I am proud to share with you this wonderful piece of work that we did with Victoria Regehr.
In this collaboration, we explored shooting more with neon lights.
I am so eager to shoot this because of this reason…
In 1953, Neon Products boasted there were 19,000 neon signs in the city of Vancouver — one for every 18 residents.
No more. Times changed, neon faded in popularity, and was even derided as a “sleazy light source” by anti-blight crusaders. In the late 1960s Vancouver council enacted laws that put an end to the big neon spectacular — for decades you couldn’t even put up a flashing neon sign. Today there are only a few dozen of the 19,000 signs left.
Now that they’re almost all gone, the city has had a change of heart. It’s encouraging neon on Granville Street downtown, which has resulted in several wonderful new signs, such as a box of McDonald’s french fries that light up one-by-one.
Elegant new neon signs have also been the crowning touch on beautiful renovations of the Pennsylvania and St. Regis hotels downtown. But even as downtown basks in a new neon glow, many of the city’s best vintage signs continue to disappear.
I was inspired by a Famous New York Photographer Brandon Woelfel.
So many classic neon signs have been lost, Heritage Vancouver is thinking of putting neon signs on its annual list of Vancouver’s most endangered heritage sites.
“They disappear because they reference the original business, not the business that’s there, and the [new] business doesn’t want them,” says Don Luxton of Heritage Vancouver.
“It’s just of a hell of a time trying to save these things.”
The Vancouver Museum has a collection of vintage neon signs, including classics like the Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret (the Buddha’s belly ripples) and the Aristocratic Cafe (featuring the store’s dapper mascot, Risty).
But the museum has limited storage — the Aristocratic sign is so large it won’t fit through the museum’s doors, and had to be displayed outside when the museum put on a neon display. It has recently passed on several old signs, including Wally’s Burgers and Ted Harris Paints.
This pushed me to make this photoshoot happened.
I am very pleased to collaborate with Victoria Regehr in this shoot.
A little bit about Victoria…
Victoria Regehr, was born and raised in the province of Alberta, Canada. She had this passion of baking and have the dream to open a bakery of her own someday specializing in edibles. Then later moved and living in Vancouver, B.C. Canada.
Victoria have a love for all kinds of arts, including photography.
Victoria have recently had the opportunity to fulfill a new found hobby on the other side of the camera.
You can find more abut Victoria Regehr on her social media where she shares her passion and inspire others.
Here are the before (left) and After (right) of the shoot…
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Moodyrange
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Urban
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