The Zen Like Wharf

This old derelict wharf is located out in Sooke, B.C. on Southern Vancouver Island, I made the picture on a quiet October morning a few weeks ago as the slowly rising tide crept into Sooke Basin, the reflections of the old wharf posts added to the tranquility of the scene making for a zen like image if it could be described as such. The image on my ground glass of my view camera really captured my attention and imagination as I composed the image as I played around with different compositions. I was on a day long road/hiking trip to the Port Renfrew area to photograph what ever I saw as being interesting, when I drove through Sooke, I noticed this most beautiful morning light as I drove the Westcoast Highway, I knew that the Sooke Harbour was not to far off the road so I headed in that direction and notice the old wharf, I had been there a number of times before over the years but I had never really noticed the old wharf that much, its amazing how light and water can dramatically change the appearance of a particular subject.

On a side note I made the picture with my new Ebony RW 45 view camera and a 270mm lens ( about 80mm eqv on 35mm ). I bought this camera back in the late spring of this year, previous to this I had been using a Tachihara 4 x 5 which I had owned and was well used for the past 17 years, it had served me well but had started to show signs of wear, and I felt it was time to upgrade my gear and also for some newly added inspiration, The Ebony is a fine camera and I have quite enjoyed using it and as I have become more familiar with it as time goes on, it will soon become second nature to my vision. I very much enjoy using the view camera, although I have added a better digital camera ( Nikon D90 ) to shoot with for my personal work, its not the as inspiring as is the view camera and for the time being I still use my view camera as my main camera that inspires me to want to get out and photograph.

Fall Images

Here are a couple of images that I made while on holidays this past Month. The water image is of the Straight of Georgia taken from the deck of BC Ferries and the mountains and fall leaves was taken near the town of Keremeos along Highway 3 in Southern BC, I shot a number of black and white film images ( 250 sheets )on this two week trip with my 4 x 5 view camera, I will be working at getting those processed.

Spring Lighting

Here is an image I made back in April of this year at Witty's Lagoon Regional Park on Vancouver Island with my 4 x 5 view camera. The waterfalls are called Sitting Lady Falls.

Seeing Beyond the Big Things

I love finding abstract images in the natural world around me, often close ups of bits of landscape that are right at my feet that when I have finished the completed photograph look nothing like they do in real life, the use of black and white further minimizes and distorts the scene. While out photographing I try to visualize in black and white how these images may end up look. Over the years I have come to recognize a good candidate such as these examples posted, I found these pools of water amongst rocks during low tide at Botanical Beach on Vancouver Island this past June, the sea water had evaporated during the sunny part of the day leaving the salt stuck to the rocks which gave me a nice range of contrast and interesting patterns to play with. I made the images over a period of about two hours shooting about 16 sheets of film with a 4 x 5 view camera and a 120 mm lens attached to the camera.

Big Rock and Little Rocks

I have always loved photographing rocks, especially those on the sea coast that have been polished smooth, these lovely rocks are located near Sooke, B.C. not far from Whiffen Spit on Vancouver Island, I made the image this past May. Photograph was made with a Tachihara 4 x 5 view camera, 120 mm lens, T-Max 400 film ( rated at 200 iso ).

Views of Vancouver

I recently had the opportunity to try out a Nikkor 400mm f2.8 lens while visiting Vancouver these were taken in downtown area of Vancouver with my Nikon D90.

Conventional Black and White

I made these images around the vicinity of Vancouver's new convention centre while visiting friends on the B.C. Day holiday Monday. The image of the cyclist was taken early in the morning while the other images were made during the last light of the day, all images made with a Nikon D90 camera, images were converted to black and white using CS3 using the black and white feature, works well. In the months ahead I will also be shooting with my new Ebony RW45 view camera that replaces my Tachihara that I had owned for the past 17 years, let me say that the Ebony is one "Beautiful" camera.