Day 15: Industrial Fireworks

I love and I hate working down at the docks. When we get an install job down at the shipyards, the working environment is heavy, heavy industrial. The smell, the noise, heavy objects being moved just above your head, it's all very stressful. And on top of that, you actually have to concentrate on work too!! At the same time, it's a great backdrop for great picture taking opportunities. Every moment I have, I sneek a quick picture off, since I don't want to waste any time at work. I was able to get this picture off because I was up on a manlift above the welder. We were working on a Coast Guard ship, and as we were maneuvering above and around him, I quickly took a few shots off, and this one stuck. I didn't know how the sparks would affect the camera's exposure, but I think it did a pretty good job. Pretty heavy post production work: Focus blurr, colour isolation, vignetting, aggressive contrast increase.The only thing that bothers me about the picture is the piece of masking tape dangling in the middle of the shot. Should I remove it? It's really bothering me........ argh!!

Day 14: Yoshi Attacks!!

I took a picture a few days ago of Yoshi resting on her log, like a stump. It was such a busy day, I just ended up making that my pic of the day. I wish I could go back and put another picture.... but I know I can't. Today, I didn't get home from work until past 8pm, and didn't get a chance to get any sweet shots, so I knew I had to hunt down a pic inside the home. So I sat in front of Yoshi's 55 gallon tank and started shooting, and shooting, and shooting. I finally got this shot. I'm shooting iso 400, and still shooting a slow 1/15 of a second, while Yoshi moves back and forth and left and right and up and down....... I'm pretty happy with what I got though. I shot it at F 2.o, so the depth of field is a bit shallow and not very forgiving.......

Side point: I wonder why Yoshi moves both her arms up and over her front with her claws out like that? Is she attacking? Double-sideways high 5's? Whatever it is, I think turtles would look more vicious if they opened their mouth while in attack mode. But since they always have a dopey, closed mouth and half closed-eye look, it's hard to take them too seriously....

DAY 13: Where Am I?

Can you guess where I am? I took a picture of my reflection on a chromed knob end of a towel rack!! And yes, this is my second self-portrait from a washroom. Weird right? Anway, I like taking reflection shots against warped glass or mirrored metal surfaces because of the way it distorts reality, kinda like an impromptu fisheye lens (one just came up for my camera mount for $600 on Craigslist!! What a deal!!). I've taken cool reflection shots on this knob many times, but other pictures made my blog instead. This isn't the best shot I've taken up to now on this silly chromed knob, but I took it today, so here it is. I had to shoot at iso 400 because my hands were too shaky to hand hold 1/6 of a sec today. In fact, you can see my other hand bracing against the towel bar so as to steady the camera a bit more..... oh ya, and also, this is my 3rd self portrait..... so vain........

Day 12: Here Comes the Clouds

I've been wating for dramatic clouds since I've started this project. I ride to work, and I cross 2nd Narrows Bridge (okay, Ironworker's Memorial Bridge!!) on the East side in the morning, and the West side when I go home. Depending on the time of year, I get real dramatic sunrises and sunsets, and double bonus if I get dramatic clouds or fog. The dead of winter or the middle of summer has either too much sun or not enough when I travel to and from work, so I love spring and autumn the best for taking dramatic landscape shots. Since today was a grey and cloudy day, there was no point in shooting in colour. I think black and white truly brings out the different textures and layers, much better than colour. As well, by equalizing the shadows and highlights the best I can, I can get a very HDR-like picture. Punch up the contrast and then darken the image 2-3 stops, and you get this very sereal image, almost as if its a painting.....

Day 11: Yoshi the Turtle

As my previous pic mentioned, my wife loves pets. This was a rescue turtle my wife adopted from my little sister. We renamed him Yoshi, although we're pretty sure it's a girl, as her nails are not long or sharp enough to be a male red eared slider turtle. I took a picture of him just as I was leaving the house. I knew today would be a really limited day to take pictures. I think I only really took two shots today, including this one. Not a great shot of Yoshi. Before I took it, she had her arms and legs and head stretched out, but as soon as I approached, she shrunk back into her shell like a turtle....... but this is my shot of the day.... too tired to run around the house and try and get a better shot. I've got work tomorrow, so I should have more opportunity to get something more interesting than a turtle in a tank.......

