Looking Back to Look Ahead - Part 3

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. 

Looking Back to Look Ahead - Part 2

Continuing on with this series... 

A moment between two. I think this was during a cloudy Fall day last year (2014).

I think I read somewhere that these pianos are back! Random pianos showed up in Vancouver and you could "tickle the ivory" as the saying goes.

Reflections and Shadows

I realize I spend quite a bit of time here. It's nice to get out for a while and just be with your thoughts... or camera.

Boyz II Men came into town and were playing at the PNE last year. It was quite a party.

Then the lights went down :)

Looking Back to Look Ahead - Part 1

In the midst of a very busy 2014, I didn't really get a chance to blog or post a lot of images that I wanted to share with you all. In a way, I can understand how a photographer such as Vivian Maier had all those rolls of undeveloped film... sometimes you're just so busy taking the personal project photographs that trying to sort them all and process them takes time that sometimes one doesn't have. The enjoyment comes from getting out there and photographing and it's easy to put aside the actual processing. Of course, any work assignments I'm hired for come first (and gets processed, edited, etc.) which is why personal projects are a bit behind. Oh well. Such is life.

With our faces being bombarded with a bazillion images, I'd like to take time to just review and comment on each image. Stop and smell the roses... er, photographs... in this case :)

Plenty more stories to share about 2015 (a few assignments being completed and to be blogged soon) but for the next bit I'd like to reflect (with photographs) on my previous year as a way to look into the future and my photographic future.

Taken while riding the bus down Granville St in Vancouver.

There are quite a number of homeless people in Downtown Vancouver. There are projects in place attempting to address the situation and I hope, for the sake of those who are homeless, that they are fruitful projects.

I took this in a coffee shop in... well, somewhere in Vancouver. Not sure if the man saw me but I caught his glance in this photograph!

Taken during the Powell Festival (a Japanese cultural festival that we have annually in Vancouver).

In some ways, I am a street photography. I like to get close and capture the scene around me and document this specific moment in time. Here, I Was probably a bit closer than I usually go but where I hope to push torwards (All while being respectful to those around me).

I really liked the rolling curtains in this image. Taken during the Powell Festival.

Vancouver Spring

Most of the time, it rains during Vancouver's Spring season but this year we were quite blessed with some warm almost-summery sun.

Three

Just three images I'd like to share.

This is a Chinatown shop that I frequent that is next to the Sun Yat Sen Garden. 

It was slightly raining and I thought this guy's hair captured the slight dampness in the air.

I always find myself looking down at the steps when I'm making my way up them. This time I looked up.

Sunny Days

In October of last year, I bought a Leica camera to... well, I really wanted one partly. But the reason I wanted one was not simply because it's a fancy camera and is looked upon with favour (in most cases) by the photography community. It was because I wanted a tool that would further enhance the vision that I had for my approach to my work: Documentary photography.

It's taken me quite a while to get used to this camera and while I've learned a lot over the last few months, I've come to realize that the Leica camera is one that you have to kind of struggle with at first, learn to grow with and eventually make it a part of you. Some people may not jive with rangefinder cameras. Honestly, there are some days when I tire of the learning curve and put it down and give it a rest only to find myself wanting to learn more about it and to try to push myself and it to greater heights.

The Immensity of Trees

While I photograph a majority of the time in black and white, I truly feel that there are times when colour is the approach I want to take. The tone of an entire image, or even set of images, changes when using colour or black and white.

I know there are times when we photographers have said that we change colour images to black and white when they're kinda sucky and "black and white will save it". Not to me. Black and white is a language... a language of photography. Colour is another language. Just like languages, different tones and expressions can affect the mood of the conversation and/or... photograph. 

To me, black and white is not a crutch to lean on nor is it a "style" I choose. To me, it's a way of thinking and a way of seeing the world... 

Then I see a lush forest with a brilliant green and think to myself "I can best express this feeling I get from this moment using colour." 

The images were all taken during a recent rainy/cloudy/overcast hike around Lighthouse Park in Vancouver. 
Nikon film camera + Ektar 100 film (scans adjusted to a Portra setting)

Jaunts

Jaunts. I take them quite often. Take the camera, grab a bag, look like I'm about to go someplace far with the big bag I'm carrying... and walk a few blocks. 

For me as a documentary photographer, the best photography is always around me. Sometimes I have to move, sometimes I have to wait and sometimes.... sometimes the camera stays in the bag all day. And I end up thinking about something else like hockey. But life itself is a story that needs to be told... and I then put my thoughts and my vision on it and discern the photographs I want to take to tell the story truthfully and well.

Here's a few images from a jaunt or two last year. Some on the way home, some at lunch, others while taking walks with my wife.

4 Years Later

While browsing through some old photographs I found one that I had taken just after the Stanley Cup riot. I remember getting out of Downtown as quickly as I could with my wife and friend as the place become a complete mess of chaos.  I took the first photo a few days after the riots.

It was recently that I walked by the BMO once again and I decided to take a photograph to see how times have changed.

BMO in 2010 just days after the Vancouver Stanley Cup Riots.

2014, just 4 years after the riot, and it looks like nothing ever happened.

It's amazing how photography can act as a time capsule to take you back to a time and place in history. This is one of the many reasons I love photography.

Mini Adventures in Photography... And Life

Happy New year everyone! I'm still in the midst of reviewing and processing my photos from 2014. It's was a really busy year with a number of work projects on the go and there were some changes and a lot of highlights (Japan!... For example). In the midst of it all, there were a few mini adventures my photography took me: 

Seymour Conservation Trail is located in North Vancouver. My wife and I didn't do a ton of biking this year but when we did, it was a lot of fun and physically challenging.

Nature is beautiful. Being on a bicycle allows me to be mobile yet easily able to stop and smell the roses... Or in this case, trees.

Vancouver has a lot of little shops specializing in different things. This is a fabric shop located near Kingsway and Main Street.... I think.

The Chinatown Project was on hiatus this year due to a variety of other projects and...well, just life happening. I fuly intend to go back and keep documenting because every time I do visit, I find something changes.

While in the midst of a shopping trip, my wife and I went in different directions. I was walking by the Vancouver Art Gallery when I noticed a lot of commotion starting to happen. Before I knew it, I was in the midst of Ukraine Demonstration.