs and their standards, but these recommendations are not enforced; individual manufacturers can choose whether to abide by them or not.

2009-01-15T17:57:00.000-08:00

I wanted to add some images to this page. I have been working on my photography skills with the hope of taking some good pictures to accompany some of the articles I write.

2009-01-15T17:51:00.000-08:00

Here is the view from Duck Bay on Savary Island, one of my favorite camping places.

2009-01-15T17:46:00.000-08:00

This is a building I came across when I was roaming around Quebec City in 2007.

2009-01-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

On creating a blog, I considered two of my favorite online journals. They belong to David Byrne http://journal.davidbyrne.com/ and Neko Case http://www.nekocase.com/travelogue/

Mr. Byrne does a great job of posting regularly. He writes about the shows he plays, the neighbourhoods and countries he explores, books he reads and artists he admires. He always includes the thoughts and musings these things provoke in him and I enjoy being able to see inside his head a little bit.

Neko Case usually writes about her travels and the show she plays. Her thoughts and expressions are sometimes bizarre and unique and she has an intriguing vocabulary. However, Ms. Case can go months without posting anything; I read somewhere that she doesn't own a computer, so good for her for fighting the good fight.