Pierre Bourgault - Photographer

Lightroom 4 beta - highlights and all that jazz

2012-01-14T12:20:00.000-08:00

I'm having too much fun with the new Lightroom 4 beta. If you want the basic intro bla bla bla to what I am doing, look at my prior post on Clarity. I'm too lazy to repeat myself.

The next major component that I live off of in photo editing is the tones (I think that's what it is called). This is where you set the contrast, exposure and other fun things.

Lightroom 3 had a series of adjustment sliders that were practical, but if pushed too far, made the image look a wee bit crappy. Exposure, recovery, fill, black, brightness, contrast. These have been redesigned for Lightroom 4 and are now exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks.

Playing around with them, they seem to do a similar job, however, they allow you greater control over the tone details. Here is an example of some tweaking I did, again, using my "push the slider to the max" uber testing method.

This is the straight out of camera image. I know, I know. It is pretty damn dark. Well, this image was part of a 5 shot HDR (where you merge variously exposed images into 1). This was purposely done at a -2 exposure level. But I thought it would be a great candidate to test out how Lightroom 4 will work at filling in shadows and dark spots, without killing the image quality.

Well, I think the image speaks for itself! From that dark image, I maxed out the highlights, shadows and whites and I ended up with a pretty decent image which retained a good amount of detail.

*a little note here that I always shoot in RAW, rarely in JPG. The reason is that the RAW file will contain ALOT more data than the JPG, which compresses the data into a smaller file size. A typical RAW would be around 21 mb while the equivalent JPG would be about 12 mb, or half the size. So this type of adjustment may not be possible with a JPG.*

With many of my urban shoots, I love to add some clarity. After my last tests with the new clarity slider, I decided to also use it on this one (and once again, maaaaxed out). Here is what my adjustment sliders looked like for this final test image.

Yep... maxed out.

Ok, now this is getting inter-resting! From LR4 sliders only, I'm getting an HDR feel to this image. A bit surrealist / exaggerated, but still not totally over the top!

And for a point of reference, here is similar processing of the same under exposed image done in Lightroom 3 (recovery, fill, clarity all maxed). Similar effect, but not as punchy. Look at the clouds in the two images or even the level of "grit" on the floor.

The whole point of posting these maxed out adjustments is not to show how crazy you can make an image, but to visually explain that while you can push things to a much funkier max, you now have alot more flexibility in the in between levels.

Not sure how much more time I'll have with the software, I'm hoping to push through some portrait adjustments and try out the new brushes.

Lightroom 4 beta testing - Clarity

2012-01-13T22:10:00.000-08:00

My choice software for editing is Adobe's Lightroom 3. Why LR? It is fast. The workflow I have with the software gets me through an entire set of show images, selected, edited, exported, watermarked, usually in under an hour. It's a godsend for me.

So when a friend sent me a link to the Lightroom 4 beta download, I decided to give it a try. It's always fun to see what the software companies are doing. The beta comes with a bunch of warnings about how it can be buggy, crash and so on, so it is always a risk installing something like this. But no worries, they don't allow you to update your Lightroom 3 image catalog, so your existing images and edits and safe.

There are a good number of changes to the software that I won't really try out as they don't interest me and I don't currently use them. Such as a new map that shows the location of your images and a Book module that seems to be linked to Blurb (actually, looks cool).

I'm really curious about the changes to the image processing. In my image processing, I'm usually tweaking exposure, contrast, clarity, fill / recovery light, highlights/shadows, white balance, saturation and then noise and sharpening if needed.

Note that my testing is usually pretty simplistic. I'll stick with one adjustment slider, crank it to the max and then the min. I'll compare with the same thing in Lightroom 3. I'll throw in some various sliders, try and do the same thing I normally do in Lightroom 3 and compare the end results.

So my first stop is the Clarity slider. I love Clarity in Lightroom 3 for urban shots. I find it's great around 50-70% where there are lines and detail in the image. I use it sparingly for people shots, maybe 5-10% as I don't like the effect too much. It tends to bring out wrinkles in the face and give the subject a very harsh look, without adding much interest to the image.

For this test, I took an image of Tim Lambesis, lead singer of As I Lay Dying from the Heavy MTL festival. A rare moment where he isn't jumping around. This first image is straight out of the camera, no edits other than whatever default Lightroom 4 has in there (which is typically just sharpening for export).

Slightly under exposed, but a decent image to try out the Clarity slider. The light is a bit flat so the clarity shouldn't hurt the facial details too much, but I really like the murky background. This would be an image I pump a little more Clarity into.

So in Lightroom 4, all I did was max the Clarity to 100% and this is what I get. Take note of the changes in the hair and also in the tattoos.

I am really liking the effect. While at 100% it is a bit harsh (but then, there is no better way to get the full appreciation of the processing it is doing than going max), I am really digging the contrast and variances it is throwing in the detail. The face is brighter, the hair really pops. I'm not a fan of how it turned the lettering on his shirt grey, but what can you do.

For fun, here is what maxed Clarity looks like in Lightroom 3. Not as intense as the new Lightroom 4, probably more on the realistic side, but I like how I can adjust the Lightroom 4 version to really pump out the details or tone it down for just a little bit. I rather have the option than no option at all.

Pretty straight forward. Next up, I'll be working on my favorite set of adjustments next, the highlights, shadows, whites, darks... or the things that add contrast into an image!

Look back on a Mercedes promo shoot

2011-12-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

My good friend Didier was asked to take on a photoshoot for a promo for a Mercedes dealership event. He gave me a call to see if I wanted to help out, two heads are better than one (although some could argue that our two heads only equal one!). We exchanged a few emails, met up for supper, drew up some sketches and had a great collaboration going.

After getting some volunteer models, hair, makeup and all that wonderful photoshoot stuff, we were psyched for the day. Any day you get to have access to Mercedes cars for a day, specially 2 SLS AMGs, you get psyched.

"What?? We need to move the car AGAIN! Sure!! No prob!"

I actually would just randomly start up the car and rev the engine for fun. Yeah, I'm such a kid.

Ok, back to the shoot. We weren't too sure what to expect. We knew it was their basement and we had cars. Didier had seen the place before, but how were we going to make this work with 8 cards (2 SLS and 6 C300) is usually something you only really know when you get there. So you plan to be ready for anything and pack everything. This included multiple speedlights, softboxes, umbrellas, Profoto strobes, reflectors, way too many lenses, diffusers, an actual red carpet, dresses, fur coats...and the list goes on.

Having had just a few hours of sleep (due to a full day shoot and night gig the day before), I got to the dealership around 9am. The models were scheduled in for 11am for makeup and hair. The SilverStar Mercedes dealership were just awesome. Full access to their cars and facilities made our day much easier.

This is pretty much what it looked like when I walked in. Didier had just arrived and was there setting up and Emily was coming in to lend a hand.

A little bit tight. Low ceiling, reflective walls. So the first order of business, after getting some detail shots of the grills, was to clear out all but the 2 SLS, which were our showcase cars.

Now in the process of planning, we had some ideas already down, but we like to try things out as we set up as ideas keep coming. Here is an attempt at an setup with a strong back light that we didn't end up using. We had a few ideas of how to make it work, but decided that it didn't flow with our various setups and left it out. There is always next time!

Anyone who has been on a photoshoot with me, or has actually worked with me at any point and time, knows that goofing off is must and I'm always ready to lead the way. Decided to take some couple shots with my new buddies

And again, being escorted out of the car. Actually, I like to show people what I want them to do. I'm a very hands off photographer, so to get your idea across, nothing better than actually showing people what you mean. It's like a rough live sketch of an idea. A very very rough sketch. That ain't too pretty.

Cars backed out, SLS placed, lights started to click and things were pretty much taking shape. At this point, it's probably noon or so the models are getting ready, we went through the light setups for the different shots we wanted, transitions and so on. As much as I like to have fun while I work, you need to keep things moving at a good pace to ensure no one gets tired or cranky (other than me of course).

I thought this would be a PERFECT time to post up pictures of the SLS on my Facebook while standing in for a light setup. Nothing better than a bit of gloating!

Quick perspective shot, testing light placement from setup 1 to setup 2. Notice how thrilled Emily and I look? At least she faked a half smile. All I'm missing is to raise my leg and do a Captain Morgan pose. Yes, that is why I work behind the camera...

In playing in the cars ... I mean, moving them to their purposeful locations! ... we loved the look of the lights of the cars on. So we grabbed a giant reflector and placed it in front to bounce light back into the model's face.

And this is how it looked when we actually had models! (this is not a finished images, just a few quick edits in lightroom before throwing it up on the website)

This is my wonderful "oh crap, I just walked into your test shot! Sorry!!" moment. Yeah, those happen. I love my look of determination in heading to the other side of the room. I must of seen some coffee or something.

Our models just had to take a break and be pretend photographers. When you work with such relaxed people, moments like this are what it's about. Everyone just gelling together and having fun.

You have to love what you do. People often see the end results of a photoshoot, the perfectly touched up photos, the stunning models, the great locations. But behind all that glitz and glamour and just people trying to make great images. And in our case, awesome people taking their own weekend time to make some awesome images.

And seriously, why would anyone want another job?

M for Montreal ... M for Music ... M for Memorable

2011-11-22T08:48:00.000-08:00

Montreal is renowned for its festivals. The biggest being the Jazz Festival and the Just for Laughs comedy festival. A new festival is picking up steam. M For Montreal had its 6th edition this year. For those who don’t know, M is focused on local talent. But not just putting them on a stage to play, they have a goal of promoting local acts internationally to help opens doors. They invite music industry delegates from around the world to come to Montreal for the 4 day festival and watch the bands put on a showcase of what they do. In the past, this has led to some breakthroughs for great local bands, US tours, European tours, Asian tours, and help in promoting new albums... You can check out M’s website http://www.mpourmontreal.com/

How did I get involved in M this year? It was semi last minute. I had planned on watching Hollerado, one of the bands that are getting regular play in my headphones, who was headlining a showcase at Sala Rosa. One of the shooters who was scheduled to do the bigger shows was no longer available, so I decided to step in and shoot the shows he was scheduled to do.... which unfortunately meant that I did not get a chance to see Hollerado live.

My first gig was the M For Midnight show at Club Soda. Plaster, making their return to stage, Misteur Valaire, who are on a really quick rise, and Montreal’s darlings Bran Van 3000 were on stage for this late show. And was it ever packed. And when I mean packed, I mean PACKED. The show was actually oversold, which meant that we media had to wait outside until they could determine how much room was left in the venue. Yes, there is a disclaimer on the back of the media pass that says “if there is room”.