Day 10: 1975?

I love the 1970's, and I love the way pictures looked back then. Since I had a Japanese dad, he took plenty of pics back then, and so any picture that has that same 70's look evokes very strong emotions for me. I actually had a technically better picture to post, but I just want to jump into this picture. I want to put on my brown couduroy pants and my blue and yellow addidas runners and be part of this picture. I took this shot riding downtown on a Saturday afternoon. The weather was perfectly clouded over, and I took this shot on the way home, near Pender and Cambie. I'm sure if I waited long enough, I could of framed in a couple of European hippies coming out of the hostel upstairs. It would have totally looked like 1975.......

Day 9: The Times They Are a-Changin'

I know I said I don't have many pictures of myself, and that's true, of other people taking pictures of me. But I do take pictures of myself. I don't know why. I guess I like the aspect of me taking a picture of me posing back at me, does that make sense? I can direct myself to pose a certain way, and then instantly see if I've done a good job as a poser....now I know I'm not saying it right. Anyway, I liked this picture because it reminds me of a pose that Bob Dylan did on the cover of his album "The Times They Are a-Changin'" way back in 1964. Sort of like Blue Steel, but with more of a "Get Lost" or "I don't care" type attitude written all over his face. For Dylan, he wasn't posing. For me, total poser. I guess you can discern as well that I like black and white. I like the rawness of it. My brother always says you can convert it later to b&w, but it's not the same. Taking a picture evokes emotion, and shooting in b&w puts me in a certain mood that a colour viewfinder doesn't do for me..... it gives me more raw attitude and a simpler view to composition. Also, unlike most of the pictures thus far, very little post editing. Just basic contrast and a bit of sharpening. Other than that, pretty raw pictures... so here we are, me doing Bob Dylan Blue Steel in the bathroom.....

Day 8: Matte Vinyl Vehicle Wrap

Today was a rainy morning and I thought it would be a struggle to get a good shot of anything. After a morning out and on my way home, in a parking lot I saw the perfect subject, a perfectly wet and glistening VW Passat. Vehicles actually shoot well in cloudy and wet weather. This particular vehicle was matte vinyl wrapped by my buddy, and you can tell he did a pretty good job, considering it's his first vehicle. A roll of the vinyl costs about $1000, so a job like this would cost in the 8K range.
I shot at medium telephoto (so step back 20 feet from the car and shoot, so as not to get that fisheye effect when you shoot too closely at wide angle) to isolate it from everything else around it. In post production, I converted to black and white to keep the green vegetation in the background from distracting the eye, vingette the edges to focus the eyes to the centre of the image,and finally colour isolate the rear of the car to draw the eyes to where I want the viewer to focus their attention. I know its a similar effect I did with yesterday's flower. I'll try not to repeat the same photographic tricks 2 days in a row.......

Day 7: Not Flowers Again!!

When my wife saw that I have another flower picture up on my blog, she said the above title. I know it's not really my style, but my exercise only allows me to post a single picture that I shot that day, the best shot of that day. Because I spend most of the day at work, most of my pictures are taken either at work, or on my way back from work on bike. I ride over the 2nd Narrows Bridge and then through trails and then through a park. I pass by a lot of nature, including plenti-o-flowers. Until I change the rules of this exercise, I just have to work harder to get the shots I want. I'm also a slave to the weather as well as the seasons. As I get older (and wiser), it's good to challenge my creative juices.....let it flow.....

Day 6: Hot Wheels Gone Wild

I rode past this car on the way home, and it just happened to be all by its lonesome in a big empty parking lot. Either everyone else was too scared to be parked beside a car that who knows who is driving, or the driver wanted the most attention, not wanting to be stuck between two big trucks, so he parked far away for the most exposure..... either way, the vehicle is a poster child for vehicle decals and how it can go so wrong.....

Either way, it makes a great photo. This picture has some pretty heavy handed post production work. Focus blur, colour isolation, shadows increased, and increased contrast. It was fun to shoot since it was so isolated from any other car, but I do wish I could have shot it in an alley against a more grey and boring background. This is the main reason why I used the post production techniques to isolate the vehicle from its surroundings.......I love how even the yellow parking lines act as sort of a border for the vehicle, and how it sort of fades away....