This Blog Has Moved!

The blog has moved and is now incorporated right into my new website! Find it here:

http://www.illuminaphotographics.com/blog/

Thank for reading....onwards and upwards!

New Raincity Images!

Two new images for the "Raincity" series!

"east van" (l) and "science world" (r)

Our relentlessly moody Vancouver winter skies and some fog (I love fog!) provided plenty of atmosphere for these images, which I photographed early this January 2016. It had been on my mind to photograph these two prominent Vancouver landmarks for some time, but had been uncertain of the approach to take. When the fog and the crows showed up, I had my answer.

These two images are available now as prints and will be available as photo coasters in March.

Starling Flight Amid the Electrical Towers

Just finished up this image today which I'm adding to my growing collection of "Graphic Birds", which are basically silhouettes of our feathered friends out and about in the world. This series started out as pretty much all Crows, a personal favourite, and it's now grown to include one young Bald Eagle and the humble European Starling. These humble little birds can often be seen in massive  groups in over the farmland near Boundary Bay, south of Vancouver, BC.

This particular flock was photographed in the Spring on one of my many jaunts around Serpentine Fen, an important wildlife and waterfowl protected area in South Surrey. The paths take you right under these massive powerlines and their huge supporting towers, with the hum and crackle of the electrical current buzzing in the air. Here you are sure to see not only the many Starlings but Bald Eagles perched atop these structures too.

This image is currently available as art tiles, 8x8 wall panels and archival prints. Find it and me at the Granville Island Public Market through the Christmas season!

"Starling Flight" Serpentine Fen, British Columbia, Canada

Prettier in Pink - Antique Peonies!

Adding four more to the "Antique Florals" I started with the Lily of the Valley images in my last post. One of my very favourites of late Spring - Peonies! These ones in particular were from some very old plants that still made the effort to bloom every year despite complete lack of attention from me.

I'm always amazed by their masses upon masses of multi-layered petals with their luscious scent being the cherry on top!

Pink and burgundy antique Peonies

Scents of Spring! Lily of the Valley Set

Well Spring has since passed and we're well into the summer heat, yet is there ever a time to not want to gaze upon the subtle beauty of the humble Lily Of The Valley flower? A most welcome memory of those first days of Spring, when all promises to be new again.

Lily of the Valley set

 

 

I've had these and several other Spring flower shoots languishing on my hard drive for a couple of years now. Yes, sometimes it takes a good long while to complete images. This small series I finished up today.

Perhaps I wasn't quite ready to do them justice when I photographed them, or maybe only now is their time.

These will be available as prints on paper at Markets and eventually online too. Other media, such as marble tiles and wood panels are still under experimentation...so we'll see!

Raincity Number Five - The Lions Gate Bridge

Continuing on with the Raincity Series, a view of the Lions Gate Bridge (no, there's no apostrophe in this particular "Lions") which I photographed this earlier this month from along the seawall around Stanley Park on a surprisingly dreary day in the middle a very hot and sunny week. Typical Vancouver!

Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, BC, Canada - Raincity Series

The Lions Gate Bridge was built in 1937-38 and is one of Vancouver's most famous landmarks. It connects downtown with the cities of North and West Vancouver and beyond. The waters below the bridge form a deep but narrow channel, with very strong currents, so most of the big ships that pass underneath are carefully guided through by the many sturdy little (and not so little) tugboats we see cruising around the area. The mist covered North Shore Mountains formed a nice backdrop to the Bridge's graceful lines on this day.

Prints will be available at the Granville Island Public Market in 8x10 and 11x14 sizes. Larger sizes can by had by request! Find me at the Market this week from Wednesday June 24th through Sunday June 29th.

Captain Vancouver joins the Raincity Series

A new and fourth image for the "Raincity Series"!

Captain George Vancouver, City Hall, Vancouver, BC, Canada

In keeping with the "moodiness" of this series, there's some dramatic clouds overhead in this image but that sun is still trying so hard to peek through, giving Captain Vancouver a bit of a backlit glow.

Captain George Vancouver plied the waters of the North American Coast in the late 1700's and named many of the landforms we are so familiar with along our rocky shores. Interestingly, neither he nor the Spanish explorers of the day charted, or even noticed, the mighty Fraser River which is such a large and important waterway in the area.

