How Do You Park Your Bike?

While waiting for my wife while she shopped, I thought I'd walk up and down Robson Street to see if there was anything interesting to shoot.  I noticed a locked up bike against a pole, but it was parked upside-down! What the? Just as I was about to take a picture of it, the owner appeared!  I asked him why he parked his bike that way? He said so his bike doesn't move around clumsily or fall over..... good idea!!  Who needs a kick-stand right? 

The only problem is scratching the leather seat and handlebar grips...... but hey, with a smile like that, does Kwan care about a few scuffs on his sweet fixie? Where's his bike from? Built by his buddy's over at Beats and Bikes. Music and bikes. Nice combo......

Cyclist's Mane Blowing in the Wind!

They say a lion's mane is an intimidation tool, used to show it's size and prowess over its competition. This rider's hair was unique among all others, as most cyclist remove as much hair as possible to reduce weight and wind-drag. 

However, Zackary Davis #27 finished 24th overall, the highest placed rider that I took pictures of that day. Perhaps he's on to something? Maybe the wind blowing through his hair makes him feel faster, thus motivating him to peddle harder? Perhaps it makes him feel lion-like as he chases down the riders in front of him? Whatever the reason, he looked pretty cool in a sea of shaved head riders....Ride On Zach-Attack!!

Bike Race Face: Part 2

 As mentioned on my earlier post, as I was shooting this race I became more aware and interested in the expressions of these riders versus the bikes themselves, even though I'm an avid bike rider. That's why I decided to crop the bikes out of the picture. In this shot, I liked the way the setting sun spotlighted Erik Mulder #67, but shadowed Baily McKnight, who actually placed 40 spots higher by the end of the race.  No posing here folks. These are real expressions. Ride On!!

Giro Di Burnaby 2012: Ride On!!

Bike races are great to watch. Unlike motorized races, cycling events make very little noise as they whip past, like a stealth animal hunting down a prey. All you can hear is the clicks of their gears changing, and the wind swooshing past their aerodynamic bodies. Even their crouched sitting position and their determined expressions reminds me of a predatory animal. Look at the beast-like tongue sticking out on Scott Zwizanski (rider #13)!!

Photographically, all the different colours and logos and stream-line clothing and equipment makes for a great picture. I noticed many photographers with big zoom lenses, but they weren't getting any successful shots.  I would recommend getting as close as possible and shoot with a prime (non-zooming) lens. I shot with my 35mm F1.4 and a cropped sensor Sony A700, and I just panned my images.  Many were asking me what I was doing panning so quickly, and how could I shoot with such a small lens, and why I wasn't using  a flash. I just smiled and showed them my pictures. I had a few conversations with other amateur photographers that evening.......

I could only stay for about 20 minutes so I didn't get too many pictures. Lots of fun though.... Ride On Burnaby!!

Palindromic Graffiti Logo at Emily Carr?

Walking past this graffiti outside Emily Carr Institute on Granville Island, something struck me about it, so I quickly took the picture and moved on.  Weeks later, as I looked back, I examined it, wondering why I liked the way the person decided to break the word ATTACK in two lines.....very cool I thought.

The top ATTA is a palindrome, and even the double T looks like the Greek letter Pi, which is also palindromic in shape. As a palindrome, there's this balanced look to the ATTA, almost iconic or logo like. The CK along the bottom is pretty cool too because it's a repeat consonant like the double T in ATTA, both the C and K making the double K sound in English.  

Aesthetically, the roundness of the letter C really adds to the overall balance of the rest of the letters, as the other letters are all made with straight lines.  The kerning on the two lines, how the cK actually touches the ATTA makes it clear that this is meant to be a single word or symbol, not two.  Even the angle of the A's work with similar angles on the letter K as well, and the cK reminds us of an iconic brand, only adding to the strength of this logo-like graffiti. Over analyzing? Yes. Just a kid with a spray can who had 15 seconds to make it count? Probably.

Crow Highway Mural in Strathcona

Another spectacular mural in the Strathcona areas of Vancouver.  This one stood out because of the black-and-white with  blue sky colour scheme, as well as the fact that the woman in the mural is Asian.  After doing some research, I found out that Mrs.Lowe is the name of the woman, and her daughter Vanessa, an artist, still lives in the building and contributed to the mural.  Click here to find out more information about the mural, the artists, the original picture that the mural is based on, and an unobstructed view of the entire image.

