I love working in the Byward Market. Everyday I walk around at lunch and there’s never a shortage of things to shoot. Summer is busker season and the market attracts professional street performers from all over the world. The man in the photo was from Australia, he comes to Canada most summers and busks his way across the country.
The nice thing about the Byward Market is that it’s full of tourists with cameras so no one thinks twice about someone taking their picture. Unfortunately there seems to be a stigma attached to street photography in some peoples eyes. They’ll go to galleries and admire the work of Bresson or Capa, but give a dirty look when someone takes their picture on the street. Street photographers record the mood and culture of the times in a raw and unscripted fashion… giving a true face to period of history. Reading the history books is great but it can be hard to sort out fact from propaganda and pop culture.
Luckily, living in Canada I haven’t encountered the type of harassment photographers in the UK and the US have to deal with; being accosted by security guards or police for taking pictures in subways or bus stations. It’s gotten so bad in the UK that photographers have banded together to try and bring attention to the almost police state mentality that’s sprung up concerning photography. Visit Not A Crime to see what I’m talking about. It’s getting pretty scary to be a photographer in some countries and unfortunately its historic record that will suffer the most in the end.
You can see more of my street photography on Flickr.
Posted 1 year, 1 month ago.
I went to Alberta without knowing quite what to expect. I knew the mountains would be like nothing I’d ever seen… and I was right. The entire place is gorgeous, but the thing that stuck out the most was the water. I’d seen pictures and postcards from the Rockies but always kinda suspected people where generous with the touch ups, boosting the colour to give it that fantasy landscape look, but if anything it was better in person.
The place I liked the most was Johnston’s Canyon, where most of the photos from this set are from. The water coming from the mountains is green… and not the “oh it’s got a greenish tinge” kinda green. It looked like liquid turquoise or emeralds were pouring out of the rock. I’ve never seen anything like it. I tried to do the water justice in my photos, but it’s no substitute for being there in person. It’s the kind of place that if fairies and elves suddenly jumped out from behind a rock it would actually make the place seem more real.
If you’re going there to shoot the waterfalls I highly recommend going in the late fall like I did. The walkways throughout the gorge are fairly narrow and during the peak tourist season it’s packed. Not only is it impossible to have enough room to set up a tripod, you’ll never be able to get a shot without other people in the scene. I do recommend a tripod, the light levels can get pretty dim considering the canyon walls are sometimes hundreds of feet above you and the foliage is pretty thick even after the leaf fall as it’s mostly pine and other coniferous trees in the area. Don’t worry about bad lighting at noon, the light has bounced off so much trees and rock by the time it gets down to you it’s beautifully soft and any direct light just gives you that nice “light peeking through the trees” look. You can see more from the Rockies on my Flickr .
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago.
