At the Rink III

Another in my "At the Rink" series...

Sometimes Harsh is Nice

Nice, France, that is. I still have a pile of images that deserve attention from our trip through France this past summer. This shot happened to catch my eye as I was looking for photo the other day and figured I would throw it up here.

This photo was taken in one of the street markets in beautiful Nice. My wife and I would go to that city again in a heartbeat. What I like about this one is both the graphic element created by the hard shadows of midday light (cast from an awning above), and the contrast of the payphone (with ubiquitous graffiti) against the aging building facade.

Color is not bad, either. Makes for a beautiful print.

A Bit Nippy

Left Ottawa today after a brief trip. 'Twas a bit nippy there with some lousy weather this morning that fortunately cleared up. Still looked somewhat desolate as I was waiting to board my plane so quickly framed up and rattled off a 9-shot bracket in hopes of creating a menacing-looking HDR. Too bad my haste left me with not enough headroom on my camera and so I wasn't able to capture all the highlights. But a quick run through Nik's HDR Efex Pro produced this and I still like the overall look, even though it's a bit gritty.

The sun now looks pretty nuclear. Too bad it wasn't sharing its heat with us.

Back at the Rink

Fellow photog Scott Campbell suggested on my previous post that I should turn my black and white rink shots into a series. Helluva plan. So I had that in the back of my mind at this weekend's game. Here are some more to add to the collection.

Day at the Rink

How Canuck-ian is this?

Hey Buddy, You Gotta Light?

While in Vancouver last weekend I had the good fortune to be staying kitty-corner to the Olympic torch. Long since extinguished it still looked really cool, a medley of steel and icy glass. I didn't have much opportunity to shoot that trip but hauled arse my only available morning when I saw the color of dawn creeping in. Snow had fallen that night to help bring back the feeling of what was, in my humble yet correct opinion, the greatest winter games of my generation.

And so here we have the Vancouver Olympic Torch, 2010:


But... Wait a minute? Where did them flames come from? Given I'm not a photojournalist I'm comfortable with "enhancing" the mood whenever necessary. And thanks to my good friend and awesome photographer Scott Campbell I had access to ready-made flames that I could inject into my shot. His image of the torch (taken during the Olympics while he worked as a skiing official, documented on his blog here) was actually published. His contribution of fire helped complete my shot. That and some mad Photoshop skillz.

And if you have ever wondered what that puppy looks like up close, it's a thing of beauty.

Back From Vancouver

Such a great town. Weather was only so-so, but so much going on down there. Had the good fortune to be staying at the waterfront. A bit of snow came down, and tipped the trees in Stanley Park.



Was able to walk around a bit to see what's what. To get some fresh air, but also to burn off some of the ever present caffeine of the west coast.




It's not enough that they simply serve the lattes here - they decorate them as well:


And being by the water, I stumbled across this thing.


More to come of the permanently extinguished winter Olympic torch. Great memories.

Nap Time

Eau Clair Market is also a nice place to grab a quick siesta.

Eau Clair

Some random scenes around Eau Clair Market in downtown Calgary. An interesting place where urban blends in with "eau" naturale.

In the Air Again

Off again. This time to Calgary. On a weekend. Not thrilled, but the view out the window was nice.

Sitting Around

Farming some more from my recent trip to Montreal. This time some casual street. Folks just sitting around. Relaxing. Waiting for something.

I've grown to really like guerilla street photography. Capturing brief and unprepared moments in time.

At the Arena

Couple quickies from the arena during the weekend. One a contrast in color, the other a somewhat nostalgic black and white.

A Dash of Color

Change of pace following the B&W set from Montreal...

I Have Mono

Enjoyed my time in Montreal this week, and fortunately during time between conference sessions I was able to get out and shoot. This series deserved a monochrome treatment. From the street to the sky...

Another Brick in the Wall

Adjacent to our hotel is a funky indoor mall: the Centre de Commerce Mondial. And inside that, incredibly, rests a piece of the Berlin Wall. It is one of many sections that have been distributed around the world (found there is a list of sites here). It's really quite amazing to see and touch such a significant piece of human history, etched by decades of pain and suffering.





There are some more uplifting sights in the mall as well.