art

Art in the Park at the Sooke Car Show
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Art in the Park at the Sooke Car Show

I’ve been with the local Arts Council for the past couple years and have slowly been getting more involved. I’ve had a couple showings through them this year and just finished participating in one of our “Art in the Park” events. This one was held at the Sooke Car Show.

Some of my prints at one a SAC booth

This was the first time I’ve set up a table at one of these events and it was definitely a learning experience. In the future I should have a much better setup and now know what to expect. It was a beautiful day for the event, but the one thing that made life a little difficult was the wind, although I didn’t have any serious issues with it. The worst that happened to me is a couple art cards blew off the table. Others had paintings and prints blown down and one person had a large glass pane from a framed print smash when it blew over.

At the end of the month I have a print at the largest juried art show on Vancouver Island, then in early August I have another Art in the Park event, which should be much bigger. It looks like a busy summer! I’ll leave you with some photos from today at the car show.

Photography on Display
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Photography on Display

Lately I have been more active in the local art & photography community. It’s something I enjoy and is definitely beneficial to my photography, as I feel encouraged to get out with my camera more often and enjoy the ability to show some of my work. One of the things I am involved in is as a member of the board of directors at the Sooke Arts Council. It is through SAC that I had the opportunity to hang six of my prints in the lobby of the Richard Blanshard Building, which houses BC Ministry of Health offices.

A trio of photos hanging on display

A group of three of my prints on display

Along with four other artists work (painters and photographers) my prints will be hanging there for December 2018 and likely January 2019 as well.

Waves crash on the rocks at Botanical Beach in Port Renfrew

Fresh off the press

I had a number of mid-size prints around that I used, as well as having the one, shown above, printed just days before the hanging. Normally, I have my images printed on some variety of fine art paper, then frame them, but for this image, I chose to have it printed on canvas by a new, local printer, VI Spectrum. I’m very pleased with the results. At 24″x36″ it’s also the largest print I have on display. Images smaller than 13″x19″ I generally print myself, as was the case with the two 8″x11″ prints I hung. A fantastic photographer I know (check out his wonderful images here) spoke highly of the Hahnemühle Matte Fine Art paper I used for these prints, and since trying it earlier this year it has become one of my favourite papers to print on.

B&W image of a rocky shoreline

One of the images I self printed

I encourage everyone local or who is visiting Victoria to stop by the lobby of the building, at 1515 Blanshard Street, to check out my work and that of others from December, 2018 through January 2019. Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed it!

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The Sooke Music and Art Festival

This is the third year for the Sooke Music Festival, which has been renamed the “Sooke Music and Art Festival” and for the first time included the Sooke Community Arts Council  (as one of their Art in the Park events) and various art displays.

two dogs connected together by a leash wandering on grass

Doggie Tripline – Checking out the Festival

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A Hike Around Botanical Beach
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A Hike Around Botanical Beach

I arranged for a small group from my local photo club to go on a day trip to Botanical Beach.  The beach is best seen at low tide, when the many unique features can be more easily observed, and the water doesn’t keep you off the beach.  This took a bit of coordination to get the timings right and as the day approached, it looked like we might be more in danger of getting wet from the rain than the ocean.

black and white image of Botanical Beach showing rocky shore and some trees under dark clouds

Moody clouds over Botanical Beach, BC.

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Appetite for Art Show

This past week I had the opportunity to participate in my first art show, where I had some prints on display. The Appetite for Arts show in Sooke, BC is held annually, and art pieces are paired with food dishes, which have been inspired by the art.

Art on display in the hotel ballroom

a variety of art works by various local artists

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Fun with Filters

Every once in a while I like to get a little creative after I’ve ‘finished’ processing my images and today was one of those days. I had taken a short walk with my camera in downtown Victoria and made some interesting photographs, like this one of a short section of the sidewalk.

Purple rock squares inlaid in the sidewalk

Stepping Stones

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Further Developments

Last week I wrote about developing my first roll of 120 film.  This was kind of like crossing a bridge on the trail that is leading me from using a film camera again, to actually developing the film.  This week I had it scanned and now can see the results.

a small bridge on a road in the forest

A Bridge to Cross

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2016 Photowalk in Oak Bay

This was the third year I participated in one of Scott Kelby’s Worldwide Photo Walks (WWPW). They are held the same day in cities all around the world. My local walk for the Victoria, B.C. Area was in Oak Bay and started at the marina.

old gentleman sitting on a bench with his book

Taking in the View at the Oak Bay Marina

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My First Time… Entering Prints at a Fair

This year was the 103rd edition of the Sooke Fall Fair and it marked the first time I have entered prints in any competition.  While I entered many of the categories, I really didn’t know what to expect for results.  I was not disappointed.

sff-winners-collage

Setting the Bar 

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Car Free Day Victoria 2016

For the second year in a row, I went to downtown Victoria, BC, for Car Free Day.  This year it took up a few more blocks of Douglas Street than last year and I enjoyed walking along, looking at all that was offered.  As I parked in a city parking garage, I was able to walk a very short distance before arriving at the first display, which was set up by local first nations.  Initially, there were various fantastic carvings but nobody was performing.  For most of the walk, I had my Canon DSLR for photos, but when I returned to the First Nations display, while they were performing, I took out my Hasselblad 500 EL/M (more on this and the medium format film photos in a later post).

a colourful carved wooden mask with city hall and trees in the background

First Nations Carving in front of Victoria City Hall

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