Projects and Time

Business, Galleries and Shows, Landscape, Travel

Sunday, November 1st, 2015

I’ve been silent for a few months now, and there’s a good reason for that. I just finished a huge project for the new Royal Alberta Museum. It’s been a whirlwind of coordinating with guides, driving around the province, scouting locations, and way too much time processing images. I met quite a few wonderful and fascinating people who made this job a pleasure to do.

When you walk in to the new museum when it opens (probably in late 2017), there will be a wall of 10 of my images in a row – each one 3 meters wide by 7 meters high. This was both a very exciting and intimidating project, and I can’t wait to see the final result. I’ve done a lot of prints over the years, but none quite as large as this. Prints always have something extra that a screen can’t quite deliver, so although I’ll have to wait for a long time to see them, I’m really looking forward to it. I’m going to let the photos remain a surprise – you’re going to have to go to the new museum to take a look and learn the stories associated with them.

Thanks to all the people who put up with me not being around and being slow to answer calls and emails while I was working on this.

Thanks to Jack Brink for the photo!

Online Gallery Updates

Business, Photo of the Day, Web Development

Sunday, May 3rd, 2015

I’ve completely overhauled my online galleries, and there are a lot of new photos there. Hopefully they’re a lot easier to browse, it’s easier to buy prints, and somewhat useable on a phone or tablet. I’ve been working on this on and off for many months, so it’s exciting to finally have it done and be able to show you all! Of course, nothing is ever really done, but I’m happy with the update.

To take a look, just click on “Photos” in the grey bar on the left.

Taken in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
16mm, f7.1, 1/40 of a second

Teaching Photo Classes

Business, Forest, Water

Sunday, February 16th, 2014

Just finished teaching another “Mastering Your SLR” class yesterday and it went great! I’m always nervous leading up to a class, love the teaching it as it’s happening, and completely crash, drained of all energy, afterwards. After a four hour nap right after class, a huge supper, and then a full night’s sleep I’m pretty much back to normal. I’m sure most of the students are pretty drained too – it’s a full day of working your brain pretty hard. But students of all levels are leaving the class pretty excited about the new-found abilities and choices they have when creating their photos. It’s fun to see their process of discovery, and it inspires me too.

Now for the composition class on Wednesday (there’s still space!), and then I get a little break from teaching until we set up the next classes in a month or so.

The photo is from Blackfoot Lake Rec Area this past fall.
14mm, f4, 1/80 of a second

New Jewelry in Stock

Business, Galleries and Shows, Wildlife

Monday, August 19th, 2013

If you’re looking for some new jewelry, both Tix on the Square and Daffodil Gallery have new earrings, pendants, and cufflinks to check out. When I dropped them off at Tix today, one sold right as I was unpacking it and the staff were also threatening to buy a bunch — so get them while you can!

The photo above is from Sandy Beach, where I met some of my family this past week. It was great to canoe out on the lake with my brother, chatting and taking pictures of the many birds. This is a Black Tern feeding its young.

300mm, f7.1, 1/1250 of a second

Summer Storms

Business, Landscape, Prairie

Monday, July 15th, 2013

We’ve had some spectacular storms here this summer, and I finally got out to enjoy one last week. Fortunately here in Edmonton they haven’t had the devastating effects they’ve had in the south of the province.

These days I’m busy getting ready for Folk Fest, and all my supply orders are starting to trickle in. I just got a shipment of a few hundred prints that I haven’t finished inspecting yet – I need to get the mats, bags, and backing for all of them yet. Pendants, earrings and cufflinks are starting to be assembled on my worktable as I’m waiting for a shipment of fresh resin. Despite a brief lull of activity due to sickness, things at the humble headquarters here are humming along. Looking forward to seeing all of you who can make it to Folk Fest – it’s always a great time!

7mm, f5, 1/640 of a second

Spring – A Great Time to Learn Composition

Abstract, Business, Composition, Macro

Thursday, May 16th, 2013

I’ve been enjoying the warmer weather lately and, despite the lack of ice to photograph, I’ve enjoyed coming up with compositions of what is available. Being able to go out in a t-shirt is just a bonus.

On June 25th from 6:30 – 8:30pm in St. Albert, I’ll be teaching a composition class. This is open to anyone — whether you only use your cell phone or you regularly haul around multiple SLRs. The class will cover a wide variety of techniques for composition and should be enlightening and fun. Although I mostly show nature photography professionally, I’ll have examples of everything from studio sessions and weddings to wildlife and of course lots of nature as well. So if you want a painless way to drastically improve your photos, come join me! You can sign up at St. Albert Photo Classes. You’ll notice I’m also teaching a “Mastering Your SLR” course, which is very helpful for the technical side of photography, but composition is my favorite subject—learning to compose thoughtfully is an easy way for anyone to set their photos apart.

The photo is a grass curl over a burnt log near Landslide Lake in a forest fire affected area.
90mm, f2.5, 1/1000 of a second

Photo Class on Saturday

Business, Winter

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

I’m making some final tweaks to the slides for the class on Saturday, and I thought I’d take a break to put up a photo and let you know about the Draw for Free Stuff. You’ll get entered if you share the post on facebook, like the St Albert Photo Classes page, or blog about it and post the link there.

So like or share this: St Albert Photo Classes Facebook Page and you could win an 8×10 print or a pendant!

Also, if you want to learn all about photography and how to use your camera (it must have interchangeable lenses for this class) sign up at http://stalbertphotoclasses.com.

The photo is from Jasper. 300mm, f5.6, 1/125 of a second on a tripod.

Photo Classes

Business, Macro, Photo of the Day, Plants

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

I’m excited to announce that I’m teaching photo classes in St. Albert. What will you learn? The principles of photography necessary to get awesome photos out of your camera. You’ll also get to practice with your camera with me and Eric there to answer any questions. It should be a fun day of trying new things and learning tons. We’re looking forward to it, and hope you can make it. The first one is on April 20th. More details are on the website:

http://stalbertphotoclasses.com

And because you’re probably expecting a photo of one sort or another, I won’t disappoint. Spring is coming, and I can’t wait till all the new greenery appears!

Taken in pouring rain near Abraham Lake. 150mm, f2.8, 1/400 of a second.

Jewelry, Gifts, and Galleries

Business

Thursday, December 6th, 2012

Have you bought all your Christmas gifts yet? A lot of people I’ve talked with know about my photography but not a lot of people know I make jewelry. And I haven’t mentioned it very much here. I have pendants, earrings, cufflinks and tie clips available (as well as prints) at Tix On The Square (right in Churchill Square) and Daffodil Gallery (on 124 Street and 104 Ave). Both are great places to browse with lots of art and friendly people to chat with.

Also, I’ve been doing some updating in my online gallery (which has been neglected for a while). I’m increasing the size of the galleries so you can get a better idea of the range of my work. So far I’m done Surroundings which is probably my most standard landscape type stuff, Altered which is full of things people have made and ways we’ve changed our world, and finally Rooted which is full of trees and plants. If you’ve looked through my galleries before much of it will be familiar, but I think all of you will find a few you haven’t seen before. Enjoy!

Wilderness Advanced First Aid

Business, Travel

Saturday, November 17th, 2012

After an intense week of cramming knowledge into my brain and trying it out in pretty realistic scenarios I have my Wilderness Advanced First Aid certification. I have only good things to say about Wilderness Medical Associates who put on the course, MEC who sponsored it, and Nicki who was an amazing teacher — thanks!