We weren’t the only ones waiting outside. Some fans had bought a 4 day pass that grants them access to all shows, and they were waiting outside. With the show starting at midnight, and myself and a journalist getting there around 11pm, we finally got inside around 12:30am and unfortunately only caught the tail end of Plaster’s set.

Disappointed, yes, but we were rewarded with an awesome show from Misteur Valaire and Bran Van 3000. Shooting wise, I decided to stay on the 2nd floor balcony which was initially reserved for the delegates (but they were nice enough to let me squat there). I was able to move up and down the balcony area giving me some fun angles, instead of being down on the floor with no photo pit in the middle of the chaos.

Being perched up top allows you to get some pretty fun shots of bands, like the ones below. Not traditional angles, but they can work. The problem with being more stationary is that you need to be aware and ready to shoot when the artists turn around or give a look, as this is how you will get your variety.

You can see the Mister Valaire image gallery here

You can see the Bran Van image gallery here

After a few hours of sleep and image processing, it was back out for the closing show on Saturday. I was psyched for this show as the promoter managed to put together an awesome line-up. Some artists such as Ariane Moffatt and Marie-Pierre Arthur, who are currently in studio, were convinced to come out and play on stage. Other artists such as Karkwa, Galaxie, Random Recipe and The Barr Brothers all have their stars rising and this was a great way for them to get more exposure. It was great to see Random Recipe so excited to be on the stage of the Metropolis for the first time (and definitely not the last!)

Again, no photo pit for this show, so I decided to arrive early (that being 7pm for a show that starts at 8pm) and wiggle into the front row and stay there for the evening. I’m stuck in a static position again, but I tried to use the lights to create variety in my shots. Doing this can sometimes backfire, as it did for Galaxie, as they set the backup singers right in front of me, severely limiting the shooting angles. But life gives you lemons, you make lemon vodka shooters!

The lights were all over the place. They had these tiny yellow spots down below that cast some really odd and eerie light on the artists from down below, and were often the only lights on. When the spots weren’t on, the stage was blasted from either side with these giant white lights. While I always love white light, the intensity of these lights meant quick finger dialing of new settings but gave many of the images an “I used onboard flash” look where the artist is bright and white and the rest of the scene is total black.

Using the light for a more dramatic effect during Marie-Pierre Arthur

See the full MP Arthur gallery here

See the full The Barr Brothers gallery here

See the full Ariane Moffatt gallery here

See the full Random Recipe gallery here

Small yellow spot lights gave an eerie “ghost story around the camp fire” feel to many images.

See the full Galaxie gallery here

You sometimes get interesting angles on drummers and percussionists

See the full Karkwa gallery here

It was a long and intense 2 days of shooting. Technically, as the Club Soda show started at 12:30, it was all on the same day. ;)

Thanks for reading!

Shooting a giant bed sheet (?)

2011-11-16T23:30:00.000-08:00

Had a first in terms of show shooting on Tuesday night. Which will lead to a not so glamorous set of photos, but I feel the story needs to be told (hehe)

I was assigned to shoot Steven Wilson, the singer of Porcupine Tree and also of Blackfield (whom I shot a few months ago), at the Corona theatre. The Corona is a beautiful old style theatre, however the lighting in there can be pretty dim.

When the manager tells you that you have 6 songs (instead of the regular 3), take this with a grain of salt. There is usually a reason behind it.
When the manager also gives you a free ticket for the show, on top of the 6 song limit, get ready for an interesting night.

I get in the theatre and notice this huge semi-transparent curtain in front of the stage. There were some video projections on it. So I figured the curtain will be up, the music will start, we’ll see bits of the band behind the curtain, then the music will ramp up and the curtain will come crashing down, the lights will blast, the band will go insane on stage, everyone will go crazy in the audience (ok, I’ve seen too many rock shows).

Not the case. The show started low key, with the band behind the curtain...and they stayed there. I went to one of the corners of the stage, right where there was a bit of space beside the curtain, stuck my lens through and started getting some shots. I guess I wasn’t discreet enough as within 20 seconds, the manager came by, tapped me on the shoulder and said I couldn’t do that....and then he hung around nearby

So I waited. The first song was done, curtain still up. They start putting some backlight on the curtain, making shooting pretty pointless as the backlight gets diffused in the curtain and camera sensors really don’t like this.

The image below was shot through the curtain. It still has an interesting psychedelic feel to it, which was perfect for the song being played.

Second song starts, I decide that I need to get some shots, so I head to the back and get some wider shots with the curtain and see if I can find angles that work or incorporate the curtain element into the shot. For all I know, this is the best I’ll get and I still do have an editor to answer to. While I always give my 110% at every show, there are always times where the situation is that even your 110% won't net you a magazine worthy shot.

In the curtain shots, I was looking for angles that minimized the light diffusion and tried to find interesting shadows or images.

Second song done. I see the manager standing by the backstage door so I go ask if the curtain will ever come down. He tells me it will after song 4, during song 5. So my 6 song limit is pretty much 1 ½ songs. Haha.

The curtain did come down at the start of song 5, gave me a few shots, but with the floor being busy and no photo pit, you are somewhat limited in what you can do. I did the rest of song 5 on the floor and headed up for song 6 to get some higher up shots. The lighting for the rest of the show was pretty harsh and contrasty, with some washes on the stage. For the fans, it must of been a really visually interesting show. As a photographer, the lights are part of the show. As a photojournalist, they tell the story of the event.

All in all, an interesting and challenging evening. While at first I was a bit ticked, trying to get the best you can with what you have was actually fun.

Curtain up, I was able to get some better quality shots of Steven and his band. The first below will help show the backlight that was predominant during the show. This is similar lighting to the first image I posted in the blog entry, but without the curtain.

Ready....set....shoot!

2011-10-31T22:21:00.000-07:00

My coordinator at Production Iris sent out an email asking for a last minute replacement to shoot a university football game. While I am a fan of the sport, and I have shot other sports in the distant past, I never actually had the opportunity to shoot a football game, so I jumped on the chance. After a tiny bit of convincing (as my sport portfolio isn't the grandest), he gave me the go.

So Saturday morning, I got up and prepped my equipment....all my equipment. I have shot soccer, which is similar in terms of field coverage and speed of game, and I knew that you had to be prepared for anything. So bringing 2 bodies was a must, as I would never have time to switch lenses between when the QB throws the pass and the receiver right in front of me catches it. Here is a breakdown of my gear for the day

Canon 7D + 70-200 f/2.8 + 1.4x teleconverter

This is my best the setup for max range. The 7D, as with all Canon crop sensor cameras (Rebels, 40D, 50D, 60D, 7D) have smaller sensors and thus give you an effective focal range 1.6x the actual focal range. This means that a 200mm lens is effectively a 320mm range. Attached to the 70-200, I put on a 1.4x teleconverter which made my 70-200 on a 7D into a 450mm lens. Now I'm getting into the right focal range for getting close in on a football field. The drawback of the 1.4x teleconverter is that it cuts one stop of light. So my f/2.8 lens is a maximum of f/4. Not a huge deal for a daytime sports event.

I kept this setup as my bread and butter and had it on a monopod for the whole game. This is what gets you the close up money shots. I would love to have the 400mm f/2.8 lens that the pros use, but I don't have $14,000 just lying around :)

Canon 5D2 + 24-70

This is my up close lens. A more seasoned sport shooter at Iris gave me the suggestion to keep this setup ready at all times. When the action gets really close, just grab the camera and shoot blind. I kept the Focus points to auto select and made sure I had a fast shutter speed. I kept the focal range around 40-50mm. Those few times the players come crashing down on you, I had my camera ready to go.

Other

I also kept in my bag a Canon 10-22mm for ultra wide shots, but never once took it out.
Gloves were a must as it was pretty darn cold outside. While I am moving up and down the sidelines, I'm stationary most of the time and you get cold, fast. I have these thing gloves with leather on the fingers, making the camera operation easy.

How I shot football

Knowing the game is key. You are minded like a defensive player and have to anticipate what type of play will happen. You also have to think about the shot that you want and from which angle you want it from, as this will impact how far down the field you are. If you want a side shot of the QB throwing, don't stand 30 yards away from the line of scrimmage.

Canadian football has 3 downs, as compared to American football which has 4. This means there are a lot more passes in Canadian football than in American. Other slight rule differences (which don't impact photography) are the field is 10 yards longer, the end zone is longer, defensive players line up a yard away from the line of scrimmage. So again, knowing the game is a great asset to having a successful shoot.

After a few plays, I figured out that when in doubt (hey, that rhymes!) stand about 10 yards down from the line of scrimmage on the defensive side. This will give a decent shot of the QB as he drops back to throw or allow you to lock on the RB for a hand off. Most throws are in the 10 yard range, so if the QB throws the ball in your direction, chances are the receiver is right nearby. Once they get within 10 yards of the goal line, heading to the back of the end zone is a good idea as this will give interesting touchdown shots. Luck of the draw and I was not in a good position for any of the touchdown shots, but I did get a few misses in the end zone

Shooting a university game is pretty action packed. I was only allowed on the side line opposite the player benches. I'm sharing this 3-4 yard wide area with the line judges, the cheerleaders, a few security guards and the other photographers. So things get pretty tight. In trying to make my way around the cheerleaders doing their thing, I got whacked in the head by a pom-pom. The referees own the sidelines, so at all times, you must not be in their way. Let them go by, then work around.

Be mindful of the play and learn to shoot with one eye open. When you are this close to the action, it goes by really fast. In the picture below, I had a great angle on the QB throwing the ball. What I failed to noticed was that the receiver was right near me. Really, I swear I was paying attention and not looking at the cheerleaders. After snapping a few shots, I had to jump out of the way as the players come crashing through very fast. And they are big, and heavy, and there are often more than just one.

All in all, I had a great time shooting. It gave me some good insight on shooting the game and having quick reactions. Always good to stretch your skills once and a while as you can pick things up that you can apply in your day to day shooting.

Thanks for reading! Here are a few more from the game. Full series of 62 are up on the website.

Save the gear!!

2011-10-11T09:47:00.001-07:00

That was my theme for the La Fouine show at Club Soda on October 6th. La Fouine is a french rapper of Morrocan origins, who is pretty popular on the other side of the ocean. And judging by the totally packed house, pretty popular here to!

