Announcing the engagement of Alanna and Les

Just wanted to take a quick minute and post some photos from an engagement shoot I did last week. As the Christmas song says "Oh the weather outside was frightful" -4 Celsius and these two kept laughing and playing right up till dark.





I thought it a nice touch given the cold to have a little nose kiss with the love heart in the Christmas tree

Nose kisses were the order of the day








These two show the love they have for each other in every smile. Such a perfect couple.








Thank you Alanna and Les for allowing me to share in this special day and I look forward to the wedding in just a few short weeks

Lose Weight & Take Better Photos

What the heck are you talking about? Lose weight, Photography, not even related, or is it. Well when you have a desire to do something then you challenge yourself to stretch out and learn, overcome, or just plain move out of your comfort zone. That's what this week's blog is all about moving from your comfort zone.

Now I certainly will not profess to be an exercise guru. That's not who I am and in fact I am comfortably overweight by about 30 pounds (ish), but I can change that. I am, however a good photographer and I can change that as well. If I want to lose weight what do I need to do, control the amount I eat and exercise. If I want to become an excellent photographer, not just a good one what do I need to do, increase the amount I shoot and exercise my creative side. Now how does exercising and improving your photography skills go together, let me explain.

This photo, that appeared in last
week's blog about creativity, was taken from the side of the road not that far from my home. It is a photo of Mount Slesse, in the Fraser Valley, and represents a lazy photo. Although it was what was needed for me to get out of my slump it was not active. I did not have to work for it, it was there waiting for me. I could drive to the location I visualised set up my equipment and shoot away.




The photo of the alpine meadows represents the fit photographer. Also taken not far from my home, this is a meadow on Mount Cheam, which dominates the eastern Fraser Valley. If you want to visit this splendid area put on your hiking boots and check out this website http://www.trailpeak.com/trail-Mt-Cheam-near-Chilliwack-BC-538 you won't be disappointed.




To get to this meadow you will need a 4x4 and the whole day. You will drive about 90 minutes followed by a major hike before descending back down to Chilliwack. Due to the difficult nature of this location you will need to be very selective about what equipment you bring. Pack light (lose the weight) or it will be a very very long day.


That's all there is to it folks want to become a better photographer and get fit go out and explore. You could stay indoors use your flash do some interesting stuff, or you can go out, wander around and lose yourself in the wonders Mother Nature has provided for us to shoot. These are the memories to create and the pictures to make. I don't think there is anything better. Start becoming a great photographer today by exploring one shutter click at a time.

Destination Photography: Harrison Hotsprings

The beauty of Harrison Lake

It's almost time for my wife and I to make our quarterly trek to Harrison. This is a delightful location for both of us to decompress, re-energise and relax. Located just off of highway 7 in the Fraser Valley, about an hour and a half from Vancouver, this is a world-renowned location that attracts visitors year- round for its splendour, beauty and (most importantly) its hot springs.

Arriving in Harrison I strongly suggest taking a wander down to Muddy Waters Cafe where they serve breakfast all day. Or, if you're interested in some lunch, they boast the best nachos in town. I've had them on more than one occasion and I can honestly say the boast is not idle.

After lunch you can take a casual stroll along the park and lake; the town of Harrison takes great pride in their parks, as you can see in this photo. If the kids are along as well, you will find the communities brand new playground close to the man-made lagoon. Luckily, just a two minute walk away there's a refreshing lake with a sandy beach for those who no longer hear the call of the monkeybars.

 If you're there with someone special, maybe you want to just sit and watch the waves at the beach.








If you enjoy the outdoors there are also some spectacular hiking trails. If water sport is your passion there are boat rentals, guided fishing adventures, or relaxing beach side. Of course the greatest of all is the hot springs which has given Harrison its worldwide fame.

If you are staying at Harrison Hotspring Resort then you have access to the hot springs at their source. There is much more to see and do check out the community tourism page for all the latest and greatest of events.

