Sakura

Blossoms
Blossoms 2

This week Vancouver has slid back into the winter weather, just as the blossoms were starting to appear on trees around the city. I hope they can survive the unseasonable cold and the snow that was falling overnight. These are two shots I took last year, during a more spectacular spring that convinced me I should always be in Vancouver at this time of year.

You are beautiful

You are beautiful The following text is taken from the You Are Beautiful website:

“You Are Beautiful is a simple, powerful statement which is incorporated into the over absorption of mass media and lifestyles that are wrapped in consumer culture.”

“This statement and the context in which someone finds it gives meaning to its message and purpose to this project.
The intention behind this project is to reach beyond ourselves as individuals to make a difference by creating moments of positive self realization in those who happen across the statement: You Are Beautiful.”

“Intention is the most important aspect of the You Are Beautiful project in its idea of purity. Graffiti and street art are an act not a style, but stylistically large corporations have been copying and using the ‘urban decay’ look to sell products.”

“It all comes down to intention. Nothing is sacred. Everything that has a perceived value becomes commodified. Companies hire out teenagers to slap up stickers and posters, and pay their fines when they are caught by the police. This is not street art, but a marketing campaign.”

“The reasons why street artists are doing what they are doing, in the way that they are doing, is not simply to question their surroundings; but to provide alternative perspectives, meanings, or values to those of consumerism.”

“Advertising elicits a response to buy, where this project elicits a response to do something. The attempt with You Are Beautiful is to create activism instead of consumerism.”

“You Are Beautiful uses the medium of advertising and commercialization to spread a positive message. Projects like these make a difference in the world by catching us in the midst of daily life and creating moments of positive self realization.”

You are beautiful

I very much like the idea of this project. The message is simple, yet powerful, and couldn’t everyone hear those three little words said to them…?

A glimpse

I was feeling self-portraity tonight. A little red pashmina here, a few dried leaves there, and voila! My creative urge has been satisfied.

Taken in the bathroom under ambient light with a black black cloth pinned up in the background.

Play

Jacob

Play

Try to not let the crooked borders drive you nuts.

I decided to post these shots after photographing the newborn baby of my friend Pidge yesterday. I hardly get the chance to photograph kids these days, but I always enjoy it when I do. It’s a fun challenge because little kids don’t stay still very long and I try to capture them in their natural element without intruding. The above photos were taken last summer while visiting my friend Nikki in Ontario. Photographing her kids during the visit became a hilarious game of chase (literally), that ended with me in a puddle of sweat on the couch because it was a very hot day. I’m not sure who had more fun – me or them.

Change

Stone1

The above shot is featured (sans photo credit) on the 30 Days of Sustainability website. The lighting set up was very simple – one light bounced off an umbrella, with a white reflector providing fill in the shadow areas. Taken with a Canon digital Rebel XT.

Haunting

Haunting

Taken with my Contax camera, using Kodak 400CN Print film, with sepia tone added in Photoshop. This is one of my favorite portraits.

Fairy

From my photo archive…

I was looking through my older photos for something to use in a digital image I’m currently working on and was reminded of this statue. I photographed her in a museum in Florence, Italy, when I was there in 1999. She was so beautiful I could’ve stared at her for hours. I’m very grateful the museum guards standing nearby didn’t mind me taking photos, or my cousin sitting down to sketch her.