You know the show is going to be packed when you are standing at the press table and the bouncers are outside trying to keep the crowd from getting in 20 minutes before the doors are scheduled to open. One poor kid was squashed up against the glass door. I decided to make my way to the front of the stage. The fun of being the house shooter is you get to go in the venue before the fans, giving you choice spot to shoot from. After my last show where I was up on the second floor, I decided to brave the front of the stage. This means that I have to be there through the opening acts, up front, there with the fans. It's actually pretty fun as you get to chat with some of the fans, learn about the artist, about them. I was about 1/4 way from the left side of the stage, giving me a decent viewing angle for when La Fouine gets on stage. The crowd kept piling in, and by 9:30pm (the show scheduled to start at 9:00pm), the front was packed about 20 deep. And when I say packed, I mean PACKED. Tighter than sardines. You get an idea of how full it was in the last image in the series below.

The crowd was getting wrestless and started pushing. Some people trying to get their latecomer friends in with them. It was a wave going from left to right. All the while, I'm trying to stick to my little spot in front of the stage, but now wondering how the hell I'm going to get out. While from of stage shots are great, I like to get at least 2 different shooting angles when there is no pit. Just getting out of the front of the stage, with my camera gear in tow, was going to be a challenge. But I'll deal with that when the time comes.

Security had to step in to break up a fight. Usually not a good sign of things to come. People kept shoving and I noticed that I was about a foot further away from where I had started. And the opener wasn't even on stage yet. So I decided to make a tactical retreat from the front of the stage before it got too chaotic. It's one thing being up front during a packed house, it's another to be up front with lenses and camera gear when the crowds are getting crazy. I made my way to beside the bar and got up on a stool. At least I'm out of the crowd and have a slightly higher shooting angle. And again, having done my visual research, I noticed that he more often holds the mic in his left hand, making the right side of the stage a better position if I am to be stuck in one place. It is always rolling the dice, but stackign the odds in your favour is a good thing.

Well, that was the idea. Just before La Fouine got on stage, the guy who was chatting with me at the front of the stage was all the way to the side and second in row. Happy to be out of the front area, when the show started, everyone got up on front of me and my once perfect view of the stage now became an exercise in shooting between heads and raised hands.

The guy is insane on stage. He came out with so much energy, I was having troubles freezing motion. In fact, many images came out with slight hand blur. The crowd was nuts, he was nuts. While he was late getting on stage, he definately made up for it with energy and intensity.

Most of the shots below were taken with the Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS. I did break out the 24-70 f/2.8 to get some wider crowd shots. This is a mandate I get from the venue as they love to post up pictures of the crowd enjoying the artist. Shutter ranged from 1/200 - 1/400. Would of loved to be in the 1/400 when he first got on stage, but the lights were darker for the first song.

Lessons learned? Don't be afraid to back down from your spot if you really feel things are getting out of hand. Know the security guards at the venue. Arrive early to get a good spot. :)

More shows to come!
I have the 4 DJ quarter Birdy Nam Nam coming up next and also doing a Ska Festival in a few days. I'm learning to love variety in music.

I'm not a papparazzi, I'm a concert photographer!

2011-10-03T12:23:00.001-07:00

I'll get straight to the point of this rant / post. The higher I climb on the concert photographer ladder here in town, the more and more I am faced with band management (and sometimes bands themselves) asking me to sign ridiculous contracts to allow me to shoot the shows. These contracts are what are referred to as a "rights grab".

Why ridiculous? Because these contracts make me sign away my rights and ownership of the images to the bands and management, at no charge, for ever and ever. They limit my own use of my images and even the use of the images for the media I am shooting for. It may not seem that big of a deal to most people, but think about it for a second.... my gear is mine, bought, paid for and insured. If I am not paid by the media I am working for, I still have rent and groceries to buy.

Why are they doing this? Because in today's digital photography world, everyone and their uncle has a digital camera. For every professional photographer trying to make it in the world by producing quality work and giving great customer service, there are 10 music fans that just want to get in the front row and shoot the show for free, just happy to get in the door. Bands and band management are clueing in on this and coming up with more ways to make money... ie exploiting concert photographers.

I get restrictions. First 3 songs. Only 1 song. Shoot from the soundboard. No back stage. No on stage. No flash. Everyone on the right. But trying to take away ownership and copyright?

All those pretty images that are on the web showing off a band live? All the images that make it into the magazines, in CDs, books, and posters that the fans just love to buy? Yeah, those have to come from somewhere. And they are usually not from uncle Bob with his digital camera.

I find it pretty damn ironic that these music artists, who are using us music photographers as puppets to get free professional images, are the first ones to bitch and complain when someone downloads their music for free off the web. Oh, the injustices of people not paying them for all their hard work, the depreciation on their gear, the creative and artistic vision they put forward, the long years spent in dirty clubs before making it to the bigger arenas, the late nights working on their passion while keeping a day job to pay the bills... oh wait, I just described my life...

I guess its ok to stop buying their art and find free ways of getting it as they don't want to pay for mine.

As the artists stood together to bring down Napster and other illegal music download sites, I hope that photographers can stand together and refuse to shoot any shows from artists trying to exploit them.

Who are some of the bands that have/had these highly restrictive and ridiculous contracts? One of the ones I was shocked at hearing are Foo Fighters. Add to them Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, Kiss, Kesha, Janet Jackson, Lady Gaga, Band of Horses, House of Blues, Maroon 5, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Rhianna, Seether,...

Let's hope the list starts to get shorter.

Crossing an Hasidic Jew and reggae...

2011-09-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

....gives you one hell of a great artist.

I had the pleasure of shooting an artist I recently discovered called Matisyahu. As of 3-4 months ago, I actually had no idea who he was. I follow a photographer named Jared Polin (aka FroKnowsPhoto.com) who posted up some awesome concert and tour shots of Matisyahu and when I had the chance to shoot him in a show, I jumped on it! Nothing better than comparing your output with someone whose work you respect.

The show was at (surprise surprise) Club Soda! And it was sold out! Production Iris was great enough to get my accreditation done (these guys rock!). I was told that he would be coming on stage around 10:00pm, so after getting all set with my press credentials, I showed up around 8:45pm to make sure I could get a good setup for the pictures.

Man was I wrong. I should of just bucked up and stayed in front during the 2 opening acts. Getting in front was a chore. The floor was tight with bodies and people aren't too keen at letting someone walk in front. Although once they see the camera and lens, they are usually great at making space.

I ended up on the right side of the stage, behind a speaker that was hung from the ceiling. I picked this side for two reasons:

1- In looking at Matisyahu images, I saw that he holds the mic with his right hand. So shooting from the right side gives me more of the shots I like to take, where you can see the mic and his mouth. Compared to being on the left hand side where his arm would be blocking the mic and mouth most of the time

2- The left side of the stage leads to the backstage and has a bouncer. The right side is empty (although there is a door) but usually has 2-3 chairs along the wall, giving this photographer a little higher vantage point to shoot from! Oh yeah, I do think sometimes.

And that's what happened! After the 2nd opener left the stage, a few people cleared out and I was able to make my way to the chairs and stand on one. Half the stage was blocked by the speaker, but the front was clear! To my chagrin, Matisyahu likes to hang further back of the stage, where he does this funky dance routine. I unfortunately had no shooting angle to get any of that. I was stuck in one spot, no chance at moving anywhere else. You'll see in the first image posted how much to the side I was.

I was delighted at how Matisyahu blended some rock, alternative and reggae into a pretty unique sound.

At the end of the 3 songs, one of the bouncers was nice enough to let me leave from the door and I ended up right in the back alley. No trying to make my way through the ultra dense crowd back out! The crew at the Club Soda are seriously awesome.

I would of loved to be closer up to the stage and have more access to move around to get a variety of shots as he was pretty expressive on stage. But what can you do! Maybe next time :)

Here are a selection of images, 30-ish up in the Galleries on the website

Metal to the core @ Heavy MTL

2011-07-28T05:37:00.000-07:00

I grew up listening to rock and metal. So when I got the OK to shoot the Heavy MTL 2 day festival, I was stoked! The organisers first said no photographers in the photo pit, but quickly changed their mind when many photographers refused to carry their gear into a mosh pit to get decent images. Good on you Evenko, thanks for making our lives easier (and safer!).

The 2 day line-up was intense. There were many great local bands such as Slaves on Dope and Blackguard, along with some pretty heavy weight headliners. Day 1 had In Flames, Godsmack, Disturbed while day 2 had Anthrax, Motorhead and Kiss. Many fans were wondering at the pertinence of having Kiss at a heavy metal festival, but when you think back to when Kiss was in their heyday, they set the stage for the heavy metal movement.

The festival had 3 stages, 2 main ones and one secondary one. The main stages were pretty high up and somewhat drab as the band was pretty far apart from each other. The secondary stage was my favourite. You could get up close to the bands and they had some lights going on making for interesting shots, like the one below from Blackguard.

The typical 3 songs and out was in effect for most of the bands. Due to the number of photographers in the pit, we were limited to 1 song for Anthrax, Opeth and Motorhead. The only black mark of the day went to Kiss who limited the actual media present in the pit. Out of the 30 or so photographers, I believe 8 were the "chosen" to shoot Kiss. While I can appreciate that the band is in control of their image and in their right to do what they do, it is a piss off when you are a struggling photographer and a band, which was once a struggling band, wants to be so controlling of their image. It is in my best interest to take the best shots possible of all clients. And besides, how many freakin photos of Kiss are already out there? They presented a release form to all photographers shooting which basically sold the photographer's soul. The rights and ownership of the images are given to the band and the photographer isn't legally allowed to use the images taken for their own portfolio without approval of the band.

That's what we call a rights grab. The band, who makes way more money than I do, now have 8 top notch photographers taking images of them for free. Am I a bit pissed? Kinda. I'm pissed that more and more bands are doing things like this.

That venting aside, the festival was very well organised, I love how they treat the media and the staff...top notch. Music was awesome and I got to mix in being a pro photographer and being a fan at the same time!

You can check out the Heavy MTL Day 1 and Day 2 images in the Gallery section of my website.

Below are Day 1 images of Disturbed, Godsmack, Billy Talent and In Flames

And here we have some Day 2 images of Motorhead, Morbid Angel, Anthrax, As I Lay Dying and Girlschool

All Warped-up (warped music, warped back, warped mind,...)

2011-07-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

A little over a week after the end of the Jazz fest, The Vans Warped Tour was in town. Going over the schedule, there were 8 (I think, it's all a blur) stages and over 80 bands playing...all in one day! And here I thought that shooting 20 bands in 10 days was hectic.

The name of the game is scheduling your time. The first thing I did was grab the daily schedule (it can change any day, so grabbing it the day of almost guarantees the bands you want to shoot are playing), I went to the press tent, sat a picnic table, and spent 30 minutes planning my day. Nothing was set in stone, but there were a few bands on the list that were must shoots, so I had to plan the rest of my shooting around them. The last thing I wanted was to be wandering for an hour not really knowing where I was going and missing out on some of the awesome talent.

