Book - The Moment it Clicks by Joe McNally

Last November Joe McNally was in Vancouver and I had the opportunity to listen to one of his lectures and see some of his amazing images that he has shot over the years. At the time he mentioned a book he was working on that was coming out soon and I knew I had to get it when it came out. Well today I finally got my copy of that book entitled "The Moment it Clicks" and I have to say that from just the quick flip through it I already feel inspired. I encourage anyone who is interested in photography and wants to learn from a real pro to get this book.

Night Photography at Granville Island

Last night our photography classes from Vancouver Photo Workshop gathered at Granville Island for some night photography. We practiced our long exposures, flash photography and proper white balancing. We also dabbled a bit with some "painting with light" and that yielded some very interesting results. I quite enjoyed tonight's outing and I know that I'll be doing a lot more night photography in the future and will try to throw in some creative twists to it all. Here are some shots from that night.

Photography Class Field Trip

This past weekend we had a field trip get together for students in the Introduction to Digital Photography classes that Syx Langemann and Aura McKay teach. It was offered on both Saturday and Sunday but I chose the Saturday class because I knew that I would be busy on Sunday. So Aura McKay took our group out and she was great. Very enthusiastic and energetic. We met at the Vancouver Photo Workshop studio and then headed down towards George Wainborn Park. All along the way were great opportunities for us to practice things that we had learned about in class such as panning, depth of field and compositional elements. Here are a few shots taken that day.

Chinese New Year Parade - Chinatown on the right day

There was no mistaking it this weekend as I headed down to Chinatown to watch the Chinese New Years parade that I got the date right. I arrived around 11:00AM and things were already abuzz with activity. Dragon dancers were warming up and parade participants were getting into place. Crowds were also gathering and lining the sides of the street up and down the parade route. The local media and even more people with cameras of every size and shape were frantically jockeying for position to stake their spot for the perfect shot. The parade began at noon with the Vancouver Police department and their bagpipe band leading the way. Then followed representatives from many of the local Chinese martial arts schools who had their Dragon Dance groups out which are always a crowd favorite. There were also corporate sponsors and members of the city government participating in the parade and handing out treats and red envelopes. About an hour into it was when the rain started. I got a few shots and tried out things like slow shutter speed to impart some motion and movement to the shots as well as trying to get some candid shots of people. Here is a small sample.

Chinatown on the wrong day

Well I got up early Sunday morning all ready to head down to Chinatown to catch the New Years parade and Dragon dances but found out once I got there that this was the wrong day and it would not be until next Sunday. I think I had read somewhere that they usually hold it the first Sunday before the actual New Years day which falls on a Thursday this year on the 7th of February. I knew something was wrong when I got there and it was completely quiet. But I made the best of it and since I had my camera with me I took some shots. Here are some pictures I took that include shots around Chinatown, the entry way of the Sun Yat Sen Garden and the False Creek area. I tried some shots with exposure bracketing and then merged them to create an HDR picture. I'm pretty pleased with the results because it was a very overcast during the entire time I was shooting and the brightness was a bit tricky to work with.