Photographing around the block

Sometimes a good photo is right in front of you
or just down the street. I decided to take a close
look at my local cafe and shot 15 or so angles
from across the street. I like the people and the
 shadows in this one.

Granville Street Vancouver

I like photographing in the twilight
on Granville Street. I especially like
the window displays. I think it's a
good exercise to keep your photo
muscles in shape to go out in your
neighbourhood with your camera and
one lens and see what's new or see

what you missed before.

Shoot shapes and colour

Forget that the subject is rather mundane.
Sure, it's just shelves of metal.
How to make that interesting?
Warm side light, close up, and looking
at shape and colour. Don't think,
I'm shooting metal. Think, I'm shooting
abstract subjects: shape and colour.

stock photos spring in Vancouver

It's a great time to shoot the cherry and other
fruit trees in Vancouver. I shot a lot of this set
of five trees near Granville Island. And I also
waited as other people admired the trees.
There were so many that I decided to change
my mission and shoot the people with the
trees. Sometimes you just have to go with what
is in front of you instead of being frustrated that
it's not what you planned on.

Headshot photography Vancouver

Photographing actors' headshots is not so
straightforward as one might think. Not only
do you have to call in a make up and hair
stylist, but you have to think about clothing,
and backgrounds, and lighting and then after
you have 300 shots, you have to pick out the
best half dozen or so that show the actor's
face to best advantage. So that means
trying a lot of expressions and poses.
And you can spend a lot of time retouching.
Key things to keep in mind: get him or her
relaxed and keep the shoot fun. Keep that light
in the eyes. Shoot verticals and horizontals.
It's mostly about the character showing in your
photos.

Architectural photography Vancouver

I've been messing about in Photoshop, finally learning
to combine images. I've been avoiding it for years as
I like to just find images as they are, usually. And I have
to admit a fear of Photoshop...too much to learn.
And as I teach a lot of basic photo classes, I see that
students have the same fear of the menu and controls
in their cameras. I guess, as the title of a popular book
suggests, you just have to feel the fear and do it anyway,
and get over the hurdles to learning. The barriers are
self-imposed, often.