Typical 3 songs and out was in effect for all bands on all stages. Although some had less people watching so it allowed for some decent shots from the crowd. Pits on all stages except the smallest one, which was hosting an all day battle of the bands.

The venue was alright. It was at Parc Jean-Drapeau, and outdoor parc on an island. Little Montreal fact... the island is man made mostly from the dirt that was dug up while they were digging (dirt dug dig haha) the Montreal metro (aka subway) in the 60s. The parc has Montreal's 6 flags amusement parc, pool, beach, casino and F1 race track and a bunch of outdoor activities year round. The chosen site for the Warped tour was along the race track area. I prefer the other side of the parc where the other music festivals are held (Osheaga and such). It's greener and more open.

It was middle of July and it was hot!! The tour organizers were genius is setting up a free water refilling station (which ended up being a giant mud pit at the end of the day, but really, no one cared). It was around 36C (about 98F), under a scorching sun. The name of the game for the day was water and sunscreen. The stages are open air, so while part of the pit can be covered from the sun, getting to and from the stages has you in the direct sun.

All in all, I had a fun time shooting, made some great images, met some awesome photographers and didn't get sunburned!

Montreal Jazz Fest -shooting with restrictions

2011-07-07T11:57:00.000-07:00

My first full music festival is done! What a ride, what a rush, my feet hurt.

The Montreal International Jazz Festival is a little over week long world renown festival that has many of the world's great jazz, blues and even a few rock acts playing on a multitude of stages in the city.

I was lucky enough this year to snag an all access indoor media pass, giving me full access to all the indoor stages. I set my sights on 20 bands, including some greats like Tony Bennett, Blue Rodeo, Bootsy Collins and some festival favorites like Nikki Yanofsky and Montreal's own Men Without Hats, playing their first show in the city in 20 years.

The biggest thing I learned in my 10 days were shooting with restrictions. I'm used to the 3 songs and out standard rule. But this time around, we had 2 songs and even 1 song and out. In most instances, our mobility was also restricted to a certain side of the stage, rarely up front. I also got to see how some artists really don't want to be photographed, such as Collin James who gave us a 3 song limit, but only showed up in the 2nd song, and stayed to the back of the stage, sitting behind a mic. I also had the total opposite with Dee Dee Bridgewater who gave us 2 songs, but spent most of her time on the side where the media was, giving us some looks and poses. She was true class.

Here are some of my favorites from the 20 bands that I had the opportunity to shoot

Mr Tony Bennett.
84 years old, but still holding those high notes and looking like he is having such a great time on stage.

The funkmaster himself, Bootsy Collins. He was gracious enough to allow the media to stay for his entire set!

Men Without Hats

I became a new fan of Trombone Shorty

One the classiest women I had the opportunity to shoot, Grammy winner Dee Dee Bridgewater

She first went on stage at the age of 12 at the Jazz Festival 5 years ago. At 17, her voice is simply amazing! Nikki Yanofsky

Full galleries for each of these artists and others like Collin James, Oliver Jones, Marianne Faithful, Sly Johnson, Lee Fields and Blue Rodeo are up in the Galleries section of my website (link on the top right of the blog) Check 'em out, lemme know what you think!!

Let the festivals BEGIN!!!

2011-06-24T12:56:00.000-07:00

The blog is going to get a bit quieter over the summer.

Why you ask? I've received my accreditation for the Montreal Jazz festival and the Vans Warped tour. I also applied (but am still waiting) on the Heavy MTL and Osheaga festivals.

I should be getting some greats from the Jazz fest such as Tony Bennett, Colin James, Bootsy Collins and many others. My shooting schedule is about 20 bands between June 25th and July 4. I get to shoot at some top notch venues like the Metropolis, Place des Arts and many others.

A few weeks after that, I'll be heading to the Vans Warped tour, which I'll be shooting about 20 bands, but all in the same day! Going to be insane, I'm sooo psyched.

I think in between I'll be having some downtime, just to enjoy the summer somewhat. If I do get Heavy MTL, it's the weekend after Warped. 2 days of metal. And if I get Osheaga, it's the weekend after Heavy MTL. 3 days of pop rock.

Let the festivals BEGIN!

"You would not believe your eyes..."

2011-06-20T12:34:00.000-07:00

I get home from a days work. My cell phone rings. It's Production Iris.
"Hey, are you free to shoot?
Sure, when?
In about 2 hours!"

And again, grab my gear, head out the door. On the menu tonight? Trendy pop band called Owl City. Wow, I actually know of them! They have this catchy song called Fireflies (yes, the title of this post is the opening lyric.)

This was a bit of an odd show to shoot. I've been used to showing up early, finding a spot, getting comfortable. Maybe shooting the opening band, maybe not. But for Owl City, I wasn't allowed in for the opening band. I was there to shoot them, no one else. 3 songs and out. They were going on around 8:30pm and the 4 photographers there were waiting at the entrance for our cue to go in. The Evenko organizer came by, gave us the 3 song spcheil and let us in.

Ok... not what I was expecting. The floor was already packed with fans. I couldnt get in close. I managed to make my way to about the 6th row on one side and did some shots there. I then had to move around in back of the crowd, shooting between heads (thankfully most of the fans are short teenaged girls hehe), trying to get something decent, emotional and interesting.

It was a real challenge I must say. One I haven't faced before. I'm getting used to getting the shots I need in 3 songs. I'm learning to shoot with bad lighting, or simply not to shoot with a total blue wash of light. But this was all that, and no easy access anywhere.

Nothing better than a bit of a challenge to get you going.

The gallery is up! Click ici

A new baby!

2011-06-18T12:45:00.000-07:00

No, not a real baby.

I decided that with the amount of shows I have scheduled to shoot, and the fact that I am totally loving it, I should invest in a better low light / high ISO camera. So I do have a new baby... the Canon 5D Mark II

I must say, while the 7D is an awesome camera, nothing compares to shooting with a full frame sensor. It shows that it is older technology compared to the 7D: less focus points, less sensitive focus points, slower FPS, monochrome focusing only,.... but the image quality is just sublime. I actually texted my friend Didier during the show (he went full frame about 8-9 months ago with a 1D IV) asking him if it was an awesome LCD or is full frame really that sweet. All he answered was : "welcome to a new level of photography".

I had the chance to try out the camera on the first day I bought it. Shooting the HHQC (Hip Hop Quebec) show at Club Soda, part of the Francofolies music festival. A series of Quebec hip hop artists all taking the stage for one night. It was pretty awesome. I'm not a huge fan of hip hop, but the music was really catchy, and the fans were totally loving it.

My gallery for the show is about 100 images.

Warrior...needs...fooooood

2011-06-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

Anyone remember the game Gauntlet? I feel like the Warrior, who is low on health, moving slowly, and you hear the game-master say "Warrior Needs Food"!

Things have been pretty hectic with my shows. A few days after Cindy and Sebastien's wedding (which was the day after a all night metal show), I was called semi last minute to shoot a band called Blackfield, who were in Canada for the first time.

A few days after that, I was given the go for my first ever show at Montreal's Bell Centre. This is where the Montreal Canadians play and is pretty much the go-to venue for all big bands. From Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters, Janet Jackson,... this is THE venue. My cherry popper was a french artist named Maxime Landry, who is the winner of Quebec's version of American Idol. It was awesome to experience shooting with the whose who in the media world.

And then after THAT, it was back to Club Soda to shoot the semi-finals of the Emergenza festival, which featured 6-7 bands.

I'm running left and right and would love to give a more detailed wrap-up of each show, but this mini blog entry will have to do.

BLACKFIELD

Let's get married!

2011-05-21T12:09:00.000-07:00

A guy needs to keep on his toes. All this music photography is really amazing, but why not throw in a wedding? Cindy is an ex-coworker of mine and she approached me about shooting her wedding many months ago. I didn't know at the time I'd be doing so many concerts.

So yeah, the day after my first all night heavy metal concert shoot, I was heading down to the south shore for a 12 hour wedding shoot. haha. I must be insane.

To make matters worse, when I got home from the metal shoot the night before, I tried uploading my images and not only did my computer not recognize my camera, my crappy crap card reader broke! I shot 4 bands, no song restrictions, and used a couple of my 16GB cards.... and no way to get the images off!

One of the benefits of my new place is that I'm about 10 mins walking from one of the city's bigger camera stores. So early Saturday morning, I headed down, was first in line, and picked up a Lexar card reader. Ran back home, uploaded the images of the show, sent them to the editor at Production Iris, packed my gear, and drove out to the wedding. Why make things easy, right?

The wedding was awesome. The couple and their son were in such great spirits and were having such a great time. I always feel privileged to be chosen to capture someone's wedding day. Nothing really out of the ordinary happened for me at the wedding. The biggest challenge was the church having decided to redo their front doors....and the new ones weren't ready yet. So I had to shoot group shots in front of the church that had these giant plywood doors. hehe.

As I went through the motions of the day, I started to realize there are a lot of similarities between concerts and the way I shoot weddings when it comes to photography.
- Varying light changes
- Low light
- Loads of people you need to work around
- Tight deadlines
- Things don't always go as planned
- Always on your toes looking for the right moment

Thought I would share of few of the images of the day

Heavy.... Metal.....!!!!

2011-05-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

Had a chance to settle in to my new place, although there are still plenty of boxes to be unpacked. Bit by bit, I'll get it done (at least, I hope I will haha)

My next gig to shoot is a local band called Beheading of a King. They are a heavy metal (death metal I think?) band, who are starting to gain some momentum. Tragedy hit them a few months ago when their lead singer committed suicide. The rest of the band members decided to carry on. This is their first show on stage since.

There were some opening acts as well, which were just as heavy, and just as interesting! First show with earplugs for this photographer, and afterwards, I can guarantee that it won't be my last.

I have to say that I'm loving shooting metal. The action, speed, emotion and energy of the shows are insane.

I had such a blast shooting these bands, I made individual galleries of their images. :)

Thrust N Thrive
End of Crisis
God Falls
Beheading of a King

For those who are interesting in knowing, my current gear that I've been shooting with are:
Canon 7D
Canon 10-22
Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS
and I recently purchased the Canon 24-70 f/2.8. My Tamron wasn't bad, but the lens is known for slow focus in the dark, and shooting shows is pretty damn dark.

A new first... pro concert shooting!

