VanSPC PhotoWalk

October 4, 2022 Meetup Photo Walk

Window – Jean-Francois Cleroux | Balance is off a touch, but love the capture of the two people reading books, enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon at the cafe. Thats me in the reflection!

Last Sunday I partook in a Photowalk with the Vancouver Street Photographers Consortium. It was a planned outing with the Delta Photo Club. We met at The Gallery George in Vancouver where some images from the VanSPC was on display. There were some great images on display. After some time we headed out in three groups led by members of the VanSPC. We lucked out as the weather was spectacular.

Everyday Life – Jean-Francois Cleroux | I met this very interesting gentleman. Tony. He was busy making large Origami from a roll of red cardboard. I spent a few minutes with him, and asked for permission to take photos which he granted. I could have spent more time talking to him. Perhaps I will meet him again. I took several candid shots, this one was posed as I asked him to look up.

They challenged us with a Scavenger Hunt by handing out a card with a list of ten things to photograph. I have had very little (read NO) shooting in the last one and a half years because of personal reasons. Add to that the fact I headed out with a new camera I am not familiar with including a new focal length lens. Trying out 27mm vs 23mm focal.

Contrast – Jean-Francois Cleroux | It’s not always about the figurative. Young old, white top black top, white pants black pants, open midriff, covered midriff.

Here are the results. Not keepers, but not bad for a 1 hour 45 minute walk while mostly chatting with both members of the walk and some individuals I met on the street. I think, all in all, not a bad day.

Fashion – Jean-Francois Cleroux | I loved the ‘fashion’ sense of these three completely different individuals. All three appear care free.

I like the Scavenger Hunt card as it focuses you to look and find images. It’s why I love ‘projects’. We will touch on Projects in an upcoming blog. Not the Learning Project but specific, detailed art projects that can elevate your work and can help you through uninspired dog days.

Gesture – Jean-Francois Cleroux | I am surprised that I did not see any other gestures out on the walk.

I am fairly happy with the results. I loved being back out in the street shooting. It reminded me of why I love Street Photography. The ‘people.’ It also was a great prep for tackling Paris in nine days.

Irony – Jean-Francois Cleroux | Irony can be one of those difficult things to photograph. It’s generally not always around us. Here I found it ironic that he was spending time with ‘the other woman’ as opposed to the one he’s with. She is partly cut off, my bad. Partly the narrower angle of view of the lens than I am used to; partly the hustle and lack of time to get the shot; mostly just me not paying attention.

Motion – Jean-Francois Cleroux | Not a great capture, not even what I would consider ‘motion’ by any stretch. She was riding up and down the street on the sidewalk weaving in and out of people all afternoon. Here she had come to a quick touch stop to wait for an opening to appear between the pedestrians.

I missed many shots on this day. Practice, need more practice. Almost all the images were shot blind either from the hip or from a quick lift without using the viewfinder or back display (which I usually leave off.)

Shadows – Jean-Francois Cleroux | This was my ‘Shadows’ shot. The next image is from the same scene where we hung around for about six or seven minutes as about five people walked by. It’s about timing, noting where they are within the scene.

As you probably noticed most of my imagery is ‘square cropped.’ I love challenging myself to that format but sometimes it just doesn’t work. As with this next image I struggled with making it square. I will probably return to it and spend more time exploring if square will work.

Sign of the Times – Jean-Francois Cleroux | The square crop sorta works here but in the quick edits, I liked the left frame and right frame contrast with the subject looking back at the ‘smile.’ Left it as a rectangle for now.

This day was another first. It was the very first time in all my years of shooting digital that I did not shoot RAW. All my shooting was in JPG, all in B&W. Done. No decisions to make. It is what it is. All the images have less than 10 seconds of editing and that includes the cropping decisions. I will revisit and re-edit my favorites.

Reflection – Jean-Francois Cleroux | Again, a rectangle crop. It’s about the people in the bus and the reflection of the people on the sidewalk (including my reflection which I could (and may) crop out leaving behind the three subjects. Too bad their spacing wasn’t better. Keep at it.

This last image of the ten on the list is far from perfect. But there are elements I like very much. This is the kind of image or scene that you can revisit and work on until you get all the stars to align properly. Perhaps something to work with in Paris. What would it look like at night? With Lights?

It was a great way to spend a gorgeous afternoon with friends doing what I love to do. It would have been a great day, with, or without a camera.

A Dry Day of Shooting on Main Street, Vancouver.

So we had another great outing on Sunday. The weather co-operated this time keeping everyone dry, if not a little cold. Coffee & doughnuts by the fire were great as usual. Met a few new photographers interested in Street Photography including a Film Shooter with a Nikon F2. That takes dedication and forces you to get the right shots and be more selective. Well done Warren.

Speaking of shooting film, we did see (and photographed) someone walking along Main Street with a Hasselblad over their shoulder. Not too often do you see that nowadays.

Overall a great day with some good shooting opportunities and a few need to return opportunities including a lady that walked out of the Library to feed the birds. After shaking their food tin and calling for some time, a large flock of pigeons came down. Will need to time that better.