About a week ago or so, I had the chances to work with a few photographers and  meet some people at Film 2 Frame studio, Kat Morris Makeup and Hair Artist, Jason Hilton creative just a coupe of people on the shoot  there where more . Here is a set of photographs, I will also post one of my model shots on model mayhem; you can find a link to MM if you click on my portrait photo.

A second start to the the new year.

Well so here we are 2013 going twice. You might ask yourself, but the new year was over a month ago, I thought this as well but I stand corrected. As I was making my way down to Ironworks studio located in Vancouver BC I ended up going down Main street. This may have not been the best way to go to that part of town today, since main goes through Chinatown. And surprise  chinese new years parade! Well lucky for me and anyone who views this blog page I had my Camera to grab a few snaps. Of the festival and some interesting characters, I came across in my venture to the studio today. I don’t understand why the chinese  new years falls on another month then the one that most of the other world knows to be on January 1? This dose not make sense to me, because one year is the length of time it take the earth to go around the sun. This in my mind would  be universal because the day that the earth finishes its revolution around the sun can only occur on one day. So it would be great if someone could tell me why according to the chinese calendar the earth has finished it revolution around the sun today. Or is the chinese new years based on something completely different? Or perhaps the earths rotation around the sun is no longer the basis of one year. This bring me to another questions and it is simple, when is the actual day that the earth has finished it rotation around the sun if this is no longer the basis of one year?

Identity X

What is it that makes humans, human and defines, Men men, and Women women ?  Why are women consider more feminist and men more masculine? Though some man express more effeminate  traits, and some women are more masculine.  Could it be how we are raised? Women are told from a young age to not play in the mud only participate in certain activities, be more caring and loving. Where men are told they should be strong  dominate not cry always to be a winner.  Maybe we are programmed from birth and it in our genetic material to be more feminine or more masculine. But what if we were all raised in a cave   and never left that cave. Within this cave you could not see anything but your shadow. You could not tell the differences between sexes and everyone did the same activities and spoke of nothing. Would reality not become the cave for everyone? All we know of life  was of that cave, the Cave would now become reality. We would not have  any knowledge of what exists other then what we saw and what we were told. So this bring up another question. What if a girl was brought up like a Man and a boy brought up like a Woman? Would we still take on the bias traits that come with being a man or woman? Or would we just take on traits of being human, all other things put aside. A large part of how we think of ourselves comes, from the way we think our parents, peer and society  see us. Or more so the way we think we are treated.

2012 in a Nutshell. And Some Photographs non related but taken during 2012 by me!

Perhaps a last post for the year as we move forward into 2013.  So what can we look back on and say about 2012? Lets start with something big and that everyone is dependent on in this age of coal and that has come up in the news several times. Iran and Oil, oil is power money in a raw form. Money that taunts fear into many nations, so much  that it has caused  International Embargo on Iran. a few examples; Clinton Presses India to reduce Iran oil  (Washington Times, 2012-05-08). In this article it talks about Hillary Rodham Clinton urging energy starved starved india to reduces its Iranian oil imports. In order to keep up pressure on the Is Islamic republic to come clean about its nuclear program. Pushing india to   find alternative sources of oil. “India could face U.S sanctions if the Obama administration determines it has not made significant cuts in imports. Under a law aimed at Squeezing Iran’s petroleum industry to press the country to prove that its nuclear program is peaceful. Another example of Embargo on Iran is. Iran outlines conditions for EU oil exports (CBS News, 2012-02-21) In this Article it talks about conditions laid out for future exports to European countries  after halting sales to Britain and france. Remarks by the spokes man Ramin Mehmanparast a day after oil prices jumped to a nine-month high above $105 a barrel Following announced halts of crude shipments in an escalation of the dispute over the country’s nuclear program. Other remarks also involved extending oil Embargo to other European  Union countries. And my last Example of embargo and Iran is. China Criticizes EU oil Embargo on Iran(Fox News, 2012-01-26) China says the European Union’s Decision to stop importaing oil from Iran over its nuclear program is not constructive. The official Xinhua News Agency quoted the foreign Ministry as saying,”To Blindly pressure and impose sanction on Iran are not constructive Approaches.”

You will remember this one Luxury cruise ship runs aground in Italy, many Dead. One of the many articles on the news story that I thought was interesting.  Expert advise ending Concordia underwater salvage (CNN, 2012-01-31). Technical experts directing the salvation operation aboard the costa Concordia cruise ship are recommending that the underwater part of the operation should be called off because it is becoming too dangerous. the final decision is unlikely to go against the recommendation of the experts. The majority of the advise is based on safety  concerns with consultation relative to the people still missing. A total of 15 people remain after the ship ‘s collision with rocks off the coast of Tuscany on January 13, 17 bodies have been recovered. Franco Schettino, captain of the ship said after he hit rocks he ran the ship aground off Giglio island to prevent further sinking.