2011-05-18T12:01:00.001-07:00

Seems that I'm enjoying firsts... first maternity shoot, first studio shoot.... now I can add a first pro concert shoot! Maybe the word "pro" is a bit of a stretch, but I have joined up with a concert photography group that work at promoting shows for local venues. The group is pretty new, but we are working out way to providing great music and event coverage. They called Production Iris and you can view the work at http://www.production-iris.com/

My first gig was shooting Scala and Kolacny Brothers. When I signed up to shoot them, I was under the impression that they were a two man jazz group. I figured should be an interesting and pretty straight forward shoot.

A few weeks before the show, I decided to do start some preparation work and looked them up online. Turns out they are a choir of up to 25 Belgian women who sing modern songs. They have an excellent version of Radiohead’s Creep, which was actually featured as the main music for the trailer to the movie The Social Network. Their music is haunting... http://www.scalachoir.com/en/index2.htm

To top it off, the brothers (one is the conductor, one is the pianist) wanted to review the images before they were posted. Can you say stress? How the heck am I going to make 25 women standing in 3 rows exciting and interesting? My mind got working on various shot ideas, but really, it was going to be a fly by the seat of my pants type of thing, especially considering I am only allowed to shoot 3 songs.

So fast forward to the day of. My gear is ready, I head on out to the venue, pick up my press pass, I'm feeling pretty good. Check out the stage, chat with security and the people sitting in the front row to ensure they know I won't be there for the whole show, 3 songs and out. Chat with the other photographer who is covering the event, she seems only a wee bit more confident than I am in what shots we are going to get.

Lights go down...the group make their entrance on stage. I get ready for lights on.... and bam! The entire stage is flooded in a blue light. Great for mood, but man, this is the worse light to shoot in as it totally washes out skin tones. My camera's sensor doesn't like it too much.

I spent the first 30 seconds of the first song adjusting my exposure. In order to shoot at higher ISO on a camera, you need to nail the exposure. I was struggling finding the right mix, considering the lights on stage were horrible for photography.

First song over. What?!? Already? Man, I barely got a few usable shots out of that. Alright, change lenses; go with some closer in shots. I was hoping using a longer lens would cut out some of the massive amount of blue light flooding the stage.

Second song starts. The lights are no longer blue, but a great red and pink wash. Oh joy! Shoot, shoot shoot. I'm starting to feel the stress now. I'm half way through my 3 songs and I haven't been seeing the results I was expecting.

Don't get me wrong, I've shot concerts before. I've shot in dimly light bars. I pulled off some nice things, on a pretty consistent basis. The difference? I had the entire set! Not the 12 minutes from 3 songs and out, but more like 30-60 minutes.

Towards the end of the second song, I started feeling the grove. You know how athletes need to warm up before their sport? Same for a photographer (or at least for me), I need some time before getting into the grove.

Third song starts. I make the mistake and change lenses in the middle of the song. Bad idea, as the 10 seconds it takes to change lenses, I'm not shooting! I know I had some wide shots, some close shots, so I focus on more angled shots and getting shots of the pianist, one of the brothers, who wasn't there for the first two songs.

Third song done. The other photographer and I make our way to the back. As I’m in the back of the venue near the bar, I get a great view of the entire stage. I lift my camera, smile at the bouncer (a great and friendly guy) he just smiles. I manage to get off some shots of the entire group from afar. I wanted group shots, but going from the front of the stage to the second floor or the back kills precious shooting time. I got lucky I guess. I like to think I networked for it. ;)

At the end of the show, I had some slight adrenaline running in my veins. It was pretty intense. I didn't want to look at my images, I wasn't happy with how things unfolded. I texted a friend a few times about the experience on my way home.

I uploaded the images on my PC and started working on them right away as I need to turn them around asap, as the buzz of the show runs out quick, so you need to turn images quickly or you miss the boat.

Here are some of the images that were sent to the group.

I got good comments from the editor of Production Iris. A few days pass and I hear back from the group and they loved the images. They ended up buying some of the images to be used in their press section, which are offered to general press writing stories about the group and who need images to accompany the stories.

Made me feel pretty damn good.

Here is a quick list of do's and don’ts that I had to learn quickly:

Do
- research your client ahead of time
- network with staff and security at the venue
- keep on shooting even if you aren't feeling it
- have a game plan for the shoot, but be ready to switch it up
- have appropriate gear to produce good images. Gear doesn't make the photographer, and shouldn't stop you from shooting a gig, but be aware that higher end gear will make it that much easier.

Don't
- change lenses during a song
- get too worked up about what others are doing; focus on you and your images
- think you own the front of the stage. There are other photographers and paying customers there.

I learned a lot and keep on learning. I've shot a few more shows since then and things are going smoother.

Thanks for reading!

Francouverte - last minute anyone?

2011-05-03T11:45:00.000-07:00

I'm in the midst of moving. Sold my house on the south shore of Montreal and moving back to the city. Things are pretty hectic.

So a few days after my first pro level shoot for Production Iris, I was called at around 3:00pm by the editor asking if I was free to shoot on the same night. He was feeling under the weather and was looking for someone to take his place. Why not?

Francouverte is a local talent competition that looks at promoting up and coming talent. This was the finals, featuring 3 acts. I picked up my gear and headed off once again to the Club Soda.

The lighting this time around was much simpler. I guess they couldn't get too funky as they didn't have the time for various setups due to the 3 acts. So they kept it simple, which was fine by me as I'm still getting used to adjusting on the fly.

The 56 images are up in a gallery on my website. Check 'em out!

I'm trying to really focus on composition. I've already been used to shooting in Manual mode with my camera, so other than the adjusting quickly when the lighting changes, I'm good at nailing my exposures. I'm really trying to capture the emotion of the bands. Easier to do when you know the songs and the people, a lot more difficult when you don't really know what to expect!

I must say that the talent was amazing. I need to remember that I'm there to work, get my images, and THEN listen to the songs. No restrictions for shooting here as they wanted images of all 3 finalists.

Going Pro?

2011-05-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

I was recently contacted by a local web media company to start being a contributor to their concert / culture website. A friend of a friend already shoots for them and asked me to send some examples of my work. They liked it. I'm in.

My first gig under Production Iris was a group called Scala & Kolacny Brothers at Montreal's Club Soda.

I had honestly never heard of them, but I was imagining a jazz duo. A few days before the show, I youtube them to get an idea of what they do and man, was I mistaken. They are a choir of 20 or so Belgian women, conducted and led by the Kolacny brothers. Ok... kind of different than what I thought. They are actually a very interesting group to listen to. Their version of Radiohead's Creep is actually the intro song for the The Social Network movie trailer.

This was my first gig with a 3 songs and out rule, which is typical for concert photography. I was also mandated to produce 15 images that would be presented to the group prior to publication on the website. Pressure was on!

I had a rough time with the gig. The stage was washed with a blue light for the majority of the first songs, which I quickly figured out causes havoc on my sensor and totally dilutes skin tones and textures. In other words, my images were mush.

I started to freak out a bit as I was struggling with getting a decent image by the time the first song was over. In the end however, I managed to get the 15 images, although I was disappointed with my overall output. I wanted more. But I did learn a lot from my first concert, so that's a bonus. I'll hopefully be able to carry my new knowledge on and into the next show.

**UPDATE**
The group actually loved the images and they ended up purchasing 5 of them! Not too shabby me thinks for my first time going pro.

The gallery is up on my website if you want to check it out. Click here

Rising Sun - Rock 'n Roll for the Red Cross and Japan

2011-04-04T10:06:00.000-07:00

The west end of Montreal was rocking on Sunday when over 40 bands came together to help raise money for the Red Cross' relief efforts in post earthquake and tsunami Japan.

Three great venues hosted the shows, Clyde's, La Kachette and Smoke Meat Pete's. A massive undertaking and put together in just over a few weeks, the organizers were happy with the turnout.

Red Cross volunteers were on hand to collect donations, some artists even played at multiple venues all day long. The shows started simultaneously at all three venues at 1:00pm and ended around 10:00pm.

On the photography side of things, I'm beat. I did 2 of the events, with a photographer friend Didier Kaade taking care of the third. I wanted to spend more time shooting and less time driving.

The venues were a mix of conditions. From the cave like Clyde's, with it's wide stage and funky multicoloured lights wreaking havoc on my exposure to the more tighter stage but naturally light La Kachette. It was a lens changing, memory card swapping, video shooting, beer drinking great time!

Here are some shots from Clyde's

And a few from La Kachette

Just a wee bit 'o Ireland in Montreal

2011-03-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

March 20th was the 187th consecutive Montreal St-Patrick's day parade, longest running in Canada and one of the longest in North America. I did some photos for Virgin 96 (local radio) and had some fun taking shots of the other floats and parade go-ers.

Last year's parade had an unfortunate accidental death where a man fell under a float, so this year had pretty hyped up security with over 200 private security guards and police tech students helping out. Police only arrested a few people for public drunkenness, which I think is a pretty standard thing for St-Patrick's day

The weather was amazing. The parade not only celebrates St-Patrick and the irish culture, it also is one of the first signs of spring!

Parades are a great time to practice some candid photography as well as training your eye and brain to work fast in getting the shot. Things can go by quickly in a parade. In a split second, you can have amazing eye contact with someone and then it's gone. People shots are a must, as well as float shots and celebrity shots. But also keep an eye out for little details on the floats that can be interesting.

The parade started at noon, but I was downtown around 10:00am and walked the street where the floats were parked and getting ready. It gave me a great opportunity to do some shots without being surrounded by hundreds of people. I had a great time shooting the dogs of the SPCA who were parading as their "owners" were dressing them up in their St-Patrick's best.

Here are some images from the parade.

First studio shoot with Retro Spex

2011-02-22T12:56:00.000-08:00

Now for a bit of something new, well at least for me it is. I was asked a month or so ago to do a band shoot for a local cover band. No problem there!

However, they wanted a studio shoot. Errr...sure, I can swing that!

See, I don't own a studio. Last time I was in a real studio was probably 4 years ago before I even picked up a camera. I did take a course on the basics of a studio, but considering we were usually 4-6 people working in the same place for an hour, you don't really get THAT much hands on. But hey, it was a few years ago, things should still be fresh in mind, right? Right?!?

First stop, finding a studio.

These places can be damn expensive. I understand why, they are premium locations, equipment, rent and all that jazz to cover. I found a place that was well priced, came with some quality lights. I do have some speedlites (flashes) I can use remotely, but having some quality studio strobes to use makes a nice difference.

I booked the studio for 4 hours, from 6:30pm to 10:30pm. I asked the band to show up for 7:00pm, giving me at least 30 minutes to set things up and get things ready. While the band fully understood that I'm not a studio pro and are accepting of me playing with lights and such while I shoot, I still wanted to give them as professional an experience as I could.

