Monday, January 26, 2009

One of my favourite trees



I shot this in November 08. I didn't like it all that much at first, then realized that it needed a tiny sliver of a crop (to 5x7 format) and black & white conversion.

I like it now, hope you enjoy the photo as well.

Large and on Black

Sunday, January 25, 2009

The format

I've been going back and forth on the format of the blog. Initially, I tried to relate the story of the photos and how they came together. Then I tried to just simply post one photo at a time. I found that I ended up posting exactly the same content on my flickr page as here. So that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

I think I'll go back to the "story" idea for a bit and see how that works for me.

Jerry and I met today and after some brunch decided to wander around Kits and soak up a bit of sun.





There were a lot of people with the same idea :)



The Ben Franklin



It's a pretty interesting story.
And there is even a 360 degree interior view here.

Cold day to be out on the water.




Levitate


Probably one of my favourite images from today.

Shadow portrait



Click for image slideshow

Hope you had a good weekend.

Bjorn

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

No Omega



More expired Kodak GC. Note the slight colour variations along the perforations...

Better? You decide.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Just a crack in the ice...



I don't often take abstract photos, but for some reason this appealed to me.

View Large and On Black

The Birds



Quite the sight when all these crows started taking off at once by the Vancouver Port.

Full effect here.

At the Edge of the Clouds



Soaking in some sun Saturday. Getting to a view point where I could take a photo of something appearing above the ever-present fog was a bit of a challenge.

Really only works Large

Waters Edge



Shot at Whitecliff park in North Vancouver. Sometimes I enjoy the fog. Other times it seems to way down everything I do.


Better LARGE and On Black

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Fog Walker



Shot after sunset on Kits beach. The fog was making it tricky to get the exposure right.


Better Large and on Black

Pittbull levitation



Shot early in 2008. I just ran across it again and tweaked it a bit.

Large and on Black

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Shooting film in a digital age

I found myself wondering what is 'wrong' with me, after all, here I am thinking about buying another film camera. Medium format at that.

So I thought maybe writing would about it would help.

I'm not sure when it started, but I always wanted to own a film SLR. A basic one at that (not that I knew at the time that basic was what I wanted). I remember borrowing my dad's Olympus and having him tell me to "not fiddle with those other dials". I now know he was talking about not changing the aperture, though I have a sneaking suspicions that he did not know what aperture was (and probably still doesn't know or care :) )

But I know that I wanted one.

Of course, when it came time to upgrade cameras I started buying digital point & shoot cameras, until 2007 when I finally got a digital SLR (if you've made it this far, you might wonder why I'm talking about digital, when the title of this post clearly implies film ... and rightly so).

I shot like crazy with that little Nikon D40, at one point taking 900 pictures in a 3 hour walk. Some I even liked.

But I knew that to advance further and make better photos, I had to slow down. Shoot less. And learn a bit more. More than I was learning on the web and by just shooting every chance I got with the D40. So I bought a film camera. Sadly both film and digital cameras would get stolen not to long after, but luckily I had insurance.

I now have a very nice Nikon DSLR and 2 Nikon FM2n's. That's right, two. Again, you might rightly ask "Why two?". Well the first one turned out to have a malfunctioning film counter. And looked pretty beat up (takes nice photos though). So I picked up another one. Both cost about what I paid for a couple of the filters for my DSLR so I don't feel so bad about it. Now the "problem" is, that lately I've been shooting more with the film gear than I have with the high end digital gear. I simply am enjoying film and manual focus. It takes longer. There is a certain excitement when I get the film back from developing. Or, in the case of black and white, develop it myself. The delay makes it more of an event.

And I'm taking more time. I even think that I compose better photos. And I do like the sound of that shutter and knowing the film that just got exposed to light is now permanently altered. Never to be erased.

I've found many "film vs. digital" discussions around the web, but sadly they tend to focus on things like dynamic range, total resolution quality, the superiority of medium format film, the advances in full frame digital... In other words, they really want to decide which is the better equipment. I just think they are missing the point.

For those of us who shoot not to earn a paycheque, but instead of the pure enjoyment of recording an image which we will enjoy looking at after, none of those factors have much value.

What matters is that whatever you use to make photos, you enjoy the process, the outcomes and that it helps you to get better.

I think film has done that for me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not letting go of my digital gear, but I'm sure aware of the other options much more so than I was just a couple of years ago.

So, anyone have a nice Mamiya TLR that's looking for a new home? :)

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Kits Beach Tree in Snow



From the Dec 21st snow storm

FM2n
50mm 1.8
Expired Kodak GC400 converted to BW in post

Tasty bits

Big Melt



FM2n
50mm 1.8
Expired Kodak GC400

It really works better large :)

Snowy Swings



Shot during the Dec 21 snowstorm.

FM2n
50mm 1.8
Expired Kodak GC 400 (converted to BW)

Monday, January 12, 2009

King of the Log



Shot during one of the 'festival of light' nights summer 2008.

Larger here.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Fall Vines



This seemed like a long time ago. When there were dry days, no snow and sunlight :)

Large On Black

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Monday, January 5, 2009

Beachscape



The sun sure brings them to the beach... especially after a couple of good snow storms :)

Even large is too small, but it's better.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Don't Walk Now

From last year. I had been meaning to upload this for some time and just never got around to it. I should shoot more motion blur / pan :)



More goodness available

Time and Time Again



I just liked the way this lined up.

Better large and on Black

Friday, January 2, 2009

Thursday, January 1, 2009