OK. I admit it. I love Instagram. I use the fingertip-controlled faux tilt/shift effects with abandon and gleefully add the digital retro hues to daily street photography to imbue banal images with a keenly yearned-for sense of nostalgia. There are those who would scorn the practice and, actually, I am usually one of them. But who can resist a giant stuffed bear relaxing in a ferry lounge?
Here’s a slight twist. New Star Books has a new collection of work by Roger Farr coming out soon and I was asked to photograph the cover. The subject? An antique adding machine (ca. 1940s) that would then have its four letter name reconfigured to spell the book’s title. The original machine model “name” was PLUS and it was affixed to the front in the manner you see above. Problem was that it needed to spell IKMQ. So I got to work in Photoshop and from the letters P,L,U and S I was able to create IKMQ. While there were references available for the K and the M, I had to guess at how a Q in this typeface would look.
Then came the request to design the cover. Being that the main image is straight-on and broadly lit in “basic utility” mode, it demanded a simple, modern display/signage typeface. So a light version of Gotham was chosen for the author’s name. Rumour has it that Gotham looks great in tin too.
This is my favourite portrait from the Group of Eight series on Vancouver visual artists I did for Vancouver Review’s Fall 2010 issue #26. This one is of Jeff O’Brien, fine-art photographer of many an abject urban streetscape. I wanted a playful, conceptual approach in keeping with the kind of work Jeff does and appreciates. This unique opportunity presented itself as we were doing a preliminary location scout. It appeared directly across from his apartment on Clark Drive in an area of town noted for its downwardly shifting fortunes as a light industrial hub. An odd place for a Chanel ad but perfect to refer to the artist’s living environment and practice.
I shot the scene at dusk just as the sign’s backlighting was coming into effect. I removed the male model’s face which originally appeared at the right hand edge of the frame and replaced it with a photo of Jeff that I match-lit in studio. The beauty of the ready-made nature of the scene is that the crossing wires and swinging CBS logo suggests there is more post production work at play than there really was. They are convenient distractions from the ease of making the final image. And of course the backlit commercial display has long been favoured by the established Vancouver photo-conceptualists.
I love working with art director Jane Edwards Griffin on AQ covers. We have fun, meet interesting people and we’re always happy with the results. In this case we spent some time with Philippe Pasquier who is recently transplanted from France to conduct some fascinating research into the intersections between artificial intelligence and human performance in the fields of dance and music. The terms “metacreation” or “machine creativity” are used to describe the process whereby computers are being enabled to learn from performers’ experience and create on their own. I took to a fashion-y portrait style which was then embellished by Jane’s selection of graphics generated in the course of Philippe’s work.
This was fun to shoot. A genuine Private Eye. A genuine reflection of one of the things he does on a daily basis: going through people’s waste! This went on to get a “Best Cover Art Direction” nomination at the Western Magazine Awards for Dylan Staniul and myself. I’m quite sure we were beaten out by an image of a hamburger or a condo or something…
This was taken a few years ago. It was a hot summer’s day on the rear balcony at “Red Square” on Commercial Drive. Veda and I were chatting between takes when barbecue smoke began swirling around just so. This image went on to receive “Best Portrait” nominations at both the Western and National Magazine Awards in 2008.
This one goes back more than a decade! The first magazine cover I ever shot was of an Olympic gold medalist sprinter. It won a Best Portrait award at the Western Magazine Awards. Ever since, I have kept my eye open for opportunities do work with athletes even though it’s not my usual field of interest. It ensures a slightly different, more personal approach as I’m completely, blissfully unaware of sports politics and rivalries.
These three young snowboarding hopefuls went on to carve out impressive snowboarding careers with Maelle Ricker winning gold in Vancouver in 2010. If I recall correctly, these were shot on a sunny day in a dining room with the help of something called “Zice”, a snow/ice effects product for photographers and film makers.
Artist Ken Lum for Galleries West
If you are a native Vancouverite who spent any time traveling around the east side of the city during the years roughly encompassing the mid-fifties through the eighties, you will likely have come across the “East Van Cross” drawn or etched into all manner of things; walls, bus seats, trees, you name it. Its meaning has been the subject of much speculation. Most appear to agree it’s a kind of early gang or neighbourhood “tag” of sorts. I recall them appearing in black felt pen on the backs of the seats of North Vancouver-bound buses circa 1979-80.
Ken Lum resurrected that image in his now famous version of the “East Van Cross” that appears in beacon-like sculptural light form at Clark and Great Northern Way, effectively a border marking as you head towards the the city’s east side. It was a popular success and drew much mainstream attention to the often witty and bold work of this Vancouver conceptualist.
This portrait was done during a brief 10 minute lull in an otherwise dark, sodden, Vancouver afternoon. I’d taken all my lighting gear in anticipation of a laborious interior shoot but when Ken showed up in this parka and the light gave us a break, we went across the street from his mid-town condo and took advantage of a loading bay’s shelter and colour trim.
For more on this, please visit:
http://www.insidevancouver.ca/2011/01/27/the-story-behind-the-east-van-cross/
Borderlands - A split screen view of Vancouver's west side
This was photographed last summer for Charlotte Gill’s “Borderlands” piece which appeared in VR #28. The challenge was to find interest in the normally rather sleepy, uneventful neighbourhood of Dunbar on Vancouver’s west side. Actually, there are many interesting things to photograph in Dunbar once you include Camosun bog and its ongoing restoration. The image from one of the local consignment stores dropped into the scene perfectly. It’s like a street scape ruptured by resurgent natural forces and tied together by an image of genteel façade.
Riot Act
While most people enduring our second major hockey riot were on the lookout for burning cars and self-incriminating, narcissistic looters, there were some odd, quiet moments to be had. These three girls thought a dose of coastal zen might bring a halt to the proceedings. In reality, the pose lasted all of a few seconds before some alcohol-sodden (though thankfully friendly) hockey goons began some gentle mockery.
This image appeared as the Nine O’Clock Gun feature in the last issue of Vancouver Review magazine.