My first impression when I got to the studio was that this place was small to shoot 5 people. It was a rectangular room, very clean and very nice, but the backdrops were placed on the long walls, not leaving much room to shoot. There wasn't an option to move them to the short wall to give me more shooting space.

One thing I wanted to do was shooting with a longer lens (I brought my 70-200 with me). When you have a longer focal length, the image will be a bit squished and tight. Compared to shooting with a wider lens where the image will be stretched. The reason for doing this is that you'll get all the members in the shot, on the background, and minimize what is around the backdrop. However, to shoot a group shot at 150mm, you need plenty of room, something I could not get in this place. No problem, we'll make due!

The widest I could shoot, with my back almost on the opposite wall, and get the whole band in the shot (not even full body) was about 30 mm, which is pretty wide. Trying to keep the sides of the backdrops out of the image was very challenging.

I didn't want to stick to my original plan of shooting long as I was not able to. I decided that if I can't shoot long, I'll just get up in their face with a wide angle lens and play with that. It turned out that this worked pretty well!

The image below is at 18 mm

Lights, camera, more lights!!

Now the thing that was really stressing me out was using the lights. One of the most critical things in photography is being able to control and understand the light and the shadows. Where they are placed, what they are drawing attention to.

I have shot with a flash on camera, I have bounced that light off ceilings and walls to create shadows, but now I actually had 3 lights to play with and place where I wanted to, at the power I want to. Things like the inverse square law (the amount of light that drops off when you move a flash away), lighting ratios (main light power vs. fill light power vs. hair light power vs. background light power), and then the position of all the lights are all things you need to keep in mind.

So I started with simple things. Make sure I get the images I need to get to make them happy. Then start playing around.

I toyed with the standard main light on one side, 45 degrees up and a fill light closer to me, lower down, at a lower power setting. It seemed to work pretty well. I kept looking for odd or big shadows showing up on the band’s faces. If they were too big, I turned the light, adjusted settings, whatever I felt worked.
I tried some more cross lighting (not even sure if that’s what it’s called haha), with 2 lights, almost equal power, both 45 degrees up at opposite ends.
I even tried some side lighting, where one light to one side of the subject, causing a harsher shadow on their face.

Mistakes... I’ve made a few...
I thought I’d show some of the mistakes I made. Nothing really huge (you will never see those mouhaha), but some things to watch out for.

I really like this image for its composition. It works well; the band has a nice vibe going. Some were wearing black clothing and the background was black. So I knew that I needed to shine a light on their back that would cause a bit of a rim of light to separate them from the background. That was my intent. Being in such a small space, I didn’t have room for a proper light on a boom, so I had one positioned to the side pointing at their back. It gave me the effect on one side, not much on the other.

Another issue with this is that the light is too close to the guy on camera left, so his head is much brighter. Inverse square law might help this... I could move the flash back to control the light drop off and make it more even across all the members. Would probably need to adjust things a bit to get more power.

Plenty of issues in this image. We tried to use the chaise in the image as a prop. Great idea, but I was already challenged for room. Having the prop in with the band in back has them pretty much up against the seamless backdrop.

The lights caused some shadows on the wall behind some of the band members. I tried to compensate for this in processing by putting some vignette in the corners, which are like the shadows. A few other mistakes are cutting off the drummers stick (minor, but still sticks out to me) as well as the singer’s feet. But notice how the tall singer’s (yep, two singers) head is at the top of the frame. If I wanted to save her feet, I’d cut off his head. Decisions decisions.

Recap

All in all, it was a great shoot. I learned a lot and still managed to output a good number of images for the band.

Things I learned:
• Keep it simple. Don’t go over complicated. Simple lights, simple poses. When you get comfortable, and once the model is warmed up, then fancy things up. Getting standard shots is not too complicated, but if you want to grow, try things out, even if they don’t work!
• When shooting multiple people, watch for shadows that one person casts on the person standing behind him
• Give yourself prep time
• Remember that how you are behind the lens will project to the model(s). If you are stressed and annoyed, they will feel that. Not saying you need to be all happy happy joy joy, but just keep it in mind.
• Make sure the models are rested and happy. Take breaks. I totally forgot to bring refreshments and what not; thankfully a band member brought some. Radio is always nice, water, food (nothing messy).
• Know your space ahead of time, it will help minimize the surprises.
• Keep the subjects far from the background. I couldn’t do that as much and the background was visible. I figure I could of shot at a wider aperture for more depth of field...
• Plan on not having a plan. Direction is good, but sometimes, let the models lead the shoot. I got some great shots when a model was “into the zone” and just having fun.
• Know the output the client wants. I was told that they want shots for a demo CD they are making and also some shots for the website. You’ll see below a few shots that I sent them to give them an idea of web ready shots: one is a banner style shot and another has room for text and the drummer pointing in a direction.

Here are some of my favourite images from the day. Note that these only have minor processing on them; still have some clean up to do in Photoshop.

Hopefully this wasn’t too long of a read, but I just felt like sharing.

This was playing with a wider angle and lower down (almost lying down on the ground). We were between shots, the band was chilling, and he was playing with his guitar.

Here are the two shots I did for more web ready images

One last thing to remember is to always have fun and make sure your models are having fun as well. You'll get some great shots out of it

The quiet of winter

2011-02-12T20:41:00.000-08:00

There can be something magical about a snow fall, specially in the city. Late at night, when there is no one on the streets, no cars, no pedestrians, its amazing to hear how quiet the city can be. As if you are the only person alive.

I tried to capture that in this image. It was one of those nights: heavy snow fall, probably around midnight, streets were empty...peaceful

A little bit behind the story of this image. I was shooting a show in a small bar that night. It was snowing pretty heavily for most of the afternoon, driving and parking in the area was a hassle. I decided to take a little break and went outside. It might of been the contrast to the loud music inside, the world just seemed to peaceful. While I could hear the thump of the music through the walls and door to the bar, I found the scene just captured the serenity of a late Montreal night covered in snow.

That just goes to show you that you can get inspired at any time, for any thing.

Good ol' hockey game!

2011-02-03T12:36:00.000-08:00

I've been slacking on the blog posting lately, sorry about that.

My birthday was this past weekend (Jan 29th, write it down for next year :) ) and I got the chance to watch my 9 year old nephew play hockey! They were playing right around the corner from my house, and I hadn't seen him play all year, so no way I was going to miss this.

I brought along my camera and a few lenses, you know, in case I would have the chance to shoot. Never leave home without your gear! I've never shot a hockey game before, and best to get an idea of what you are doing before being asked and paid to do it. I've done some sport shooting before (water polo, volleyball, soccer,...) so I had an idea of what to expect in terms of how my camera would be set and the ebb and flow of the game.

These kids may be 9 years old, but man, do they have heart. They skate hard, they actually check (which they aren't supposed to do, but hey, it happens), they shoot, they setup plays. I was impressed at the skill level for their young age.

Here are a few tips that helped me (some I knew before, some I found out after shooting):

1- Know the game
While pro cameras can shoot in rapid bursts, nothing beats being able to anticipate the play and get ready for the perfect shot. Knowing what will happen when the puck is dumped, or when the pass is going to the point is critical in helping you time the shot. Burst shooting works fine, but to really take advantage of it, you need to shoot a bit before, during, and a bit after the play. The puck flying through the air takes a micro second to be in the right position...or in the wrong one.

2- Manual white balance
Lights have different colour temperatures. The sun has a different colour. Shooting in the shade has a different colour. While our cameras have decent auto white balance, shooting in manual white balance is the way to go. Depending on what your camera is seeing when you snap, the white balance of the shot may be slightly off, or in my case, make the ice look yellow instead of white for 10% of my shots. So find the right white balance and stick with it. I had to manually adjust the white balance in my final pictures.

3- Shoot faces and pucks
The puck are the subject of the game. This is what people are fighting for. So it makes sense that you have it in your shot. Two people tied in combat with no puck around will look a bit odd. So make sure you get the puck in your shots. There are some shots that are fine without, close up of faces for example. Thinking of a photo of soccer players jumping up to head the ball. Now imagine if there was no ball in the image and how odd they would look.

To tie in to shooting the puck, shoot the faces. This is where the interest and emotion lie. What makes a person's portrait so good? The eyes are sharp and clear and draw the viewer in. What makes a sports photo so good? The same. Some shots can work with the player's backs and names, but try and get the faces of the players as much as you can.

4- Its all about shutter speed
Keep that shutter fast. I thought 9 year old's would be slower, but there were times where my shutter was at 1/250 and it was still too slow to freeze the motion. No one wants blur in the image. I would suggest a minimum of 1/320, with 1/500 of a second being the ideal.

On the flip side (something I didnt do), use a slower shutter speed and do some panning to get a nice sharp subject, but blurry and steaky background.

5- Be ready at all times
Either keep your eye in the viewfinder or be ready to click quick as once the moment passes, it's gone. Both soccer and hockey are low scoring. The last thing you want is turning away and missing the one goal. Happened to me when shooting the hockey game. I was distracted by my other nephew horsing around and I missed a goal. No biggy, spending uncle time with the nephews is more important than getting the right shot, but if I was being paid, no distractions.

6- Have the right gear
This means a telephoto lens for most games. I had my 70-200mm f/2.8 IS. For soccer, I had the same lens, but could of used a 400mm f/2.8. Your shooting position will impact where you shoot from. I had easy access at the hockey game, but at the pro soccer game, I was limited to beside the net...in the back. So when the action was far, my shots are conveying the emotion they should.

Ok...enough rambling, here are some of the images from the game!

Oh... just an FYI, they lose the game in overtime. :(

Thanks for checking them out!

Happy couple, soon to be baby and giant dogs!

2011-01-21T10:29:00.000-08:00

Had another really fun maternity session this past weekend. My photography services were given to Maude and Ian as a Christmas present by Maude's sister. How cool is being someone's Christmas present! =)

It was a beautifully (but cold) sunny Sunday, allowing for some nice natural light. They have a really nice house with some well placed windows, which made for more options when shooting. With some creative redecorating (lets move your couch over here!haha!) we were able to get a nice series of images.

As with my previous maternity sessions, I sketched out some ideas. However this time, I didn't refer to them much as I'm getting more comfortable in getting the basics done and I'd just wing it for some other shots. You really have to have an open mind when you do totally custom work for clients, specially in their own home. I don't know the house, the setup, the light and so on until I actually show up to shoot.

