My Unique Cat

I don't post a lot of photos of my cat as I figured that there's a bazillion other cat photographs  on the internet. However, Hikari has a special place in our hearts as he's been quite a spunky yet affectionate cat. Originally abandoned on a farm, the CARES Cat Shelter in Langley found him and took him in. We were the lucky ones to be adopted by this very personable cat and he has since taken a big spot in our lives ... and our hearts :)

Hikari is part Manx (a tail-less cat breed) and part Domestic Short Hair. 

A "Colourful" Journey

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

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.

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VPL

I like walking around the Vancouver Public Library. There's a number of neat shops inside of the library complex as well as on the outside (including one of my favourite Japanese quick meal places). I find it a great place to walk around and take photographs of not only the amazing building but the people around and inside it.

It may be a bit confusing at first but the people in the image are actually part of an image that is placed on a fence that surrounds a work site.

Obligatory selfie?

Medium Format B&W

It's been very sunny and hot here in Vancouver. However, not that long ago, it was pouring rain. During that time, I took out a medium format camera to play around for a bit (Bronica ETRS). I don't usually bring out medium format as I still prefer using 35mm (size). However, the quality with medium format is quite something. For most of my personal work, I find it a bit much to carry multiple cameras, especially a heavy medium format camera (I tried carrying two of them around the Stanley Park Sea Wall and promptly cancelled my gym membership). 

There's a whole debate I can start on this but I'll save that for another blog entry. Experimenting and playing around with different cameras gives me insight into different options to ultimately accomplish my vision, which is... really... the main goal of this whole photographic thing. I just want to make a nice photograph in the end. And for me, at least, 35mm just fits me for multiple reasons (style, native print format being wider, easier to carry, faster lenses to name a few) but the main one being... well, it just clicks with me.

Anyways, enough babble on that. If I feel the urge, I'll return to it another time and blog on it again! For now, images:

Field Notes

Not so recent local wanderings:

I was looking for a good backpack to bring with me on trips or excursions. Normally, when I'm on assignment, I'll utilize a belt pack so that my back doesn't end up all sweaty (this happens more notably in summer). My wife gave me this back which is more of a laptop bag but I put in a foam padded camera insert from another bag into it and stuff this with as ... well, as much as I can bear before my shoulders get too sore. Shoulder bags have been a problem for me due to having all the weight + my cameras all on one shoulder. Not ideal unless they're super light and I'm not carrying my usual heavy load of miscellaneous items.

It's a Stone + Cloth bag and for what I need it works well :)

Even when the clouds roll in, Vancouver is beautiful. I think this was shot from up on Cypress at one of the lookout points. 

This little book has a cool bit of facts of California in it. I find it really interesting (maybe useful one day?). Who knew the state song is (was?) "I love you, California"? In this little yellow book of mine is a whole bunch of to-dos and reminders. I've tried the electronic way before but I'm a person who loves the tangible and writing things down really helps me remember... sometimes.

Ambleside in West Vancouver. Despite the current weather today being somewhere in the 30 C range, it was extremely cold the day I took this photograph. Jackets were required.

A quick snap :)

The gentleman in the orange sells the Megaphone magazine. Check out what they do at: http://www.megaphonemagazine.com/

Looking Back to Look Ahead - Part 4

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 them and get it all focused. 

I looked up and saw the lights. :)

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.

Interaction in Old Faithful.