I would like to also go briefly into the Quran burning incites which lead to  deadly riots in Afghanistan. For those of you who are not certain what the Quran is I will tell you that it is a muslim holy book. (USA Today, 2012-03-03) Involving  at least five Americans. On Feb 20 their was a discovery of charred Qurans and other religious literature in a burn pit at Bagram air base, north of Kabul. Anger over the burning led to deaths of Afghans and and U.S soldiers. the results of the  desecration of the Quran Burning brought relations between the U.S military coalition and Afghan Government to an all time low and spurred the most serious wave of anti-American and foreign sentiment across the country during the 10 year war.

Another news story was Turkey seek NATO action over Syria Military jet downing(USA Today, 2012-06-25).Turkey Warplane The unarmed RF-4E reconnaissance jet was shot down a mile (1.6 Kilometres)  inside international airspace. The syrian  forces had also opened ground fire on CASA search and Rescue plane shortly after the downing. Arinc said Turkey retained its right to “retaliate” Against what was called a “hostile act”.

Gunman killed 14 at batman Premiere(BBC, 2012-07-20) Shooting at a midnight cinema showing of the new batman film near Denver,Colorado Police said 71 people including the deceased, had been shot in the incident at the century 16 multiplex cinema.

London Olympic Games

US Ambassador Killed in Libya. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens Some of the Questions Brought up where Should it rely on the FBI, Treating the assaults on the two  U.S Courts? Can it depend on the dysfunctional Libyan Government  to take action?Or should it embrace a military option by ordering a drone strike-or sending more prisoners to Guantanamo Bay? It remains uncertain whether the white house will respond to the fatal assault on the Americans in Benghazi as a criminal act or an act of war .  (Washington Post, 2012-10-08).

Obama Reelected Second term as U.S. president

Israel and Gaza has anything changed?

North Korea the secretive communist state. Had a successful launch of a long range rocket early Wednesday, despite later difficulties controlling the weather satellite it was carrying,a significant technological development. the launch of the Unha-3 rocket poses a national security threat for the United States and a difficult challenge for the international community to end North Korea’s illicit nuclear program.(Washington Times, 2012-12-13) North Korea Launch increases threat of intercontinental Ballistic Missiles weapons.

And the most recent Gunman assaults Connecticut elementary school , 27 Dead.

Into 2013 we go but first 2 more weeks and 48 hours left of 2012 enjoy.

Streets and Squares

What has come of the digital age of photography, Cell phone photography marks a Transformation in photography. A turning point, Analog to digital film “fluid film”(Stephen Mayes), but what dose this mean. Well the obvious. anyone now can take, a in focus well exposed  photograph.  That will fulfil basic needs of anyone. To Capture a moment, at the same  Swift pace  it will be discarded.  Photography has never been more a part of our lives, As it is in the current day. Now with the cellphone camera, on every corner of most streets,  in every house. With at least a 100million users most likely more.  The odds are not in favour of a professional photographers, what  digital photography has done is magnify everything. It has put thing out of proportion. In such a why where, the shear numbers of photos that are being taken, cannot be matched by the amount of professional photos going on to be documented in print, a solid state that will be unchanged. The few jobs left for professional photographers. But Digital has a huge advantage over analogue and that is the ability to Stream. The down fall of an instant stream with an added filter is the loss of control and the image being in a forever fluid state . With instant streaming it has never been easier to connect with people around the world. Moments of triumph, moments of hard times, moments that will never happen agin, moments that may have never been seen. Has this empowered people or has this just given people a new relationship “less about witness, evidence, and documentation, and much more about sharing monuments and experiences. This is a Different type of  photography real time photography. This  should not be mistaken over traditional photography, Perhaps a more up to date term RAW Photography. That can be replicated with The DSLR. So What has come in the age of digital photography,  RAW the only digital file that can depict the real from the fluid.until processed.

ideas from  Pete Brook and Stephen Mayes

And Now enjoy MY photographs and share them with others

Photographer Tundramax

Rainy Days, Street

Every day is a good day for street photography rain or shine . I love the street as a canvas, I think it’s the versatility  and the unexpected waiting to happen,  the constant chaos and the endless subject matter and possibilities that keep me retuning to the streets with my camera in hand.

Vancouver street photography

Last Friday I decided to to go hit the streets of downtown Vancouver with a quick eye and trigger finger. I set out on foot from the coast line and started to head south through the streets carefully selecting my composites and with the stealth off a bomber i came up with theses photos enjoy.

Frozen rain stone cold tree

Black white and Orange

Here are a set of creatives. There is reasoning behind the name, Orange is pretty obvious in my eyes. But I will tell you that its for the orange photo,It’s a species of moss thats hard to the touch and grows on rocks, with a face facing the sun. Black is for the photo with the coins in it, representing the dark side of money. And White  the photo of the water drop I will let your mind ponder on that one.

He sells photos by the Seashore

A little side project to keep me busy, I spent the weekend in Tofino BC here are a set of photos I took. comment and share. Or give me a call lets do business.