Hassan Arshad, Vancouver photojournalist and multimedia photographer » Blog

Gone Fishin’ at Burrard Inlet

Hassan Arshad — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:38:37 +0000

These photos also explain why I tote my camera with me every time I leave my house. What I loved about each photo was how much fun each man was having, whether it was in enjoying a secluded section of the beach or chatting it up with friends as you fish. A lazy, sunny, Vancouver morning is the perfect time to go fish or to do what most couples would, go to the beach.

Vancouver “First Half” Half-Marathon

Hassan Arshad — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 04:43:17 +0000

This Sunday my friend Matt was running in the 22nd “First Half” Half Marathon and since I hadn’t really gotten to many images of actual races I decided this would be a great opportunity for me to catch runners in their element. Plus I wanted to get a few photos of Matt, since he helped a good bit over the past year. So I woke up at six, prepared by grabbing both cameras and headed down to Homer St.

Unlike almost every other time I have driven to downtown Vancouver, I was actually able to find parking and it only cost me $2.50. Okay so back to the race. It was a beautiful morning with a few bouts of ominous clouds making their way over the city. But mostly it was beautiful, a little chilly but mostly perfect running weather.

Matt is currently training for the Boston Marathon but he will also be running Vancouver’s annual Sun Run. His motivation for running is to raise money for Parkinson’s research with the help of TEAMFOX.

I am really glad I went. It was amazing for me to hear that Matt finished 15 minutes faster than he did the last time he ran a half marathon and that his email to me the night before said he would be done in 1:30 and he finished at 1:30:14. It was also wonderful to see how many spectators showed up to this. There were a lot of families and the kids seemed to be having a lot of fun just watching and playing at the park near by. Many climbed on top of monkey bars just to get a higher vantage point to see the runners.

Anyway, I’ll let the photos tell the rest. Oh and the people who ran this were amazing. It is hard to put such dedication into words and that is why I love pictures. :D

I loved how their bodies almost seem in sync.

The start of the race

A young girl waits close to the finish line

The kid looked right at me as people sped passed him.

The home stretch, right before the last turn

Matt pushing it at the very end of the race

The finish line

Matt after he finished the run

A woman rings a cowbell at the finish line to motivate those who are close to the end

Vancouver Public Library Egypt protest

Hassan Arshad — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 07:31:09 +0000

There was a protest today outside the Vancouver Public Library. The purpose of the protest was to show solidarity with the people of Egypt and Tunisia. There were protestors from several countries but they all had one unifying theme, to bring democracy to Egypt by getting rid of the authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak.

Despite the dark clouds and subsequent rain the crowd piled in the centre of the VPL square. Holding signs and flags the protestors chanted about the current Egyptian president and his 30 grasp of power. Some of the chantings were in English and then there were several in Arabic. The crowd swelled even though it started raining harder as the protest went on.

Several people in the crowd huddled under a blue canopy set up by the organizers to help get children and anyone seeking cover from the rain a place to stand.

CBC and Me

Hassan Arshad — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:35:04 +0000

Around three weeks ago Kathryn Gretsinger, my UBC prof. and a CBC morning news host, took us on a day trip to the CBC Vancouver headquarters. There were around 20 of us from the UBC School of Journalism. It was a rainy day with bouts of dry spells but mostly a treacherous downpour. That didn’t keep me from enjoying a brief look into the CBC headquarters. It was interesting to see how the office was set up including where I get my morning news from and how the people who put it together get it to radio.

It was an great experience for me to see the hard work involved in bringing news to people 24 hours a day.

So I’m going to share some pictures from the trip.

-Hassan

Autumn in Vancouver

Hassan Arshad — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:53:35 +0000

Lately I’ve been admiring the vibrant autumn colors, which was quite a relief considering we didn’t have this season last year in Fort McMurray, Alberta. I will be adding more to this post later in the day. I am currently in class today and we are discussing photojournalism. :)

Farm Animal Portraits: Arbor Acres Pumpkin Patch

Hassan Arshad — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:15:33 +0000

Last year I saw a blog post on the New York Times lens (Photojournalism Blog) called Behind the Scenes: Looking Fabulous in Fur and I was awestruck at the beautiful farm animal portraits and how the photographer applied fashion photography techniques to light these beautiful animals. So when Lindsey and I went to Arbor Acres Pumpkin Patch last week I decided to make some portraits. While I didn’t use lighting the portraits like Mr. Rob MacInnis, (different styles different results) I love the emotion and tenderness of my images. This is my preferred way of shooting, carrying little, shoot more and enjoy the beauty and chaos that is life.