Vancouver's namesake was instrumental in opening up the western coastline to European settlement. For good or for bad he was an important person in British Columbia's history.

Fly Like An Eagle

"Boundless"

A new image for Spring! A vast sky and puffy clouds in the late afternoon were the backdrop to my view of a juvenile Bald Eagle making its way inland from hunting along the seashore. To soar so high and feel the freedom. I can think of nothing better.

This image is now available on my table at the Granville Island Public Market (schedule) and online as wall art and home decor items through:

Society6

Nuvango

Prints On Wood

Displate

New Crow Silhouette Images and a free shipping promo!

Two new cheeky crow images for the silhouetted birds collection and they're available now in my Society6 shop. As an added bonus there's a free worldwide shipping promo on now through Society6 until April 12, 2015! You must follow this link to get the promo:

http://society6.com/illuminaphotographics?promo=X9PB84W4KXM7

Note:

Promotion expires April 12, 2015 at Midnight Pacific Time. *Free Shipping offer excludes Framed Art Prints, Stretched Canvases, Wall Clocks and Rugs

Rail Call

Don't Lock Me In

 Both of these images were recently created from images I've captured during my many walks along the shores of Mud Bay in the South Surrey/Delta area of BC, Canada. While the place won't win any awards for sandy beaches, the bay definitely lives up to the "mud" part of its name attracting shorebirds, their predators and songbirds of every kind. Worth the jaunt south of Vancouver if you have a hankering for some wide open space and experience a bit of nature too.

I'll have these two images available also at the Granville Island Public Market in Vancouver when I have my table set up there.

Vancouver Series - A Third Image!

The weather has actually been quite nice this winter season on the West Coast. Fortunately for this moody series I was able to photograph this view of downtown Vancouver in early January. It was definitely a little on the "un-sunny" side!

"raincity i, Vanocuver, BC"

This series will develop slowly as the right combination of weather and light is important. Prints will be available as the series progresses!

Vancouver Series - Girl In A Wetsuit

Here is number two in what I will be striving to turn into a new series over the coming months. Images of various things "Vancouver" that have spoken to me as a resident of the area.

Girl In A Wetsuit, Vancouver, BC

This image is of Elek Imredy's bronze sculpture "Girl In A Wetsuit". She is a prominent Vancouver, BC landmark, sitting here in midwinter fog just off the seawall surrounding Stanley Park. She is lovely and graceful. I always take a moment to look at her when I'm near her in the Park.

Sentinel at the Gate - New Work

via Instagram @illuminaphotographics: http://ift.tt/1F6OMvb, This regal fellow will be making his debut appearance at my booth in the Granville Island Public Market this weekend! I'll be set up there Friday to Sunday 9-7 each day.

A Few Fruits

Making an appearance at the Granville Island Public Market this weekend (Sept 26 - 28/14) and beyond, four new fruity still life images of the humble pear. Photographed and treated to impart a vintage quality, but printed in colour to celebrate their wonderful tone and texture.

"Vintage Pear" series, from left to right, Red Anjou, Bartlett, Bosc, Green Anjou.

Flying the Coop!

Pigeon Flight, Granville Island, BC

Illumina Photographics is moving house! The photographs and all the stuff I need to make them are leaving the beautiful mossy greens of North Vancouver and finding their new home a little farther South near the sunny shores of White Rock. From one end of the BC's Lower Mainland to the other! So, from July 24 through August 2 I'm closing up shop. I can still accept orders during this time however price quotes and order fulfillment will be resuming as of August 6. Onward ho!

Lenscratch "Backyard" Online Exhibition

Check out this interesting online photography exhibition on Aline Smithson's Lenscratch contemporary photography blog. The exhibition's theme is the "Backyard" and it's always curious to see what a word like "backyard" can mean to different people. Whether the image is representational or interpretive, these images represent a broad and varied landscape, existing perhaps in the reality of terra firma or maybe just inside our minds.

My own image "reflections of another home" is included on page four of the exhibition. It is an image looking through the inside of a room, from the outside to a backyard. Another home is reflected in the surface of the glass enclosing the room. I was intrigued by how all the different elements related to and influenced one another, yet still remain separate in function and identity. I must admit I have a strange attraction to reflections, they appeal to my sense of the surreal. Reflections of many kinds seem to be creeping in to my work more and more often these days.

