yeah yeah… i’ve been all doom and gloom lately. health issues [effing stones!] and main street store closing. sometimes life just gets you a little down. well today, a little drop of sunshine landed on my doorstep!

i receive a monthly e-newletter from a great photo website called photojojo. a while back they had featured ttv photography
[ttv = through the viewfinder] and using a vintage 1950s duaflex camera [as seen on the right] as the viewfinder. i was hooked. i HAD to have one.

check out this link to a flickr group focussed on ttv and you’ll understand why i had to get a duaflex… the images are so cool and arty!!

so after weeks of trying to purchase one of these elusive cameras, and being outbid on ebay by $0.23 on more than one occasion, i finally snagged one and my little drop of sunshine arrived today!

here is my first effort… my magic 8 ball and monster finger puppet. yeah… i’m physically 38, but my spirit acts more like a 16 year old. alot. LOL!

fun huh? there are a few more versions i tweaked in photoshop in my flickr sets.

i love the gritty, nasty and grimy texture in the digital photo that happens when shooting through the duaflex iv viewfinder. it is really quite cool, ’cause let’s face it… this thing is 50 years old! and it’s never been properly cleaned. it comes by its grimy demeanor quite naturally.

it’s so funny how as photographers and designers we often work really, really hard to ‘grimy up’ our perfect digital pics. with this vintage $10 camera, it’s naturally occuring. kinda like a mushroom… its a fungus and grows in manure, but add it to a plain pizza and something magic happens.

so. my favorite new photo recipe. add a ttv camera to your shot, point and shoot with your digital camera, and something truly magical will happen. i don’t think you’ll ever be able to predict the final image 100% of the time, but you KNOW it’s going to be tasty.

all canadians are celebrating one of our old-timey monarchs with a three-day long weekend this monday. the venerable queen victoria.

this is an especially celebrated holiday in bc canada because our provincial capital is named victoria [yes, after the queen] and it marks the first unofficial camping weekend in late spring/early summer for all those outdoorsy types. needless to say, this city-slicker and her hubby have no desire to camp, sleep on the ground or shower [if you’re lucky] in communal, cold showers at a regional campsite. so this weekend we’ll be hangin’ out at home doing city stuff. this girl doesn’t rough it. nope. i’m much happier doing this kind of outdoorsy stuff…

t and i took in the 23rd annual all british field meet - which is a really long title for cool classic and new brit cars. the event has been held for 22 years at van dusen gardens [a vancouver landmark for the botanical garden-set] on their ‘great lawn’ and is truly mecca for classic car enthuasiasts. over 600 cars and 50+ motor cycles are in attendance at this annual event, making it the largest event of it’s kind in western canada.

now we’re not big car buffs, but knowing that there would be a ton of vintage, classic cars at this event was enough of a photo op to drag me outta the house. think lots of chrome, curvy lines, gorgeous paint, burl walnut interiors and leather. yummy eye candy for sure! plus it was a spectacular day yesterday soaring to 30C/86F so being outdoors under some large trees was pretty much a neccessity =)

between the two of us, we shot over 500 photos of the most amazing chrome and enamel vehicles we’ve ever seen. yep t took some pics too… in his words “if you’re gonna drag me out to this thing, i better take a camera so i don’t get bored”. needless to say, he wasn’t bored LOL! he took a ton of photos himself, experimenting with the lens, dof, reflection, etc… i think he really enjoy himself actually and that was great fun to watch.

so many of vehicle were so cool looking with interesting reflections in the chrome and the gorgeous paint jobs that t has encouraged me to do a photobook. so yep… i’m publishing again and will have a 100 page book in my hot little hands in about 10 days. anyways… thought you might enjoy looking at a few of my favorites. there are more in my flickr collection here.

love this! so gorgeous in person. the detail of the figure and chromed gleam of the rolls royce hood ornament is something to behold. breathtaking!

