Signature & Avatar Photos

[Kahloke]

My thought on starting this thread is to provide a forum whereby members can discuss, and/or announce, their signature photos. I, for one, really like including a picture in my Signature, and I know others do, as well. It's sort of like our own personal Flagship Forum pics, and I really have fun compiling images for my signature. I try to do it like the Flagship Forum, and have a different one each month. I already have several in the pipeline, and all of my images are photos I have taken, with the exception of some historical photos, like the one I have for this month. So, with that in mind, I'll start off. I chose my current signature pic because it's my favourite Banner Pic out of the 3 I submitted for the Februrary Flagship Forum. Since this is a Steel Electric month, I found it appropriate to have a Steel Electric photo. Now that I've got the ball rolling, Is anyone else interested in keeping this thread going?

[WettCoast]

Re my current (Feb 2008) sig pic:



Due to having broken my leg about 3 weeks ago I am chained to the house and have some time on my hands. I am using some of that time for scanning, and my current main project is working with some of the marine artworks done by my older brother David (Mr DOT). He has many pen & ink & water colour sketches of CP's one-time BCCSS fleet, and the BC Ferries. The drawing in my current sig was done by him in 1981, the year following the introduction of the Queen of the North to service on BC's North Coast. A drawing of that vessel is timely as we approach the second anniversary of her loss.

[shipchandler]

wetcoastkidjst said:

Re my current (Feb 2008) sig pic:



Due to having broken my leg about 3 weeks ago I am chained to the house and have some time on my hands. I am using some of that time for scanning, and my current main project is working with some of the marine artworks done by my older brother David (Mr DOT). He has many pen & ink & water colour sketches of CP's one-time BCCSS fleet, and the BC Ferries. The drawing in my current sig was done by him in 1981, the year following the introduction of the Queen of the North to service on BC's North Coast. A drawing of that vessel is timely as we approach the second anniversary of her loss.

Your brother is a very talented artist................nice

[Kahloke]

[quote author=shipchandler board=photos thread=1202681154 [/quote]Your brother is a very talented artist................nice[/quote]

I second that! QoTN was sure an elegant ship, wasn't she?

[Low Light Mike]

I have a few signature pics that I rotate, usually from personal vacation pictures. I love BC travel, and the signature-area is a good place to share what I've seen & enjoyed.

I also like the Avatar-picture area for a more compact, sometimes subtle, place to make a statement. For instance, I displayed a fan as my avatar once (ie. the apparatus that moves air to cool things down), in response to a forum member belittling ship-watchers as "fans".

I also like to use the compact avatar-square to focus on 1 small part of a ship's picture, to get an abstract ferry view.

I like the trend of people using their forum-flagship nominations as their own signatures for that flagship month. It's a good way to give the non-winning pictures some more exposure, and to show your pics.

Signatures are a fun way to express ourselves. Some of us put lots of thought & effort into what the siggie says. I've been on some other forums where signature-rules are lax, and the very-tall signatures (and flashing / distracting signatures) really annoy the forum reader. I think that our 200x800 size is just right.

(only problem is when you take a 200x800 photo and then add many lines of text too. something close to 200-tall should be your guideline for the total signature area, not just the pic).

Signature areas are also a great place for a permanent link to your personal website (Hint to Paul K).

Keep that creativity coming; I'm enjoying it. Thanks for the fun.

[Deleted]

When Captain Lloyd is on the bridge, I've seen crew members washing the walls on the sundeck. I wish there was something we could do about the grafitti though. It drives me nuts.

Has anyone else noticed it on other ships? It's a recent development on the Surrey.

Thanks Chris...

===================

[Moderator: before this confuses the easily-confused, let me say that I think the above reply relates to this thread: 2 threads were happening at same time, and I think she replied to the wrong one:
ferriesbc.proboards20.com/index.cgi?board=generaltalk&action=display&thread=1202359542 . ]

[Retrovision]

I have many motivations for signature pics, they're now almost exclusively ferry related.

Feel better soon, Jim, and I hope your leg heals with the speed of a limb half its age. In any case, I - as so many - am quite appreciative of your focus on our fleet during your time until then.

-

For the sake of explanations I'm happy to be given the chance; thanks, orcasnative, for the opportunity.

For once I feel that I can be proud of my photographic documentation of Deas Dock, this set captured far and away from ominous BCFS property, including my now current signature pic.

From left to right:
Queen of Tsawwassen, Queen of Prince Rupert, Queen of Cumberland, a ghostly looking Quinitsa undergoing major refit and the Queen of Surrey

[Kahloke]

Here we are only 35 minutes away from March. I'm a little early but I've already changed my banner. This month I did a BC Ferry for a change (a change for me, anyway), Queen of Vancouver in honour of the venerable V-Class. I took this pic from the Spirit of Vancouver Island last summer as we were approaching Tsawwassen. Vancouver was pulling out as we were coming in.

[Curtis]

My February 2008 Pic was of the soon to be 50 Years Old, North Island Princess.


Now My March 2008 Sig Pic. A Basic Shot of the Queen of Surrey on the Approach to the Langdale Ferry Terminal.

As I Possess No Photos of the Queen of Surrey I, A.K.A. Queen of the North. The Surrey II was the Next Candidate.

[Mike C]

My signature picture is a time-exposure of Seymour & Cordova streets in Downtown Vancouver, with the Delta motto printed on it.

