DITL Oak Bay
In the past month or so I've participated three times in photographing a day in the life of different communities on Vancouver Island. The first batch of photos, taken on June 14th, was published in the Oak Bay News last Wednesday, which makes it okay for me to post some of them here. I did a similar thing last fall in Esquimalt, going from midnight until 7 am, but this time I went from around 4 pm until 10 pm at night. Much better.
Preparation for one of these is good exercise. My photo editor gave me a brief description of what types of shots he wanted from me, and approximately where in town he wanted me to shoot. The rest was pretty much up to me. I sent him a list of ideas, he OK'd them and made some suggestions as to what else I might add, and then I started making phone calls. Most places were fine with me coming in to shoot, others were not, and that's just how it goes.
All in all it was a fun afternoon. It was definitely different from the shoot in Esquimalt (which was fun too), because now most people were still awake when I was shooting, as you can see.
16:30 - John McIntosh sits between two boats at Oak Bay Marina, making an eye-splice for his anchor rode.
17:11 - Ben Stone, tennis instructor at Oak Bay Recreation Centre, waits for a return shot from a student he is working with (not shown) at Carnarvon Park.
17:57 - Yudi Zhang, 5, checks out a large stack of books from the Oak Bay library just before closing time.
18:25 - Jazzercise class leader Brenda Richardson puts a group of women and men through their paces ath Henderson Recreation Centre.
18:53 - Andrew Hunter, all-rounder for the Sticky Wicket cricket team, gets ready to enter a game at Windsor Park.
20:53 - Daryl Lundy, Oak Bay Fire Department mechanic and firefighter, conducts an annual checkup on one of the department's trucks.
Two front page photos
Last weekend I took a Saturday shift for Black Press. It was a relatively easy shift, although I did have to drive between opposite corners of town for the day's assignments.
Of course I went places I would never have gone otherwise, such as a high school graduation at UVic and to Saanich Municipal Hall where an ethnobotanist was given the highest honour a resident of Saanich can get.
On Monday I received an email from my photo editor, Don Denton, who informed me that I would have the front page photo for both the Saanich News and Victoria News on Wednesday. Two front pages in one day, from one Saturday shift? I couldn't ask for more.
The one in Victoria News is of City of Victoria's parks environmental technician Fred Hook, as a part of a story about herons nesting in Beacon Hill Park. My attempts at getting a photo of him and a heron or two were futile, and I couldn't really keep Fred from his work for too long. I tried, though. And then I stayed for a while after he left, hoping to catch some heron photos, but that didn't work out either.
Front page of Victoria News, June 22, 2011.
The cover of Saanich News was probably a bit more surprising, because it was not part of a cover story. I had gone to Vancouver Island Technology Park to photograph the Victoria Canary Derby, a soapbox race to raise money for the B.C. Cancer agency. There I discovered a man getting ready to drive down the hill in a beautifully decorated racer; Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard. Him being there was apparently a secret to the guests until moments before he drove down the hill. I just got lucky being in the right spot when he was getting into the racer and adjusting his helmet before being pushed off.
Front page of Saanich News, June 22, 2011.
Do you dream of Jeanne?
It seems like a very long time ago, that Jeanne Beker presented her new fashion line at The Bay in downtown Victoria, but it's actually less than a month. And at the same time it seems like only a few days ago, that I arrived in Victoria for the first time, but in fact almost 16 months have gone by. Strange thing, time.
Speaking of Jeanne. I arrived at The Bay in good time to talk to my contact there, just to get an idea about how things would be running (I was shooting for Victoria News). A fairly large crowd, mostly (though not entirely) made up of women, gathered to see Jeanne and hear what she had to say about style and fashion. Some of the women there seemed almost awestruck.
Me, I didn't have a clue.
To me, this was just a middle aged woman giving advice on how to dress well to a group of people. I gathered from what she said on the stage, that she wasn't from Victoria. And I slowly began to realize (one hint was the big lineup to get Jeanne's autograph) that she wasn't your average middle aged woman. She was actually a 'somebody'!
Now, I'm not big on fashion (just ask my wife or my mum), but at least in Iceland I would have recognized someone of that stature (remember to divide by 100). I've heard the 'big' names at home, and I even know some of the faces. But here? Nope. Not a chance.
I guess it shows me how much I have yet to learn about this new country I live in, even after 16 months.
I might have to start watching more Canadian television, read more than just the local papers, check out Wikipedia whenever someone starts namedropping around me.
Until then, I guess I'll just have to be ignorant and not starstruck. I'll have to ask those around me how well-known or famous the person I'm photographing is, instead of thinking 'Oh, wow, I'm photographing [insert Canadian celebrity here]".
But I'll learn, bit by bit. I'll have to, because ignorance isn't bliss. Not really.
Jeanne Beker signed a number of autographs at The Bay.