Victoria - March 8th and Vancouver - March 29th

A few weeks ago a friend and I walked along the Dallas waterfront and took a few pictures; I was not very happy with them at the time, but on reflection I decided to post them anyway. Click here for these pictures.

Today I was in Vancouver, and went out about 8 am for a couple of hours of shooting around the Olympic Village site, Gastown, and Chinatown. Click here to these pictures.

Airports

One of the things I have found since I gained a renewed interest in photography is that, when on vacation, I often end up shooting subjects that are not at all representative of wherever I am. I first noticed this when I was in Hawaii, where some of the shots I thought were most interesting were of industrial and commercial subjects.

One subject I have found interesting lately is airport terminals. As everyone knows, one usually has a lot of spare time at airports while waiting for a flight. The newer airport terminals are often designed with a lot of steel and glass, which tends to provide the almost monochromatic colour schemes and repetition of shape that can make for interesting photographs.

Here's a link to some photographs of airport terminals in London, Hong Kong and Bangkok. Some of these have been posted previously, some of them are new.

Vietnam and Thailand

My recent trip to My Tho, Vietnam, and to Bangkok and Phuket, Thailand produced a few photographs of interest, aside from being records of the trip...here are links to the "best of" photos from Vietnam and Thailand.

If you are interested in seeing photographs that more "record shots" but still illustrative of the locations you can find them by following the links below, which include the "best of" photos as well as many others from the same trip.

My Tho

Royal Palace (Bangkok)

Phuket

Wat Po (Bangkok)

Royal Barge Museum (Bangkok)

Golden Mount and Wat Ratchanaddram (Bangkok)

For anyone who was following my travel blog, these are the same photos that were posted on that blog.

Photos from a previous trip to Vietnam may found here, and photos from previous trips to Thailand here.

Victoria Waterfront

Last Sunday around 8 am the light was interesting and I decided to go out and take a few photos along the Victoria waterfront. I started at Clover Point, walked the breakwater, and stopped briefly at Helijet terminal, the Coast Guard station, and the industrial area over the Bay St. bridge.

No particular theme this time, just a few things that caught my eye. Here's a link.

The previous week I had dinner at the home of my friends Rung and Yannick, and while I was talking with another guest Rung took a photo of me. I liked it, and decided to include it in the blog. Thanks Rung.

recommended listening and viewing

This week I spent some time listening to two podcasts, one called Martin Bailey Photography Podcast, and the other called Twipphoto.

I particularly recommend the Bailey podcast called "first autumn colour of 2008". If you stream the podcast from the website you can see the pictures displayed while you listen. I found it very instructive both from a technical and composition perspective.

I've been listening to the Twipphoto podcast while driving to work; it contains a blend of ideas and information and is quite entertaining.

About Me and Photography

The first picture I remember taking was of a lion, from a car window in a “safari park” north of Toronto, probably around 1970. The camera was a Konica range finder owned by my Father, handed over from the front seat.

I don’t remember taking any further pictures until 1975. My younger brother Michael had become interested in photography and printing. He bought an SLR – a Canon AE-1 and some used darkroom equipment and started to develop and print photographs in a room fashioned out of part of the basement.

I followed suit, buying an AE-1 with a 50mm lens, and starting to read books and magazines to learn how to make better photographs.

My subjects at this time consisted mainly of people - my sisters (very willing), Grandmother (willing), pets and hobby farm animals (somewhat willing), and Mother (not willing), and local scenery. Most work was B&W with some colour transparencies.

In 1977 after a rather unsuccessful year of general sciences at U.Vic. I moved to Edmonton to seek my fortune in the oil fields. That was at the peak of the previous oil boom. I ended up working for a year as a bell boy in a hotel, having learned that companies did not want kids with no training handling expensive equipment. I continued to shoot, mostly scenics.

Coincidentally, my landlady’s brother ran a rental darkroom and studio space, and through him, and renting the darkroom, I learned of the photography program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). I applied and was admitted for the fall of 1978.

In the summer prior to attending NAIT I spent four months back-packing around Europe. Prior to trip I purchased my second camera – a Yashica medium format. The Yashica was a very basic camera, fully manual, and cost me I believe $120. I can’t recall why I took the Yashica rather than the Canon to Europe, but can surmise that it may have been due to wanting to shoot with a larger negative. I shot B&W only, saving all the film to develop on my return home.

The two year program at NAIT was intended to provide a very broad based technical grounding in all aspects of commercial photography. As a first year student I used a school assigned 4x5 view camera

exclusively and spent a lot of time looking like this.

The idea behind using the view cameras was two-fold. Because of the time it took to set up, and the cost of the single sheets of film, it forced you to slow down and think. 4x5 view cameras are also a mainstay of commercial product and architectural photography, for their ability to correct perspective; I was introduced early to this aspect of photography, as well as learning the basics of composition, lighting, and B&W developing and printing.

In the second year we added medium format cameras, colour film and transparency developing and printing, and continued to develop skills in portrait photography, product photography, and architectural photography.

Between first and second year I took a year off and during that time I purchased a second 35mm body, a Canon F1. This was an excellent camera, and I used it and the AE-1 for a lot of concert photography.

My camera for the second year at college had to be medium format. I needed something better than the Yashica, but could not afford many of the medium format cameras and settled on a Mamiya 220 as a compromise.

After college I spent a year working first as an assistant to a Victoria commercial and portrait photographer, and later as a colour printing technician. I tried opening my own commercial studio but I was under capitalized and closed it after only a few months. In retrospect, I should have spent far more effort on learning to market myself and my work.

I became concerned that making a good living as a photographer was going to be an ongoing challenge, and I decided, on my father's advice, to change careers, returning to the University of Victoria to study computer science. I have worked in that area since graduation.

In the almost thirty years since graduating from NAIT I did very little photography. I bought one more film camera – a Canon EOS and took a few photos when I went on vacation. Later I bought two Canon point-and-shoot digital cameras.

I have always enjoyed traveling, and as I began to have extra income I started to take several trips a year. The digital cameras proved to be an excellent way to record sights seen, and the immediacy of the results encouraged me to take an interest in improving my photographic skills.

Most of the travel pictures on my site were taken with one or other of the point-and-shoot cameras.

Last spring, with some misgivings about whether this was a passing fancy, I decided to buy a digital SLR. I chose a Nikon D40 body with 18-200mm and 12-24mm lenses, and began learning to shoot again.

I’d have to say that my photography skills now are much reduced, certainly far less than when I graduated thirty years ago. I also used to be a pretty good printer, in both B&W and colour; now I’m at the very very early stage of learning to use Photoshop.

The pictures from England, France, and Hawaii, as well as those from Victoria, were taken with the D40.

The title of the blog can be colloquially translated as “no pain no gain” but a better translation is “no reward without effort”. My goal is to become a better photographer, and this will take time and effort. Fortunately, the journey is very rewarding, and I'm enjoying myself immensely.

Night Driving in the Rain

Yesterday we had heavy rain all day. This makes for interesting reflections, and combined with the effects of long exposures in mixed low light and rain on the windshield, provides the opportunity for some unusual pictures.

See more pictures here.