the ocean

I was in Vancouver this past weekend shooting pictures.

(part two of two)

When I wasn't lurking around downtown, The Girl and I hit up some of my favourite spots in and around Van. She came down mostly to visit Lisa, a friend of ours who had broken both legs jumping off of the large white rock in White Rock.

Yep. You heard right.

I dropped The Girl off at Lisa's before going out Friday night, and picked her up again (late) Saturday morning. We met Lisa and a couple other friends and headed back to White Rock for sun, surf, the world's best gelato, and a chance for Lisa to express her feelings towards her assailant.


The next day, after another night of lurking, The Girl and I went to Stanley Park, walked the Sea Wall, lounged on some rocks, and took what I believe to be our very first 'couple' picture. Seriously, I tried to find another one, and I couldn't.


Other highlights of the trip:

- dinner, coffee and plenty of laughs with my sister and brother-in-law
- dinner at the world's greatest Chinese food restaurant with the Dericksons
- finding a linen suit and some sweet new kicks
- pistachio macaroons from a Granville Island bakery
- a dozen Krispy Kreme's for the road
- never once getting lost thanks to Google Maps on my trusty iPhone.

23.05.09. Slightly reduced exposure.
24.05.09. Increased temperature, increased vibrance, reduced saturation.

discothèque

I was in Vancouver this past weekend shooting pictures.

(part one of two)

My friend Jeremy asked for my help. He is working on a photo project, but his original photographer moved away, so he asked if I'd step in and continue. I said yes...and so off to Vancouver I went.

Without getting into too much detail, the book is a small photo-heavy coffee table book about the aftermath of the Vancouver club and bar scene. So for two nights, we went out to capture all the goings on.

First lesson: if you have a camera, drunk people will ask you to take their picture.


Second lesson: some street musicians are legitimately rock and roll.


Third lesson: if someone is throwing up, their friend will assume the 'supportive friend' pose and put a hand on their back.


Fourth lesson: old friends are sometimes the best friends.


23.05.09. Increased exposure, contrast.
24.05.09. Increased contrast.
24.05.09. Slightly increased exposure.
24.05.09. Increased contrast, vibrancy, slight colour correction.
24.05.09. Increased contrast, vignetting.

twilight

It rained a lot today. It does this sometimes in the Valley.

Some days though, after it's rained all day, the clouds dissipate and the air is still. The lake turns to glass, and the late day sun transforms the mountainous landscape into a painting.

I recently borrowed a film camera from a friend, and tonight seemed like a good opportunity to test it out. The Girl and I took an after-dinner walk, both cameras at the ready.

She doesn't consider herself to be artsy in the slightest, but she really has a natural eye for photography.

So we practiced.

20.5.09. Increased clarity, vignetting. Slightly increased exposure.

sometimes you can't make it on your own

Finally, another project is being realized.

I have little trouble coming up with photo projects. Most of them seem to remain ideas though; rarely do these projects come to fruition.

Lately I've started to actually execute some of my ideas, and the results have been promising. One is a collaboration with photographer friend of mine. Another is a long-awaited photo documentary of a fictitious band.

The idea is this: a series of photos depicts the rise and fall of a band, including various stages of success and documenting the inner workings of a creative entity. The catch is, I will be playing all of the members of the band. This requires a technique known as cloning (which I alluded to in a previous post).

I shot this using a tripod and timer, racing into position after each frame. I then picked my three favourite frames for each "character" and stitched them together in Photoshop.

So this is the first picture in the series, called 'Songwriting'. You can read more about the story behind the band here. I imagine there will be between 5-10 pictures in the series, depending on how the story writes itself.

10.5.09. Three separate frames stitched together in Photoshop CS3.