Pointedly - DSC_4610ED

Pointedly - DSC_4610ED, originally uploaded by @ThetaState.

Some people have asked me how I "know" what I like to photograph, and I've never really been able to give them a good answer.

Sometimes I say that it's the contrast, or the pattern, or the complexity, or the simplicity... sometimes it's just the mood I'm in.

And sometimes, it's just a gut feeling I get when I'm reviewing the photos from a session. This photo is a great example of that.

At the end of a 6 day trip to British Columbia, after taking about 1000+ shots of a wedding, and at least a couple hundred of amazingly beautiful sea, sky and forest, I came across a wonderful, minimal part of the Departure Bay B.C. Ferries Terminal in Nanaimo. I took this quick shot as we were heading back to the car to drive on to the ferry, and have just got through the rest of my pictures to process it.

After a couple of weeks of "nature" I, actually, got goosebumps when I saw this.

That's how I know what I love to shoot most.

Breaking Through - DSC_4706ED

Breaking Through - DSC_4706ED, originally uploaded by @ThetaState.

Returning on the ferry from Vancouver Island to the mainland, the sun broke through after a crossing full of showers and mist.

Black Box

Black Box, originally uploaded by @ThetaState.

No man is an...

No Man is an... - DSC_3282ED, originally uploaded by @ThetaState.

Smartypants got trapped on a rock as the tide came in. I have about a billion pictures of the sunset from this beach, it's just so beautiful.

Golden Sun - DSC_3259ED

Golden Sun - DSC_3259ED, originally uploaded by @ThetaState.

Some views are worth their weight in gold.

Sunset - DSC_3247ED

Sunset - DSC_3247ED, originally uploaded by @ThetaState.

Tofino, B.C., provided a particularly spectacular sunset on the Friday night before the wedding took place. It was a gift to have been able to see it that evening.

It was an even greater gift to have been able to see the Milky Way that night on the beach. We are so deprived and disadvantaged in urban and sub-urban areas where light pollution denies us the ability to marvel at the beauty, and vastness, of our galaxy.

Snake Charmer - DSC_2831ED

Snake Charmer - DSC_2831ED, originally uploaded by @ThetaState.

Port at Night DSC_2853ED

Port at Night DSC_2853ED, originally uploaded by @ThetaState.

Event Horizon

In one moment I could feel it contract

   and expand all at once.
Everything I've ever done had brought me there,

   to that single moment,

And everything that I could ever do lay ahead of me.

It was breathtaking.

[Event horizons: 01.11.1969 01.11.2009 ...]

Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2009 - A Visual Journey

I managed to get to as many of the projects as I could, spread over the 3 zones of the Nuit Blanche canvas. You can get a sense of what I was looking at by visiting my Flickr Collection for the entire night.

Here's a few sample shots (you can click through to see more of that particular collection)