From the category archives:

Vancouver

Avant-garde

by Carol Browne on August 30, 2010 · 4 comments

in Photos,Vancouver

Me: (Proudly) Hey Mike, Kelaine told me she likes how my photos have taken an avant-guard style with the toy camera.

Mike: *Laughing* Do you know what that means?!?

Me: Yes. *shifty eyes* I looked it up and…(I’ll leave out my answer because it was wrong. Even after I looked it up the day before. DUH.)

Mike: No it doesn’t! It means it’s weird and no one understands it! HA! Wait, I mean, it’s open to interpretation.

Oh well. Now that I’ve looked it up again, it means this:

Avant-garde represents a pushing of the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm.

I’m not sure if this is avant-garde or not, but I like how the building in this photo looks like a painting. Somehow I took it with the Diana.

I have decided that this is the camera lens I’ll be using for the film marathon next month. I’ll just be using this one from now until the big day so I can get the hang of it. I’ll be taking it with me to Toronto and practicing there. I like the way this lens takes photos of landscapes and it is flattering if I want to take photos of people:
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With the greatest of ease…

by Carol Browne on August 27, 2010 · 1 comment

in Festivities,Photos,Vancouver

What an exciting day I had today! Over at the fancy new cbc building, a trapeze act put on a free show at lunch time. I had both my cameras with me. Sadly, I didn’t bring my long lens, so I wasn’t able to get my favourite close up shots, but I did my best with the stock lens and tried to get photos of the acrobats between the complicated pyramid bar system they had set up. This circus troupe is called Air Born and they do shows for people in old folks homes. I couldn’t find out too much about them, but they are some how affiliated with the Health Arts Society. I got there part way through the show, but saw 2 or 3 different trapeze artists. Here’s another shot of them in action:
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I’ve decided to take your advice/lovely comments and look at this film stuff as happy accidents. Thanks, guys! Also, I love the thought of having a huge old camera with a blackout blanket over my head while holding up a huge flash that goes “POOF!” when it goes off. I would also be wearing a fedora with card that said, “PRESS” on it and it would be tucked into the satin band of my hat. I would mostly be taking photos of people smoking Lucky Strikes and people doing the Charleston.

Remember my favourite photo trick for food photography – taking the photos in the fridge? That sure worked out well with this camera:

And who could get tired of looking at lemon tarts, really? You know, I COULD do all 12 of my photos in the fridge for the Vancouver Film Marathon in a pinch. It could rain all day you know. This could be my plan B for the day.

Meanwhile, back at the graveyard…
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From the, “I meant to do that” file.

by Carol Browne on August 24, 2010 · 7 comments

in Photos,Vancouver

Today I went from, “I think I’m getting the hang of this film stuff” until about 4:45 when I went to pick up this past weekend’s photos. Then I thought, “Who took these photos?”. They look like the graveyard we visited, but these aren’t the pictures I remember taking.

The photo above was a ghostly accident. I don’t mind it, however. That’s Mike taking photos of the cemetery coyotes. Apparently twice, because it looks like I forgot to wind the film between photos. I like the effect. But could I do it again? I’m not so sure.

The next photo I like even though it’s completely out of focus. I can’t explain why it’s out of focus. I may have left the close up lens on? Again, if I had to replicate this “creation” I doubt I could.
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Fisheye?

August 18, 2010

The good news – I got photos on the toy camera! Yes! I got 19 well lit images out of a possible 24. This is a victory! A victory, I tell you! See what happens when you read the directions, follow the directions AND use all the pieces as directed? Film photos! Huzzah. Since there [...]

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A good subject.

August 17, 2010

Or at least I sure hope so. Today’s photo expedition took me to the blue tear drop over at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Hopefully, the photos I took with the toy camera work out somehow. I used the fisheye lens and thought this bulbous sculpture would look pretty cool with the round distortion. We shall [...]

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Practice, practice, practice…

August 16, 2010

Over the next few weeks, I will be taking the camera you see in this photo (it’s the blue one on the tripod) with me everywhere in order to really get used to shooting with film. The 12X12 Marathon is less than a month away, and I really want to use this camera for that [...]

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This is where I live – a series.

August 12, 2010

I stood atop Burnaby Mountain (I love that place) and took photos of the sunset tonight. That’s the Lions Gate Bridge in the distance. I was hoping to see some stars for the meteor shower, but didn’t see many. I was completely unprepared for the massive mosquito attack up there. Attacks by big, fat, Winnipeg-sized [...]

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A hometown hero

July 27, 2010

Dairy Queen was giving away free mini Blizzards today and Maëlle Ricker was there signing autographs WITH her gold medal. Remember her kicking all that a$$ at the Olympics? Here’s the video of her winning the Snowboard Cross race in February. I got to the event around 11:20 (I took an early lunch – I [...]

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The wedding crasher

July 26, 2010

Sooooooooo….I picked up my roll of film today and got a big goose egg. Blacks Photography gave me a new roll of film, though. I guess it’s the pity policy, but the woman at the cash register assured me it’s the policy of the film company. So, even though the only 2 photos I have [...]

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