Where do you see rectangles, everywhere? If you can imagine the world in front of you as a flat two dimensional plane it can be an interesting exercise to look for ways to divide it. It can be helpful to look through the viewfinder to generate that flat view and frame a scene but with practice you can spot images without the camera. So why would you want to do this? Like any exercise in seeing it helps to broaden your visual acuity.
I find I really like the 35mm focal length that the Olympus XA2 has as well as many other small cameras from the late 70’s early 1980’s. It’s noticeably wide yet gives a convincingly natural field of view. With the Xa2’s three zones of focus you might think that it would be difficult to achieve sharp results but this isn’t the case and it also frees you to work on composition rather than focus. These images where processed in Lightroom.
When I first saw this forgotten water bottle I wasn’t to sure what to make of it but as I approached it became clear that this would produce an interesting subject against the ground of the artificial turf. The clarity achieved by this little camera never ceases to amaze me. The full size print I have of this (8″x12″) renders every blade of plastic grass clearly. The slight touch of contrasting colour and the harsh shadow created by the mid day sun all add to this image, making the water bottle stand in relief.
It’s nice when things turn out like you planned even when your pushing the boundaries of your experience. I needed to take public transit to get downtown Vancouver so I ended up on what is called the “Skytrain” which was originally built for Expo 86. I brought along my Olympus XA2 because it fits in a pocket and I like the images it produces. During the commute I considered taking a few exposures inside the train but didn’t really see anything that was all that compelling. However as I was standing up the entire time I was near the ceiling and observed that the people where smeared into a diffuse reflection above. So I turned the camera upside down and pressed it against the ceiling. This did two things, it eliminated any camera shake and recorded the reflections. Really only one person paid any attention to me and even that was for only a brief moment.
These images are of the Coghlan substation in North East Langley. It was part of the B.C.E Railway and provide power to the trains that traveled from New Westminster to Chilliwack south of the Fraser River. This section was completed around 1910 and carried it’s last passengers in September 1950.