On the path around the Resort

Accommodations are plentiful and available in a variety of price ranges. Be sure to shop around for pricing and specials. My favourite is the Harrison Ramada Hotel. They offer frequent deals, and the rooms are newly renovated, some with spa tubs and king-size beds.

Just a couple doors down, the Harrison Hairstyling and Day Spa is there for all your relaxation needs.








For evening dining I would recommend the Blackforest Restaurant. The food is simply to die for and the service has always been above and beyond exceptional. I enjoy the schnitzel Madagascar and believe it is the best schnitzel I have ever eaten. If you prefer, there is a sushi restaurant on the main street that I also recommend.

With so much to see and do in Harrison, I believe you will, like me, find more than enough reason to go back again and again and again. Don't forget your camera, because Harrison is full of beautiful and secluded spots, boasting everything you want in a nature shot (mountains, water, beaches, blue sky) as well as quaint little areas in town just begging for a snapshot.

Destination Photography: Hell's Gate

Nestled in the Cascade Mountains, Hell's Gate is located two and a half hours away from Vancouver it is well worth the journey. If you start out early in the day, you can arrive easily by opening at 10 a.m. and even have time for a coffee and snack in the picturesque town of Hope on your way up the Trans-Canada Highway.
In terms of a view (and the resulting photos) this location is awe-inspiring; more water carves its way through this narrow Fraser River canyon than goes over Niagara Falls each day.

The main attraction is the air tram spanning the river, and as you board you can hear the thundering water. The sound isn't all that surprising, considering 200 million gallons of water per minute crushes between the sides of the gorge. On the day I visited, the river's water level was 120 feet deep, and this was at the end of July when high water is already down considerably.


At the other end of the air tram is a quaint and very informative interpretive centre. There are things to see and do for all ages, which kept my family occupied nicely while I devolved into my natural shutterbug state.


I made a point to wander out over the river on the suspension bridge and made full use of the late morning lighting to photograph the river and the fish ladders (see right). These fish ladders are designed to help salmon make their journey up the Fraser to their spawning grounds; they're designed to slow the water down so the fish can have an easier time getting through the gorge, where the water gets a little rough and rowdy as it pushes through.


After I finished with the suspension bridge I wandered through the displays. I found the Chinese history exhibit (dedicated to all the workers that helped build the bridge and the bordering rail lines) particularly interesting. While my family wandered around, I took advantage of the fact that we were the only ones there to get down and dirty and take some interesting shots of the artefacts. This is one of the benefits of starting out early and on a weekday: you can sneak shots in without getting in anyone's way or having to wait for a passerby to get the heck out of your shot.


Other than these photo opportunities, I have to wax poetic on lunch. I had an amazing bowl of salmon chowder, which was the best I have ever eaten, and a very large cheeseburger and fries that tasted like they had coerced a master chef into the tiny kitchen. Even if you're not a chowder kind of a person, just trust me and order a bowl. It was creamy, well-seasoned, and they weren't shy about adding the salmon. Perfect!

After lunch, I took some time with the family to check out the fudge factory. Yes, you heard me: a fudge factory. They had 23 different kinds when we were there, and I cleaned them out of the last of their espresso crunch fudge (which I can't stop eating, and now my wife has instituted a lunch-before-fudge rule).

Anyway there are many other things to check out and see, and a ton of great photo opportunities. Sometimes you don't have to go very far to find a completely new location and snap some dramatic pics, and I recommend you check out your own nearby tourist locations. Even if you roll your eyes at the thought of playing tourist, you shouldn't discount the opportunities waiting for you in your own neighbourhood. Tourist attractions draw tourists for a reason, and you can up your game by playing tourist with an SLR instead of a point-and-shoot or camera phone.

If you find yourself heading to Hell's Gate, I recommend bringing a wide-angle lens to grab more of that great landscape, a telephoto lens to zoom in on details that other tourists are likely to miss, definitely a tripod to help steady your shots and maybe set up some timed family portraits (including you), and last but not least, a big appetite for fudge.

