A classic, corner grocery store, still open and serving the local neighbourhood.
Dominion Market, Victoria, British Columbia 2015
All posts tagged: British Columbia Photographic Archive
The Travellers Hotel, Ladysmith, British Columbia 2012
The Travellers Hotel on the main street in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island has seen better days. The construction of the hotel was completed in 1913 when the town was an important coal shipping port. although a miner’s strike in 1912 had halted the economic boom that had been underway.
Former Victoria Public Library Victoria, BC 2015
The former Victoria public library building, constructed for $53,000, was financed by American Andrew Carnegie. The neo-Classical stone building was completed in 1905. A four storey addition was added later, that construction was finished in 1951. The structure which served as a library for over 75 years, and now known as the Carnegie building is used for office space. Businessman Andrew Carnegie donated money to build …
Impulse Foods, Saanich, BC 2015
This family corner grocery store closed right at the end of December 2014. It sits across from a small garage and hair stylist, a small pocket of neighbourhood commercial enterprises. When this photo was taken there was someone inside the premises cleaning and packing up. The details in the window already attest to a time in history especially the sign referring to the DVD sale …
Bay Grocery, Bay Street, Victoria, BC 2015
The Bay Grocery is one of those neighbourhood establishments, the corner store, that get get harder and harder to find each year. I enjoy how they look front the street, at either dawn or dusk, lighting up the street for the residents.
Bus Depot on Douglas Street, Victoria, BC 2014
The current bus depot, located behind the Fairmont Empress Hotel, is soon to be torn down and replaced with high end condo units. No replacement location has yet been announced for the depot. The current location is ideal for visitors as it is right downtown and a very short distance from most attractions and the Inner Harbour.
British Columbia Photography Archive
We’re lucky to have images held in a variety of archives (the BC Archives in Victoria, the Vancouver Public Library’s holdings etc.) although they are general archives holding documents, objects as well as photographs. It is too bad there is no one British Columbia Photographic Archive or BC Photography Archive, whatever you’d call it, where one could view all the images held in collections.
Canada For Sale, Port Alberni, British Columbia 2011
Even the Canadian flag hanging from the building seemed dejected by its current status
North Park Bicycle Shop Victoria, British Columbia 2013
The North Park Bicycle Shop is a community fixture along Quadra Street in Victoria, in the North Park neighbourhood. The building always looks, to me, wonderfully scruffy and invitingly homely.
Canucks Jerseys, Coombs, BC 2011
Canucks jerseys, protected from the rain in plastic, hang outside a shop in Coombs on Vancouver Island. An image from the ongoing Salt Water & Rain series and the British Columbia photographic archive.
Unicyclist and Legion Branch #28, Cumberland, British Columbia 2011
An image from one of my ongoing projects, Salt Water & Rain, which looks at west coast life, in particular the small town urban landscape. This photograph was taken on the main street in Cumberland on Vancouver Island. The photograph is also part of the British Columbia photographic archive.
Smile Restaurant 400 Block West Pender Street Vancouver British Columbia 2013
Photographer Wendell Phillips introduced me to this cafe when he met me here for breakfast one morning. The cafe’s street sign now reads Smile Diner rather than restaurant.
Wing Sang Building, Vancouver British Columbia
Wing Sang Building, Vancouver BC 2012 Don Denton photograph The Wing Sang building is the oldest in Vancouver’s Chinatown. The Pender Street heritage building was restored and now houses the Rennie Collection, the private art collection of Vancouver real estate mogul Bob Rennie.
BC Almanac – 1970s Vancouver Photography
I finally found a copy of the 1970 publication BC Almanac, a library copy. Quite unique for the time, it consists of 15 booklets printed on newsprint and inserted into a cardboard folder. On the negative side, this copy only has nine of the booklets. On the positive side the booklets by Roy Kiyooka and N. E. Thing Co. (Iain and Ingrid Baxter) are in …
Derelict Boat, Coopers Cove, Sooke BC 2008
I was at Coopers Cove last week. The derelict boat in long gone although, for now at least, the former naval ship seen in the background is still anchored in the cove. It’s a reminder how photographs, while they must stand on their own as visual images, also serve as historical records, a document of time passing. This was one of the first group of …
BC Ferries, Tsawwassen arrival, British Columbia
From a series of inter-linked photo based projects examining the natural, social and manmade landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. This image from Salt Water & Rain which looks at island and coastal British Columbia.
