fort st john

Nov 27 2011

Erika Lange and her Hats

I have been wanting to get into more portrait photography for a while now, but have always lacked a subject. I’m not confident enough with myself to pursue it yet without fooling around and seeing what I come up with. This was my chance to practice, with Erika who approached me about the idea.

Erika recently got some new hat or as we Canadians like to refer these head toppers as, toques, and wanted some pictures with the hats. I thought sure why not, I need to improve on my skills. The other thing I have often struggled with when it comes to portrait photography, is location. I don’t know the area too well and am sometimes unsure as to where to go. Luckily, Erika did. She live in what they call the Old Fort. It is one of the original Fort St. Johns, yes there were many, before it moved up and out of the valley of the Peace River. So surrounding her house is forest with trails that lead to the river, perfect for photos.

Personally I like candid photos better. I like catching moments, not having to try to create them. I think a photo will make a bigger impact on the viewer if the subject isn’t looking at the camera, as if it isn’t even their. That being said, if a person want to expand the opportunities they must be diverse and that is my plan. I will admit I did start getting into the shoot when I started directing Erika where to look, where to point her head and watching how the light was hitting her face. I’m improving, I promise. Who is next?

Nov 19 2011

Welcome, Mayor of Fort St. John, Lori Ackerman

All across BC multiple elections have been taking place today, November 19, 2011, and I was helping cover the election results right here in Fort St. John.

In my opinion the biggest race in this election was for the role as Mayor. The going out Mayor, Bruce Lantz, has a bit of an uneasy history as Mayor and as he was not going to seek re-elections it became a chance for someone new. So we had Don Irwin and Lori Ackerman, both previous councillors put in their name, along with PRRD resident, but Fort St. John business owner, Mike Murray.

From the start I felt as though this race was going to be closer than people expected, these things normally are. Don and Lori were neck and neck by the end of it, with Murray left in the dust. The final results were Lori 1269 and Don 1209, a close race.

While Lori is a friend, to me it doesn’t matter ultimately who is Mayor, while I’m glad she has gotten the position and I believe she will do amazing, I’m not that up on the politics of this town. People with shun me for not being informed, but I believe I know enough to make an educated vote, but it is definitely not something I am interested.

Regardless of all that, I got this picture below to capture the moment. It is from seconds after Lori was announced the as Mayor. As it was called out Andy, Lori’s husband let out a yell – or more of a yelp – of excitement and relief.

Mayor of Fort St. John Lori Ackerman

Sep 10 2011

Aurora Funnel over the Peace Region

Well I finally did it, after living in the prime Aurora viewing city all my life, I finally got out and took a photo of them… while living 1000km south of that in Fort St. John. This was proabably one of the best displays of the lights the Peace Region has ever seen, ironically that would be consider an average show in the North.

While I was dancing around with the lights last night on the side of the highway by myself many memories came flooding back. I remember one paricularly of myself coming out of the Gerry Murphy Area in the dead of winter in Yellowknife and seeing the green AND red light dancing around.

It being the first time I had ever tried the capture the dancing beast I probably didn’t do all that I should. I quickly found, thanks to a friend, that I needed to lower my ISO as I was shooting at 1000. I brought it down to 400 and even found that was to high while processing the photos later.

I’m definitely no or (the King of the Aurora) but I happy with what I got.

ISO400, 11mm, f/8, 30.0secs

Aug 06 2011

View of Fort St John from up top

I had the chance this past Friday to go up top of one of the hotels in Fort St John and take some pictures. I’m use to Yellowknife, where there are large 14 story building and getting to see the sky scape. I think seeing a city from a high up angle can give you a better appreciation of it, unfortunately Fort St John doesn’t have many of those building. The hotel I got to up actually only had 6 stories, which is not much at all

There is no real reason why I took these photos. I’m sure they will be used frequently in the future for various projects though. My view feature Fort St John busiest road in town, 100 Ave, which runs through the heart of town. The reason I went and took the photos on Friday because clouds were presented perfectly. Having nothing but blue sky is beautiful as well, but the clouds add a whole new dimension to the photos, which is what I wanted. I was shooting in RAW and for the most part in Aperture Priority mode with an f/stop of 11 and ISO of 100-325. Once on the computer I did Tone Map them to bring out shadows and colour.

Enjoy and leave your feedback.

Jul 27 2011

New Fort St John Skatepark Scene (Part 2)

This is the second Fort St John Skatepark Committee meeting I have attended, they happen every two weeks at the moment. If you look back two weeks ago [HERE], I introduce what is all going on with getting a new, much-needed, skatepark in Fort St John. I also mention why I am involved, even though I don’t actual skate very well.

The meeting tonight covered three main points, presenting to City Council, ideas for the website and the mission statement of the committee.

Presenting to City Council

The presentation will be happening at the August 8th council meeting, which will take place at 3pm at City Hall (everyone should come). The premiss of this presentation will be to ask the City for land for the new skatepark. The committee is able to fundraise to have the new park built, but we need the land to do it. We will be presenting with an ideal space in mind, one that is not only accessible to everyone, but also in a high visibility area. Have it in a high visibility area is one of the key factors we want to see with the new park. By doing this we are hoping it will deter any mischief and mayhem, which isn’t even caused by those who use the current park for what it is intended for.

Bottom line is we want to show City Council and the community as a whole that we are a group of positive, honest people who want to help build a recreational area the community can be proud of (and is comparable to parks like Dawson Creek, Tumbler Ridge and Chetwynd).

Ideas for the Website

This is more my fortay, which I need to deal with, but there is a lot a website can be for a small group. Essentially it can be the face of the group and where all important information is stored.

Some of the ideas we talked about included, have a full on media section where we can showcase the local talent that Fort St John possesses, an area to show all those who have supported the park and group, our mission statement, the latest news, contact info and how anyone can donate.

A few more ideas rolled around for the website and I have a few I want to maul over for a couple of days, then I will begin putting them into action.

Mission Statement

There is not much to say in this area, but we have started to form an official mission statement. The normal stuff, who we are, what we stand for, what we want to accomplish, etc. When it is done it will be displayed on the website like I mentioned.

That pretty much wraps up that meeting. One thing I would like to point out, from a tourism aspect, is that Fort St John is the only community in the Peace Region that doesn’t have a “recently” redeveloped skatepark. The idea we flowed, form the tourism aspect, is if this park is built it will complete a circuit that will draw southern skaters and riders to the area. The speed skating track in the Pomeroy Sport Centre brought skaters from Calgary and Vancouver, why can’t a new skatepark work the same way.

As always “Like” the page on Facebook to follow what is happening and consider attending the August 8th City Council Meeting.