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Bonkers

Bonkers
Bonkers, pictured, is a local watering hole in my Hintonburg neighbourhood.

I posted this photo on Flickr yesterday, and this is a suggested crop of that image (thank you for your input folks!). The nice thing about this shot, for me, is that it was something I had pre-envisioned. I knew I wanted to take another HDR of a local establishment (a previous photo can be seen here), and I knew that, on it’s own, Bonkers seemed a little plain. I knew that if I waited for the rain, for a wet street, that the reflection would stand out, and I could really pop the colours.

I actually grabbed this image with my G11 point and shoot – I’ve had so many great opportunities with this camera – on my way out and was able to brace myself against a wall to snag this image (3 exposures -2,0,+2 EV). I normally don’t recommend hand-held HDR’s though – like most images you want sharp with lots of detail they can really suffer with the slightest shift.

Apr 14, 2011 | Categories: HDR | Tags: , , , | Comments Off on Bonkers

MetamorFaces – Carolyn

MetamorFaces - Carolyn
Another photo from the shoot with art by MetamorFaces May Mazor.

The model, this time Carolyn, wanted to give her boyfriend a special gift (he’s a football fan, He likes the… Tigers… I fail at sports). I’m pretty sure he’ll be pleased with the gift – I don’t know a lot of guys who’d turn down this kind of pu… kitty cat.

If you missed the update from Monday, there’s a timelapse video available of the whole shoot, and if you did see it, well, Carolyn is the one you got to see the most of!

The girls were a blast to shoot. So trusting and fun to work with, they’re not professional models, but really, I think they did an outstanding job in front of the lens! I’ll likely post a few more pics over the next few days on my Flickr page too. Setup below:

Apr 12, 2011 | Categories: Portraits | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Canadian Women's Foundation

Canadian Women's Foundation

Last week I had the pleasure to photograph a very special cheque presentation here in Ottawa. A local fundraising group, on behalf of the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF), had raised money for local women’s shelters.

This kicked off the CWF’s Shelter from the Storm campaign, which aims to raise awareness AND money for women’s homes, shelters, and trying to help those fleeing abuse. Last week there was a survivor of abuse there, she told a remarkable story, that gave us all pause. Out of respect I didn’t photograph her and made sure she wasn’t in the background of any of my images. It’s terrifying to think about what she and her family had to go through, let alone to know she’s still isolated, that she has to be wary. I often forget the “power” guys can have, the inequality and unfairness some people have to live through…

You may look at this and see people smiling, yeah, they did a good job, they should celebrate that victory. Tomorrow half of those pictured go back to run shelters that save women’s lives, and the lives of their families every day – they deserved a break.

Apr 04, 2011 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Comments Off on Canadian Women's Foundation

Bikram Yoga Ottawa

Bikram Yoga Ottawa

I was recently contacted to shoot a very unique space: Bikram Yoga.

Bikram, as I’ve been told, is the progenitor of “hot” yoga. Which seems like a steamy mess to me but, Yogi’s be damned, you gotta make something tricky even harder.

The space is an old building at 71 Bank, you take this rickity small elevator up and, on the third floor, you’re welcomed to this delightfully warm rennovated space.

This was my first time taking my revised lighting kit, and I needed every pice of gear I had in there, especially in the front room.

It’s important for me to show a clients space the best it can be, the textures, the lights – in my mind, there shouldn’t be any (or many) cavernous dark spaces, which is why I bring so much with me: it takes more than a wide angle lens and a tripod to pull off any number of these shots. The image below shows what it would have looked like without any additional flashes.

Bikram Ottawa is a new studio, and they’re definitely looking for new clients, the owner, Claire, has certainly poured a lot of time, energy, and her soul into this venture, so of course, I want to see her succeed!

Apr 01, 2011 | Categories: Interiors | 1 Comment »

Workshops

Workshops

As creatives, and importantly, as professionals, we should all take a workshop, if you live in Ottawa, you should take THIS workshop specifically.

In 2009 I had learned my camera, all the lenses, f-stops, buttons, and settings and whatever other douchery I could handle. But I was strugling with a fundamentally “noob” issue, a weak-point that bugged me: my composition. Yes I was taking photos, and yes they were pretty good, but they weren’t as good as I wanted them to be, and there was something that I literally wasn’t “seeing” the best way to frame a subject in a setting.

Up to this point I was taking pretty decent portraits, but I wanted to expand and include a more creative set of environmental images to my repetoire. I wanted to take great portraits, of great people in great places. The thing about photography is that – while some may have an innate ability to see an image – you can practice and learn to get better, if you want to. I needed to get better at composing my images and then a wonderful opportunity came my way.

Workshops, in my mind, had been for the wealthy, and well travelled. They always seemd to be in Nepal, or Arizona, or California, or basically somewhere I’d have to pay to get to, and then pay to stay, and then pay to participate. This was not going to fly on my humble salary. Then, along came Younes and his (noteably quite affordable) Fall workshop right here in Ottawa!

Who better to teach me the art of composition than one of the better landscape photographers I had ever seen (and at this point, no, I did not know him beyond the internets). And teach he did! Me and (five… I think?) others took a two day, full day, crash course in getting up early, hiking to some great locations, setting up and photographing them. The group was small enough that Younes was able to take his time with each one of us and see what we were shooting, offering suggestions on composition, camera settings, and alternative options if we were way off track.

There’s a very small Flickr group with his early workshop participant photos here. But I think it’s important to know that these are the students, Younes can only show you the way. Like any good teacher, he wants to guide you not cram his way into your brain. You take the teachings and make them applicable to you. And it’s important. It’s important to have an outside opinion, to try something that you don’t normally do (Landscapes seem far from Portraits right?). And it’s important that you become the final measure of your own work.

For me, taking the workshop boosted my skillset, allowed me to see, and photograph in a way I hadn’t previously. It improved my technique, it improved my product for my clients, and it improved my own satisfaction with my art. It also allowed me to meet one of the best friends I’ve made in a long time. Younes has helped me countless times since his workshop, photographically, as a friend, and a part of my family (he recently came into my home and my 3-year-old Son didn’t even blink, he just sat on the couch and they both watched TV until I came into the room).

So, yeah, I’m biased. This isn’t a completely objective review of the workshop, but it’s a hell of a deal and, in this case, you get TWO photographers teaching you. Can you afford NOT to go?

Mar 30, 2011 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 1 Comment »