Location, Location!

Choosing a photo shoot location is one of the most overlooked (and yet critically important) areas in photography. If you're thinking about investing in new equipment, you're going to spend a large portion of time looking at the market and researching the product. But while we all salivate over one gadget or another, how many of us go out for the sole purpose of researching, finding, and testing shoot locations?

A photo shoot location may be as simple as your backyard or as complex as the top of a volcano in South America or Hawaii. These locations change, sometimes dramatically, according to time of year, time of day, weather conditions and a host of other factors. How do you even begin to explore them photographically?

Before you get overwhelmed by the options, take a deep breath and start simple: step into your backyard. Easy, I can hear you saying. Nothing too dramatic there. But go into your yard and really look at it. Leave your camera inside and look at it without a lens. Can you see how the shadows are falling from your house or that big tree? Is there a strong vantage point you could shoot in the middle of the day when the lighting is not great?

Once you think you know the space like the back of your hand, change your point of view. Stand on a ladder, lay on the ground on your stomach and then roll over onto your back. I guarantee you'll have different ideas about the space than you did before.

After you have the space firmly in your mind, visualise clients or subjects in your yard. Where do you want to put them? Layer the elements one at a time -- and don't try to run before you can walk.

But you may not always have unlimited access to a photo shoot location to prepare and brainstorm, so how do you get ready for that?

Again, we return to the importance of research. Now especially, research is at your fingertips. The obvious places to start? The Internet, travel magazines, your local library. However, there is another, somewhat overlooked resource: photographers. In this business, as any other, it's important to network. Contrary to popular belief, even as an artist-based community, we usually don't "guard" our secrets. I, for one, am quite flattered when someone asks how or where I got a particular shot -- and I know they walk away thinking about how they might do it better. That's how we all got into photography in the first place: we see the beauty of a work, and then go on to figure out how to change it. This is how photography, as an art form, continues to evolve.

If you're feeling a little shy, however, the library is a great place to start. I recently took a gander at a book called The Print and The Process by David duChemin. This is an artist based out of Vancouver and I found it to be an incredible resource. Among others, he tells a story (which really illustrates the point of shoot location preparation) about a trip he took to Iceland to photograph some of the natural landscape. He was there with another photographer, Dave Delena, and when they arrived they drove out into the country for a week or so, making notes about location and conditions and shooting the occasional photo. It was on the way back that the magic happened. They looked over the notes they had taken, having already considered what they wanted to shoot, and from that game plan they produced the best possible outcomes for the return trip.

On the other hand, when we go on a vacation with our families as amateur or semi-professional photographers, that system probably will not work for most of us -- backtracking is not always possible, and taking a thorough look at your surroundings while travelling can bore the rest of the family to tears. On the other hand, you can do a couple of things. Step one: look at what where and when other photos have been shot. This is easy enough to research before you leave, and this gives you a good jumping-off point. You can get a rough idea of locations you may want to explore further, and from there you can plan some family events in those areas. Even when you get to your holiday spot, I suggest making brief unplanned excursions for an hour or two to take some family "snapshots." The family, after all, is expecting you to document the vacation -- and if you spend all your time focusing on personal photography, they might get a little steamed when there are no memories of the family vacation. Spend time with your family or travel buddies first, and don't forget to come out from behind the lens.

Meanwhile, think about where and what you want to shoot on the way back. Once you have a few places in mind, set aside the hours or day that you need to create your pictures. Your family will be more patient, as they have had your undivided attention for a good part of the trip, and you won't feel rushed, because you filled your family's needs first.

Whether shooting at home or abroad, remember that research is just as important as knowing your equipment and taking the actual photo. Take some time and research your yard, your local park, and any particularly picturesque areas within 50 km. Network with other photographers, both in your area and in areas you would like to travel.

Lastly, have fun.  Don`t be afraid of your failures; these are just successes in a different frame, and creativity comes to those who wait and are relaxed.