Andrew Strain Photography

Another photo from late last season up at Cypress - Eric Poulin drops a goalpost stepdown, bolstering Cypress' claim to the best terrain on the north shore:



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Just a few weeks ago I was raving about how winter had finally arrived... it was good while it lasted, but it seems to have been short. I went from shooting on another sunny Sunday at Cypress, to enjoying burgers and beer at sunset on Jericho beach in less than 45 minutes - I really love living in this city.

I wanted to throw a strobe onto Colin in this photo, but my camera battery decided to call it quits after a long day of shooting, and the spare was in the car. I still like it.
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I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the fog for giving me 2 weeks of unique photo ops around the city. Now that its gone, everything looks so... boring. The weather gods must be especially forgiving though, since the fog has been replaced with SNOW today! The more the merrier, bring it on...

On day 17, I brought my camera along for a night out at one of my favorite pubs in the city, the Kings Head. Good times, good beer, good friends, good music. Pretty much sums the night up...


Read on for days 18, 19 and 20:

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Day 18 is a bit of a cheat: these are photos of photos I took last March, and got published for a Whistler/Blackcomb park guide in the Norwegian Magazine Fri Flyt.
I'm top right:


and both on this page:


Props to the girls (Mira, Dina, Lisa and Chelsea) for a fun, productive day in the Whistler park last March!

For Day 19, I snapped a few shots of a familiar sight for Vancouverites: cargo ships and mountains at sunset. Check the new watermark! Oh yea!



I use my 50mm 1.4 for about half my photos, so needless to say that focal length can get a bit boring. On day 20, I flipped it around and shot some backwards macros with it. I collected this rock on one of my adventures in northern BC... bonus points if anyone can name all of the sexy sulphide minerals in this photo:


That's it for now, the next update should feature some riding of the current snowfall...

As always, I'll throw in another, shameless plug for my twitter... follow me! Full Post and Comments

Um, yeah. So, I didn't quite realize how tricky this was going to be, but I'm running out of ideas. Gonna have to start photographing more people, cause I can't think of many new ways to shoot the city in the fog (plus I think the fog is rolling out).

Day 12: the seawall in Coal Harbour:


Days 13-16 in the 2nd half of the post (note - 14 and 16 are good, just ignore 13 and 15):

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Day 13: self-portrait #1 is a pretty clear sign that I'm starting to run out of ideas...


On day 14, the fog pulled through for me, just minutes from midnight:


Day 15 was another miss, lame photo (I do like the sky though) from my balcony:


Yesterday, I decided I needed to get out of downtown to break the slump and get something a little different. Day 16 is from the pier at Jericho Beach, looking back to the city skyline:


It's a pano, so I recommend checking a larger version.


So, that puts me halfway through, hopefully I can continue to find new stuff to photograph over the next 2 weeks...

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On my way home from photographing a political event in Gastown on Wednesday, I passed by the Steam Clock (a big meh, if you ask me), where a young man was reading up on the history of the famous Vancouver landmark. I think watching people watching the clock is way more interesting that watching the clock itself...



Read the full post for days 9, 10 & 11:


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I hate to say this, but for all of you stuck down in the foggy city all week... its warm and sunny on the north shore mountains. Went for a quick snowshoe up / snowboard down Mt Seymours 1st pump on Thursday, and the weather was nothing short of glorious.

Eric Poulin sends a method off a hip that's seen many a method over the years, in the Seymour backcountry:


An alternate for day 9:


Day 10, under the Cambie St bridge:


A couple of day 10 runner-ups


Day 11 - I took over 1000 frames today, but most of that was for a time lapse video that will probably take a little while to edit - bird on a wire will have to suffice.


Don't know what I'll shoot tomorrow, but I have a ton of photos to edit. Check back soon for the next round of updates...

I'm still trying to get into this twitter business, follow me!
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Didn't get out of downtown much over the past few days... so days 5, 6 and 7 of the photo-a-day are all fairly similar. I'll try to change it up tomorrow.

Day 5: Blue steel



Read the full post for days 6 and 7 (you'll want to see day 7...):

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Day 6: the view down Hamilton St from my apartment:



Day 7: Vancouver's waterfront - Harbour Centre and the SeaBus terminal. I don't do long exposures often, so I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.



Desktops of Day 7:

1920x1200
1280x800

If you want to keep track of all the images in one place, you can see them in my photo-a-day flickr set.

