About

I bought mKen-smally first camera in 1969, a Canon 35mm.  The majority of the photos I took then were portraits and I shot almost entirely in black and white.  I did quite well with my photography, even managing to get on the cover of Billboard magazine.  In 1972 I moved to a small coastal town north of Vancouver, BC.  For some reason over the next few years I lost interest in photography and rarely took a photo.  In the late 80′s I started painting (watercolour) and would photograph my subject first to paint from.  My paintings are either close-up still life or scenery.  I found I was using my camera more and more and eventually (and at first reluctantly) went digital.  The versatility of digital cameras rekindled my interest in photography and I have now moved away from black and white and portraiture to shoot the natural beauty in the area I now live.

32 comments

    • It looks great. I need to look at it more slowly tonight when I have more time. Where I live the oldest building is perhaps 150 years old at the most. To see your photographs and to realize the history behind them is amazing!

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      • wow..thats really amazing to live in such place…it does have so much history behind it and so many people’s lives are attached with that story as well…thanks dear…hope you enjoy it 🙂

  6. Hi Kavita – I should amend my comment a bit about old buildings. Though our area is young in terms of European settlement, the native First Nations people have been here for thousands of years. As with everywhere else, they built with the material on hand and for them that was wood from the forest. The damp, rainy climate took a toll on the old structures and very little archeological structural remnants remain.

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  10. Hello. There is a good deal in a name, like “a lifestyle hard to come by.” Some things are easy because they are. Some things are easy because the genius driving our discovery is linked by persistence to become. Some things look easy only because the innocence that inspires our work is preserved by the intelligence of our inquiry.

    In the Northwest Pacific temperate rainforests we can reach out and touch the primordial wildness. This is a rare gift in our world today. Thank you for your persistence in preserving our natural heritage. – The Healing Garden gardener

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    • Thanks so much for the comment. This has been our life for nearly 40 years and it comes as naturally as breathing. We cherish what we have in our beautiful surroundings and are only too pleased to share it with others.

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      • My secondary school was one room heated with a wood stove in a small town on the Northern end of Kootenay Lake. Here, about 100 subsistence Quaker farmers lived and breathed. My summers was spent among the Dukhoboors (Russian subsistence farmers in the Selkirk Range). There are pleasant memories, too, of treks along the Sunshine Coast that persist in my bones. These places, enduring yet in the world, where a lifestyle close to the land is possible as naturally as breathing. It is important work you do, enduring in this life and preserving a record. – The Healing Garden gardener

      • I knew of the Doukhobour Heritage in the Selkirk area but not the Quakers. It must have been quite a life experience. It is apparent that you have held onto those values and that is a such good thing. Thank you for your encouragement!

  12. I’m guessing since you have gone digital, it’s almost comical as to all the work and expenses from the film days. I worked at a one hour developing lab and still am amazed at how cleaner the digital process (or lack of) is for everyone concerned!

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    • Yes, definitely less expensive but I did enjoy the darkroom work. I was just remembering the other day about the excitement and anticipation of seeing the newly developed roll of film, finding out how the shots turned out. Great if they did but if they didn’t, having to redo the shoot if possible – a bitter/sweet experience.

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      • Never did B&W work. Think if the developing experience was one of a personal hobby, my memories would be fonder. The whole process takes on a different vibe when retail is involved.

      • Black and white was interesting and fun while home colour processing was long, tedious and expensive. Can’t even imagine sitting at a commercial developer but the words mind numbing come to mind!

  13. I admire your beautiful photography — I am just a beginner. However, I thought you might like to know that the wasp you identified as a mud dauber is in fact a polistine wasp species (western paper wasp) Mischocyttarus flavitarsis. I photographed the wasp in Oregon and found your photo online in attempting to identify my wasp. I remained unsure of its identity and sought help from OSAC experts who correctly identified it for me.
    Cheers,
    Nan

    Reply

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