Thoughts on photography

Several people warned me that Winnipeg could be a dangerous place to wander with a camera.   My thought was that if it was like Vancouver it would mostly be near the street camps and I would need to have my car parked close by for an easy retreat.   I enjoy photographing street art and the architecture of older cities. Vancouver I know and I have never had a problem.  Even the inhabitants in…

It’s time to photograph the spring colours.

I can hear my neighbours mowing their property. Its spring and with the cool sunny weather and light spring rains everything is growing colourful and fast.  Every year and I am sure they look at the almost knee high grass that fills the bushed in area between my house and the lilac covered fence that hides me from the road and shake their heads at I’m sure they think is my lazy behaviour. Ok,…

A short “Photo Drive”

I hope that winter will be here for a while longer. There is still lots of snow and the darned cold temperatures seem to have passed us by. But now the weather is changing and there will be more (comfortable) opportunities to photograph the changing landscape. This past week I decided to take a short drive up a little used road that wanders off into some backcountry fields. It was midweek so…

                                                                On the two-hour drive to Kelowna my car was filled with Christmas music that we sang along with. After all Christmas is on its way and as I write every year at this time…I like Christmas music. After missing my annual December Christmas photo trip last year Jo and I were excited and eager to get to Kelowna, check into our hotel,…

                  I received a call last week asking me if I would be willing to photograph a car.  When I retired I made the decision to decline photography jobs.  I pretty much live and breath photography, and I worked as a photographer for over 40 years. But when I retired I decided it was time to return to the unrestricted and pure enjoyment that I had when I photographed anything and…

    When a morning is cold, flat and grey I just feel like leaving my camera in it’s bag and staying home with a hot cup of coffee.On Tuesday I had talked with my friend Jo and made plans to go for a morning drive along the Thompson River.  Jo wanted to try some long exposure photos down by the concrete bridge that crossed the river to the Lafarge Cement Plant.  The river is low right now and it…

Ok, I borrowed the title of Bob Seger’s December of 1976 hit single.  My article has nothing to do with Seger’s song…I just liked the title. On a cool, damp night last weekend my friend Jo and I were positioning our tripods at Vancouver’s Science World. As we choose subjects to photograph along the False Creek waterfront. She turned to me and mentioned that she thought the calm ocean with the…

Not much has changed…but the masks?

Jo and I joined our friends Laurie and Habiba at the Richmond Camera Swap meet and Sale this past weekend. We were excited to finally be able to attend another camera packed event after the exhausting yearlong wait caused by the pandemic.  As I wrote last week, we overnighted at the coastal village of Steveston.  I got up early the morning of the camera sale and sat by the open window looking…

Steveston is a historic place on the outskirts of Metro Vancouver that my friend Jo and I stayed at (and spent the evening photographing) on our trip to the August used camera sale in Richmond.  We were lucky to be able to book lodging at The Steveston Hotel, a landmark for the village built in1895.  The last time I visited Steveston must have been about 20 years ago. Other than the marina and…

Photography at any age.

 I think the first camera that I could call my own was a Kodak easy-load 126 cartridge film Instamatic in the early 1960s.   I received that simple plastic Instamatic “snapshot” camera (that had no adjustments other than the setting for flash cubs and one for natural light photographs) in the sixth grade and saved money I earned at odd jobs to buy the 20 shot cartridges.  It was so much easier…

Photography as an Art

Ever since I became interested in photography there has been this discussion that photography isn’t really a true Art.  Sure everyone thinks photographers are creative, but is a Photographer an artist in the same way as a Painter or Sculpture is? Some years ago I was asked to give a talk on “Photography as Art” to the local chapter of the Federation of Canadian Artists.  I had been talking with…

  I finally got a chance to visit the local pond.    The day was perfect with a slight overcast and the morning breeze had finally died down. I had been stacking lumber from the deck I have been dismantling all morning and decided a rest and trip to the pond was in order. After stopping to check that my exposure was good, setting my 150-600mm lens to 600mm and placing it on the bean bag I had…

Sometimes a good photo strikes the imagination.

Sometime in early 1968 I was moving a bunkhouse bed that belonged to another soldier who had served his required time in the Army and left for home. Under the mattress was a book I had never seen before called “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”. About four years later after I too had left that bothersome military chore me and many other young men were forced into, I was wandering through a huge…

Sometimes a good photo strikes the imagination.

Sometime in early 1968 I was moving a bunkhouse bed that belonged to another soldier who had served his required time in the Army and left for home. Under the mattress was a book I had never seen before called “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”. About four years later after I too had left that bothersome military chore me and many other young men were forced into, I was wandering through a huge…

Close-up photos in the last snow of February

I was darned happy when I got up and looked outside on the last morning in February.  There was two inches of snow covering my yard and the temperature was just touching the freezing mark.  Oh, and it was Sunday and I had nothing that I was supposed to do but enjoy February 28th. The morning had a slight overcast and there was a faint breeze. I thought the breeze might be bothersome, but the…

Photography in the month of February

The month of February has been darned cold, wait, I think uncomfortably cold is a better word choice. Despite that, I have spent a lot of my time out walking around. The days have been bright, painfully bright for me in fact. I have been experiencing a new and colourful world this month.  For the last few years everything I saw has had a warm brown tinge, colours were not brilliant, shadows…

A good hobby for this lonely and frustrating

Gosh, the provincial government is asking us to restrict our movements and converging with people we know. I am not complaining, not at all…I’m sure we will look back on this frustrating time and know that everything has been for the best, but gosh. Today the sun came out and I decided it was a good time to go out for a few photos. I have been wandering around my yard trying to get creative…