Tag: Photography Posts

Most compact cameras that you pick up from Future Shop only have one built in lens. In most cases, it’s a zoom lens, capable of giving you moderate wideangle coverage upwards to a decent telephoto lens. Most people probably don’t know the difference between those two, so I thought I’ll give a brief tutorial. The most well known lens is probably the 50mm prime. 50mm refers to the focal length of the lens, and prime refers to the fact that it’s a fixed focal length lens (i.e. not a zoom lens). In photography, the 50mm lens is also called a “standard” lens because it almost exactly matches the field of view of human eye. That is, if you were to look at a scene and then photograph it using a 50mm lens, it would closely match what you saw. Some people call a 50mm lens boring because it doesn’t really […]

Based on a suggestion by Raul, I’m going to talk a little bit about my entry into photography. I originally got into a photography because I wanted a hobby that exploited my creative side without all the trappings of the math and science I typically deal with in my day job. Photography to me has always been a bit of a release, a way to unwind and simply see only a small portion of the world at a time. It’s like turning the power off and noticing your ears are ringing — it represents a way for me to unplug from the world for a period of time. I picked up my first digital camera in 2000. It cost me $1000 at the time, and compared to cameras nowadays, didn’t really take great photos. That being said, it completely changed the landscape of photography for me, since the incremental cost […]

A New Day Begins In Vancouver I took this photo at around 5am this morning. Watching the sun rise or the sun set is something I will never tire of. Seeing the orange-red glow stretch across the horizon always makes me think what a beautiful thing it is to be alive, and what an amazing part of the world I live in. There are some people who think sunsets are cliche, and that taking photos of them is a waste of time. But I think the complete opposite, and as long as I have a camera, there will always be a sunset or a sunrise worth taking a photo of. This entry was written for Blogathon 2008, and in support of the Union Gospel Mission charity. If you’d like to donate to the cause, please visit the blogathon donation page and fill out the form near the middle. You can […]

As most of you know, I really enjoy photography. I have been fortunate enough to have received a bit of recognition for some of the shots I’ve done, and even managed to attend the 2008 Canadian Juno Awards as a photographer. I thought I’d post a few of my favourite shots here for those that are new here. Most of these shots make use of a technique called high dynamic range (HDR) photography. This entry was written for Blogathon 2008, and in support of the Union Gospel Mission charity. If you’d like to donate to the cause, please visit the blogathon donation page and fill out the form near the middle. You can also follow the blogathon RSS feed for this site by clicking here.

In October 2003, there was a massive release of energy from our sun. The resulting coronal mass ejection (CME) headed straight for our planet, bombarding it with a massive amount of charged particles. The official classification for the flare was an X17.2, which is one of the top three recorded solar flares in the history of our planet. Photo from here The charged particles disrupted satellite communications in space, and also lead to auroras being seen as far south as the Chicago. I was fortunate enough to be following the activity while it was happening, and was notified via email (via SpaceWeather.com) that auroras might be visible at low latitudes. At around 4am, I walked upstairs to my rooftop patio in Kitsilano, only to be greeted with one of the most amazing light shows I’ve ever seen. The Aurora In Vancouver, October 2003 I was one of the few people […]

This was on Thursday night. Good times.

Tomorrow marks the first event for the Vancouver Fashion Week, 2008 Spring Edition. I had a media pass last year and spent a few evenings taking photos. If I remember correctly, the only downside to the event (in my opinion) was that I thought most of the models lacked enthusiasm. I also remember wishing I had brought a flash to the opening event, so if anyone is going, I’d recommend bringing one. While I love photography, it’s fairly dull sitting at the end of a runway for an hour taking the same shot over and over again, and I really appreciated the models that mixed it up a bit or added their own personal flare to the event. Tomorrow is basically the opening Gala at the Opus Hotel, followed by an event at Bar None. Once again I have a media pass, so I’ll have full access to the events. […]

I received an email a while ago from an editor at Wikipedia, asking me if I would mind if they using one of my juno photos on a page. The only catch is that they wanted me to change the license of the photo to allow for commercial use and derivative works. I’m a big fan of Wikipedia — I use it all the time. So I really wanted to help those guys out and let them use my photo. Since I paid for the entire Juno trip myself, I have a hard time actively letting other people make money from my work. As a compromise, I offered to grant Wikipedia a non-revokable license for use of that photo on their site, but wanted to maintain the non-commercial license for people using the photo. They came back and said that wasn’t possible, and that they were worried that if someone […]

I’ve spent most of this last week thinking about blogging and Northern Voice, so tonight I’m going to unwind a bit in front of the TV and just relax. So, while I plan to write a Northern Voice summary, I’m going to hold off on that for a day or two. One of the aspects of Northern Voice I enjoy is the opportunity to take a lot of different photos in various settings. I practiced doing the odd wide-angle shot in some of the rooms, and used my 70-200mm for a few close ups of speakers. For the most part, I took a lot of the same shots I always take. But for some reason, something’s been really bothering me lately about the results. When a golfer acquires a nasty shot on the golf course, despite typically being a good player, sometimes it’s referred to as developing a shank. For […]

You know, there was a time when I actually sort of considered my blog a photo blog. Truth is I haven’t really posted many photos lately. Here’s one I took with my little Powershot camera a few days ago: