Victoria

Victoria, BC


	The metallic feel this photo of the Oak Bay Marina has, caught my attention as soon as the print was made from the slide. I am always trying to improve my technique and I was happy here that I remembered to exclude most of the overcast sky (which often turns out as a white blob) and instead included the much more interesting reflections in the water.

The old observatory in Oak Bay. A wonderful look-out any time of the day or year. A direct scan from a slide, this sunset was my first to actually exclude the sun. Sounds simple but I overlooked it for some time. I have come to prefer photos without the sun but instead to show the effects its light has on the scene.

I like this one for a few reasons: It's soft on the eyes-no sharp contrasts. It follows the rule of thirds in terms of subject composition. And it suggests a story: returning home after a long day of fishing. You can see from the pink haze that sundown is near. If the navigational buoy was absent, the picture would lack reference.

Sunset. We've all taken many photos of the sun setting. This was at maximum zoom (300mm) and if the sailboat was excluded, it wouldn't even register as interesting to me. I was also surprised how red it turned out. Thank the matrix metering in the EOS system. Essentially, everything but the sun is under-exposed while the sun is over-exposed. This is the compromise the computer decided on. I find it handy to let the camera decide on exposure first, shoot a frame, then I manually choose my own and take another shot. One of us should be right !

This popular street performer is a fixture in Victoria's Inner Harbour during the summertime. He was juggling three flaming torches to a delighted crowd. I intentionally under-exposed the scene and chose a slow shutter speed, knowing that the flames would provide bright streaks on the film.

Same idea here as above, though more dramatic I dare say. This time, I felt it important to show the people this brave juggler was entertaining. This is a 4 second exposure, so anything moving is blurred. Both photos shot on Fuji Sensia II 100 ISO, May 2001.

Ah yes. My favourite type of film: Tungsten. Designed for indoor/studio lighting, when used outdoors it can really add depth to a photo. Taken during sunset and underexposed, the sky became a little bluer than normal. I am especially happy with the composition here, using the flowers in the foreground for depth and perspective. Look for future photos on this pilot ship which races out into the Strait of Juan De Fuca up to the sides of massive freighters to guide them through the local waters.

This particular photo took me a dozen attempts before I got what I wanted. It's a double exposure with my wide angle lens taking the gothic Craigdarroch Castle only 3 blocks from where I live. The exposure time was about 10 seconds and during that time I set off an external flash 5 times to light up the castle walls a bit more. I then moved around the building and zoomed in on the moon to 300mm and exposed for 1/125th of a second, hoping I remembered which part of the frame I left 'open' for the moon's place. It finally worked ! In the past, my moons typically show up as a white shape with no detail (see below for an example)

Still using the Kodak Tungsten T 160 ISO slide film, here we have a photo of the Johnson Street bridge in downtown Victoria. The light streaks are the returning Via Rail from its run up island to Courtenay.

The annual Oak Bay Tea Party: Set in June at a beach-side park, this local fair includes great food, live music, a variety of entertainers, an air show, fireworks and, of course, fantastic baron of beef. I took the same approach to the spinning fair rides as with the torch juggler above. 4 second shutter speed at f22 aperture (1 over exposed according to my camera)

As with the fair photo above, this is a direct scan from a slide so there is less detail. It was also shot on Fuji Sensia II 100 ISO (1.5" at f22 = 0.5 stops underexposed). This was my 5th roll of slide film. I had read that using a small aperture as I did here, produces stars on bright lights. You can see that effect here. I decided to include the tree branch at the top to provide depth and reference.

This is also a double exposure. Both frames were taken about 3 hours apart. Unfortunately, the moon is over-exposed and lacks detail. The incandescent lighting has created a warm yellow glow to the famous Empress Hotel, Pacific jewel to the CP Empire. Notice the green light at the far right- it is fluorescent and thus, lacks the warm glow of the other lights.

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