One aspect of my freelance work that I really enjoy is industrial or worksite photography. It’s tempting for some to look at those kinds of places in the way most people usually look at them: tough, stoic, a very basic and straightforward ‘look’.
But I look at those places as being like movie sets - dramatic, fascinating, a place where light and shadows meet dirt and sparks and machines. I’ve yet to see one that doesn’t set my visual cortex into overdrive. They’re always rich with possibilities and I love that I see them that way. Creating images that don’t look like most peoples’ pre-conceived notions is the kind of creative fun that makes photography my calling.
This summer I had the opportunity to photograph Dave Copp Steel on the outskirts of our city. The people couldn’t be nicer and more fun, from the namesake owner right on through to the guys on the work floor. I spent a morning in what felt like a Hollywood set, and with a few lights (quickly placed) and an eye on my surroundings to keep safe, I created a host of images the client will use to bring their website to life and make themselves stand out from the crowd.
Manitoba photographer
The Weekend (not affiliated with the music industry)
Assorted images from a quiet weekend that still, somehow, had a lot to photograph.
Onlookers view a light display painted across an Exchange District building Saturday night during the first instalment of the Lights On The Exchange public art event.
Light streams from the front of a heritage building east of Main Street, Saturday night during the Lights On The Exchange event.
A Chinese lion dance troupe weaves its way around a thick crowd of people Sunday morning during Chinese New Year celebrations at Kum Koon Gardens restaurant in Winnipeg.
A little girl greets a Chinese Lion Dance troupe with a huge grin during Year of the Rabbit celebrations Sunday morning.
A woman crosses a shaft of bright winter sunlight beneath a garland of hoarfrost on Provencher Boulevard in St. Boniface.
A woman cheers after tackling a whipped cream beverage at a birthday party in an Exchange District pub, Saturday night.
A spire to faith and commitment
In Buddhist cultures, a ‘stupa’ is a focus of meditation, a structure that houses sacred objects. They’re a fairly common sight in Asia — in western Canada, not so much.
That’s why it was so gratifying to photograph the dedication of such a place this spring, as the local Sri Lankan Buddhist community came together to unveil the spire topping their very own stupa here in Winnipeg.
The ceremony marked many years of work by the ‘sangha’ -the community of monks, nuns and lay people - at the Mahamnevnawa Buddhist Meditation Centre who organized and built the structure themselves. Having also photographed the ceremony last fall when monks placed sacred objects inside the stupa, it was great to see how far the work has come to arrive at this point.
The weeks and months ahead will see finishing touches put on the site, but the structure itself now stands as a beacon of Buddhist faith, and a place for both the Sri Lankan community and the wider interested population to come to contemplate and be inspired.
