Brand New Website

Hello Everyone,

It’s been a crazy past month. I’ve decided to plunge into the deep end and started to get the ball rolling for a photography business. It’s a huge step, but it’s been a great experience so far. Super busy on top of a normal job… But anyways, I’ve just launched a brand new website. It’s called Island Trail Photography.

So please check out my site here: http://islandtrailphotography.com

You can also check out my Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/islandtrailphotography

So far I’ve been blown away from the love and support! So thank you everyone! It’s going to be a great year! Can’t wait to get out there and take more pictures.

My First Time On A TV Set

I got a message from a friend last week asking if I wanted to take some behind the scenes stills for a TV comedy pilot. I’ve never done anything like that before, so obviously I said yes!

The show is called Bass Line (click the link to check out the Facebook page). It’s about a bass player looking for his big break. So he goes and finds bands to join through ads, etc. We never know where he’s going to end up next.

Saturday was the first day of filming. We had a special guest actor, Tal Bachman. That guy is hilarious on set. Never a dull moment with him. It was loads of fun. We got to the venue at around 3:30pm. We weren’t able to get the place cleared until 10:00pm. So we started setting up. I ended up getting shuffled around that day/night. The day started with me filming some behind the scenes footage for Shaw and being an assistant while riding shotgun in a limo. We got back to the venue and was asked to be in the film – just chilling around outside of the venue… Awesome!.

10:00pm came and we set up shop inside the venue. Helped out with more behind the scenes filming and stills. It was a great night! Amazing crew and cast. Everyone was just amazing! A few of us bailed out around 4:00am (which was really 5:00am because of daylight saving time.. Ugh). But it was soooo worth it! Great experience, and lots of fun! Here’s a couple of teasers. Super excited for the next shoot!

If you missed it the first time, check out the Facebook page for Bass Line if you want to keep up to date with the progress! Support local productions!

Autumn Through A 50mm

I love Fall (not as much as summer though)! I love all the different colours from the leaves, the sunny days, and the crisp air.

I know I haven’t been updating as often as I like… Hopefully I’ll be able to get out there more and snap a bunch more pics in the near future. But anyways, lately when I’ve been dropping my friend off at his place, I see a bunch of pumpkins lined up around a park sign down the street from where he lives. So today I decided to go and take pics of these pumpkins and drive around Victoria to capture some of the Fall colours. I’ve realized I haven’t been using my 50mm 1.4 lens all that much, so today was the day to use it! I definitely need to use this more often because it’s such a sweet lens!

Every time I take pictures, I sort through them and just throw them up on Flickr. This time I decided to give this whole “post-editing” thing a try. There’s slight differences from the original vs the edited versions of the pictures. But I was pretty happy with them. If you have any editing tips, give me a shout! Or… Feel free to just comment on the pics.

Enjoy!

Europe 2012 Trip in HDR

It’s crazy to think it’s been 3 months since I left for Europe. I definitely want to go back sometime, but not sure when. Anyways, throughout the trip I attempted HDR pictures. Only a handful turned out half-decent… Soooo here they are if you missed them in my previous blog postings.

Reading Train Station. Reading, United Kingdom.

St Mary De Crypt Church. Gloucester, United Kingdom.

Gloucester Cathedral. Gloucester, United Kingdom.

O’Connell Street. Dublin, Ireland.

Kilmainham Gaol. Dublin, Ireland.

Trinity College. Dublin, Ireland.

St Patrick’s Cathedral. Dublin, Ireland.

Temple Meads Station. Bristol, United Kingdom.

St Paul’s Cathedral. London, United Kingdom.

Tower Bridge. London, United Kingdom.

Cardiff Castle. Cardiff, United Kingdom.

My Encounter with a Woolly Mammoth and a Grizzly Bear

When I was a kid, my folks took me to the Royal BC Museum in Victoria. I didn’t remember much of it except for the big wooly mammoth, a cool dome where you can stand across from each other and talk to each other and it’ll seem like they’re right beside you, and a few other animals on display. This past year, I went there a couple of times with friends, and on the Easter long weekend, I decided to go with my folks. As my mom said “we used to take you to the museum, and now you’re bigger, you’re taking us to the museum!” It was great spending time with them. There was a special exhibit there – The Wildlife Photographer of the Year which was closing on that Monday. I’ve heard great things about it, so I knew I had to go check it out. And since my dad loves photography, I thought he’d enjoy it as well.

