{"id":20934,"date":"2021-04-21T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T16:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=20934"},"modified":"2021-04-22T11:23:09","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T18:23:09","slug":"local-photographer-dan-eastabrook-featured-in-fortune-gallery-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2021\/04\/21\/local-photographer-dan-eastabrook-featured-in-fortune-gallery-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Local photographer Dan Eastabrook featured in Fortune Gallery exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2001, Dan Eastabrook made the winning bid on an old Fuji digital camera on eBay and started taking pictures. Twenty years later, he\u2019s being featured in Real Life, Real Light<\/em>, a solo show at Fortune Gallery.<\/p>\n

Eastabrook is a multi-genre photographer with a penchant for landscape and urban images. He attended Victoria\u2019s Western Academy of Photography in 2006, and again in 2009, taking both the Written Image and Advanced Visual Communications courses. Eastabrook says that the photojournalism aspect of these courses was the primary influence on his artistic style because it emphasizes true-to-life imagery rather than shots that have been altered or fabricated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI prefer things that are more spontaneous and real and genuine, the things that perhaps tell a story and are more natural,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t like to pose, I don\u2019t like to construct. If I\u2019m looking at a person, I want something genuine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eastabrook says that he doesn\u2019t like to heavily Photoshop his images, because it compromises the inherent essence of the subject.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Dan Eastabrook’s “Stairwell of the Centennial Carillion” (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t like to do things that alter the fundamental truth of an image,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t do a lot of touch-ups to things like skin and imperfections and things like that. I like to shoot people the way they are and the way they wind up in the final picture, not airbrushed\u2014that\u2019s just not my thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

This rigorous authenticity applies to inanimate subjects as well. Eastabrook acknowledges that heavily altered images of landscapes are popular, but feels that it\u2019s simply turning the initial vistas into something fake.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them are just retouched to hell, you can look at them and think, this is not even anything close to real, and I get dismayed at that a little,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I shoot a landscape, I try to keep it as close to what I saw as possible, and not what I think I saw, or want to see, because then you\u2019re pushing yourself into areas like shades of green that don\u2019t exist, or skies that just weren\u2019t there, things like that. That genuine look is what informs all my shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eastabrook says that he appreciates finding abstract geometric form within everyday structures, as well as contrasting light and darkness; a good example of this is his picture \u201cStairwell of the Centennial Carillion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cConcrete is really good for that sort of thing, especially when you\u2019ve got something like the juxtaposition between the lines of the pillars and the curving lines of the staircase itself,\u201d he says. \u201cIf it\u2019s an artificial construct, I like to look for things like line and geometry and shape, and if it involves people I try to include them in that same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eastabrook enjoys taking naturalistic photographs of people on the street, but says he believes it is crucially important to be respectful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trick is both respect and bravery at the same time, and it\u2019s hard to pull off,\u201d he says. \u201cYou keep a respectful distance but you get the shot as well. You have to be respectful because you are in essence taking from someone. And you don\u2019t necessarily have to give back, but you are taking from someone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eastabrook believes that photography is important to a culture and its people, because it provides artistic value in addition to documenting history.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecord keeping, being a witness\u2014I think, since its inception, its creation, it\u2019s a fundamental thing of any culture. I think that journalists and artists will always serve a purpose, I think they\u2019re both equally important, they both serve a greater need,\u201d he says. \u201cWith regards to a particular culture, you need something to both create art and be a witness to events, and photography can do both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Real Life, Real Light
\n<\/em>Until Wednesday, April 28
\nFortune Gallery
\nfortunegallery.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2001, Dan Eastabrook made the winning bid on an old Fuji digital camera on eBay and started taking pictures. Twenty years later, he\u2019s being featured in Real Life, Real Light, a solo show at Fortune Gallery. Eastabrook is a multi-genre photographer with a penchant for landscape and urban images. He attended Victoria\u2019s Western Academy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20934"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20954,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20934\/revisions\/20954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}