Dock patrol
Two small sailors in life jackets, taking their duties on the dock very seriously. I took perhaps a dozen frames that afternoon. Neither of them acknowledged me once, which I have come to regard as the mark of a true professional.
Photography
Visuals
This is the photography part of the site, and the founding father of what the whole thing was meant to be. These are frames from when I had the time, and a few from when I very much did not.
Featured
A few I keep coming back to.
01 / 03
Low pass
A crop duster working a field. I stood at the side of the road for longer than I would like to admit, waiting for it to come back around. It did, eventually, several times, as though it knew.
Northern lights
The aurora through bare branches. The odd thing about photographing it is that the camera sees more colour than you do. You are never quite sure what you witnessed until you look at the screen afterward.
The archive
Open a folder.
Everything else, filed roughly where it belongs. Open a folder, then click any photo to see it properly.
Wide open places. Fields, lakes, coastlines, and the occasional sky doing something it should not.
The people around me, usually when they were not paying any attention to the camera.
Dogs, flowers, clocks, and cars. The small things that kept me from walking on.
Shot on film, so I did not see any of these until weeks later. Grainier, greener, and rather more forgiving than I am.
Not quite trash. Signs, gas stations, and the frames I am never sure where to file. Every photographer has a folder like this. Most are simply too embarrassed to show it.
Behind the photographs
The cameras.
Three of them. One for most days, one for film, and one for anything wet.
Canon AE-1
A 35mm film SLR from 1976. Slower and less forgiving than anything digital, and I do not see what I made until weeks later. That is rather the point.
Fujifilm X-T2
An older Fuji at this point, and I mainly keep it around for the film simulations. Most of the photographs on this page came out of it.
DJI Osmo Action 4
For video, quick edits, and anything underwater. Fully waterproof, or so I am told, and it has not proven me wrong yet.
Work in progress
Still developing.
This part of the site is a work in progress. One day I would like it to become more of who I am. If I am lucky enough to travel more and see more of the world, I would like to document it: the places I go, the people I meet, the stories I end up with, and the memories I would rather not lose. For now, it is simply this.
If you would like to see more, or simply say hello, you can find me on Instagram at @noelrray.