The Chinatown Parade... LAST year (2018)

February 10, 2019 in CHINATOWN

I’ve started to make it a habit to post up these Chinatown Parade photos a year later… whoops! Life does get busy and now even more so with my daughter’s arrival. However, this has allowed for a strange benefit: After having faced a Chinatown Parade in the freezing cold and then in a blizzard (literally moments ago… and the snow is still falling as I type), I now look back at the photos from last year’s parade and am able to enjoy them more after having let them sit and marinate for a year rather than if I had simply posted them straight away. There’s something about the passage of time that really matures a documentary photograph.

Photographs from a Ferry Ride

November 03, 2018 in Personal Work, Travels

Recently I was telling a group of photographers at the ARC Conference that “you are not a ‘photographer’, you are more than that.” I really believe this to be true. While we are passionate about our photography work (weddings, family photographs, long-term projects), we are so much more than just a camera person who takes these photos. We are human beings: artists who create with our cameras. And sometimes, this creating leads us to explore other areas other than those that we would normally do in our line of work.

Street Photography - How I Keep Myself Sharp

April 26, 2018 in Personal Work

Believe it or not, photography is a lot like sports exercise. If you leave it for too long, your muscles get flabby and you have to recondition them to get back into peak performance once again.

I try to keep my photographic skills well-practiced so that when it's time to roll for an assignment, I am in peak form and able to deliver. How do I do this, you ask?

When It's Cold, I Go Outside - Part 1

February 05, 2016 in Personal Work

I like to spend my time walking. Outside. Even when it's cold.

The January before last (that is, January 2014) proved to be an especially cold January. Brisk winter air was sharp on the skin but it was still strangely sunny. I took this opportunity to take some photos and, on this rainy February day in 2016, I thought I'd share a few.

The Canon 1D Mark II N And Roberta Olenick

December 06, 2015 in Cameras

I was in the market for a camera as I was looking to make use of the digital Mastin Lab film presets to bring my digital images closer to the way I wanted them to look (like film) and I was also considering a digital full frame that could shoot in demanding circumstances. The type of work I had been doing and the type of demands asked of me made me consider a camera upgrade. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the Leica and my Pentax 645 and Pentax digital cameras but there was a gap that needed to be filled in my line-up. In all honesty, I could probably use any camera to take a photograph but in practice I have found that some tools are much better than others when it comes to certain assignments.

Street Photography September

November 04, 2015 in Personal Work

With the sun staying out from Summer time, September turned out to be a pretty awesome month in terms of light. I took advantage of this but taking my camera with me and walking around Downtown Vancouver.

I've been contemplating putting together a book of Downtown Vancouver and the various scenes and daily moments I've seen throughout the last few years but I'd like to maybe take a few more years of photos before creating a book.

A "Colourful" Journey

September 20, 2015 in Personal Work

While I've heavily been a black and white shooter for a while, there's been a slight tugging to colour. I truly enjoy the tones and the mood that black and white images have. It forces you to look beyond shades of red, green, blue and straight into the geometry and also straight to the people's expressions and actions in an image.

The truth is though, I enjoy colour too but... I think I'm really picky about it. It HAS to be right. It's so easy for us to just explode images with colour without thought or to get it wrong or inaccurate. Colours play an integral role in a photographic image and, believe it or not, also in black and white imagery.

Film for me gets colours right.

(And, with some tweaking, digital images with film presets).

Some Photographs Are Like That

August 25, 2015 in Personal Work, Travels

I was going back through my Japan photographs from a trip in 2014 and found this one. Upon my first review I didn't think too much of it but after working with it, I found it actually turned out to be something I like. Some photographs are like that: They take time to mature. Or... another way to put it... your perspective changes and the photograph says something different to you.

Looking Back to Look Ahead - Part 4

June 21, 2015 in Personal Work

In this final segment of the series, I do another selfie (gosh, they're addicting), run around in wet weather and show one of my favourite places to go.

Photographic "Selfie". Arcade machines. Reflection. Boo yeah.

On this day, the rain was coming down lightly (thankfully). My camera was hidden under either it's case or something else but I was hastily walking when I saw these people. I had to quickly raise my camera, run forwards to wards them to try to frame… — On this day, the rain was coming down lightly (thankfully). My camera was hidden under either it's case or something else but I was hastily walking when I saw these people. I had to quickly raise my camera, run forwards to wards them to try to frame them and get it all focused.

For those outside of Vancouver, BC... be warned. It rains a ton here.

And when it rains that much, we go indoors into cool shops like this. This is the inside of the Old Faithful Shop in Gastown.

Looking Back to Look Ahead - Part 3

June 19, 2015 in Personal Work

In this set, I see the need to take a selfie and explore the darkness of Vancouver Downtown. This all took place in 2014.

I'm not a fan of "selfies" but I do look to document myself. This usually involves finding reflective surfaces in which to take a photo of myself... all while telling a story or setting a scene...Or just taking a selfie. — I'm not a fan of "selfies" but I do look to document myself. This usually involves finding reflective surfaces in which to take a photo of myself... all while telling a story or setting a scene...
Or just taking a selfie.

There are some areas where the lights are really nice in Downtown Vancouver. This one is by the Birks store.

When there is darkness, I'm attracted to the light. I'd say I'm kind of like a photographic moth but that sounds kind of weird.

In this image, I waited a few moments for the person to walk into the light before taking it. I wish I was a tad closer but timing was critical.