Panos to Politics: Where have you gone Ralph Klein...

HDR Pano of Kelowna from West Kelowna

Went out early this a.m. to try and capture some Kelowna scenes, while taking advantage of some nice light, which has been conspicuously absent for the past few months - resulting in a dangerously low supply of vitamin D in Okanagan region pharmacies.

I tried out my HDR Illumination at a vegetable stand that featured an old truck serving as a sign post. This time on top of the green gelled flash, I added an LED flashlight to the mix for some light painting effects.

My efforts were hasty as there was a large and aggressive Doberman-esque animal making me feel less than welcome, so I moved on to another subject.

Four wheel signage. HDR, plus flash, plus light painting

I traveled across the lake to West Kelowna and knew what I wanted, but wasn’t actually sure where to find it. I ventured through a residential area on top of a mountain until I found a perfect panoramic view of Kelowna, bridge and all.

Took some Pano HDR, which is a bit of a cumbersome process as I take 5-7 vertical shots of each section of a 4-6 section pano. The real fun is in post production where I attempt to piece this together via Lightroom and Photoshop. Any given panoramic can involve upwards to 48 separate images fused together to make one composite.

I achieved what I wanted, plus further advanced my knowledge of some of the best photo op spots in the city.

I have also been busy preparing for my booth at the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce Business Expo tomorrow. Since moving here a year ago, business has been slow, as Kelowna is just figuring out there was some sort of recession thing going on.

Cherry blossoms, West Kelowna

And much like the overall BC mentality in general, it is tough to get your foot in the door as everyone is content with the status quo, no matter if you offer something better or cheaper. That and the fact that everyone that owns a DSLR of any description these days, is a self-anointed “photographer,” and has such saturated the marketplace of this sleepy little red neck town of about 100,000.

It took me a few years to get established in White Rock, BC, as well. I had come to the NDP influenced province of BC from the Ralph Klein “tell someone who cares” province of Alberta about eight years ago.

Ralph was in the midst of eliminating a ten-katillion-dollar deficit from the frivolous free spending of the previous administration, and slashed just about every job that one would otherwise think was kinda essential. Bad timing if you had chosen to be in either the health care or education system as a little kid.

But his method of madness worked. A myriad of government departments became privatized, and as a result, had to enter the business mainstream like everyone else. Finally, you went to renew your car insurance in a friendly, helpful and well staffed environment. Liquor stores became filled with selection and actually opened past 5:00 p.m. It was a free market system, not kept afloat by the public trough, and it was better.

Business in Edmonton was cutthroat and a never ending revolving door of opportunity. As fast as you lost a client, one would be knocking on your door. Clients had a choice and once they grew weary of a certain style, they simply moved on to someone else. We all got that, and the risk usually paid off in dividends.  

I know, I know: go back to Alberta then and lounge in your backyard with eight foot snow drifts in June. I’m just sayin’...

In BC, people are content with mediocrity and obsessed with loyalty, to the point where it is sometimes difficult to even give your services away. I will say in defense of BC politics, though, that current Premier Christy Clark is a damn sight easier on the eyes than Ralph ever was even, on his best day of sobriety.

Tomorrow is a watershed moment in my business career. Either I will make some all important contacts and network my name out to the business community, or I can start to rehearse the all important phrase “would you like fries with that...?”