One of my favorites from the shoot is the one of Maude on her bed where you see her belly and legs. I was balancing on her bed, standing over her, and held the camera out with a wide angle lens. The only thing I was thinking about was that if I fall, don't fall forward! :)

Maude had mentionned to me that they had two dogs and she would love to have some images of her with the dogs. "No problem" I told her. When I got to their house and rang the bell, I was greated by a really deep bark... these weren't small dogs. In fact, they have two Great Danes. They are the nicest and sweetest dogs, but holy crap are they big.

Looking forward to some newborn pictures when their little bundle of joy sees the light of day around February 20th! Best of luck guys!

Meet Suki!

...and her friend Maya!

Abandoned Geo W. Reed factory

2011-01-03T07:59:00.000-08:00

Part of the fun of urban shooting is the exploring. You get to walk down streets you wouldn't normally walk down, see details you would normally pass by, and sometimes you get the mother load of places to shoot.

I had been wanting to shoot in this building for a while now. The Geo W. Reed building, also know as the Babcock & Wilcox factory, has been abandoned since 1982 and is a haven for graffiti artists. There isn't much information available on it (or maybe I'm just too lazy to really dig deep) but I read that it was apparently opened in 1895 and was used as a coach train manufacturer, tank part manufacturer and later on, plane part manufacturer. Not sure on the historical accuracy of this though.

It is a massive place. There are three floors, of which we only visited two. The ground floor with its wide open rooms, the slightly more confined second floor which was probably where the offices were, and the roof top. The walls have always changing graffiti. When researching online when I got back home, I saw a photo done in 2008 of a wall I had taken and it had totally different art on it.

As with most abandoned places, it is always advisable to go with a buddy or two. So I called up Reneau in the morning and he was more than happy to grab his gear and join me. You never know what or even who you will find inside. Discarded planks of wood with nails in them, broken glass, other people. The other thing to note is older buildings where not built with the same materials as we have today. So be very very mindful of what you touch as they could be contaminated with asbestos and other nasty things. We had a few almost spills, used our tripods as walking sticks, smartly didn't explore some nasty looking areas... and I did get the crap scarred out of me by a local inhabitant... a pigeon.

On this slightly warmish winter day, the building was good protection from the wind. Once you get over the heaps of junk people toss in at the entrance, the floor is pretty much dirt. Only concrete structures (walls and stairs) remain, the rest has either rotten away or burnt.

Littered on the ground you find many spray paint cans the artists leave behind. Some alone, or some in bunches.

After making our way around the main floor, we found some somewhat safe stairs that lead to the second floor. The footing was a big treacherous as there was water leaking down from the ceiling from the melting snow, which pool into ice puddles. While the ground floor was mostly dirt, the second floor was mostly ice. I could easily slide my tripod around.

Shooting in the building was difficult at best. Battling the junk for tripod positions and dealing with a very dark inside and very bright windows was hard. HDR was a flavour of the day (although only a few of the photos posted here are HDR), one can pull off some good shots with traditional single exposure shooting.

This is my favorite shot from the day... dripping water in front of the camera's lens, having to set the tripod up high in a stairwell,...

The sun was setting in an hour, so we made our way back down and outside, having spent a few hours in here. We plan on going back this summer, it will hopefully be easier to get around and maybe even get up on the roof.

Hope you enjoy the shots!

I have some more to process, I'll probably put them up on my facebook fan page which you can like at http://www.facebook.com/PierreBPhoto
Each of the images is clickable and will bring you to a slightly larger version on flickr.

Lazy Sunday Photo Walk

2010-12-20T16:17:00.000-08:00

Not being in the mood for laundry and house cleaning (am I ever?) I grabbed my camera on Sunday morning and headed out the door (then to the bus, then to another bus, then to downtown, long live suburbs) for a photo walk. Texted my friend Reneau who happened to be free and we met up and walked some small side streets in the Plateau Mont-Royal area of Montreal.

The Plateau is a pretty funky part of town with a bohemian flavor. The sidewalks weren't clear, so it made the going a little bit rough (and my knee is still hurting today) but managed to get some interesting urban shots.

So many more streets to pick apart with my lens, but here are a few from the day!

Like I said, slightly bohemian aka hippy-ish ;)

One thing about the Plateau is there is a lot of urban art / graffiti

Even hippies like Starbucks...and I guess some don't care about using trash cans

New Facebook Fan page!

2010-12-17T06:38:00.001-08:00

I'm going to be trying out the Facebook fan page thing for the next little while. I'm still fully updating my blog with interesting photo stories and images, but I'll be sharing that on the FB page, and posting random images there as well that don't always have a blog-worthy story attached. I'll also be posting up events that I'm heading to and other tidbits that are all photo related

Feel free to Like me on the page and follow me there (I'm warm and cuddly, really I am).

http://www.facebook.com/PierreBPhoto

Boston Road Trip - Day 2

2010-12-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

After a few hours of sleep on Friday night, we got up ready for a full day of shooting. I had not been to Boston for a few years, in fact last time I was there was before I started up photography. So I was psyched (again, yes, the entire weekend was full of psyched-ness) to hit the streets and make some images.

We got a recommendation from the hotel to check out a little breakfast place called the Paramount. It was a 10 or so minute walk. Great place for breakfast, it has been open since the 1930s. Small place, great atmosphere.

I didn't want to unpack my gear just yet, so I took this image with my phone on our way down.

We had an initial plan of checking out the Gardens and Commons and then heading back to the hotel to grab the car to drive up to the north end. But as we were shooting, we really let inspiration be our guide and just kept on walking and never went back to the hotel until 4pm or so.

The Gardens were really nice with a small lake in the middle with a funky bridge, some ducks and other city wildlife around. Even found an empty fountain that I just had to climb in to get a few shots.

Empty Fountain shot with mah iphone

Made our way through the Commons and onto Tremont street. Going down alleys, heading into the Granary Burying ground, it seemed that everywhere we looked we saw something that needed to be photographed. The cemetery was really old with a lot of important US historical figures buried there: Franklin, Revere, Hancock, Sam Adams to name a few.

iPhone shot of a tombstone

We headed down School street past the Old City Hall building and starting to feel the cold settle in, we ducked into a Starbucks to warm up. As with most cities, it seems that you can find a Starbucks at every other street corner, and Boston was no different.

After a warming up, we headed out and made our way through the downtown streets. Statues, churches, street scenes...man, I was having a visual orgasm.

This so looks like she is trying to get the pigeon off her head

We made our way along the Freedom Trail and into the North End. Our goal was the Copp's Hill Burying ground, one of the oldest cemeteries in the US.

We were not too sure were to head next so we jumped on the Freedom Trail and made our way towards the water. While the trail lead over the bridge, which I had followed years ago when I was there and ended up at the maritime museum and then up a hill in a somewhat suburban neighborhood, we opted for taking more scenic shots along the water.

We ended up at the TD Gardens, same place we were at the night before. While the Leonard Zakim Bunker Hill bridge is really nice, its not the easiest thing to photograph. I was told there was a little park I could get into with a decent view of the bridge, but we never found it - in all honesty, we didn't look too hard. After taking a few more shots, we headed back to the hotel for some relaxing time (aka nap)

Having remembered that we didn't have lunch, we were both pretty hungry by now. So we took the car and headed back towards the Commons to eat at the Oak Room, which I read is famous for its Boston Cream Pie. We drove by an awesome looking church that we vowed to go back to. We got the Oak Room and realized it was inside the Fairmount hotel, so the prices were pretty steep.

We spoke to the Concierge and asked if he could recommend a decently priced restaurant with good clam chowder and he directed us a few blocks down to Skipjacks. The fish was awesome, the chowder was great, our stomachs were full, we were happy.

So back to the car we went and grab the tripods and snap some shots of the church

We then hopped back into the car for our final destination of the night, a city line right near Boston Habour and the popular Barking Crab restaurant (next time, we are so eating there)

Our night was done. We were both exhausted from the 10 hour + walking we did and knowing we still had a full day seminar with Pinhole early tomorrow morning, along with a 20 minute drive to get there, we decided to call it a night, both very happy with our day walk in Boston.

Boston Road Trip - Day 1

2010-12-10T06:39:00.000-08:00

I’ll be doing something different with my Boston road trip blog posts. I’ll do 3 posts, one for each day of shooting we had and I’ll post up the images as I went along and took them. We’ll see how it works out =)

So the background story goes like this: I entered an image in a contest being run by Pinhole a few months ago. I ended up in third place thanks to the votes of many supporters and friends (you guys rock!). The top 20 got a free seminar and other goodies in Boston on December 5th and were then eligible for a trip to Hawaii to shoot for Maui Jim. Cool, right? Even better, a friend of mine and great photographer, Didier, finished second in contest and also won the chance to go.

As it’s a five and a half hour drive down to Boston from Montreal, we decided to make it a long weekend of it and left on Friday afternoon.

The ride was pretty quick and painless, not much out of the ordinary happened other than Didier convincing a manager at McDonald's to sell him some hot mustard (can’t find any in Montreal), which he scored 43 packets for like $2. Score! Sadly, no images of the hot mustard packets...shame on me, I know.

We got to the hotel around 8:00pm, the Holiday Inn Express in Beacon Hill. Staff was great, room was cheap (thank you hotwire!) and more importantly, it was in the downtown area which meant we didn't have to drive. We checked in, relaxed a bit, and then took out our cameras and tripods and went to town.

I've known Didier for many years, in fact, we first met in grade 6, but we had never done any urban city shooting like this before. We have done weddings, we have done other events, but never anything like this, so I was psyched. We picked a few areas of interest to start out photo walk as we were driving to the hotel. We walked in the area a bit and ended up around the Bowdoin subway station. Love the Massachusetts spelling of French names. Here, we write it Beaudoin, but phonetically, it is Bowdoin. Anywhoots, it was an open space with a few interesting buildings around.

We then made our way into Quincy Market, which was apparently light up a few days ago with the holiday lights. Took some shots from outside the market, inside the market, were told by a lame security guard to move on as the stores were closed and we weren't allowed on the second floor balcony (although we did manage to get out shots).

Last time I was at Quincy Market, it was packed with people as it was about 1:00pm. I think we got in there around 9:30pm, so it was pretty empty

The great thing about doing photo walks is that you make your way down streets and you really have no clue what you will see or where you will end up. I like to think that I let inspiration be my guide. Or I have a “oh, shiny object, let’s go there” way about it. You detour, take your gear our, snap some shots, and then either move in a new direction or the direction you came from. Its freedom baby, yeeeaaaah (Austin Powers anyone? - ok, lame I know, but I'm not deleting it). We found a small alley which was rightfully titled "Public Alley 101". Man, these Bostonians are so schmart. Great light, somewhat of a dark mood.

