Photographer
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 …
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.
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.
Duncan, on Vancouver island, is known for the totem poles displayed around the town. Duncan is actually nicknamed The City of Totems. The very walkable downtown is a nice mix of older small town architecture and this unusual circular office building next to the courthouse. I like this view of the one pole and the office tower.
The MV Uchuck III was built in Oregon in 1942 originally for use as a minesweeper. It now carries both passengers and freight along the west coast of Vancouver Island. Website at http://www.getwest.ca/the-uchuck
Artist Rachel Berman died in Victoria on May 28. I can’t claim to have known her very well but I had really liked her work and two years ago she agreed to let me photograph her. After that, we’d often run into each other on the street and have a chat. She would encourage me to photograph other artists, making suggestions about possibilities, and chiding …
A surfer walks past a van and board at Jordan River, British Columbia on Vancouver Island.
Even the Canadian flag hanging from the building seemed dejected by its current status
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.
A traditional neighbourhood grocery store in Nanaimo, they are getting harder and harder to find, replaced by 7-11s and Mac’s style stores.
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.
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.
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.
The inflatable giant dinosaur shows up now and then on the roof of Galaxy Motors. It’s certainly an eye catcher
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 …
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 …
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.
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. …
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 …
Last weekend I attended a two day workshop presented by Luz Gallery with Toronto photographer Don Weber, a member of the VII agency. We had a diverse group of twelve workshoppers (if that’s a word). There was the legally blind Anglican minister, the woman who’d had Ansel Adams drop by her house when she was a child and critique her photos, a philosophy professor who …
Spring is here with cherry trees in full bloom and boats still parked in yards and not out on the water.
Old neon in Nanaimo, BC. The sign for the Modern Cafe. From a quick visit last weekend.
Just another Vancouver Island winter day with the surf kicking up along the coast. Lots of surfers and kayakers out on the water. Weather ranged from pouring rain to a light mist although the sun came out on the drive home (typical). Word was spreading about the waves as more and more surfers were turning up throughout the morning. Surfers head out Beautiful BC wheel …
Took a quick trip over to Gabriola Island to take in Saturday at the Poetry Gabriola Festival, you can see photos from that event at my other site Literary Photographer. Gabriola is a pretty island, still quite rural and for photography’s sake I was wishing it was clear out and I had been able to take advantage of sunrise/set. The eroded rocks on the shoreline …
Two weeks ago I was meeting up with Micah Escamilla, a former student now a California based photographer, who was in town for a few days and an an hour to kill before we met up for coffee so took advantage of the time and foggy morning to shoot a few images.
Fall is here.
Morning sun on the totem poles at Thunderbird Park in Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island.
The annual World Naked Bike Ride, an event with rides in cities around the world, was celebrated in Victoria with a ride that left from the provincial Legislature building, went past the historic Empress Hotel and through downtown. A Legislature worker keeps her head down as she walks past riders getting ready One rider snaps a photo of another before the start of the ride …
I really like it when those real life moments are a touch surreal. A police officer talks with Greenpeace members outside a grocery store during a protest against selling fish that were not harvested or farmed in a sustainable manner.
I’ve been shooting, as a personal project, the Good Friday cross procession that some churches organize every Easter. I’m fascinated on two levels, first as a purely visual event and second, as an expression of faith by mainstream church members who tend not to brandish their beliefs. This year’s walk by members of Christ Church Cathedral (Anglican) yielded a number of photos I was happy …