Enjoy the exhibition!

"reflections of another home" image by Suzanne Goodwin

Seymour Art Gallery Spring Artisan Market!

It's a Spring fling and the forecast is looking mighty fine for this Saturday May 4! What better way to spend a gorgeous Saturday than in beautiful and picturesque Deep Cove where the Seymour Art Gallery is hosting their 2013 Spring Artisan Market!

I will be participating along with around 14 other artists who sell in the Gallery's lovely gift shop - there'll be wonderful jewellery, art and handmade giftables to be had.

I'll be bringing photo jewellery, more photo tiles, and some prints and wall art too if I can figure how to fit them on my Market table!

This promises to be a casual, fun and intimate event - hope to see you there!

This event takes place on Saturday May 4, 2013 from 10am to 4pm inside the Seymour Art Gallery, located at 4360 Gallant Ave., Deep Cove, North Vancouver, BC.

On View: "Creatures" Group Show at the Kiernan Gallery

I'm absolutely thrilled to have my image "hope" on display at The Kiernan Gallery in Lexington, Virginia, USA as part of the "Creatures" group show running from February 27 - March 23, 2013.

"hope"

The image explores the idea of capturing and holding for ourselves what we might like to be, or in this case what the animal represents to oneself, yet without regard for the creature itself.  It is the first in what will be a somewhat introspective series examining themes of desires, regret and acceptance.

The entire "creatures" show is available to view online at www.kiernangallery.com and the exhibition catalog is available in book form on Blurb.com. There's some absolutely fantastic work in the show and it never ceases to amaze me how elegant and powerful even the most seemingly simple images can be.

The show was juried by fine art photographer Anne Berry who is a Critical Mass 2012 Top 50 finalist. Her series "behind glass" is one of the most moving and aesthetically interesting depictions of captive animals that I have seen.

PhotoHaus Gallery "Abstract Expressionism" Show

I'm very excited to announce that the five images of mine shown below are included in the upcoming "Abstract Expressionism" group show at PhotoHaus Gallery in Vancouver, BC!

Here's a peek:

The Night's Forest

Cerulean Drift

Nebulous Grove

 

An Utterance of Trees

Resonance

All of these images utilize intentional blurring and camera motion, reducing the subject's tangible form to that of my perception of its energy.

My images in this exhibition are Archival Pigment Ink Prints on 100% cotton rag paper, matted and framed to 18"x24" in contemporary black wood frames.

Please come on out and join me for the opening night - there will be lots of unique and interesting imagery shown in this exhibition, from over 30 different photographers. Oh yeah, of course there'll be beer and wine!

Opening night: Friday January 25, 2013 at 7pm, PhotoHaus Gallery, 14 W.7th Ave, Vancouver, BC

January Blues Show Opens Tomorrow!

Another showing! Two of my pieces "Descente" and "Somber Seas", shown below, are going to be hanging at the Burnaby Arts Council's "January Blues" exhibit at the Deer Lake Gallery - all the artwork in this themed group show is blue!

You're invited to the opening, which is tomorrow (short notice I know!) Saturday, January 12 from 2-4pm. Blues musicians will be in attendance for the opening! The Gallery is located at 6584 Deer Lake Ave., in Burnaby, BC., which is right inside the lovely and peaceful Deer Lake Park. After visiting the Gallery you can take a pleasant walk along the trails and lakeshore located in the Park and while in the Park stop in the visit the Burnaby Art Gallery too.

My image "Decente":

"descente" 24"x24" photograph mounted to wood panel.

and my second image in the show:

"somber seas" 12"x36" photograph mounted to wood panel.

I hope you can make it out, it will be a fun afternoon!  The show runs until February 2, 2013.

Seymour Art Gallery Discovery 2013 Exhibiton

My new image "Augery", shown below, has been accepted for inclusion in the Seymour Art Gallery's annual group Discovery Show! This image represents my take on the show's theme: "Earth" and is the first of a series of conceptually driven works I intend to complete this coming year.

Augery

I would be delighted if you would please join me for the show's opening, Tuesday January 8, 2013 from 7-9pm, where myself and many of the other artists in the show will be on hand.

The Seymour Art Gallery is located at 4360 Gallant Ave in Deep Cove, North Vancouver, BC.

The show runs from January 8 - February 2, 2013.