Playing around with black-and-white, an off-camera flash, and a nice Cuban cigar.
Sometimes, enjoying life is as simple as this.
Posts in category "Photos"
Pictures of White People Laughing
Also known as a drinking party at Shirley’s.
This is how I learn that people have a good time when there’s at least one person willing to make a fool of himself, because it sets the tone for everyone else.
That being young is to be young at heart. That to be young at heart is to laugh deep and laugh regularly.
And that it never hurts to have alcohol to help facilitate the process.
On Being Busy
So the next two weeks are:
- a walk by the river with Frédéric, Misun, and their two boys
- four Tai Chi classes
- a haircut with Jeff
- table tennis with Dan at the university, then back to my place to watch Constantine
- Victoria Day long weekend
- a tattoo appointment
- a session with the therapist
- lunch and a movie with Aaron
Not including the work I need to do on my latest photo project for the next show. I’m also supposed to catch up with Naveed at some point in there; he’s having a pool party for his latest investment property. I got us some cigars because he’s a new father, which I’ll have to do for Aaron as well, since his first (a boy) is on the way.
Busyness seems to come all at once, leaving me bewildered. Never a bit here and there.
Then all of a sudden, I’m alone for days at a time, wondering what happened and where everyone went. It’s a strange flux that goes from one extreme to the other.
The goal becomes a balance of both. That way, the solitude is a welcome change from the overstimulation and vice-versa.
Photographing Couples
Been working on photographing couples the past few months. It’s more difficult than I initially thought. You want to express love, but there are only so many ways one can do so without kissing.
You’re no longer photographing an expression, as with a single person portrait, but an interaction.
Having two people express themselves in such a way can be tricky too. Many are too shy to kiss in public, let alone on camera.
When it works, though, it works. You can see it in their faces. The way their eyes shine. It’s almost like they lose themselves, because they’re drowning in each other, and nothing else in the world exists.
And, of course, best viewed large and on black. Click through for full size.
Avian Encroachment
One of my photographs, entitled “Avian Encroachment”, has been selected as one of the finalists in CBCs 2008 Nature in Focus contest under the category Your Habitat. There were 1200 entries entered this year.
The title is a play on the term “urban encroachment”, which is used to describe the destructive habits of human activity spreading over natural areas.
Since the photo is of a pigeon sitting next to the spikes used to keep birds off the ledges of buildings, it appeared to me that he was flaunting his position, and pushing back.
One of my geology teachers in university said that it was silly to think of us trying to save the planet, because the earth, as a living thing, is going to be around for a long time. Environmentalism is really about saving ourselves.
You can check out the winners and other finalists on the CBC website.