As for my pictures, it was hard to get a straight on shot because the side of the building itself is fenced in, and all along in front of the mural is parked cars.  So I took some shots along the outside of the fence, as well as from within the parking lot, trying to find unique angles. 

The top image I decided to monochrome the entire mural so as to simplify the busy fence and parked cars. Notice how it looks like she's looking over the fence? The second image, I cropped out the vehicles along the bottom and changed the angle of the image to line up to the building across the street. 

Thanks to Vincent Dumoulin, Vanessa Lowe & RestART for the Crow Highway Mural!!

Motorcycle vs Bicycle: Off the Line!!

Off the line, I was sure the motorcycle would be faster than the cyclist, but as you can see, human power is still faster than machine power. Perhaps the motorcyclist was more concerned about the straightness of his back than beating the cyclist!!

Cool Bike in Gastown

I'll be starting a new blog with a good buddy of mine soon.  Unlike my random pictures of random things, this blog will be more focused.  I'll let you know once we get it up and running...... thanks for viewing and thanks for your support thus far.

Incidental Double Backwards Portrait

The beauty of photography is that it captures reality and illusion.  We don't see life as a still, but a constantly moving and shifting scene.  If I took a video of this very same scene, this split second frame would have come and gone without it being odd or amusing. But you freeze the moment, we capture an illusion.  This is why viewing a picture of a bullet shooting through an apple, frozen wings of a hovering hummingbird, or an athlete crossing the finish line is always captivating. It's reality, but still looks surreal.

In this picture, I really hope he's just looking for change for the meter......if only I had a video of this scene, we could find out for sure!  But the moment has come and gone, never to be repeated, and all we have is this frozen scene to keep us guessing......

Backwards Portrait of 1959 Impala

Look at the back of this thing!!  the 1959 Chevrolet Impala 2 door coupe was an amazing car, but it only lasted 2 years.  The next generation wasn't as cool, as upper management wanted a more conservative look.  One thing they changed was the rear lights, thinking the '59 was too bold and futuristic! 

This was truly the golden age of the American auto industry.  Think of the '59 Corvette, '59 Bel Air, '56 Thunderbird, all beautiful pieces of art.  Even the Europeans were coming out with amazing cars: 1958 Lotus Elite, MB 300SL, Porsche 550 RS Spyder.  I wish car manufacturers had the same sense of aesthetics and inspiration and boldness that they expressed back in the 50's and 60's. More 2 doors, more curves, and more convertibles please!! Stop making SUV's and cross vehicles!!

Green Adidas Gorilla Billboard

Have you seen this billboard around town yet? The green gorilla behind the dude doesn't make a lot of sense, but the green really makes the image pop. I found the Adidas commercial on  Youtube, and I'm even more confused. He goes from a basketball court to a nightclub, and besides the gorilla, there's a blue eagle, a red dragon and a pink poodle? Anyway,  there really isn't a lot of green on the shoe to begin with......ok, I'll stop analyzing it. It is what it is, it's a shoe!! Obviously it worked. I took a picture of it, researched it, watched their commercial, went to their website, and now I'm posting it on my blog. Adolf Dassler (get it, Adi-Dass), you're a smart man!!

These Eyes.....

Since I've been sick the past 2 weeks, my wife's been driving us everywhere (doctor's orders!!).  I took this picture while she was driving today.  The way the low autumn sun swept across her face, it made her eyes and hair translucent, almost anime-like in appearance.  I didn't upload the full resolution shot, but as you can see this picture is uber sharp!  Taken with my favorite Minolta 35mm F1.4G series lens, it's the sharpest lens I own.  In fact, this image was not sharpened at all, but was stopped down to F/4. 

I'm Shooting with a Real Camera Again!!

I've finally replaced my old 6mp D-SLR with a newer (4 year old!!) 12mp D-SLR...... well, it's new to me!! Took this while I was sick at home....what else is there to do but a self portrait!  Look forward to a different style of photography versus my iPhone casual pics.....