Photography by Leonard Whistler

VCC Printing Production Certificate Course

In September 1987 I took a 10-month Printing Production certificate course at Vancouver Community College (VCC) in Vancouver, Canada. I finished the course in June 1988.

I took this course because I was interested in printing up a 12-month calendar of my images from the concert photography (Blog post #008) I was doing at the time, and I wanted to learn how offset printing worked.

For the final project the students were required to print a 2-color job on a 1-color offset printing press. Since I was collecting Canadian stubby beer bottles (Blog post #011), I decided to print some beer bottle labels. I designed the labels on an Apple Macintosh Plus computer and printed them on a 25-inch L125C Harris offset printing press.

Canadian Stubby Beer Bottles

From about 1976 to 1983 I collected Canadian Stubby beer bottles. All major Canadian breweries bottled their beer in the same bottle from the 1960's to about 1984. I have almost 300 bottles in my collection.

If you have any Stubby beer bottles and are curious how much they might be worth, check the Completed and Sold Items on eBay. Or the collectibles section on Craigslist.

I have created a website at www.stubby.ca for my collection: Canadian Stubby Beer Bottles

Good Morning from Burnaby BC, Canada

To start my day after my breakfast, I went to the Starbucks at Brentwood Town Centre in Burnaby BC, Canada. Burnaby is a suburb of Vancouver, Canada.

This Starbucks location is very easy to get to, it is about 100 feet from the Brentwood SkyTrain Station. SkyTrain is Metro Vancouver's rapid transit system.

Drone Videos

I bought a DJI Mavic Air 2 drone a few years ago. In Canada you need a Basic Drone License to fly a drone that weighs more than 249 grams, this drone weighs 570 grams.

DJI drones are easy to use. They feature automated take-off and landing, simple and intuitive flight controls, simple image & video exposure controls, compact design. They are also very reasonably priced for the technology inside them.

I uploaded 9 drone videos to my YouTube channel - Drone Videos Playlist - and my favorite video is an aerial view of Como Lake Park during the winter in Coquitlam BC, Canada.

Como Lake Park - Coquitlam BC, Canada

Concert Photography

From about 1984 to about 1990 I was interested in concert photography and planned to publish a calendar of Vancouver bands. The 16x20 print I am holding is of Madelaine Morris when she was with Moev at the New York Theatre on Commercial Drive in East Vancouver taken in 1984 - this was my first concert photo.

During the next few years I photographed a few more Vancouver bands in concert but decided not to publish the calendar. I don't have any of the negatives from the time I was working on this project, I had no use for them so I disposed of them around 1995.

Moon Phase Triptych

There are eight lunar phases - new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, third quarter, and waning crescent. The cycle repeats every 29½ days.

A triptych is a picture or artwork divided into three sections and displayed side-by-side. The term comes from the Greek word triptykhos, which means "three-layered". Triptychs are often used to create sequences, or to show different elements of the same subject matter.

The triptych composite image below includes the first quarter, full moon, and third quarter. I used a Canon 5D III with a Sigma 150-600mm f5-6.3 Contemporary lens at 600mm & Canon 2x extender.

I also made a 14-second YouTube short video, which you can view at: Three Moon Phases - YouTube

SFU Trottier Observatory

Here I am at the Simon Fraser University (SFU) Trottier Observatory - elevation 370 meters. Built in 2014 and located at the SFU campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby BC, Canada. The observatory is open to the public every Friday night depending on the weather.

Good Morning! Happy Saturday

Good morning from Vancouver BC, Canada. I am at the historic Waterfront Station in Downtown Vancouver, which was built in 1914 by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). It is the main transit terminal in Vancouver serviced by Skytrain, which is Vancouver's rapid transit system, SeaBus to North Vancouver, and West Coast Express to Mission City.

After my breakfast, I usually go to the Starbucks in this building. This Starbucks location was the first international Starbucks store to open outside the USA on March 1, 1987.

Street Sign Triptych

A triptych is a picture or artwork divided into three sections and displayed side-by-side. The term comes from the Greek word triptykhos, which means "three-layered". Triptychs are often used to create sequences, or to show different elements of the same subject matter.

In the metro Vancouver, Canada area there are 3 streets with my name. Leonard Road is in Richmond, Keith Street is in Burnaby, and Whistler Place is also in Richmond.

My 1999 Chevrolet Venture Minivan

In 2008 I purchased this 1999 Chevrolet Venture Minivan for 5,000 Canadian dollars, and I still have it. It is a very reliable and practical vehicle. I have owned it for almost 17 years now. The picture on the right was taken in 2022.

Vancouver Photography Book

In March 2024 I published an 80-page Vancouver photography book with 79 images of Vancouver BC, Canada. I got them printed at Mixam Canada, and the quality is very good. 100 copies were printed and the cost was 1,800 Canadian dollars.

The Metrotown location of Indigo Books has some copies of my book in the store and the retail price is $24.99. The books sell on a consignment basis and I get 55% of the retail price. The books are very prominently displayed. In the image to the right I am at the book store and my book is in the bottom/right of the picture.

In about 3 months Indigo Books has sold 12 copies of my book. In the picture to the right, I have the first check I received from Indigo for book sales.

I am also selling my book on my website at: Vancouver Photography Book. There is also more information about my book on that page.

About Me

Hello! Welcome to my website. My name is Leonard, but I usually go by Len. I am currently living in Coquitlam BC, Canada, which is about 20 kilometers from Vancouver BC, Canada. I was born in Vancouver and grew up in Coquitlam.

I like to start my day with a relaxing trip to Vancouver for my morning breakfast, coffee, and walk. I take the #152 bus to SkyTrain - Vancouver's rapid transit system - which then takes me to Downtown Vancouver. I get my breakfast and coffee then head back to Coquitlam after a brief walk in downtown Vancouver.

Photography, website coding, and my YouTube channel are hobbies of mine. I have created 2 websites and have a YouTube channel:

If you are interested in photography I recommend a Canon mirrorless camera, such as the Canon EOS R with the Canon RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM lens. For image editing, I use Adobe Lightroom Classic and GIMP. For video editing, I use Davinci Resolve 18.

If you are interested in creating a website I recommend studying HTML, CSS, PHP, MariaDB, and JavaScript. You can register a .com domain from GoDaddy for about $30 USD/year and hosting multiple websites at Hostinger is about $36.00 USD/year.