Writing on the wall /  by Grey Gallinger

Tonight I watched Bomb It, an excellent documentary about grafitti art all over the world. It got me thinking about the street art I see around Winnipeg. The grafitti in West Broadway and Wolseley especially seems to carry social and political messages.

The photo of the wheat pasted message feature above is something that appeared on the boarded up façade of Pop Soda's on Portage Avenue several weeks ago. I can definitely get behind the message. It's a shame weather is taking its toll on some of the letters.

Another piece with a political message can be seen at almost every residential intersection along Wolseley and Westminster. Some particularly disgruntled citizen has appropriately added "Harper" below "STOP" on dozens of signs.

Unexpected encounter /  by Grey Gallinger

I was taking photos of graffiti in a West Broadway back alley when the dude on the right popped up from behind the dumpster. He asked if I was a photographer and explained that he was a visual artist. 

This photo is far from perfect. I was exposing for the sky when he popped into the frame and wasn't quick enough to switch it. I kept snapping photos while I spoke to him but failed to notice they were all poorly exposed. This was one of the few usable photos from the event. 

I learned two things from the encounter: sometimes the most interesting moments come out of total coincidence; and always double check ISO/aperture/shutter speed settings to be sure the shots will be well exposed, it sucks to ruin one of a kind encounters.

Sherbrook street with a telephoto lens /  by Grey Gallinger

I don't usually use telephoto lenses when doing street photography. It's kind of strange to walk around, especially at night, with a long 200mm lens, it's not easy to conceal, and people tend to take notice. That said, I really like how this photo turned out. It was pure luck that the guy on the left stopped to light his cigarette. The lighter's flame illuminated his face at just the right moment and still within the plane of focus.

The Moon and light trails /  by Grey Gallinger

Last night I set out with two different photos on my mind: a well exposed shot of the nearly full moon; and a slow exposure shot of cars and the street.

For the Moon shot I used a 200mm prime lens, and a Manfrotto video monopod. I set up in a parking lot with a clear shot at the Moon. The night was right, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky and the moon was full. I've attempted to photograph the Moon before during a waning gibbous, but I wasn't satisfied with that image. The Moon was too small in the frame, you can make out some detail on the surface, but not enough for my taste. I was eager to make another attempt with a longer lens and the aid of a sturdy monopod.

Of course like anyone who has attempted lunar photography, I still can't get enough manification and 200mm seems to be the minimum focal length needed to see a decent amount of detail on the Moon. It would be interesting to try a variety of extenders and longer lenses to capture different phases of the Moon.

For the second photo I walked around trying to scope out a good location to take the photo from. I remembered the Misericordia parkade where I previous shot light trails and decided setup on the top level. From the north western corner of the roof I could see Cousin's and a decent perspective of Sherbrook street.

I played with a couple of lenses, starting with the 200mm prime already mounted on my camera. Even with the monopod the longer lens was tougher to keep still resulting in shaky light trails and blurry buildings. I eventually settled on what is quickly becoming my favourite lens, the Rokinon 14mm f2.8 Ultra Wide. The wider perspective meant I needed to keep the shutter open longer in order to catch suitable trails of light from the tail lights of the passing by. I can't quite remember what aperture I was using, one of the drawbacks of the Rokinon is that it doesn't record aperture on the camera so the Exif data isn't much help, but I believe I was shooting at f8. My ISO was 100 and the shutter was set to to Bulb mode. Now all I needed was some cars.

Waiting for traffic is slightly ironic given my usual displeasure with motor vehicles, and Winnipeg's obsession with them. However for the shot I was looking for I needed them, the more the better, prefereably driving fast. I stood perched on the roof of the parkade experimenting as each cluster of traffic went by until eventually I couldn't feel my fingers and feared dropping my gear as I leaned out over the edge. It was time to go home and review the images I captured.

I was pleased when I saw a few that turned out, but like with the Moon shot was left even more eager to improve.