ERIC DREGER blog

• 2012-04-24

  

  I bought a Nikon FE2 not long ago.  It’s my first film SLR.  Finally got my first roll developed, here are some of the shots.

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  Downtown Vancouver

• 2012-01-27

  

  A portrait of Dougie Luv I shot on Granville Street in downtown Vancouver a year or two ago.  Dougie appeared on this week’s edition of Dragon’s Den on CBC.  All the best to you Dougie! 

  www.dougiedog.com

  http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden

• 2011-11-20

  Fred Herzog

  I first learned about Fred Herzog and his colorful photographs two years ago upon moving to Vancouver to attend The Vancouver Institute of Media Arts.  One of my photography instructors at the time, Ian McGuffie, introduced me to Fred’s work.  Fred’s photographs are as inspiring today as they were years ago.  While in school, Ian stressed the importance of becoming visually literate: Knowing how to use color and shape in photographs to communicate with people, something Fred Herzog became a master of.  As Ian states in the following video, “Fred is one of Canada’s premier street photographers, he was a pioneer in color street photography.”  Fred documented a time and place in Canadian history like no other photographer.  A few fantastic links on the work of Fred Herzog:

  Fred Herzog Video

  lightbox.time.com gallery of Fred Herzog’s photographs

  On a side note, my three favorite Ian McGuffie quotes:

  “It’s actually very important to love yourself as a photographer.”

  “Your best picture is your next picture.”

  “If a picture has its color taken out of it, is it still interesting?”

• 2011-11-08

  

  Two men embrace in front of a memorial set up in honor of Ashlie Gough, who died just days earlier of a drug overdose at the Occupy Vancouver protest.  11/08/11

• 2011-11-07

  

  Players scramble for control of the puck in second period action, UBC Thunderbirds vs. Calgary Dinos, Vancouver, Canada.  11/04/11

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  Brock Nixon of the Calgary Dinos (L) is tripped by UBC Thunderbirds defenseman Ben Schmidt (R), Vancouver, Canada.  11/04/11

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  Colton Grant of the Calgary Dinos scores a goal against the UBC Thunderbirds, Vancouver, Canada.  11/04/11

• 2011-10-25

  

  After a much needed break I’m back in the Great White North!  One of the highlights of my vacation (and life to be honest) was a hike through a 2000 year old Redwood forest in northern California.  Talk about majestic!  Naturally I had my camera with me and was able to make a few meaningful photos of Ashley, my wife. 

  A few days later while talking about the hike, we came to a consensus that there are no words to describe the beauty of a Redwood forest.  As much as I hate to admit it, I also believe there are things in life that no photo will ever be able to justify, they simply need to be experienced.  Such is the case with Redwood forests.

  The following photos are not about the forest, they are about our experience in the forest.

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• 2011-09-27

  What is street photography?  It must be at least one million times easier to take a street photograph than to explain what a street photograph is.  Trust me, I’ve done the math.  I’ve often asked myself, ‘what is street photography?’ without much success.  I’m not sure if I’ll ever nail down an exact definition of the term and maybe it’s beside the point, perhaps even hostile to the cause.  To a certain degree I believe my eye has started to mature as street photographer because I haven’t set many boundaries or confined myself to specific criteria.

  I realized the other day while I was looking through my Lightroom catalogs that it’s been almost two years since I began photographing on the street.  Yikes!  What have I been doing?  When I started taking photos on the street I didn’t’ have a clue!  It’s not that I wasn’t inspired, I was.  (Matt Stuart was the first street photographer I was inspired by – check out his website at www.mattstuart.com)  But there’s a process that every young photographer goes through I’m sure.  You see amazing photographs, they inspire you, and you try to make amazing images like the ones you’re studying.  I don’t mean copy or emulate, I simply mean that my photographs aren’t as amazing as the ones I’m studying.  And you ask yourself, ‘why aren’t my photographs as good?’  Like many things in photography, there are no easy answers.

  This is one of the first street photos I ever took:

  

  There are so many things I could say about this photo.  I almost want to say, “It’s not your typical street photo,” but that leaves me to wonder, what is a typical street photo?  I’ve been told that it looks more photojournalistic than street, and people are often surprised that it isn’t part of some broader photo story.  But it’s a street photo.  I don’t know their names.  I don’t their story.  I don’t know what they were talking about before I took the photo.  I simply took the photo and walked away.  A lot of street photographers capture street scenes with a lot of humor in them.  This photo obviously isn’t humorous and it’s far from perfect; I think that’s what I like most about it.

• 2011-09-25

  Matt Stuart talks about photographing the streets

• 2011-09-22

  

  Probably the only living thing enjoying the rain today…