2010 in review (colour)

With 2010 drawing to a close rather quickly I still needed to post my 5 favourite colour shots of 2010.
I'm wishing you all the very very VERY best for 2011!

 

Canadian banks are thieves

Remember this post from a few days ago? Well I am NOT a happy camper anymore. Let me tell you what happened exactly.
When I bought my camera from 'ProDigital2000' on Ebay I noticed that they list their prices in US $. But – here is the kicker – the seller is located in Ontario, Canada. Where's our National Pride now, eh?! When I addressed this issue with the seller they replied they list their prices in US $ 'to get more exposure on Ebay'. At first I did not see a problem. With the CAD $ at par with the US $ their should not be a problem. Except for the fact that Canadian Banks (and North American Banks in general) are crooked gangsters.
First they don't give you the exchange rate you should get. No Sir! They add a couple of numbers past the comma, 'to cover their costs'. And second, they charge me 2.5% extra on the total amount because I am a Canadian who is paying something to someone in US $ on a Canadian Visa card. And that someone IS Canadian. So excuse me for saying this but you are charging me TWICE for the same cost?! That is absurd!
So instead of doing a nice deal, I ended up paying about 135 CAD $ too much! After all that research, THAT hurts! Plus I am really disappointed in my bank (CIBC Imperial by the way) and their rates. But in the end I think it was not curtious of the seller to not give me an option to buy in CAD. Will be continued.

I need to stop thinking

Holy smokes.... I need to stop thinking for a minute or two. My brain is fried.
What is happening I hear you ask. Well it all started a couple of days ago when I showed my wife a solargraphy picture. You can see an example here. Sarah thought it would be a great idea to do so we can finally hang something behind our bed. I always wanted some contemporary art but I wanted to do something myself. Since I am no painter (O God don't arm me with a paintbrush) this solargraphy stuff is so low tech that even I can pull it off.
Being the researcher that I am I started thinking about pinhole camera's. And how to build them. It's pretty easy. After a lot of debating I will make 2 kinds of pinhole camera's. One 'regular' looking one – all though I will raise the pinhole above the middle of the camera (rise and fall remember, I want to show more sky than ground without distorting the trees or buildings) and one 'anamorphic' camera (or parallel cylinder camera). Each has it's own pros and cons. After some calculations (thanks to this website) I came up with this.

Regular pinhole camera
This camera gives you a nice wide angle view of your scene. Raising the pinhole rather than angling the camera upwards means that you 're keeping all your vertical lines vertical. It's technical camera 101 really but on a low tech basis.
I think I will make one with the pinhole in the middle as well and angle it towards the sky just as an alternative to this one.

Anamorphic pinhole camera
This type gives you a 360° field of view but is unable to 'see' the ground our the zenith. Makes really cool distorted photographs.

So I think over the weekend I will make maybe 5-6 camera's and start thinking about where to hang them. There is a lot of luck involved in this type of photography. You let those camera's hang in the elements for a few months and see what you come up with. It will be a surprise. But that is the fun part of it. I'll keep you updated.

2010 in review (black and white)

Every year Jim Goldstein does this thing on his blog where everybody can send in his/her favourite shots of the year (taken by themselves of course). That got me thinking.
Reflecting back on this year, I think I was able to witness a bunch of very nice scenes. 2010 was the year that I took photography a that little bit more serious. Putting in that little bit of extra effort to get my behind out of the house and plan shoots and go somewhere.
Here is a selection of my 5 favourite black and white photos I took during this year.

This has to be my favourite shot of 2010. It was shot at Ghost Lake in Alberta. I was just sitting there after work, relaxing at the side of this lake. Peacefully listening to the sound of the waves. I love how this scene draws your eye in.

 

Taken in Jasper. It's the bottom of the Athabasca River. I like how this shot turned out in black and white. I love the amount of detail in the sand and the log and how your eye flows through the scene.

A lone tree close to Cochrane. A summer storm had just blew by and the sun was fighting to poke through the clouds. It was still very breezy. But I loved the way the sun back lit this tree. I am very happy with this black and white conversion.

One of those shots that just happened. I was on the computer and I looked outside to see these amazing puffy clouds. I opened the window and fired up two shots with a polarizer. And this was the result. I simply love this sky!

This is my most peaceful image of the year. Taken at the Grassi Lakes.