We got to the exhibit and spent a good couple of hours looking at all the amazing photography on display. It was awesome! But unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take pictures in there. We caught an IMAX about building the railroad through the Rockies. Then afterwards, we strolled through the older part of the museum. I’m always amazed at how much stuff they have there – fake animals on display, totem poles, Native history, old Victoria history, etc. It’s pretty diverse so you could easily spend an entire day wandering around the place. So here’s some pictures of the museum!

The next picture is a HDR picture. I thought it’d be a great place to try it out because there’s lots of little details in the picture, and it’ll look like I had an encounter with a Grizzly bear! I’m really happy how well this one turned out.

14mm, ISO 400, F5

Is it weird how some of my childhood toys I used to play with now sits on display at a museum? What do you recognize here??

For more information about the museum and the current exhibits and IMAX movies that are on, check out the website here. It’s definitely worth checking out!

Highlights of the 52 Week HDR Project

It feels kind of weird not having to take a HDR picture every week, but it’s been also a nice relief because I’ve been so busy these days. Through the year of photographing, I’ve definitely learned quite a bit about HDR. For the most part of it, I’ve felt that it’s been a real hit or miss with my shots. But during the last 5 – 10 weeks of it, it felt as though I’ve finally caught on.

There’s definitely been a bunch of weeks where I was really impressed with the shots, so this blog entry is to showcase all my favourite weeks of the project. I’m going to warn you all in advance that this might be a long post.

Week 1: Chinatown (Victoria, BC)
Who would’ve thought that my first week would be a gooder! I love all the different colours and ever since Chinese New Year, they decided to leave the lanterns hanging across the street which looks really pretty especially at night.

Week 2: University of Victoria Library (Victoria, BC)
Night photography two weeks in a row. This is the new extension of the library at the University of Victoria. The glass section looks really awesome at night, but the so-called “pond” is still gross as ever!

Week 4: Beacon Hill Park (Victoria, BC)
I must say I got pretty lucky on this shot. I was strolling through Beacon Hill Park and decided to check out the petting zoo. Peacocks freely roam around the park. I’ve always loved the colour of them. Anyways, as I knelt down to take a picture of one, he opened up his feathers. It was phenomenal.

Week 8: Whatcom Falls (Bellingham, WA)
The two Shannons and I went to Bellingham for the day to do some shopping and geocaching. We came across this park and so I decided to give the HDR thing a try with long exposure water. Turned out a lot better than I was expecting.

Week 10: Uptown (Victoria, BC)
Uptown is the new shopping area that was recently built. The second half of it is still under construction. I just got a new car not too long ago, so I decided to show it off. Also I wanted to see what my car would look like in HDR.

Week 11: Johnson Street Bridge (Victoria, BC)
Night time photography is always fun! I decided to take pictures of this bridge before it gets torn down and replaced with a new one. I got lucky again as a bus drove through my shot which added some cool light trails.

Week 13: Shipyard (Victoria, BC)
Every time I walk to downtown, I pass by this shipyard where they fix up ships and boats. There seems to be a different boat there every single time I walk by there. Love it.

Week 15: Berwick On The Lake (Nanaimo, BC)
My friend Matty P and Lotta played at a retirement home, and I was the chauffeur. We had a bit of time to kill so we decided to check out this place, and it was pretty nice.

Week 16: Samsun Narrows (Cowichan Bay, BC)
This was where I did my first rock climbing multi-pitch! This was near the end of the day and on top of the first pitch (2 pitches in total). The route name is called The Roof is on Fire (5.10a). Not a bad view from up top. This is what I LOVE about rock climbing.

Week 20: Nanaimo River (Nanaimo, BC)
This is where I rock climb. Dion and I went camping here, and this is what we wake up to.

Week 22: Crescent Beach (White Rock, BC)
Gotta love catching the sunset at this beach!

Week 23: The Chief (Squamish, BC)
One of my favourite places. Beautiful hiking and rock climbing. It’s the mecca of bouldering. This is one of those places that just makes me smile the whole time I’m there.

Week 28: Fisherman’s Wharf (Victoria, BC)
Houseboats! … Need I say more?

Week 29: Rotary Pier (Sooke, BC)
The sun was going down. It was overcast. I was in Sooke, so I figured to take a picture here at this dock. Definitely wasn’t expecting this kind of result. I really like the colour.

Week 30: On Top of the Space Needle (Seattle, WA)
The two Shannons, Pete (UK’er), and I decided to go on a geocaching road trip. This was day 1. On top of the Space Needle. I can just hang out here for the whole day. It’s so awesome up here.

