I contrast the surface textures, coloration and architecture of two Vancouver office buildings here to express the city’s passage through time. One of them is a gleaming contemporary aluminum clad skyscraper, while the other is a deeply shadowed 19th century structure. My comparison stresses differences in scale and architectural design as well. Two primary colors are at work here – the deep blue tinted windows of the contemporary building and the red stone facing on the vintage structure. The early morning light reflects within the windows of the old building, symbolizing the gilded age in which it was built, and intensifying its vintage mood. I did not fall into the trap of describing these buildings in their entirety, thereby introducing conflicting subject matter. Instead, I move in on them to abstract both buildings by only showing a part of each. I juxtapose them at right angles to each other, one as background,  the other in the foreground. I used my spot metering mode, exposing for the new building, and allowing the older building to gradually fade into the shadows of time.

About this blog:

When Ragan Communications launched this site in 2007, CEO Mark Ragan invited me to write this regular blog on visual literacy. We now stand at 112 installments, and I intend to continue offering them here as a service to communications professionals. I illustrate this blog with my own images of people at work around the world. (Most of these photos are part of my multi-gallery cyberbook on expressive digital travel photography and photojournalism at http://www.pbase.com/pnd1) I base these commentaries on what I have learned during my thirty-eight years of training communicators in visual literacy.

As director of The Douglis Visual Workshops, I have presented more than eleven hundred workshops to more than 10,000 organizational communicators. I have also been writing columns on photojournalism for the International Association of Business Communicators since 1964, and have contributed columns and articles to many Ragan publications over the years. In 2009, I produced a book through Blurb.com entitled "Images and Ideas," featuring 160 of my photographs paired as ideas. (Link to info is on my profile page.)

Mark has also encouraged me to use this blog as a means of providing info on my training services. I now offer all of my training programs as one-on-one tutorial workshops in digital imaging and photographic communication. These tutorials provide flexibility in cost, length, and content, extend from one to four days, include hands-on projects and intensive field work, and can be adjusted to cover everything from basic digital photography skills and photo-editing, to photographic expression. I offer these tutorials in Phoenix, Arizona, on dates selected by participants. You can request information, or schedule training, by sending an email to me at pnd1@cox.net. I welcome your questions and comments, and will respond accordingly. Thanks for following this blog.