Nikola the Street Painter from Yugoslavia

Nikola is from Yugoslavia. He studied art all over Europe, including France and Germany. He's travelled the world making a living as a street artist. In today's modern, fast-paced world, can someone still make enough to live on doing art on the street? As I dropped in some money into his hat, I noticed it was filled with $1 and $2 coins. Not bad...

The last few years he's spent his time in Canada. He's in Toronto and Ottawa in the summers, and makes his way out West during the winter months. He's made his temporary home base at the corner of Howe and Robson, underneath the covered entrance to the old Sears building (the soon to be Nordstrom) where he can draw on the sidewalk with no fear of the Vancouver rain to wash away his work prematurely.

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!!

Jimi Hendrix Mural in His Old Neighbourhood

Biking through the backstreets of Vancouver, I've been finding tons of murals in the most obscure places, mostly industrial and commercial zones. When did we start getting such cool murals here? I found this one just off Hastings and Clark in a heavy commercial-industrial zone.  I thought that painting the dumpster in a similar flower-power style was a nice touch, as the mural naturally flows down on to the dumpster (which in turn influenced the sprouting of real flowers in front of the dumpster perhaps?)

I knew I recognized the style of this graffiti artist on other murals, and so I started looking for some sort of artist's signature, and I noticed the below.........

 

Looking up the name Nomadizm, it led me to the Nomadic Alternatives website, which showcases his work, and prolific is an understatement!!  He's done album covers for K'Naan (you know the one with the camel?), KOS, Public Enemy, logo designs, and tons of murals around town.  Who is he? His name is Nelson Garcia, and he did this mural with the help of his wife Xochiltl. Watch this Youtube video interview and find out more about them, their philosophy, and their work.  

It really is a privilege that someone of this artistic caliber lives and works in our community, and has decided to give back to his city by expanding his canvas by doing murals on sides of buildings. And if you have a chance, take your bike and ride around town and explore the Strathcona area of Vancouver, and you too can view these incredible murals in person!!

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Mural to iPhone to Blog in Minutes!

I haven't posted in a while since I've been mostly home-bound the past few weeks. I got out today on my bike and got shooting immediately. What I noticed most about Vancouver is the increase of murals, official and unofficial (aka graffiti art). I love this one, although I'm sure this is a digital print on aluminum substrate and mounted in multi-pieces. It doesn't take away from the coolness of the image though...... 

I wanted to take a straight on shot, but not possible. Fortunately, I knew I could edit later with Jotnot Pro for iPhone, and as you can see, it corrected the angle of view just fine. 

I also did a quick touch up in PS Express for iPhone (contrast, sharpness, frame) and then sent via email to my Blogger acount. I shot, edited, wrote and emailed all from my iPhone.....

I went back in later on my laptop to fix the layout a bit, change font, and add labels (not possible in e-mail mode), but other than that, all done on my iPhone.......

Blood Alley Graffiti Art

I've been finding lots of great images walking through Gastown lately.  This temporary graffiti wall can be found in Blood Alley, which is just next to Gaelor's Mews.  As graffiti artists go, I hope that Banksy will come here one day and do something really cool for our city (unless he already has?), but something more permanent. But I guess that's the beauty and tragedy of graffiti art.......

Telephone Pole Poster Art:Pt 2

My most viewed blog entry is my Telephone Pole Poster Art that I posted last summer.  I don't know if it's the same person looking at it over and over again, or if I found the right combination of words to get lots of Google search hits.  Either way, I enjoy the look of these things.  It truly does add colour and flavour to something really bland.  I found these while walking along West Broadway, from Arbutus to Oak Street. 


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Cross-Stitch Spider Web on a Tree

I caught this awesomely crazy public art piece from the corner of my eye as I drove past it this morning. Someone cross-stitched a spider web like piece on a tree. Sorry if I have my stitching terms incorrect, and if so please correct me if I'm wrong. Totally cool.  I colour isolated it so it stands out better against the ordinary urban background.

Complex Canvas for Corporate Graffiti Art

I noticed professional graffiti art on the side of a building next to an empty lot, nothing special.  Looking closely, I noticed it was Corporate Graffiti, for Scion cars.  

As I backed up, I noticed the random wall was actually the side of a small, boutique Scion dealership downtown.  Makes sense.  But I noticed something unusual about the building wall.....

The wall is totally uneven!!  The bottom is almost 2 feet out further than the rest of the wall!!  But from the side, you would never no it.  Pretty good job corporate graffiti artist guy or gal!! Even the red brick was coloured in (see other pics).  Notice the complex brick pattern that makes up the main part of the car drawing!  That's not easy to do. At least I don't think it is........

My Wife, the Queen, and Her Eyes

I've always admired my wife's ability to paint with a brush; whereas me as a photographer, I can only paint with light.  I took drafting and commercial design, and I'm a CS5 designer, but to hand paint or draw, it's still magic to me.  While a painter works at adding detail to a canvas, a photographer usually tries to remove or crop detail out from his or her digital canvas. 

