Sunday, December 31, 2006
Every couple of years I believe the city or some group arranges to have some artists create their version of some sculpture topic. The last one were the orcas in the city and this year the spirit bears were created. At the end of the exhibit, the sculptures are auctioned off and the proceeds donated to charity.
The Central Branch of the Vancouver Public Library is an architectural wonder imo. It looks so much like a Roman building. It was moved from the old library on Burrard and Robson years ago. A huge building with many library facilities it is always packed with people. Some facts about this building: http://www.vpl.ca/branches/LibrarySquare/misc/faqcen.html#HowDid .
Granville Island has so many subjects to shoot. There is the buildings, the market, the colors, the little designs like this and the landscapes. I am here a lot mostly because my 2 daughters have their dance classes at the Arts Umbrella. It works out real well as it gives me a quick break to take shots and experiment.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Boxing Day Ritual
LOL> My daughter and I went to Best Buy at 5:30am this morning. By that time the line had snaked its way around the block. Getting in was no problem and inspite all the people getting help from a salesman wasn't that difficult. The cashier line was a bit long but we got out in reasonable time. Damage just to experience this ritual - a Canon Selphy DS810, a Toshiba DVD Recorder and an IPOD Case. There was a Canon IP6600D display item) for 99.99 that I was tempted to buy but what would I do with 2 of them?
Sunday, December 24, 2006
This photo involves the technique of setting the camera white balance to incandescence which turns the daylight background to blue. A gel filter is then used with the flash that cancels out the white balance and makes the close objects properly white balanced. I read about this technique in a couple of places...a website that expounds on his lighting techniques and coincidentally a book I stumbled on at Kerrisdale Cameras and just had to purchase. I actually bought 3 books, a book on printing which is kind of obtuse (the printing process, not the book), a book on fashion photography in which I read about this technique and a book on portrait photography. I have nearly finished the fashion photography book and hope to start on the portrait book next. Maybe I am just postphoning the difficult one...printing how-tos but I have to bear down on this someday. I need to be able to consistently produce quality images from my inkjet printer.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
young violinist
The Christmas season is upon us. The stores are advertising heavily to get the customers in. The shows are starting up and Ashley and her music class went to the Oakridge Mall and performs Christmas Carols on the violin. An enjoyable event...
Getting close to Christmas. I was experimenting with Flickr toys and my new Canon IP6600D printer and I think the results are awesome. I generated calendars which I printed and will give to close family and friends this Christmas. I figure this was better than giving away tacky presents. The inks and paper cost a ton but it's still better than buying the equivalent presents. I hope I learn how to do proper print processing someday. There are some intricacies I still don't understand. A Spyder 2 has helped with the monitor callibration but sometimes the colours don't come out the way they are supposed to come out. The B&W are printing beautifully in a sense but they are not true b&w. Sigh...more work. I also created versions in my smugmug account and will send the link to our family and friends. They will be able to print off the site on their own computers.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
I joined a group of photographers who belong to flickr and a group that arrange photoshoots on a regular basis. Today's photoshoot was at the Vancouver Aquarium. I came dressed to the hilt and sweated inside the aquarium. I was unsure of what equipment to bring but I didn't want to lug everything so I brought what I thought I needed. It was a learning experience. The most basic mistake I made was to shoot sideways at the glass which resulted in blurry pictures. Shooting with the 50 F1.4 meant a narrow DOF which also resulted in some blur. Using a flash resulted in harsh effects and some of the light bouncing back into the lens so I stopped using it. I also later found out that the glass and water cuts down on the amount of light so some compensation is required. The belugas, dolphins, seals etc were a bit far so I was sorry I left the 80-200 lens at home. I hope to get another chance again soon.
headshots
Alyssa volunteered me to do headshots of all the kids going on the Russia Tour (choir, strings and band). It was an overnight request so I had to rush and get all the equipment together. I also did some testing since I hadn't used the strobes for quite a while. I got them all into a big plastic container, my carry-on bag and then had to just lug the stands any way I could. It was a bit tiring and when the majority of the kids came it was shot after shot after shot. The best part of the shoot was after everyone was finished and the kids started to mess around in the front of the camera. That was fun. PP wasn't. I shot the kids wide since I didn't know what kind of pictures they wanted and then provided the originals and a closely cropped version. It turned out that they wanted the cropped version which was also my preference. Later on I provided a square format which I really like but don't think will be used. This was more interesting and educational than the birthday party. I am looking forward to doing more portraiture.