Week 31: Snoqualmie Tunnel (Rockdale, WA)
Last day of our road trip. Went to this tunnel that goes on for a few kilometres. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to walk it. It was really cool!! Perhaps next time. I really like the sharpness and the colours of the shot out telephone cabinet thing. And obviously tunnels are pretty awesome too.

Week 36: BC Ferries (Victoria, BC)
I’m constantly going back and forth to Vancouver, so I figured I might as well take a few HDR pictures especially since one of the vessels were in dock.

Week 44: Saddle Trail (Port Alberni, BC)
A few of us decided to go snowshowing, and it was my first time going. It was SO much fun! I think I’m hooked. So we hiked this trail in a valley that was between Mt. Arrowsmith and Mt. Cokely. I was soaked at the end, but it was well worth it. The views were amazing, and the people I was with were awesome.

Week 46: Mt Tolmie (Victoria, BC)
Once snow hits Victoria, all hell breaks loose. People don’t know how to drive, and it just gets really messy around here. Luckily Scott drove a truck, so we were able to go to the top of the mountain to capture some sweet shots.

Week 49: Esquimalt Lagoon (Colwood, BC)
The last couple of weeks in the project were definitely my favourite. The pictures just turned out really well.

Week 51: Christ Church Cathedral (Victoria, BC)
Cathedrals are always so beautiful especially in the inside. This has got to be one of my favourite shots from the project just because there’s so much detail and colour to it.

Week 52: Whiffin Spit (Sooke, BC)
The last ones of the project. A spit that shoots out a few kilometres out. It’s a really nice walk especially when the sun is going down.

Well, there you have it folks. My favourite pics from the 52 week HDR project. You can check out my other weeks under the HDR category of my blog. Or you can just snoop around… Hope you all enjoyed the project! And feel free to give any suggestions/comments/feedback about these photos. Would love to hear from you people!

The End of the 52 Week HDR Project: Whiffin Spit

Sooooo it looks like this is the last week of my 52 week HDR project! Can’t believe it’s been a year already. Time sure flies… For the last one, I went to Whiffin Spit which is out in Sooke, BC. I was looking around the geocaching site to see where I can find some caches, and I stumbled across this place. So I loaded up some caches onto my GPS and off I went the next day. This place is beautiful! The sun was slowly going down, and it was a really easy walk on a spit, and the weather was great! What more could I ask for for my last HDR project post.

10mm, ISO 200, F9

10mm, ISO 100, F9

10mm, ISO 100, F9

I hope you all enjoyed my series! I had a lot of fun doing this project. It made me go shoot more, and it made me learn how to do HDR pictures. I don’t think I’m going to stop here though. I think I’m going to be continue shooting HDR, but I might just post pics once a month (maybe more if I end up going to a lot of awesome places), but we’ll see! Comments? Feedback? Would love to hear from you all!

Week 51 of HDR Project: Christ Church Cathedral

Welcome to the second last week of my 52 week HDR project! This week I decided to check out the Christ Church Cathedral on Quadra St. I love the architecture of the building, and the inside is just beautiful! See for yourself.

PS. I LOVE symmetry

10mm, ISO 400, F4.5

10mm, ISO 400, F4.5

10mm, ISO 200, F9

10mm, ISO 200, F7.1

 

Week 50 of HDR Project: Fernwood

Fernwood is one of those places where you sort of know where it is, but not really sure where the exact location is. With lots of side roads, you could easily get lost in this area. But once you find this little section of town, the block is covered in old architecture such as a high school, church, pub, cafe, etc. It’s a really interesting part of town with a lot of character. This is also where all the hippies reside.

This area brings back a lot of memories as I use to come here a lot for local concerts. Goooood times.

10mm, ISO 200, F6.3

10mm, ISO 200, F8

Vic High. This school opened at this location in 1876. I love how they still have the boys and girls entrances on the top of the doors. The building is just awesome.

10mm, ISO 200, F9

13mm, ISO 200, F8

 

Week 49 of HDR Project: Esquimalt Lagoon

3 more weeks until this project is over! It’s awesome and sad to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I thought I would have bailed halfway through the project, but I guess not!

This week I went to Esquimalt Lagoon. You drive down the road and there’s water on both sides of you. A lot of different types of birds, a nice long beach, and just a great place to just chill out. This place is great for photography! I guess I’ll just let you see for yourself. I wish I had more time to hang out here…

10mm, ISO 200, F9

10mm, ISO 200, F8

10mm, ISO 200, F8

Hope you all enjoy the pics as much as I enjoyed taking them! Have an awesome weekend!