i had no idea that the lotus esprit was a british car! i know the brits do luxury muscle cars [see bentley, jaguar and astin martin], but had no idea that they did exotics too. well done uk auto designers. well done. these new lotuses are truly remarkable. amazingly compact and full of personally [and a lot of vavoom!] if we sold off t’s star war fig collection we could go buy one today [yep, that is ALOT of star wars in plastic bubbles. but i’m not judging him lol!]. i’m partial to the bright orange one… it goes with my hair colour ;^)

to see the rest of the 25 images i uploaded to my flickr portfolio, click here…

have a great rest of the long weekend canucks!
happy early memorial day to my southern usa friends too =)

here are some of my favorite pics from the concert…

john taylor was always my favorite… so pretty =)

i took over 900 jpgs at the show! and have culled them down to about 375 really good shots [especially considering we were half an ice skating arena away from the stage and in the upper bowl!]. i’ve added a bunch of my favorites including these ones into my flickr account. just click on graphic for full-image views to have a peek.

now on to some video…

Duran Duran - Skin Trade [21.4mb file] click to open high-resolution video with quicktime

the distance in the video gives you a sense of how far away we actually were and you get an idea how good the photos i managed to get really are. it has a lot to do with a nice long lens [canon 55-250 IS telephoto] and using the right iso, shutter and aperture setting. and just shooting non-stop through 2 hours of amazing music.

enjoy!

well, perfect timing for my walk down 80s memory lane with rdj last week… i’m going to the kick-off show for duran duran’s north american tour tonight!

the new cd from duran duran is pretty damn cool. it’s like old dd got a kick in the pants by the likes of timbaland and pharrell. very cool, but still recognizable as the band i loved in my youth.

i used to worship at the altar of duran duran in the 80s and very early 90s. much of my worship directed squarely at the tall, dark [not so dark now], very handsome john taylor. yes… he made me swoon. i have seen dd in concert twice and tonight will be my third. i have never cried at a concert [i just don’t get it when screaming girls cry for their idols] and i don’t plan on any tears being shed tonight. but… as i’m getting older and hormonal, weird things are making me weepy, so you never know…

i’m going to the show with my friend and co-worker [from the loony bin i call my office] kathy. tonight, i fully expect that we will we shake our booties to old faves like hungry like a wolf and the reflex and will both be very tired tomorrow morning at work. we both love duran duran and each have a favorite ‘taylor’ … john is mine and roger is hers. luckily, we won’t be fighting over them tonight LOL!

i also fully expect to feel like an old-fart at the show, but at least i’m younger than the band! i’m not THAT old, only 38… but many of my current musical faves are considerably younger than that. it’s refreshing change =)

i’m going to bring my flip and my camera with me, if i get any decent pics, i’ll post tomorrow. so off i go… to nostalgia-land with a modern edge. re-fle-fle-fle-fle-flex!

update: 2:00am

back from the show and a couple of hours at the river rock casino. it was awesome! simon le bon can still shake his moneymaker and john taylor was dreamy, albeit a little older, but still… dreamy. i took over 500 photos! a lot slightly out of focus and overexposed with the lighting flares, but overall i think i have at least 100 really good shots. also… i’ve got video! will be posting that later today in the afternoon/evening

i did another photo shoot in our friend’s store late this afternoon. they sell the most amazing indian and pakistani antiques.

the cool thing about this photo shoot is that the images are going to be used on a local tv station called ‘channel m’ [multicultural channel] as part of an interview my friend ray did for their home decor segment. how cool is that??

recently, my buddy ray also used my photography in a national indo-canadian magazine called ‘mehfil’. i ended up being the official photographer for this article on home decor since ray really wanted MY photos used vs. the magazine photographer’s. consequently, i got 100% photo credit in the magazine for the images used. wicked!