After taking this picture, I cropped, blurred, removed colour, and added a heavy vignette along the parimeter, all in an effort to isolate and focus the viewer's visual onto the Queen of Hearts' eyes.  My wife is trying to do the same thing, but doing so by adding detail and focus onto those same eyes.  I like this picture because my wife's body, head and hand all create this frame in which we see through to get to the eyes of the Queen.

25' x 40' Canvas

I love street art.  Too bad Bansky doesn't live in Vancouver.  I'd love to see his stuff around town. You may recognize this large mural from the picture of the urban farm posting, just to the top right of the image.  But from this angle (low and looking up) it looks different doesn't it? I tried taking it with my other camera (Panasonic FX50) but I just couldn't get the right feel, so I took a few with my iPhone and the Hipstamatic program and voila!! I got what I was looking for.

Whale found on a Trash Bin?

I love traveling through backstreets and alleys to find things to take pictures of.  I noticed this hand-painted dumpster in a downtown alley.  Since the brand sticker is on top of the painting, I'm to assume they either commissioned it, or found it too beautiful to paint over.  Either way, don't you think all dumpsters should have paintings on it? Or at least a vinyl wrap, like they do now with post boxes and other ugly public devices and monuments? Another way to beautify our environment, even if it's just the alley.

It's a car.... it's a planter..... it's a piece of art?

Landscape

Try and guess what this is.....

Vasoline Filter

Old school trick. Take two clear UV filters. Mount one on lens and rub vasoline on it. Take the second filter and sandwich it on top of the first filter. Voila!! A poorman's hazy filter. If you don't like the haze pattern, un-sandwich, rub your fingers across the vasoline and create a different pattern, re-sandwich, and new pattern........ I took these shots a few years ago down by Jericho Beach with the wife......

Day 00? Shipyards....

Well, I haven't posted any new pics for a while, only posting lost pictures from my picture a day project. I've got some input from others, and I think I'll do a few mini projects from time to time, and also post pictures when I've shot something interesting.
I don't think I've actually mentioned this in my blog, but I started this blog to get myself back into creative photography. I wasn't trying to take prize-winning pictures, and I avoided using my top equipment. In fact, I shot mostly on my cheap work camera... it takes not so good images. Noisy images even at a low iso 80, and then attempts to correct it with noise reduction that smears details. As well, most shots were taken on the go, at work, or commuting to and from work while on bike. I didn't use a tripod, nor did I spend time pondering over the shot. I see a shot peripherally while riding, stop, take the shot, then back to riding. Gone in 30 seconds!!
At home, I edit on a free photo editing program (Photoscape, found free online), and do so as quick as possible. The whole process is sloppy at best... haphazard photography. This style was inspired a bit by John Frusciante's (lead guitarist for RHCP) 6 albums in 6 months project. It wasn't about making each song or album perfect. It was about putting ideas down quickly, so the inspiration wasn't lost in overthinking the song, or in my case, the image.

Anway, I'm going on and on. I was at the shipyards today doing an install and took some cool shots. It's a heavy industrial and ugly place, but even there you can find cool pictures. I love it when the big horn blasts to announce coffee or lunch, and all the guys (and gals) go marching off, so it leaves the shipyard empty. That's when I take my 1 minute break, sip some tea, eat a cookie, and take a few shots. Here are some pics I took today (although 2 are from last week)..... sorry for writing so much!! My wife told me to keep it short and sweet!! Arghghgh!!! Stop writing.......

Day 5: Norco Bigfoot with Canondale Brake Levers

I've been on two wheels for most of my life. I had a paper route all through high school (a real route that meant 6 days a week, 5am in the morning!!), and I rode rain or shine, or snow, or even my graduation. Yes, I had to cut my all-nighter short so I could get home and do my paper route... I know, real cool... I also rode everyday during the summers, even after all my other buddies grew up and got cars.

As an adult (okay, I'm going on 38) I ride to work everyday, and I still feel like a kid. It's as if I never grew up. I still stare at cool cars as they pass by, and I daydream of owning them one day, even though I'm past the age one should have some of these 2 door, 2 seater sports cars.

But I think I'm happy being on two wheels, and self propelled. My daily ride, like most daily riders, is a bit ghetto, but it gets me from point A to B. It's my 1996 Norco Bigfoot, and yes, I'm the original owner. I've made modifications over the years, and everytime I put more money into it, I always think, I could have bought another bike by now. I've replaced my rims, brakes, bottom bracket, cranks, rear cluster, cables, seat post, seat...... basically, everything but the frame, forks, shifters and my handle bars......

I have a love-hate relationship with my daily ride. I sometimes wish it was cooler, like a tricked out hipster fixed gear bike with a flip-flop hub, or a super versitile cyclocross with mostly 105 components, or a slick Euro road bike. I hate it when an equally strong rider is beside me on the way home, but he slowly passes me up hill because he has a faster, lighter and better geared bike than me!! Argh!!! At the same time, everyday as I ride to and from work, I'm proud of my little humble 26" wheeled ex-mountainbike converted daily rider. It's chromo frame and forks has served me well. This front picture is an ode to my Norco Bigfoot with Cannondale v-brakes and Specialized seat........

The picture is heavily modified, with fisheye effect, cartooned, and increased contrast. Just goofing around to see how far away I can get from reality while still maintaining a recognizable form.......