2007 Photography in Review

Time for the 2007 Photography year review. Choosing the pictures for these reviews is getting more difficult. Do I choose something that represent the month? Maybe I choose something quirky that catches my eye? Do I include family snapshots, or composed shots that took time and creativity? This year I chose to go mainly with creative composed shots, although some of them are snapshot like. I also noticed that this year all the shots were taken with my 20D, which is a workhorse of a camera. I love using it, I love the weight of it, and I love the sound of it. Most of all I love taking pictures with it.

January

While the weather was cold I was inside taking pictures with a lightbox I had built. Here are some coffee beans that I played with one afternoon.

February

There was still no good light outside, so I picked some Crocuses and put the in the lightbox, turned on the lights and start making my shots.

March

This was a fun shoot. We had these Daffodils in a vase on top of our tv. With the camera on a tripod I set the shutter for six seconds, and started popping the flash from behind the flowers. I was trying to get the flowers to look like lanterns.

April

I looked down and saw the smooth blades of grass, and loved how uniform, yet chaotic they looked. The green tones were very striking to me.

May

In May I shot my first wedding. The wedding was of two very good friends of mine. The weather was making me nervous, but thankfully it didn’t interfere with anything. It was challenging, and very fun, and we were all rewarded with some excellent pictures.

June

The tree, the shadows, the window sill in the background, and the orange color of the wall all combined to catch my fancy. I took this while sitting in my car waiting to pick up my wife after work. This is taken downtown Victoria and is the city hall building.

July

Myself and another gentleman from the photoclub made a visit to the Saanich Historical Artifiacts Society. They have a lot of old equipment scattered about their yard. I had a great time making images there, until I found this old firetruck. I was in heaven shooting this. The wonderful red paint that is chipped and peeling. I couldn’t break free of it lure.

August

I August my family and I made a trip to Ottawa. While walking over the Rideau Canal I saw this lone kayaker going against the wind. The dark water contrasted nicely against the yellow kayak.

September

During a trip to Beacon Hill Park I had some time to wander around with my camera. There had been a heavy dew that morning but it had all evaporated. Fortunately I found a couple leaves that still had some heavy droplets on them. I love the clipped grass, and the lovely globes of water on the underside of the leaf. Again, the green tones are stunning.

October

Walking my dog Yoshi through Oak Bay, I found the lantern plants at the side of the road. It was a gorgeous fall day with blue skies and colorful leaves all around me. The warm sun was pouring down on this plant, and the vivid colors here were more vibrant that anything else in the garden.

November

I awoke early one morning while in Maui and was fortunate enough to look outside and see this sunrise. I didn’t even have to leave the condo we were renting as I was able to shoot this from our balcony. I was afraid that if I took the time to run downstairs I would miss the light. Five minutes later the light was totally different, and ten minutes after this shot the sunrise was over.

December

Walking dogs at Elk Lake is always a good time, but for one reason or another, on this day Yoshi was behaving oddly. He and I broke off from the group and went on our own walk. I saw this miniature forest with perfect light, just off the trail we were on. I crouched down, then set the focus on the camera. With the strap around my neck, I then lowered the camera until it was only a few inches off the ground, and the strap was tight. Pressing the shutter I didn’t know what I would end up with, and after three shots were done, this was a result.

Christmas Lens

Merry Christmas to me! Merry Christmas to me!

Today Sox and I were out, and I bought my new lens, a Canon 70-200 F4.0L IS.

The above picture is a crop of the first picture. Nice and sharp.

I’ve taken a few pictures with it so far, and I like it a lot. It seems lighter than the 28-135 I already have, and the focus seems quick. Most shots were of Sprout, and strangely enough, he was asking me to take pictures of him and his Bopp (blanket).

Now I can’t wait to use it on a real photo shoot.

I call this one “Spidey has a fling”.

Dinner Sunset

Last night for dinner Sox and I did takeout. Bad parents. The end result was that we finished dinner early, and the sun was still setting. I wasn’t sure if the sunset was going to be brilliant or not, but we thought we would take a chance and head to Saxe Point park to take a peek. Yoshi needed a bit of a walk so it all seemed to work out.

The sunset wasn’t as brilliant as I had hoped, but I still managed to get some good shots.

The rest of the pics are here.

Thursday Sunset

Thursday evening Sprout and I took Yoshi for a walk that allowed Sox to make dinner without interruption. Us boys are good at interrupting.

Yoshi had a great run in the park, and I got lots of nice sunset pictures. Sprout insisted on walking a large loop, so he also had a great walk. It was a little chilly, and arriving home to a warm house that smelled like freshly cooked stew was a treat.

Color Relaxing

Last weekend Yoshi and I did a bit of a walk through Oak Bay. It is such a gorgeous time of year. I know we don’t get the same type of color in our trees as the Ottawa area, but it is still beautiful in its own way. The sun was out, the sky was blue, and we had an hour to spend just wandering aimlessly.

We stopped for a coffee in the village and sat outside and enjoyed the sun. Wonderful and relaxing.

Classic Shots

A classic line from one of the Austin Powers movies is right after taking a bunch of pictures he tosses the camera and says …. “And … I’m spent”.  That could have been me yesterday.

I signed on to shoot a wedding yesterday, and with the rainy weather, it turned out to be pretty difficult shooting conditions.  The ceremony was inside a tent, and it was pretty cramped quarters meaning I couldn’t get to the locations I wanted to be to get the shots I wanted.  The guests were all seated too, which meant that I would be in their way while I was standing for taking my shots.

The family and wedding party shots had to be done indoors due to the rain, and I did OK with that, but was definitely out of my element.  I need more use with the flash before I do more shoots like that.

In the end though I got some good shots that I am proud of, but
I certainly lost my creativity when I started to get tired.  That is something about the photoclub, is that I never have to push myself.  When I am done taking shots, I can stop.  I couldn’t stop yesterday until I had my list of shots done.

I also underestimated how long things would take, and didn’t get enough time with just the bride and groom.

On the upside, it was a very valuable learning experience.  The location was gorgeous (Cowichan Bay), the people were wonderful, and the ceremony was beautiful.  I am going to take some notes and squirrel those away in case I shoot any more weddings.

Rainy Outcome

Sunday was the Bastion Square Grand Prix Criterium. This is the big race in Victoria for roadies. Unfortunately the weather was not co-operating, and it was cold, a little windy, and rainy. Not good for road bikes trying to go fast.

Todd raced here as well, unfortunately crashed out with 2 laps to go. The last pic below shows the outcome of that.

The rest of my Bastion Square Grand Prix pictures are here.