Photographer On The Go

Archive for the ‘Uncatagorized’ Category

A collection of photos I run across that I have taken over the years. Some good, some not so good. I will just keep adding images that I find as I go. They really don’t fit anywhere. Is this of any interest to anyone?

This one is my very first night skyline picture and my first slide printed with Cibachrome. It is from around 1976 give or take a year. The comments I got  was ok too bad it’s not in focus. I was crushed. Look at the fingerprints, dust and other stuff on the print that was made some 34 yrs ago. Also notice the lack of lights and buildings. This photo was taken from the top of a building on West Broadway. Buildings were restricted to 3 floors back then. Oh yeah, I didn’t have a tripod back then. I sat the camera on a ledge and set it to B (bulb) and held the exposure for about 11 seconds of F8. I used an old wire coil spring shutter release cable and counted out the seconds. My old top view German made Edixa with a 50mm lend didn’t even have a light meter. I think this old photo has fared well after sitting in a box in the garage for all these years.

So there I was sitting watching TV bored out of my mind, nothing on no where to go, sucks to be me! I pulled out my trusty long time  friend, yup you got it, my camera. You’ve heard the expression “Little things amuse little minds”, haven’t you. It’s true. I started taking pictures of the TV and this is how one of them turned out.h

This isn’t a double exposure, I didn’t put Shrek 3D glasses in front of the lens, what did I do? The blurry fish on top of the TV is a wood carving of mine. I was having a glass of scotch I guess, that’s why the fish is blurry. So, …………. someone must know how I did this shot! come on, tell us…..

One of you folks tell me, I’m not telling. If I knew I’d tell you cause I’d want to brag, right.
Quite some time ago I read an article in a photo magazine about coloring your B/W images by hand. I had an 8×10 done when I was in Korea in 1969. It was cool so I thought I’d try it. Now someones making a fortune selling those 1940 pics, you know the B/W one of the little kids with 1 red rose. And they are probably using photoshop or some software. I was a little slow on the upswing I guess. Here are two that I did.

I always liked this one. It is the S-curve in the river, that’s all. It is a rule of composition, like the rule of thirds.  the dyes I used on these are very simple. I actually used them as a little boy at Easter. RIGHT. water, food coloring and a tsp of vinegar.  Use a cotton ball or a cue tip to apply. Just like coloring Easter Eggs. Now you know how to color B/W pictures that were printed on coated paper. Of course you can still use Photoshop.

So there, I told you a secret just don’t

Bug

me for any more. Hehe so here is another old trick. This next picture is really 2 pictures of in this case slides that were laid over top of each other. It’s called a sandwich. Yah yah I know, Photoshop. I dare you to do this without software ! Sen me your picture and I’ll post it on the front page with your credits for 1 month. then I’ll post it on the blog by itself with your credits. Do a sandwich without using any software.

I took a photo of a Seagull flying overhead while I was on the deck of the BC Ferry. He was against a blue sky. The background was off my back deck when the sun was dropping. This slide is 100 % color, no filters were used for the shot. Photoshop wasn’t invented yet as it was in the 1970’s.

Remember, take that sandwich.

I got a contract back in the early 80s. A studio band had to get a portfolio together and off to England to Cliff Richards office. Richards is a big music promoter in London. They had a pretty stringent time line. so my friend and working associate went out in one afternoon and shot rolls of film. YES, film. I shot B/W and John shot colour. I was back home and in my darkroom by 7 pm. John was at a photo mart about the same time and got contact sheets done and back to my place. We picked out a dozen or so colour shots and he went back and had some 8 X 10 s done up.

I did some as well in B/W and we put them together in a portfolio form and I was out of the darkroom and finished by 4:00am. John had it on a flight to London at 6 am our time.  It got there safe and sound and one of the band members told John they were well received in England and they never saw portfolios like that before. Could be good, could be bad. I am still here. hehe. I’ve only been in England once to land in Heathrow and take off again out of Gatwick en-route to Paris. No limos for Bruce I am afraid.

So this photograph is a line drawing which I was able to perfect in my darkroom. It was being done back then but with very inconsistently.  I exposed the negative to a # 5 high gloss rapid paper. The coated paper that many people uses. At 30 seconds through the developer I turned on a 40 watt soft light bulb for 15 seconds and then finished the developer stage after 1 minute. Then the running water bath for 5 minutes and hang to dry.

Any way, here is the photo.

This project was a real trip for me and that exposure was great. I was pretty proud to show this image off as the system was my creation. The fellow on the guitar had long red hair. He was impressed as well.

Airbrushing is a fantastic art. I have an airbrush, generator and lots of paint. It’s nerve that missing, hehe, yeah so what’s your point. I will use it for my woodcarving projects instead of brush work. Yup “One Day” “Soon, I promise” I need a crash course in Airbrush 101. I don’t even know how to hook it all together.

If anyone in the lower mainland wants to give me a hand (not clap clap clap) I would be a happy guy. So I was at an Airbrush Exhibit and these are a few photographs I took.

I spent awhile at this exhibition, not just because of all the pretty women, what’s your point? There was an electricity in the air here. This group of artists all have normal everyday jobs but here, they were stoked. Everyone was super nice including all the customers. I asked each and every one if I could take photographs. There were some that were very nervous and self conscience and others very bold. Using patients and working with the artists I was never turned down. It was great. All the women that participated in this exhibit young or old, slim or heavy, you all were beautiful and should be congratulated. I saw that all participants were treated with the utmost respect by the staff and each other.

So who are these artists?  Ace Angels International at ace-angels.com The CEO is Michael Nault a great guy who can be reached through their website or phone.

Lucie Brouillard a world renowned painter has won many national and international awards including         “Canadian Body Art Champion 2008″ and was face painting at this event. See more of Lucie at www.luciebrouillard.com These painters are award winning painters and are some of the best in the business.

I was at the Taboo Show taking some pictures of the different areas. I had a chance to talk to a couple of the players and they let me take some pictures of the booth. I remember watching Roller Derby as a kid, it was great. I went to Wrestling at Queens Park in New Westminster, BC in person, but I only watched Roller Derby on TV. I would like to go and watch in person and take photographs. If I do I’ll post some here on my site.

So here are a few from the booth. Thanks for the email ladies.

I was contacted by Sue who lives in Burnaby in the late fall. Yup, about that time of the year that we get a rain shower that lasts until Spring. Well if we didn’t get a beautiful Fall day, that was perfect for taking some photographs. Sue was wanting to get into modeling and was looking for some outdoor shots to start a portfolio.  As you can see we caught the tail end of the fall colours.

Go to my Portfolio to see more or my Flickr page to see all of the photos