Along with the new year comes a time to take a look back and refresh ones perspective. As I look back at this past year I see it as a year of moving forward in a few different ways.

1. I’ve begun to work on a couple projects that will be ongoing for a couple of years. One of those projects is a book of children from around the world. My hopes for the project are to create passion in others to help maintain our world and be responsible for the coming generation.

2. My photographic vision has begun to change. I have slowly but surely becoming able to focus on the big picture and be able to capture it. Along with this my style has been changing as well to reflect this change.

So what does this new year have in store? A good place to start would be where am I now?

I have another eight months of my contract at Qwanoes, which will take me to September. After that I will begin to fully focus on my future as a professional photographer.

1. Prints will be a large part of my focus for this coming year. I hope to continue to add to my collection of images that are for sale. Not only bring in a much needed source of income but to allow others the opportunity to enjoy these images.

2. With the ending of my contract I will now have the freedom to pursue some freelance work and doing some weddings for friends that have been desperately asking me to help.

I am optimistic for this coming year, I feel there will be lots of opportunities and great images to be had!

As a side note - This is the 2 year anniversary of the blog! A huge thanks to all the readers for putting up with my wild antics and random posts at times. I hope to focus more on sharing my passion about photography with you this year.

This has been a long time in the works, and it is with great satisfaction and joy that I introduce to you all that a select group of my images are now available as prints. I was able to select a service that allows me to use my favorite print service, Mpix. All the prints that you order are going through the same pro-service that I raved about earlier this year. 

Along with this new announcement, I will be giving 25% off to the first ten people who order prints! Just type in this code: JNPHOTO

You can access the prints portfolio via this link HERE or by clicking the link on the sidebar to the left. The print portfolio will grow with the coming weeks so check back often!

I will be offering the wallpapers through my Flickr account from now on for better access and less confusion. To get to the file just click on the image and it will link you directly to the file on Flickr.

Have a great December!

 One of the greatest things about living on Vancouver Island is attending the Ladysmith Light Up every year at the end of November. The small town is swarmed by around 30 000 people to watch the downtown being lit up with thousands of Christmas lights, then there’s the parade and an amazing fireworks show.

Over the past few months the service that Apple rebranded from .Mac to MobileMe has gone through some insane growing pains, even a trip or two. But it has come out of its ugly duckling stage and is revealing its true potential. With the increase in storage from 10GB to 20GB with the rebranding and a monthly download limit of 200GB transfer it lends itself well to a great client based proofing service and downloads area. 

In a past post on MobileMe’s gallery potential I talked about how easy it is to now setup a great looking portfolio and now we’ll dive into a bit of how you can now use that to let your clients proof great images quickly and efficiently.

First as a recap - We need to remember that you no longer need the iLife suite to upload images to create the great albums, all you need is a MobileMe account. You can organize, rearrange, sort, even select whether you allow users to download the images, etc.

Another great feature to the MobileMe suite is it’s iDisk and how it allows users to upload large files to a server for download by clients, friends, family, etc. and with that large bandwidth limit per month, you don’t have to worry about your website being bogged down or server crashing because of large uploads and downloads. 

It’s turning out to be a great package for the average user and the photographer on a budget wanting a clean simple solution. If Apple continues to beef up the service with reliability and more storage, they’re going to start having an amazing tool set online. Did I mention it offers amazing “push” style capabilities for my iPhone with my contacts, calendar, and email? Another bonus of keeping track of clients while on the road.

Yours truly has been featured on Wallblank.com. We’ve decided to go with a four images and four different causes. There is a limit of 50 prints / picture so they will go like hotcakes! All prints are 13″x19″ in size so they’re going to look incredible on your walls. 

Spread the word, all the proceeds go to four amazing causes. Did I mention they make great Christmas presents? (Sorry I had to)

A couple of weeks ago a great website launched called Wallblank.com. It’s head up by a few people whom I know, so I will get that out in the open at the start. 

The basic premise of the website is to allow layman (normal people) purchase great art to fill their rooms, homes and offices. On a usual print they will have a limit print run, approx. 100-200. Once those are sold out then you’re out of luck so you have to act quickly. A great aspect to this startup is it’s focus on the artist, which I am always gun-ho about. They, unlike other nameless sellers don’t keep 99% of the profit from the prints, they allow the artists to afford something better then a PB and J sandwich. They also run non-profit Fridays (which I will hopefully be involved with on a regular basis) that raise 100% of the profits from the prints and send them to a select organization of the artists choice.

So now that you know, buy a print, support an artist and I will keep you posted when a print of mine comes up and you can support me or a non-profit organization that I will supporting. Let me eat better then PB and J, please!

When was the last time you stopped from taking pictures and just sat and talked with someone who you’ve wanted to or have photographed? Or when was the last time that you actually cared enough to stop and speak with someone, a stranger, a friend? 

I’ve often felt that we as photographers don’t care. We get involved in creating a masterpiece, a something, anything, that we completely lose our human touch of interaction and involvement. We’re often viewed as “snoops” stealing moments from others.

At this moment we, as photographers, need to finish being inhuman. We need to learn that putting down the camera is sometimes more important then using it as a barrier between us and our subjects. That our “subjects” are just as human as us, hurting, joyful, kind, wanting to share a story and feel a true intimate connection. Realizing that our cameras are nearly a means that we use to tell a story but the true connection happens when we put down the lens and interact. 

We need give before we expect others to relinquish their sense of personal barrier and stare down the barrel of camera. I believe photography is a tool to break down barriers, alas it has been used as form of personal “right” that allows the user to poke their noses into the lives of others without any questioning of whether it is an uplifting thing to do. 

Use this art form as a tool to build connections with others. The more I dive into photography the more I begin to realize it’s less about how technically good you are and more about how vulnerable you are with others. When you become vulnerable with others, they open up to you, and a connection is formed.

First learn to be human, then learn your craft. Stop and be more human.

Two juniors campers fly down the screamer.

As one young guy clings on to the ropes, the others are feeling the thrill of the ride.

With the recent weather around the Cowichan valley it has been ideal conditions for the leaves to turn a brilliant yellow, orange and red color. 

Download HERE!

Thursday was a bit of a lazy day here at Kaleo so some of us decided to take a hike to the point. With the seasons changed and the colors beginning to really change the view was amazing, walking beneath a sunlit canopy of warm yellows.

Every once and a while I get a smidgen of inspiration to make a tilt-shift style image. This particular image was shot from the top of Mount Maxwell overlooking the sound end of Saltspring Island.

For most serious photographers even thinking about using the iPhone camera to capture decent images is completely out of the question. Well I have an argument against those thoughts. I do feel that the iPhone camera is not as good of quality as it could be, but quality shouldn’t limit your creativity. 

Just recently there was a great app. released for the iPhone called “Camera Bag“. This app allows the user to stylize the images that you take on the iPhone, from Holga effects to B&W’s. Here are a few samples:

Once again, these images aren’t about supreme quality but rather content and effectiveness of conveying good stylized images. I have been very impressed with how this little program allows the user to take a so-so image and transform it into an well post-pro’d image. I am excited to see what the future holds for the camera software in the iPhone and hope to see some more customization in the future.