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Vancouver is a gorgeous city, but I have to feel sorry for anyone who comes here on a non-ski/board vacation at this time of year. The False Creek area is especially picturesque with all the snow/mud slop covering everything:





I've found that I haven't been taking nearly enough photos for myself lately, so I've decided to undertake a month long photo-a-day project, to kick-start my creative juices for the new year. I'm sure there will be many days of total suckage, so I'll spare everyone the blog spam and post the photos every 3 days or so.

Also, I signed up for twitter awhile back, only to realise that I don't actually know anyone who uses it. Anyone alive out there? Follow me here: ===>http://twitter.com/AndrewStrain<===

Alright, enough with the public service announcements. A couple more photos from today after the jump.



Looking down:


Some crows chillin' in a tree.


Unloading.



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Over the past month or so, I've been working on a little lighting workshop with the members of the Vancouver Strobist group, which went down on Sunday. I didn't end up shooting many photos, instead focusing on keeping things [relatively] organized... but, I did steal someones G9 to shoot a bunch of video. I'll be putting together a little media clip over the next week or so featuring a bunch of the video as well as photos, but in the meantime, I just wanted to say thank you to a couple people:

First, to Joe McNally, for taking the time out of his day to work with us for a couple of hours (and for the shout out on his blog). Joe is an awesome photographer and an even better person, and I really can't stress enough how appreciative we all are of his contribution to our workshop, as well as to the photography community in general. Thanks, Joe!

To Pacifica Photograhpy, for letting our group use their space (on moving day, no less!), and keeping us out of the rain or a sketchy parkade.

And of course, to everyone else who came out to shoot, model, learn, and teach: these events don't happen without your help.


---Photos/video to come once it's edited---


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I wrapped my D200 in a plastic bag and brought it along with me to the very rainy Remembrance Day ceremony at Victory Square today (lest I forget how to use my camera... I think I took 3 photos in all of October).

To the men and women who have served our country in times of calm and crisis: thank you. May we never forget your courage and sacrifice.



From the City of Vancouver Archives: Granville St, November 11, 1918:




More photos in the full post:










The rest of the photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewstrain/sets/72157608905340142/

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A few weeks ago, a good friend of mine commissioned me to make some art for his new house. The result was a 24x41 stretched canvas print of one of my more popular images:



I was unsure of how it would turn out, printing that big from a 10mp Pentax camera... but I'm thoroughly stoked on how awesome it looks. You haven't really seen a photo til you've seen it this big, in print... trust me. I'm almost sad that I'm selling it; guess I'll have to make another copy for myself. Speaking of which, I'd be more than happy to make one for you as well, drop me a line @ andrewstrainphoto@gmail.com if you're interested.



The original edit from a year ago:


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One of my favorite things about living in Vancouver is the amount of beach we have here... and I don't think I've been swimming in the ocean since I worked in Anyox a couple years ago. Maybe I should clarify that a little: one of my favorite things about living near the ocean is low tide. Seriously. There is so much cool stuff to see and do when the tide goes waaaay out (on the Spanish Banks at UBC, the edge of the tide flats is a kilometre from shore), like watching 10 eagles terrorize the local seagull population as they compete for marine life trapped on the flats.



Read more after the jump:

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If photographing birds isn't exactly your idea of fun, bust out the skimboard an go session a tide pool:



Or, if you happen to have 600 Titleists that you got from the driving range in the trunk of your car, take along a couple clubs and go knock a ball around for a while. Theres a great spot at the edge of Spanish Banks thats as smooth as a green and larger than any fairway... just try not to crank too many off into the ocean. I hear that a golf ball can get stuck in a whales blow-hole...

Low tide is at about 3:45 today and 4:30 tomorrow, but if the weather is a little unpleasant this weekend, theres another ultra low tide coming next month: June 4th @ 1pm, the water will about as low as it ever gets in Vancouver. I'll see you out there!

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I have to admit, without modern digital technology, I probably would have given this up long ago; I highly doubt I would have the patience to wait for photos to come back from the lab to see how badly I screwed things up. Anyone who knows me, knows how lazy I can get.

Digital lets me go "hmm, the background is a little bright there. Lets dial down my shutter a stop and see how it looks..." Change exposure, shoot, check histogram, repeat.