(the shot was taken as Pirates came marching down Seymour street, parading off the SeaBus and bombarding the SkyTrain platform... but that's a story for another day.)

[johnnytindale]

Question re the Banner Picture of the Month for March - Queen of the North at Tsawwassen. The picture captures the QoN off loading vehicles. That got me thinking--when would the QoN have operated on a Tsawwassen-based route? And for how long?

[WettCoast]

For a few years in the late 1970's & early 80's the Inside Passage route extended all the way down to Tsawwassen during the off season. Both the Q of the North & Q of Prince Rupert handled this route at different times. I made several such trips all the way between Tsawwassen and Prince Rupert, either north or south bound. It was a ~30 hour journey. Stops were made at either Kelsey Bay or Port Hardy to load/off load cars & passengers. A passenger only stop was also made in Bella Bella. I was aboard on one such trip on the 11th of December of 1980 when I snapped this picture.

I think the vehicles that you see are actually being backed onto the ferry for off loading at Port Hardy, where the ship will again dock via the bow. Cars for Prince Rupert would have been driven on forward (facing the stern), for off loading via the stern at Rupert.

[SS San Mateo]

Current one (as of 03/03/08)...



Story behind it: The Rhododendron had been knocked out of service due to rudder flop. A service bulletin later that day said that the Hiyu would be replacing the Rhododendron. After checking the bus schedule I determined that I would have enough time to get a picture while the bus was on layover as long as everything was running on time, so I decided to go down to get a few pictures since I didn't know how long she would be down there (turns out she would be there for another week or two, so I got a chance to ride her for the first time in 17 years).

Edited to fix url (see post below for reason)

[DENelson83]

Um, SS San Mateo, I can't see your signature pic. My browser will not, under any circumstance, display any image with even one occurrence of the word "banner" in its URL.

Yes, I use ad-blocking software in my browser, and no, disabling it won't help.

[Taxman]

NewFlyer, I really like your signature pic right now.

[Low Light Mike]

denelson83 said:

Um, SS San Mateo, I can't see your signature pic. My browser will not, under any circumstance, display any image with even one occurrence of the word "banner" in its URL.

Yes, I use ad-blocking software in my browser, and no, disabling it won't help.

So, are you asking us to all stop using the word "banner" in the url of signature-pics and flagship-pics?

Ask, and you'll likely receive. I suggest that you ask in the current banner nomination thread, re April 2008.

[Retrovision]

My current signature pic and favorite personal tribute banner to our fallen flagship, the Queen of the North, was captured on what I consider my very first real photoshoot (first significant time using my then new Kodak "EasyShare" Z740 - Aspheric All Glass Lens 38-380mm (Equiv.) AF 10x Optical at 5 megapixels as opposed to my previous point and shoot 3.2 megapixel box of a first digital camera) arriving from the route's then regular seasonal positioning cruise from the north for refit - as Mr. Horn mentioned in the recent list of sig pic contenders' nicknames with him and Karl aboard (among others) seen as two of the specs towards the stern - in late 2005. This would not only end up being our flagship's second to last time in southern waters - the last I was fortunate to soon after capture while conicidentally crossing the Strait of Georgia aboard the Queen of Nanaimo as the 'North briefly docked at Tsawwassen before heading north for her last time - but would inspire my current interest in not only coastal shipping history, as strong as it was already, but more importantly ferry photography as a catalyst to my passion for the artistic medium in all ways.

[DENelson83]

vashondude said:

Edited to fix url (see post below for reason)

Much better. Now I see it. The little Hiyu that could.

[Mike C]

My new Sig Pic is one of Manning Park's chairlifts, the Orange Chair, with a panoramic view of the mountains in the background.

[Canucks]

I have changed my signature pic to a panorama of Coastal Ranaissance's sign. For some reason Photoshop wouldn't put it together so I had to use the Canon photostich and it left a bit of distortion by the third "A".

[Curtis]

My Latest Sig Pays some Homage to Both Jervis Inlet and the Queen of Chilliwack.

Beauty with a Box in the Middle.

[Northern Exploration]

Love that pic. You can feel the coast in that shot.

[Retrovision]

Curtis (Ship-Rider 16) has got the idea; please include the signature pic of yours that you're describing in your post here even though it might be your current sig pic as well as it will allow you more flexibility to change it while keeping current in this thread despite how long ago you posted. Thanks.

[Nickfro]

My first ever signature pic is from the CR's second trial run into Horseshoe Bay on Jan 25. This was the first sunny day that I had for photographing our newest ferry class. . .taken from the park to get some trees in the view as some garnish for the picture.

[Mill Bay]

O.k... I know i'm slow to change my sig pic, mostly because i'm too much a linear thinker, and something has be right in my line of vision before I'll decide to change my picture. (Usually)

Like a few others have done, I wanted to do something with the poor old Queen of Esquimalt, and I think it worked out quite well.

Even though it's a more recent picture, I edited it to give at slightly older appearance. It's nice and bright, and sunny (from last year's circlepac), hence the text I put in it... "remember me as I was in the summer of my life".

I've also added a new signiture text from John Masefield's poem "Sea-Fever".

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by

And, of course, my avatar is that wonderful ambassador of the future: Expo Ernie. (I have a lot in common with him ;D)