House Special Photos - November 2016

These photos were taken and edited collaboratively by Natalie Murao and me, for House Special Modern Vietnamese restaurant in Yaletown, Vancouver.

This was our first dive into food styling and photography, which was a fantastic learning experience. One of the challenges we faced was the limited amount of time we had to work with the food before ingredients altered in appearance due to temperature or moisture. The cooler natural light outside was ideal starting point for most of the main food shots. In contrast, the warm restaurants cast a strong tone over everything, so we limited and chose carefully which photos were taken indoors.

I enjoyed figuring out which angles suited each dish when shooting, and doing touch ups on the plating. The goal with the editing was to try and keep the photos consistent, and bring a balanced contrast level, as well as bright, fresh colours. 

Valley Flight - August 2016

I went for a flight with my friend Dylan again. This time departing during the day, and headed for the Pemberton area, and then orbiting Downtown Vancouver before returning to Boundary Bay. We passed some of the local mountains we had hiked and camped at (ie: Cheakamus Lake, my last blog post) and the Stawamus Chief. I highly recommending pestering any pilots you know to take you flying at least once. Orbiting downtown, turning at what felt like 45 degrees was a unique experience to say the least. 

Camping at Cheakamus Lake - July 2016

My friends and I have been excited to do an overnight trip for a while now. We started hiking at the start of the year and slowly we have been amassing the necessary gear and experience to journey in hopes of surviving a night outdoors.

Our destination was Cheakamus Lake, a small distance away from Whistler Village, and the more famous Garibaldi Lake. The goal of this trip was to field test our equipment. I had just purchased a 50L pack from MEC, as well as a new sleeping pad (both worked out great so far!) My friend had inherited a bunch of gear from his father, including our camp stove which unfortunately only ended up cooking about half of the food we intended.

Overall, the trip wasn't half bad. The lake was glorious, and I had a pretty decent view of the stars at night. We definitely achieved our goal in learning which gear we needed to replace - camp stove, we're looking at you - and gained more insight into how we can improve future trips.

Mong Cai Reunion - May 2016

My friend Samantha, whose father was a resident of the Mong Cai village, assembled a small group to help document the reunion.

The residents had assembled in part for a wedding the day before, and then decided to hold a large reunion while they were already set to be in town. It was great to see people from all walks of life all connecting because of their shared hometown. 

Night Flight Series - April 2016

I had the opportunity to join my friend Dylan on one of his practice flights at the Pacific Flying Club in Delta, BC. We hopped in the Cessna-172 and headed out to do a loop around Campbell River, Comox, Victoria, and back to Boundary Bay.
It was awesome to see the city lights from the sky. In a couple of the shots, the major streets are quite easy to tell apart.