here are the pages my photos were used in…

yep… that is the question! spring schming. we ain’t gots no time for no stinking spring! or at least that what mother nature seems to be saying. the weather is very very confused… again. last night and earlier today we’ve had crazy weather again… snow, wet and heavy fell all over the city on friday night and caused the fragile spring growth some serious damage! oh well… mother nature can be a real bitch can’t she? lol! today, i took advantage of the nice window of weather and visited our local botanical garden: van dusen. it’s located in the middle of vancouver and is over 200 acres of beautiful trails over hills and water features along side spectacular spring and summer floral colour. well… the colour is a little behind this year with our cooler than average spring, but there were a few nice shots to be had anyways… if you were patient and knew where to look! we’re about 4 weeks behind growing wise, since my tulips are up, but STILL not open <le sigh>. but once the temperature warms up - watch out! double-peony tulip photos will be the image du jour. yes… double-peony tulip. it is a hybrid tulip with characteristics of peonies and their ruffled double petals. they are a-m-a-z-i-n-g and the size of dinner plates! in the meantime, here is a little taste of vancouver springtime as of today…

had to whip by my office this afternoon to pick-up some work that needed finishing for tomorrow. so naturally i grabbed my gwennie gwen gwen and took the loooooong way home… a drive along the river.

it is a truly spectacular day today. not quite warm. not completely cool. brilliant cerulean blue skies… ahhh, i love spring! so i’m driving along, waiting and watching for a great nature photo-op, and damn if nature wasn’t in the mood to cooperate!

you see, it’s eagle breeding season in the northwest and we get a huge number of bald eagles in and around vancouver for weeks on end. a couple of days ago, t and i were out for a walk along the river and counted no less than 13 eagles circling overhead near the river bank. clearly there was something going on, but we had no clue… we were completely mesmerized by this ever growing group of eagles circling above our heads, some as low and 100ft above us!

in fact, brackendale bc is famous for it’s eagle tours [you can see hundreds of eagles feeding and nesting along the river!! so cool!]…

anyways, i’m driving along the south fraser river heading home and lo and behold, a huge, very beautiful, very photogenic bald eagle appears in a tree just off the road. so i stopped. here’s what this magnificent creature looked like in the afternoon sun…

gotta say… i love my new 250mm IS telephoto lens. so amazing the distance and clarity you can get with this beauty!

anyways, as i snapped away at the raptor i must have stepped on a dried up, crunchy leaf because i made some loud noise. this noise must have startled my subject a bit, because a second later he was looking at me like a very large dinner!

needless to say, i think i overstayed my welcome LOL! i left quietly a moment later, all the while marvelling at the beauty of this majestic bird.

hope you have all had a great easter long weekend!

saturday started off drizzly and grey… but, i think the gods must have known that i was planning a playdate with gwen and by early afternoon, the sun was out and a beautiful late-winter day ensued.

see… all you nay sayers. vancouver is not always wet and grey in the winter! we get some of the most spectacular winter days in february and early march. cool and sunny with temperatures very tolerable 10C. perfect light for photography too… so pure and bright. lovely!

for detailed/fullsize view of the images below, just click on the links at the bottom.

Granville Island, originally uploaded by studiowerx.
1. _granville09, 2. _granville08, 3. _granville07, 4. _granville06, 5. _granville010, 6. Granville Island bakery, 7. Granville Island florist, 8. Granville Island florist, 9. _granville010, 10. _kroma5, 11. _kroma3, 12. _kroma Kroma

this shot was taken at granville island on march 15.

it was odd… this canada goose just stood there. for a good 10 minutes, on one leg. i think it must have injured its foot [flipper?] and can’t put weight on it.

the pose struck me as a litte funny since it seemed distinctly yoga-ish to me. so maybe the goose is in some discomfort but at least it appears to be meditating through the pain. 

can everyone say om? all together now… OMMMMMMM…

goose3, originally uploaded by studiowerx.

the lulu, as we like to call her, has grown up a lot in the last year. she’s looking rather regal and elegant these days. all long legs and gorgeous coat. she’s a looker that’s for sure…

she’s still quite a lap kitty even though we [me and t] are merely her subjects, to be ordered about at her whim. to be sat on like a warm pillow. to bring her bonbons and entertain her as she requires. it’s a tough life for the lulu… but somehow, she gets by.

hmmm… could the constant cooing over how pretty and smart she is be enabling this air of superiority? we will have to take that under advisement. later though, because it is her majesty’s bedtime and the mistress is demanding her bedtime snack. lol… ahhhh the life of a pampered pet.

in my next lifetime i want to come back as a kitty!

Lulu looking pretty, originally uploaded by studiowerx.