Galaxy Motors Dinosaur, Colwood, British Columbia 2013
The inflatable giant dinosaur shows up now and then on the roof of Galaxy Motors. It’s certainly an eye catcher
Vancouver Art Gallery FUSE July 2013
Took in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s July FUSE event on July 19, this one produced in conjunction with the Arrival Agency. Lots going all evening on the various floors.
Joe Keithley – DOA farewell tour / BC Legislature visit
DOA front man Joe Keithley was in town playing a gig during the band’s farewell tour. Joe has decided to seek the NDP nomination in Coquitlam – Burke Mountain in order to run in the upcoming May provincial election. We decided to take a few portraits in front of the BC Legislature building in the afternoon. Here’s a few images from that shoot and one …
Fishing Boat and Fire Hydrant, Maple Ridge, British Columbia
One of the things I like to do is find other photographers who use the Pacific Northwest as a subject. Lately I’ve been looking at the images of Missy Prince, a Portland based photographer who seems to divide her time between Portland and the southern USA. She’s interesting as well in that she doesn’t have regular website but appears to simply use Flickr as …
Bucking The Trend, Printing Photographs Small
A couple of weeks off which has been good for some travel, Kamloops, Maple Ridge, Vancouver and Portland, and now I’ve been doing some printing. I know everyone seems to be going for big photographs but I’m enjoying making small prints.
Photo Group Talks
BC Ferries, Swartz Bay, BC 2012 I’ve spoken to a number of photo groups lately, showing some of my images and talking about the projects. The audiences have been great, very appreciative and always lots of questions and discussion afterwards. It’s a two way street though. I get lots of feedback on my images which is so helpful and it’s often a surprise which photographs …
Saturday Night – Chinatown
Downtown at dusk hoping for the late evening sunlight slanting through but clouds drifting in ended that. Settled for the bright colours of the umbrellas and the neon signs coming on in Victoria’s Chinatown district.
The Ramones and The Avengers in Vancouver
I have a new show of my early Vancouver punk photos opening at the Talk Is Cheap Gallery on Pandora Street in Victoria this coming Saturday. I’ve been sorting through my negs yet again and had a couple news ones scanned. It’s interesting what I keep finding. I came across this group shot of the Ramones posing for me before their gig at the Commodore. …
Artist Rachel Berman – New Project Featuring Environmental Portraits
Every year I like to start at least one new project. I like to have a number of projects going at the once as I find that due to my full time shooting job my time for personal shooting is limited in both hours and time of day. Having a number of projects means I can usually shoot something in the windows that I have. …
Omen of Bones, British Columbia
I’ve been working on a project the past few years, shooting every fall when the salmon return to spawn. These aren’t the images you always see of scarlet bodied fish fighting their way upstream but instead are images of the dead and decaying bodies of the spawned out fish. I’ve been calling this project Omen of Bones and when people ask me what it’s about …
Annual Pumpkin Harvest Adds Colour To Gloomy Day
It’s now October and this time of year I always take a drive up through Saanich agricultural zone to see if the annual pumpkin harvest has started. It was cloudy out but the rain was holding off a good sign as they won’t harvest in the rain. It turned out to be busy in the fields with workers from both the Mar and Michell Farms …
Vancouver skyline at dusk, Vancouver, British Columbia
Quite a few trips on BC Ferries across the Strait to Vancouver recently but never have quite enough time there, even on the rainy days. A wet evening view at a constantly changing skyline.
JEM Gallery Exhibition
I had a great opening at the JEM Gallery Friday night. We were scheduled to be open from 6PM until 9PM but it was after 11PM before people stopped dropping by. Saturday was excellent as well and we didn’t close up shop until 5:30. Many thanks to gallery owner Carola Goetze for all her heard work.
Drinking With Photographers
One of the downsides of living in a smaller place is that you have a tendency to feel isolated from the rest of the world. This week Don Weber was in town for a couple of workshops and it was a nice reminder of the wider world out there. Thursday night I met up with him and a couple of other local photographers at a …