I knew the moment I thrust my finger to release the shutter images were going to be special. My photography is often defined by the eyes, my subjects eyes and these portraits did just that. The horses eyes show a serene and calming natural essence, one that is often seen in a fulfilled life, but also seen in the melancholy life. While I can’t ever be sure what emotion these animals were feeling, I hope it was of a fulfilled life. One that saw sweeping pastures and was filled with love and gentle care.

Portrait of a llama in Arbor Acres Pumpkin Patch

The eyes are what drew me to this horse and the portrait perfectly encapsulates their beauty and experience

Llama profile portrait, this I think was a perfect profile photo.

A young lady pets the horse as the llama looks for love. I loved this photo as soon as I saw it, it exemplifies the importance of a simple touch and how both animals and humans crave this feeling.

Broadway and Subway

Hassan Arshad — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 06:06:06 +0000

On the way home from work today I decided it was time for a change. I need to take more photos everyday. So with that said, I can talk about the day. I took a couple of cool shots today after work. I was on the skytrain and as I was leaving the Broadway station (Also cambie street), I got a skateboarder on doing some tricks on the ground level of the skytrain station. And then immediately to my left I got another neat shot. This is how it came about. I finished shooting the two shots of the skate broader and then to my left I see a good bit of people crossing the street, I always love shooting people walking on streets, but the thing that was different about this shot was the following; it had the sun glaring a beam of light down half the frame and it caught people in light. So that is what made that photo for me.

Anyway thats it for today. I’ll post again soon.

Courtyard Croquet

Hassan Arshad — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 06:55:01 +0000

Last week wonderful St. John’s friends invited us to play some croquet, well actually we just invited ourselves, but just pretend it was the former. And so we, Lindsey and myself, seized on this opportunity to try to learn this game. It was definitely an interesting experience. I loved the concept of having a hammer and hitting things, yes destruction makes me happy, although only when it doesn’t involve lawsuits. Anywho, I had such a great time watching everyone play croquet, Lindsey and I decided that we would join next time and there are pictures to show that. So stay posted and you shall see more. Until then, enjoy these.

Hassan

Night Time In Vancouver and the hunger that motivates

Hassan Arshad — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:11:18 +0000

A few weeks ago I went out to get some food and decided to make the trip to the Japadog in downtown Vancouver. It was a Saturday night so Vancouver was as lively as ever. What fascinated me the most was the lights and colors you see when you are doing night photography, especially when there is a mix of rain on the streets. The pictures I got form this trip were pretty amazing. I particularly loved the colors around the Japadog area. So I snapped a few and went about my way, although you can already guess that I did get a hotdog first, it was pretty good, although I’m actually not a huge fan of Japadog, it is nice but I’ll take a regular hotdog anyday. With that being said, I think I should add that I don’t eat hotdogs very often, although if you read my blog you would probably think differently.

Anyway, enjoy the images!

Brownopoly, reverse colonialism never felt so good.

Hassan Arshad — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 07:10:47 +0000

So Lindsey and I just got back from Brownopoly, or as the rest of the world knows it as Monopoly: India Edition. Though I wasn’t playing (Lindsey was playing, I got to, well, snap pictures) I did get to partake in a few decisions with Lindsey… Yes, we still lost.

There were many rivalries, like Pearl not selling the one property she owned to Arun, who didn’t have a complete set for that very same reason. Katie and Asad, played together and won. Nooshin, Pearl and Arun had probably some of the funniest conversations. Brownopoly was a complete success. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the negotiations skills of Stephan. That would have made the game that much better.

We (Asad, Pearl, Katie, Arun, Lindsey, Me, Jen, Stephan, Nooshin (Don’t kill me if I misspelled your name)) All had such a great time. Okay I know this is a really short entry but I have to be up pretty early for work so I’m going to leave it at this for the moment. I’ll probably add a little bit more tomorrow.