van der Valk Photography

I was contacted by these two ladies from Victoria, BC to update their business photos as they were in need of some new business cards and promotional material. I spent 30 minutes with them and took a wide range of photos in different poses and styles. This is a mix of natural lighting, 1 reflector and 1 speed light attached to the camera bounced off the ceiling.

If you feel the need to update your professional corporate photo, please feel free to contact me for a free consultation.

Driving to Langford this morning I stopped along Coopers Cove to quickly take this photo with the iPhone. Another great winter morning in Sooke.

A couple of weeks ago I was enlightened by a friend of this newer concept, at least I think it is newer, at least new to me, about Cinemagraph. Wait, WHAT?!

Yes, Cinemagraph. It’s the combination of still photography and video. Well, technically not video, more like animated .gifs, but when done right they are really cool. There is a website called www.cinemagraph.com and this photographer has created a bunch of really neat cinemagraph photos. Click the link and you’ll see what I mean.

Created with cinemagr.am

Last night I was going through the news on my iPad and noticed an app for the iPhone called Cinemagram. A take from instagram no doubt. Anyway, I thought I would download it and give it a shot. It is fairly inexpensive to purchase and the controls are okay on it. It works well enough for something pretty much fully automated.

Easy to use and pretty easy to learn. My only disappointment with this app is it doesn’t save the “movie” onto your iphone and you need to host the image on their server. I would like to have been able to save it more easily. There are ways around this but it’s not as convenient.

I’m also not a fan of the filters they have. Not nearly as many or good ones as I’d like to see.

Anyway, this is one I quickly did. Literally 20 seconds later and we’re done.

Another rainy day, another day spent going through older, non-processed files. Found this little gem sitting back in an Otter Point folder. I remember taking this photo and I remember skipping over it while going through all the photos taken that night. I opted to show another one that I found a little more pleasing. But the more I look at this photo, the more it captures my attention, so it now as a place in the light.

Otter Point, BC on Southern Vancouver Island.

On this rainly day in Sooke, stuck behind a computer in a little office, I decided to revisit some of my RAW files of places I’ve been that I’ve never processed, this shot being one of them. It was a year ago I ventured out to this location to do a custom photo shoot for a cover of a brochure. It wasn’t exactly here, but Payzant Creek, slightly west of this location along the Juan de Fuca Marine trail, about a kilometer farther up the trail.

I had never been to Parkinson Creek beach before, this being the first time. The tide was high but apparently is has some really awesome sandstone tidal pools teeming with sea creatures when the tides right, best at low tide. That isn’t very surprising seeing how we are fairly close to the famous Botanical Beach in Port Renfrew, known for similar features on the land.

The clouds in this photo are what drew me in. The lines, shapes and colouring that was presented to me that day.

This past weekend we ventured to the Victoria Butterfly Gardens near Butchart Gardens in Saanich. I opted to go DSLR-less and just bring the iphone with me. I’m still trying to get the hang of simply shooting with this rather than a “normal” camera because I like to have all the control of a DSLR camera. Aperture, ISO etc..

But the apps and one click adjustments you can do are pretty neat and instant, which is a bonus. I only wish the iphone 4 had a dedicated camera button to take the photos rather then relying on the touch screen.

This was my favourite shot of mom and “Meebs”. They were looking up towards the ceiling as the butterflies flew around.

The right way to end a wonderful weekend. Just before sunset I was commenting how nice the clouds were. I decided I’d take a chance and drive to Otter Point in hopes that it would blow-up with crazy colours and magical light. I didn’t quite get what I was hoping for but it didn’t entirely disappoint.

I opted to toss my 10 stop ND filter for this first shot rendering the ocean “calm”. I’m very happy with the way this turned out. The filter seemed to enhance the brilliance of the sunset as well. It also cast a more purple hue than it really was but I left that in because I thought it looked very nice.

Having been so focused on the sunset in front of me I almost neglected what was happening behind me. In a couple of days the moon will be full and it was shining brightly tonight. There was a really nice band of clouds reflecting the sun setting. You can see Possession Point and the town of Sooke in the distance.

All in all a great night of shooting and a terrific weekend.

Sitting in my office, blinds drawn and staring at the computer, I almost missed this opportunity. Had it not been an alert on Twitter which popped up on my screen and someone mentioning how nice the sunset is in Sooke, I would have kicked myself for days for missing this brilliant sunset over little piece of heaven. While I’m appreciative seeing this sunset from my backyard, I really wish I had been elsewhere with my gear, taking it all in with the ocean view and rocks in the foreground. But it is what it is and I managed to pull out the camera, stand on my deck and try to avoid getting as much treeline in and as much urban land out.

UPDATE!
Apparently I missed my photo being shown by Hudson Mack and CTV2 channel this evening. My wife was in the kitchen and heard my name on the air and were talking about a photo.
They must have picked up my photo after I put it on Twitter. Too bad I missed it. Thanks, CTV!

(Please click photo for larger view)

Otter Point is my go to place for last minute photos. It boasts a fantastic view of the Juan de Fuca Strait, Olympic Mountains in Washington and a good east/west perspective if you’d like to try to capture a sunrise or sunset. This day saw interesting storm clouds and waves breaking over the rugged rocks and small pebble beaches which can be found in between large rock faces.

Equipped with my tripod, shutter release and my camera, my goal was to capture some of the clouds at sunset and the movement of the waves, hoping to show the dark green colour of a rough sea as well.

I never tire of seeing the movement and motion of the waves breaking up against rocks. I’m hoping this stormy season on the west coast will provide me with a day or two of absolutely insane wave days with no rain. Fingers crossed. In the mean time, please enjoy this capture at Otter Point, just west of Sooke, BC on Hwy. #14.

We’ve continued to get strong winds this week and I ended up heading to get some large waves breaking near Sheringham Lighthouse in Shirley, just west of Sooke on Hwy #14.
Using a tripod and my shutter release, I tried my best to time the waves with a slow shutter speed to show some movement. My only wish would be for some more clouds to add to the dramatic scene, but I’m pretty happy overall about the way it turned out.

I’ll definitely be heading out there again soon. The winds continue to pummel us, I’m sure it won’t be the last wind storm of the winter months on Vancouver Island.