Thursday, October 31, 2013

Recent Projects

Vaughan doubled as the art direct director for this shoot.  He also scouted the location, an unused City of Edmonton maintenance building.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Recent Projects

My mate Vaughan is a renaissance man; architect, artist, musician and all around cool guy.  He asked me to take some photos to accompany a CD release.  He was after something a little off the wall; here's a sample of what we got.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Recent Projects - Downtown Revitalization

The darkish building centre right fronts onto Jasper Avenue in Downtown Edmonton.  The architects designed a new penthouse floor and came up with a way to facilitate underground parking in this 100 year old building.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Recent Projects - Newspaper Printing Facility

Access to daylight was an important design consideration in this printing facility.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Recent Projects - Newspaper Printing Facility

This new facility for printing newspapers features state of the art equipment from Germany.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Recent Projects - Private Residence

The site for the Trapezoid House is pie shaped with the widest part at the rear.  Large expanses of lawn and perfectly detailed & integrated patio results in a highly structured and useful garden area.

I really like this house - I could move in tomorrow.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Recent Projects - Private Residence

This detail photo of the Trapezoid House turned out very well; I'm really pleased with the composition.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Recent Projects - Private Residence

The architects who designed this house referred to it as the 'Trapezoid House'; and for good reason.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Recent Projects - Northgate Transit Centre

This is a detail photo of an art installation at the Northgate Transit Station.  Each coloured rectangle is approximate 200mm high.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Recent Projects - Northgate Transit Centre

Here is a daytime view of the Northgate Transit Centre.  The detailing on the building is a nice balance of elegance and robustness.  People in transit stations late at night can get a little rambunctious so materials need to be able to withstand a bit of abuse.  On the other hand sometimes providing something that is a little nicer can send a message to that this is no place for vandalism.  Time will tell.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Recent Projects - Northgate Transit Centre

A few years ago Edmonton Mayor Steven Mandel declared that with respect to architecture in the city our 'tolerance for crap is zero'.  City of Edmonton projects have taken a turn for the better since then as demonstrated by the new Northgate Transit Centre.  This is the busiest transit station in Edmonton (I had a lot of company whilst on this shoot including a visit from two chaps who had emerged from a nearby tavern where they had clearly been over served.  The wished to engage in a conversation regarding the troubles in Syria).  The city tasked the architects with developing a design that would provide more than just shelter for this waiting on buses.  The building is bright, functional adorned with public art and it conveys an appropriate sense of movement created by the clever continuity of the building cladding as it bends and folds from roof surface, walls and strong horizontal application.


I think the charm of this photo is the streaking lights on the right - without that the photo would not be as powerful.


Sunday, October 20, 2013

Recent Projects - Wedding Photos

With a little layer manipulation in Photoshop parts of the image can retain colour while the rest of the photo is in black and white.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Recent Projects - Wedding Photos


There's lots of excellent back drops for photos at Fort Edmonton, like these poster promoting the importance of shopping locally.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Recent Projects - Wedding Photos

Because we were taking the photos at Fort Edmonton I thought it appropriate to deliver a healthy number of photos in black and white or, as is the case with this photo, a dark sepia colour cast.  Colour images of the same shot were provided but the sepia tone version is miles better I think.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Recent Projects - Wedding Photos

I don't aspire to be a wedding photographer but I don't mind doing it from time to time.  This couple live away from Edmonton and decided to have their photos taken a few days before the wedding which was a brilliant idea....it was just the two of them, the brides daughter and me which meant far less stress and we were able to go at a relaxed pace.  The wedding was to take place at Fort Edmonton Park and we were able to arrange after hours access on a warm August evening.

Here's the first of a short series of photos taken that night.  Canon 1Dx with Canon 24-105 lens.  Canon 580EX flash.  'Antique' effect created in Adobe Lightroom.  Final editing made in Photoshop.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Recent Projects - Private Residence

Here is an interior photo of this private residence in Edmonton's west end.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Recent Projects - Private Residence

I like to photography houses at dusk; they always seem to have a more inviting look to them.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Recent Projects - Private Residence

This private residence in west central Edmonton is home to a young couple and there two delightful children.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Prague Farewell

We'll end the series of photos from Prague much the same way it started; a night time view of Prague Castle from our apartment window.

All photos in this series taken with the Canon G15 and the iPhone using the Hipstamatic app.

Special thanks to fellow travelers Maria and Alex, Christine and Brad & their kids Haley and Austin and to my lovely wife Terri for taking me along on her epic Pharmacy journeys.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Prague Windows

I am always on the hunt for interesting windows and doors to photograph - there was no shortage of both in Prague.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Prague Guards

I think mastering the controls of a camera can yield much more interesting photos than just aim and shoot.  By manipulating the depth of field I was able to get this photo with the guard on the right in perfect focus and the guard on the left blurred.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Prague - Guards within the castle walls

These guards were photographed within the walls of Prague Castle.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Prague Window Views

The view through a window is interesting but the view of the window itself can add an interesting depth aspect to the view.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Prague - What do you do with an old wall anyway?

I'm not quite sure what's going on here; trying to work out which piece of this puzzle came first is a bit of a mind bender.  If the old stone wall was in such bad shape how did it stand up before somebody came along and filled in the missing bits?

Monday, October 7, 2013

Prague - The Golden Lane

Without the 'No. 22' at the bottom of this photo this photo would be out of balance and may well have been discarded as I went through the images from this trip.  Or perhaps cropped square from the top down.  Without the numbers there'd be no point in leaving the expanse of blue at the bottom of the photo.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Prague Reflections

The focal point of the photo is not the window rather the reflections of the giant Cathedral opposite in the windows.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Prague at the End of the Afternoon

What better way to toast the end of a great day out than with 500ml of the famous Pilsner Urquell?

Friday, October 4, 2013

Prague - The Charles Bridge

The gate towers at either end of the Charles Bridge provide a great sense of arrival and serve to neatly frame a photograph.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Prague - The Golden Lane

I'm quite fond of this photo, a detail of a a building facade on the Golden Lane withing the walls of Prague Castle.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Prague - Self Portrait

In modern parlance a 'selfie' is a photo one takes of ones self.  This is a variation on this; my reflection in a highly polished door captured with the iPhone.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Prague - Jewish Cemetary

I posted a few photos from the Jewish Cemetery in Prague while we were in the city; here's another.