Adventure Does Not Wait by Doug Friesen
The road to adventure begins where you are.
Experiences are worth more than possessions.
The Journey Behind the Lens
I am reminded of these words every day. Most of my art is born of walks in the community I live, experiments in my home office/studio, drives with a friend looking for nature and abstracts, and travel. The biggest lesson I have learned in this journey is that imperfection is perfection. It adds character or causes who to see a subject with a new perspective.
Experimenting with Light and Composition: Anti-Gravity
Anti-Gravity: This is a single photographic frame that is almost straight out of camera. The colours are natural and created by putting red and blue gels on the lights. I spent three days tweaking settings and hundreds of drops to hit my stride.
Failure is growth.
Capturing Unexpected Moments: Sunset Surprise
Sunset Surprise: Always be ready. The best camera is the one in your hands. In this moment we were staying at a hotel with the family and didn’t have opportunity to head out of the city to capture landscape views. However, opening the window in the hotel room, revealed this beautiful sunset, so I grabbed my camera and tripod and set it right up against the window and turned all lights off in the room. The silhouette, colours and sky were more glorious than I expected. I am glad I opened the blinds that evening..
Embracing Minimalism in Photography: Reborn
Reborn: One of my favourites while travelling. To witness this tree in rebirth for another season during our Bowl of Chalk walking tour in London was amazing. Loving minimalism I went for high contrast monochrome on the edit to create a piece that feels more like art than photo. Using the overcast sky allowed for a clean background without distraction.
Finding Inspiration in Silhouettes: Eventide
Eventide: Near harvest, taking drives out into the country looking for silhouettes at sunset are inspiring. The most incredible sunsets are those with clouds in the sky but a clear lower horizon of 5-10% to allow the sunlight to refract under the clouds and give that colour from 10 minutes prior to 30 minutes post sunset.
The Magic of Night Photography: Aurora
Aurora: Spending the night under the stars with a friend while capturing a beautiful display of aurora is priceless. Here I took the opportunity to capture him as he shot the night sky. Always grab a tripod for late night long exposures. This was made from two exposures so that I could have him and the stars in focus. Exotic travel is not required.
Street Photography and Serendipity: Everything Must Go
Everything Must Go: During a visit to the beautiful city of London, we went on many walks. Without expectation, I always see more. Here a lone black car perfectly placed under the Foreign Exchange arrow, a lone patron exiting Ladbrokes and the hood/windshield neatly framing the Everything Must Go Sale.
You can’t plan this.
Looking Ahead: New Creative Ventures
What’s next? Beyond new photography, I have ambitions to write a children’s book, delve deeper into illustration and animation, explore AI and how I can integrate it into my original art, and start posting to my Youtube channel.
Join my journey into creativity on any of the social platforms. I appreciate you!
Doug Friesen
I am a stay-at-home-dad and work for my wife as her administrative assistant along with my photography and creative pursuits. Previous to this, I worked in the book printing industry. My primary roles were technical software assistance for yearbook clients, software testing and technical manual writing. I also enjoyed being a layout design and photography instructor as part of that experience. While we have travelled to the UK and Europe several times, a lot of my creative imagery is closer to home within Canada. I also enjoy writing haiku and flash fiction, website design and UIX experiences.
Website: https://www.dougf.ca
Find me everywhere: https://linktr.ee/dougfriesen
Anti-Gravity NFT: https://www.dougf.ca/nft/anti-gravity
Reborn NFT: https://www.dougf.ca/nft/reborn