More words and photos after the jump:

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One of the coolest things about being a photographer today is the wealth of excellent information available on the internet. Just as digital gives me instant feedback, the internet gives me instant access to more information than I could possibly hope to absorb. Just sorting through all that knowledge is a daunting task; after all, there are a lot of idiots out there (sorry Ken).

Just as there are sites that don't provide a whole lot to the photographic community (mine is probably one of those :-P), there are some that stand head and shoulders above the rest as a resource for photographers.

Strobist is a blog I read on a daily basis. As any photographer that has delved into the world of off-camera lighting knows, it quickly gets more complex than simply putting your flash somewhere else. Power ratios, flash durations, light modifiers, and a whole lot of stuff that I know next to nothing about make it so much more complicated than just taking your flash and putting it somewhere other than the camera hotshoe.

This is where Strobist comes in. A blog run by longtime Baltimore Sun staff photog David Hobby, Strobist is, essentially, an informational blog dedicated to de-mystifying the world of off camera flash. Since this post is already the longest I've written, and David has such a good introduction section, I'll let him explain the rest. Or, you could check out the article on USA Today (yesterday, actually) for the real n00b rundown.

Strobist isn't just a learning tool for the individual, however; it's become the catalyst for a whole movement of photographers, eager to interact with each other, pooling their resources to allow full realization of their creative potential, without having to expend thousands of thousands of dollars on lighting gear.

If 4 photographers get together, each with a couple cheap speedlights and a handfull of Pocket Wizards, suddenly they've gone from simple, one-light setups in the living room, to having a full fledged portable studio... something previously well out of the reach of the average amateur.

This is exactly what happened yesterday, as I met up with 3 other photographers from the Vancouver Strobist Flickr group, and went on a mission to replicate a shoot done by local photographer Martin Prihoda. After all, imitation IS the sincerest form of flattery, right?



After that, we made our way to a local parkade to rip off try out some other recent Strobist techniques, before ending with something we hadn't seen recently on the internet...

(click through to flickr for lighting info)




The point is, websites like Strobist, along with the instant feedback that makes digital such an amazing learning tool, are giving photographers like myself, Luis, Aaron and Kevin the chance to learn, copy, collaborate and create in a way that wouldn't have been possible a few years ago. For that, many thanks are due to people like David Hobby, Martin Prihoda, and others who are the leading the charge towards eliminating the words I don't know how from the vocabulary of todays photographer.



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So, I have 3 exams in the next 2 days, yet I find myself with an irresistible urge to post something on my blog... it's been over a month, after all.

Last week we made the drive up to a closed Mount Seymour to poach the 2 feet of fresh snow that had just fallen, hoping to get some nighttime slasher shots. The snow was thick and crusty, making it practically unrideable and definitely not worth trying to shoot in. Luckily for us, the park was still littered with jibs, including the wallride setup from the Volcom Peanut Butter Rail Jam from the end of March.

Eric Poulin does it in the dark... but he leaves the lights on.

Nikon D200 / AF-S 18-70 / 2x SB800
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Low tide, skipped class, and clear skies at sunset make for a good heron-chasing at Kits beach. My Biology lecture notes are all online, anyways...

Nikon D200 / 70-300 VR


A few more photos on my flickr. Full Post and Comments

It always amuses me just how little snow it takes in Vancouver to send the city into chaos...

At least one lone soul was brave enough to wade through the ankle (snicker) deep drifts of snow that accumulated at Kits beach overnight:

Nikon D200 / AF 50 1.4
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I add 100mm of reach to my kit, and it still isn't enough. How much is the new Nikon 600 4.0 VR, again...?

One of the Kits beach eagles at sunset, on the lookout for angry seagulls (the mob gave chase shortly after this was taken).

Nikon D200 / AF-S 70-300 VR
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Another from Monday. The full moon climbs into the evening sky as the last light of day glows red on downtown Vancouver and the snow capped peaks of the north shore.

Nikon D200 / AF-S 70-300 VR
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Full moon rising above downtown Vancouver.

Nikon D200 / AF-S 70-300 VR
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Last Wednesday (Jan 16), one of the two remaining Martin Mars flying tankers made an appearance at Canada Place for the 2008 Truck Loggers Association Convention. Based out of Port Alberni, these massive aircraft are the largest flying boats to ever enter production and can deliver over 27 metric tonnes of water in a single drop, making them the instrumental in the battle against wildfires during the hot, dry BC summers.



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I'd be willing to bet the crew of that barge are a bunch of leprechauns...

Pentax K10D / DA 50-200
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