vancouverisawesome
The time has come!
I took many years but finally I’m releasing my first Chinatown Book “I Was Lured Into A Tea Shop”, encompassing the early parts of my Documenting Chinatown Project. Life changes, busy schedules and something called a pandemic had me put this on the backburner for a bit but it was always my intention to document Chinatown for the sake of making a book.
Since 2013, I've been continually photographing Chinatown and as the years went on, I found myself meeting people and getting more involved. Eventually, I ended up joining the Wong Association and well... here I am.
Read MoreSo it's taken me a while to blog this. Life became busier and wedding season went into full gear and I found myself with little time to edit my own personal work... but these last few months have been a great time for me to sit and look back at the year that was. As I sit here a week prior to the 2018 Chinese New Year Parade, I thought I'd share some of the major photo highlights from last year's 2017 Chinese New Year Parade.
Read MoreIn early 2016, a few friends, my wife and I went adventuring around Lighthouse Park and Horseshoe Bay area. Despite it being pouring rain, I took my Leica out and proceeded to take photographs of our hike. Thankfully the trees around us blocked most of the rain but it was still a bit slippery (wearing shoes with little grip = bad idea) and very moist. Through it all, I felt like I was able to get some neat photographs of an area that is normally not captured in black and white.
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.
Read MoreWith 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.
Read MoreThere's something about horses that mesmerizes me. The ferocity, the movement, the power... an entire situation of chaos being controlled by a bridle and a saddle.
I recall visiting the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan and seeing that Hayao Mayazaki spent many an hour (day? Week? Month? Years?) creating animations of horses and their movement as he watched it on a screen. This affected me profoundly for my own vision. While the application is different (I'm capturing specific moments through photography instead of trying to capture and animate the intricate movements of horses), I feel that horses represent a bit of a starting place and a centering place for me: Amidst the chaos and the uncontrollable situations of horses and riders jumping, I have to watch them carefully, calm myself down, focus and just shoot... and get it right.
No Words, Just Pictures
Read MoreIn 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.
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.
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.
Moon Party!!
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.
