Friday, September 18, 2009

Best photos #10-6

Sorry about the delay, but going through 4,500 pictures can take a bit of time. So 10-6 tonight, 5-2 on Saturday and #1 on Sunday.

All of these pictures were taken in the past 10 years or so. I did take photos before that, obviously. They are in photo albums and remain unscanned. However, most of them were pictures of friends, which are fun at a personal level, but beyond my friends, I'm not sure how many would appreciate them. A picture of a bunch of my friends smoking cigars at a pub or shagging around at a Christmas party are a lot of fun and I love them, but I don't know they are my "best" pictures.

Also, I only really came into my own as a photographer when I joined the Packet in 1998 (more on that in a future post). That was also right around the advent of digital photography becoming popular. That meant taking far more pictures because the cost of developing to see what you had taken was removed from the equation. You could experiment and see what worked and what didn't and delete the junk. So here's what I have.

#10

This picture has appeared on the blog several times before. It's of former Deputy Premier Ed Byrne the night the 2003 election was called. The Liberals hogged the cameras for longer than expected so the Conservatives and nobody thought to pull the candidates off the stage and away from the lights.

The result is you getting Byrne looking like this - sweaty, flushed and decidedly shady looking. Ironic given how things turned out for him. The picture was taken using a Sony DSC-F717 for The Express.

#9

I think this was at some Easter event that Newfoundland Farm Products put off at the Science Centre. Parents and kids could come and look at eggs incubating and little baby chicks. The best part was that after the kids and oohed and aahed over the chicks, they got coupons for a discounted Big Crunch at KFC later. Getting kids to love chicks and then giving them coupons to eat them in a few weeks takes a special kind of moxy, I believe.

I just liked the lighting on this, with the kid looking at the chick and the chick looking straight at the camera. It's nothing earth-shattering, but it has its charms. Taken with the Sony for The Express.

#8

I say I probably have several hundred pictures of Cathy and Boo combined. But this is one of the first ones I ever took of Boo, and I still think it remains one of the best. This was either the first or second day we had him back in Iqaluit. Cathy was still over the moon to finally have her puppy and Boo was doing his usual puppy thing. It's just a nice reaction shot I happened to grab. Nothing fancy, but it works. Taken with the Sony.

#7

I took by all accounts around 900 pictures in Italy. Photos of the Vatican, the Colosseum, Venice, Tuscany and staggering works of art. But the photo I love the best is this one, grabbed when wandering down a side street in Venice when we were lost (which was nearly always in Venice). I grabbed it quickly, because Cathy was already moving off. But the combination of the door, the flowers and the sunbeam hitting at just the right angle works for me. It makes me happy in ways I can't really describe.

It was taken with my Pentax K10D

#6

Cathy joked I could do a top 10 sunset photos and I probably could. I've got nice ones of St. John's, Iqaluit, Australia, the Caribbean, California and Italy. However I like this one, even though it breaks a rule.

The rule is that phone or electrical poles are evil. They ruin pictures. I had editors tell me if I ever brought them a photo with a pole coming out of the back of a person's head or a wire bisecting them, they would harm me. Yet, this shot of the raven sitting on a pole with another spectacular Iqaluit sunset in the background works. Granted, mother nature did most of the harm work...the colours are amazing. But I just like that black, almost shapeless omen sitting on top of the pole. It works, I believe.

It also remains one of the few nice shots I have of a raven. The damn things are hard to photograph. It's like the absorb all light in the area. Taken with the Pentax.

Last Five
1. Lost control - Grinspoon
2. Rose coloured glasses - Blue Rodeo
3. The captain - Colleen Power
4. Wondering where the lions are (live) - Bruce Cockburn*
5. Again & again - Keane

3 comments:

Clare said...

Very nice Townie. Looking forward to the rest.

The pale observer said...

I really love the flowers on the doorstep and the sunset bird - both have such depth and beauty!!

Definitely looking forward to the rest.

Unknown said...

I love the one of Ed Byrne. I honestly thought you were going to say that it was taken at some point during the scandal, which would have been poetic. Great photos!