Bloodbath at The Camera Store

There was a slight bloodbath at The Camera Store this weekend (from the perspective of my wallet)… I wandered in to pick up a Fuji XT-1 and a 35mm f/1.4 lens, which would have put me at a hair under $2K, but I walked out with nearly double that in gear. I has bad GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). These are some of my first tests with the 35mm, featuring Scott, as we headed to the Globe to check out Finding Vivian Maier (which is a must see doc if you have any interest in street photography at all).




Rockin' the Chinon CE4 with an Industar lens.




This one was taken a while back, with the Pentax 6x7 and 105mm f/2.4 on Kodak T-max 400, dev'd in Ilfosol 3.

Sunday morning fish market and wine cellar action

Here's a little Sunday morning fish market and wine cellar action for your viewing pleasure. I know how easily some of you are grossed out by fish that isn't presented to you in the form of fish and chips. You're welcome.

A large part of our travels is built around experiencing the local food and drink, and there is no better way to see this than to tour the central fish market of a city, and also take in the vineyards/ wine cellars.


One of the tasting rooms at the Concha y Toro wine cellar, just outside Santiago.




Carmenere is one of the grape varietals Chile is best known for.






The Missus likes her wine. Don't judge... much.


This has nothing to do with the Winery, but was one of the better brews available in Chile.



And now we change gears, to some photos shot inside the Central Fish Market in Santiago.










These long and skinny guys are Razor Clams. One of our absolute favourite shellfish… DELICIOUS.




After wandering around all the fish vendors, we stopped for breakfast inside the market and had ourselves far too much ceviches of conger eel (not really an eel, more like an ugly fish), and uni (the plate full of yellow sea-urchin).

Anita, the Reluctant Model

More from the 'Anita the Reluctant Model' series. She has this thing about not wanting her face to be photographed, so I shot a few obscured face portraits of her, including a continuation of my 'Glass Half Full' portrait series.











Black and White photos taken with the Pentax 6x7 on Kodak T-Max 400, developed in Ilfosol 3, 1+9 at 68deg for 6 min. Colour photos taken with the D300.

The Dumbphone Diet That Nearly Killed Me

The smartphone cleanse/ dumb phone diet has finally ended. And I will freely admit that like a smoker trying to quit, I fell off the bandwagon multiple times towards the end, and succumbed to the allure of mobile internet. The further into my quitting phase I went, the stronger the draw was, and once I gave in, it became easier and easier to rationalize why I NEEDED to 3G. So to you 'I'm trying to quit smoking' smokers out there, I finally understand what it's like, and I don't envy you.

This is just a sneak preview of a session I shot tonight with Anita the reluctant model. The film is hang drying in my bathroom at the moment, so scans of that to come tomorrow.



Lit using a single floor lamp with 60W equivalent compact fluorescent bulb, hence the terrible light fall off. The shadow is also rather distracting, but I was working in a limited space, and needed to position her close to the wall. Excuse after excuse, eh? I'll admit it, I'm a shite photographer.

Chez Mach Oyster Bar

Anita and I are suckers for raw oysters. I'm like Pavlov's dog the minute we encounter fresh oysters, so you can imagine our salivatory excitement when we hit up the newly opened Save-on Foods to find that they had fresh Kumamoto and Kusshi oysters in the seafood counter for a buck and half each. Now I finally have an excuse to buy some oyster forks. And also to learn how to make mignonette.


First attempt at shucking oysters at home. Didn't stab myself with the knife. WIN!


They even looked presentable after shucking. Bigger shells - Kusshi. Smaller ones - Kumamoto.




This one taken with the SX-70 on Impossible Project Colour Protection Film.

Oyster fans: the Kusshis are small-medium sized, but quite deep and meaty, with a nice flavour and clean finish. Easily my favourite. The kumamotos were also nice, but quite small. I like a bit more meat to my bivalves.

Beer and Snowshoeing

Before we get to the photos from this weekend, I wanted to relay a quick story from yesterday - apparently my limited math skills have atrophied to the point where even simple conversions are now beyond my grasp (even with a calculator). I needed to figure out a concentration of cannabis seed oil in a product (for work purposes, don't ask) - it should have been a simple 'move the decimal over 3 places' and voila - but my brain felt like a turtle swimming in an ocean of chunky peanut butter. Frustrating as hell. At this rate of cognitive degeneration, I'll probably have forgotten how to flush a toilet in a couple years.

Anyways, on to this weekend's photos. The first photos were shot with a Polaroid SX-70 on Impossible Project Colour Protection Instant film, while we were out drinking on a beautiful Friday afternoon. The remainder were shot during a snowshoe trek to Rummel Lake. Good times!

Photographing the Pupils - Part 2

More from my Photographing the Pupils portrait series of my photography students. Don't have time to write more tonight, Game of Thrones is on. Valar Morghulis.








1) I suck at focussing with the Rolleiflex. 2) The back popped open after, causing these light leaks. Shiaaat.



Rolleiflex 2.8E on Fuji Neopan 400. Developed in Ilfosol 3, 1+9 at 68 deg. F for 8 min (about a half stop push?)

Also, come take some courses from - and sit for a portrait by - me at the CPLC. Apparently, I'm not that bad of a teacher.

BEER. MOUNTAINS. FOOD. BEER.

Weekend plan with Kris and Nic: BEER. MOUNTAINS. FOOD. BEER. This is a small sampling of the craft brews I've accumulated recently. Jealous? Come join us!





L to R: Moon Under Water Brewing 'Hefeweizen', Driftwood Brewery 'Crooked Coast Altbier', Four Winds Brewing 'Juxtapose Brett IPA', and Driftwood Brewery 'White Bark Witbier'. All unfiltered, from craft brewers in BC. Juxtapose IPA - bottle conditioned.