birthday shoot
I accepted a friend's request to shoot here 60th birthday celebration. These events are a bit of a challenge creatively as most are just photos of the guests with the celebrant. The best pictures I was able to do were of the kids, both the grandkids and kids. Post processing took a lot longer than I expected as it appears no matter how much you study and practice using flash, you will always just be a bit off. I used Gary Fong's diffuser which helped the photos more consistent but it still required adjusting pics. Part of the problem is I discovered that I have a tendency to knock the camera dials and mess up the settings. Bummer.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
The snow started a few days ago while the drinking water advisory wasn't even finished. Off to the nearest park we went ( http://reyeslp.smugmug.com/gallery/2179040 ). The slopes if you can call them that wasn't very steep but for us wus' it was just right. Even Yolly got into it. The following days didn't snow but it was so much fun to see the city so white. ( http://reyeslp.smugmug.com/gallery/2182185 ; http://reyeslp.smugmug.com/gallery/2182161 ). And while it was kind of gloomy/quiet for the first 2 days the sun came out and it was even more beautiful ( http://reyeslp.smugmug.com/gallery/2186942 ). I had to hang around Granville Island when Ashley was dancing so I took an hour to shoot some night pictures. It was freezing but it was invigorating. And it was beautiful ( http://reyeslp.smugmug.com/gallery/2187800 ). 
Saturday, November 18, 2006
boiled or bottled
An advisory was issued 2 days ago. Apparently all the rain and storms had caused turbidity in the water system and was deemed unsafe for the Vancouver Mainland. People rushed to the stores and it wasn't long before all the bottled water supplies had run out. We found some at a Staples Store but retail price was kind of steep. We eventually found the Simply H2O store on Main and Marine which I remembered from times I have passed it. I bought the last water bottle at the store and had to come back 4 hours later to pick up the filled bottle. A storm is forecast for tomorrow and could mean that it will be like this until the end of next week. Yesterday by the way was horrible. Starbucks and other coffee shops were not equipped for this situation so we had to go without coffee for an entire day. It was terrific to be able to get some coffee at Starbucks this morning.
Saturday Soccer
Soccer in Canada come rain or shine. Soccer leagues for the girls are in the fall and winter. The schools play in the spring. I suppose it's because of the lack of facilities since the boys play opposite. The weather isn't really suited per se as the nicest time for the weather is the summer (June, July and August) but of course the kids are off then. So the game goes on except when there is snow. When it rains, the game moves from the grass fields to the gravel fields. And us parents watch come rain or shine. I shoot all the games that my girls are in and I shoot all the players so the whole team look forward to the pictures after games.
Friday, November 10, 2006
.
It doesn't look good for the weekend. It will be a soggy weekend for soccer...One hand on the umbrella and one on the camera. November is the month for rain for Vancouver and it's shaping up to be so. We had a couple of days where the sun and the rain have been struggling for control but the rain won out. At least it isn't as cold, the last few days have been bitterly cold.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
wedding story
wedding story
Originally uploaded by Luis Reyes.
I was the main photographer at my nephew's wedding. A week later I am still PP. Digital has its disadvantages...you take a lot since it doesn't cost anything. And a lot can be fixed depending on your PP skills. I liked the original image but I have been playing around with b/w which saves a lot of pics that are blurred, incorrect exposure. Problem is that just about anything can be saved but it does chew up a lot of time.
I had a terrific time. In a way sort of since I was so stressed from being the main photographer. What made it a great experience was that my mom and all my brothers and sisters were all there. While I was officially the main man, my brother Jun and brother-in-law Sal also took photos. That made me more confident that between the 3 of us, we would get just about every shot possible and we did, almost, although I think we still missed a few here and there...sigh. My brother Joey I also discovered knew just about every trick there is when doing photo shoots. This was from his time when he was an art director. He saw things that I normally overlook. I wish he was around to do more shoots with, along with Jun and Sal. Colleen, my sister-in-law, also helped with some of the setups. We did a great job.
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