See, even ugly alleys can have such character and interest.
We kept moving down the street, taking images of whatever tickled our fancy and ended up at the TD Garden. It was quiet at first, but within a few minutes of being there, the Celtics game ended and a sea of people came out of the building. They were playing da Bulls and won the game, so the crowd was pumped. We had time to take some images of the Bobby Orr statue in front, but we were then hesitant to leave our gear out with the hoards of beer drinking fans coming out of the building. So what did Didier do? Start to take pictures of the fans and got some to gather by the statue, handed out some business cards and made people happy. Was pretty fun to watch.

I recently got an iPhone and have been loving doing iPhonetography. *Note - must make a blog post about that*. So I took some images here and there with my phone. Some came out not too bad, so I'll insert them here and there in my posts

We had already been at it for over 2 hours. Man time flies. After having driven for 5 hours to get here, we were starting to feel a bit tired. While we could have kept on shooting, we knew that our Saturday was going to be a full day of street shooting. This was supposed to be a relaxed walk to stretch our legs after the drive.

Als 2010 Grey Cup parade

2010-12-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

Can we call this a dynasty already? Since 2000, the Montreal Alouettes have been in 8 Grey Cup finals. They are 3-5 in the CFL finals. More importantly, they have won the last 2 Grey Cups, giving us Montreal fans 2 years of downtown parading.

So as with last year, a few of us headed down before our lunch hour to setup to snap some images of them going by. I know these aren't Pulitzer prize winning shots. I know I only get half the team and probably miss a few here and there. But its about having pride in our home team.

You know, I'm liking this tradition...keep it up boys.

Here are a few images, more up on my flickr (link to the right). Not as many as last year, the parade was smaller and went by fairly quick, with the threat of raining over our heads the entire time.

Our #1 QB and all around great guy, AC. Best of luck with your next battles

Home town cheerleaders

and uh...more cheerleaders

The mascots, Touché and Blitz

Almost missed the cup going by, it was on the other side of the truck.

Remembrance Day - Montreal 2010

2010-11-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

I'm keeping up with my tradition of heading down to the Remembrance Day memorial downtown Montreal and make some images. I see the same faces every year. Some I don't see anymore. Some who were standing are now in wheelchairs.

I like to stand back and take these images, I don't want to get in the way of their day. Some photographers and videographers don't really seem to care about the people, they just care about the shot. I hope I never become that way.

We all need to take some time, whether it be on November 11th or not, to remember those who have fought for our freedom.

Here are a few captures from the day, more up on my flickr (link to the right)

This veteran was nice enough to pose for me.

Always nice to see old friends meeting up

It gets cold fast..

Marybel and Stephen's wedding

2010-11-10T17:19:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to finishing up the images for my blog of this really fun wedding. It has been a very hectic last few months, sorry for being a bit late.

Marybel and Stephen were married in early September in the Old Port of Montreal at an amazing restaurant called Version. Great food, highly recommended. Anyways...they have a little boy named Logan, who is just a bundle of happiness. Seems that the more people are around him, the happier he is. From the first meeting I had with them, all through the wedding day itself, it was amazing to see the care and love they have for their son, and for each other.

And do they know how to throw a party! The restaurant was pack full of people dancing and having a good time. It got a little crazy trying to make my way around the dance floor with my camera in hand.

I uploaded a few images up on my flickr (about 40 or so) here are a select few that I really like.

Thanks for checking them out!

Here Steve, have a drink!

Ah hell, have it all!

You know you have great party hosts when they get behind the bar and starting giving out the shots!!

Jack, Annette, Isabella

2010-11-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

I'm sensing a trend here... 2 weekends in a row with a family shoot. Interesting.

Seriously though, I'm loving it. I just love people, what can I say. Meet Jack, Annette and their little cutie Isabella. We were originally scheduled for the shoot back in late September but we had to cancel at the last minute and rescheduled to this past weekend.

Every shoot has something about it that will stick with you for a while. This one was no different. It was damn cold, even for late October. I met them at their house and we headed to the nearby park. I think we lasted about 20 minutes before we headed back, frozen faces and all. Isabella was the only one who wanted to stay, surprise surprise.

They are a really sweet family and they both love their little one. Made it really easy for this photographer to capture some nice moments. Isabella is normally pretty laid back and relaxed. But man, get her outside, she turns on the spunk. Her boyfriends are going to have their hands full (yes Jack, she WILL have boyfriends whether you like it or not).

Here are a few images from the session

Mr with the camera, please make her stop!

Kids doing what kids do best...being kids

Is this not just an amazing smile?

Quebec City

2010-10-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

Andrea and I went down to Quebec City with some friends this summer. The coolest thing we saw was the Cirque du Soleil for free under an overpass. I blogged about that in July, feel free to check out the images here.

A few days ago, I was going through my Lightroom folders and realized I never really did anything with the other pics from that day.

So here are a few shots from our quick 2 day getaway (note - just noticed that I took way more portrait images than landscape images...how odd)

Roger, Melissa and Elias

2010-10-25T06:30:00.000-07:00

Had a fun family shoot on Saturday with an ultra energetic 2 year old. Hats off to all you child photographers in trying to keep up with these kids. I was diving, jumping, stetching, rolling, running all day long.

Roger and Melissa are friends of mine. Actually, we used to be neighbors (they moved a few years ago). Great people, very down to earth, fun to just hang and chat with. They went to a big box style studio for some portraits not too long ago and while the results were ok, they didn't like the experience. So they asked me if I could do some family shots of them.

They decided on a nearby apple orchard. Reason 1 is that they can provide some fun backdrops to shoot with and the other is that Melissa makes awesome deserts with apples, so hey, why not get more out of your photoshoot, right? They were saying cloudy with some isolated showers, so I was hoping for some clouds. We got what most would call a gorgeous day, but is a photographer's bane...bright bright sun with no clouds.

Elias is a really fun kid. As with alot of kids, he is full of energy - the fact he had some candy before we left didn't help. We tried turning the photoshoot into a game so that he would stop and look at me once and a while. It worked pretty well! At least until he raced off in another direction or chased another bug. Ah, to be a kid again.

I was thinking that the biggest challenge was to get him to look at the camera. But actually, kids will look at the camera. The thing I learned is that they won't look at the camera when you want them to. So forget about posing and taking your time. You need to be ready for when they turn their head and the angle is just right. It's similar to shooting wildlife. You find a spot, a setting, an idea and you sit and wait for the kid to run by. Make a noise for him to look at you and SNAP! You got the image.

So here are some images from Saturday:

While not technically a perfect image, I love it as it really captures how much fun we were all having with the shoot

The back light on this one is just great.

I got some half decent Rembrandt lighting going on here. =)
He actually wanted to go IN the boxes (which were full of apples), but we settled on sitting on them

My favorite image of the day, definatly going into my portfolio

Photowalk - Old Montreal

2010-10-22T20:01:00.001-07:00

Yep, headed back to Old Montreal tonight. My original plan was to head down to the clocktower and do a bunch of shots from there, inside, outside... When Reneau and I got there, the frakin place was under construction. Not just the tower, but the entire pathway to get there.

Bummed, we just walked around the Old Port. Reneau wanted to get some shots of the cityline with his nice, new D700 and 24-70, so we headed to our known spot. It was cold... I mean COLD. Its the first chill we have had in Montreal.

We lasted about 20 mins at the spot. There is no shelter there, so you get the wind straight on.

And boy was it windy. Those who saw my recent shots will know the area. But check out the water reflection. Due to the wind, only lights are visible. Funky effect, I prefer it over having the whole city reflected.

Interesting view of Marche Bonsecours on our depressed walk back from the closed clocktower

Farine...Five Roses...Farine....Five Roses.... Farine Five Roses

Here is Reneau shooting

As cold as it was, the sky was really nice

Zoom pan

Emmanuel and Alicia - Maternity shoot

2010-10-21T05:51:00.000-07:00

Maternity shoots are fun for me. Its a world that I do not know as I don't have kids, so I find I really have to push my creative self to come up with ideas. This is the second maternity shoot I have done and both times I had a similar workflow in that I sketched ideas out on a notepad to help guide my inspiration. I use those sketches as a baseline and then work with that and the couple to produce (what I think) are some fun shots.

On the tehnical side, these were done with natural light and a bit of fill flash for shadows. Not much processing done on these other than some lightroom adjustments, contrast work, slight saturation, levels and such.

Emmanuel and Alicia are friends of my friend Jennifer (aka Maternity shoot #1) who asked me to do some shots of them and their first expected child, a little boy due on November 23rd. They were really fun people to work with. Having people who are open to suggestions and also help in the creation process is what makes photography fun for me.

I met with them last Sunday at their house. We were lucky that the sky had cleared up and the sun came out so the windows were letting in a good amount of natural light. Here are some of my favorite images from the shoot.

Having a baby is about the couple as well

We got Emmanuel going with some Zoolander-esk facial stretches

I love the "whats going on in there" expression

I'm usually not one to put corny stuff in my shots, but I actually do like the heart hands. Someone shoot me if I break out a ribbon or spell the kid's name in blocks

Slightly different angle on heart hands

One of my faves

They say expecting moms and radiant...judge for yourself

Thanks for checking out the shots! Feel free to leave a comment.
And thanks to Emmanuel and Alicia for letting my photograph this important part of their life, best of luck guys.

Tips for shooting at night

2010-10-18T13:09:00.000-07:00

You can walk by the same spot 10 times during the day and not find anything interesting. But once the sun sets (or is just setting) and the lights of the city turn on, the same scene you walk by during the day turns into something magical. It could be the mix of colours due to different light sources (ie - white balance), the stillness and serenity of the image caused by long exposures, I don't know. Just something about it that I love.

So I decided to make a quick write up about what goes on through my mind when I'm doing a night shot.

SETTINGS AND TOOLS

- Low ISO is a must for me. Sure, you can take a higher ISO shot at night and will give good results, specially with how some camera's handle high ISO, but generally, I aim for ISO 100 on my Canon 7D. Yes, my camera handles high ISO well, but the low ISO allows me to get longer shutter speeds which are essential in night shots

- Small apertures. I'm usually in the f/11 - f/16 range. The smaller your aperture, the deeper your depth of field will be - ie, the more you will have in focus. This applies to landscape photography done during the day as much as night shots. A great side effect of small apertures is a start effect in some lights, which adds some coolness to the shot.

- Slow shutter speeds. If you shoot in AV, the combination of low light, small aperture and low ISO will mean a long shutter speed, often in the realm of 15 seconds. A long shutter speed is great for capturing fun car light streaks when you are shooting streets. It also allows for people to walk through the frame and not be captures, enhancing the serenity of an image as it can be a busy street that appears empty.

- I like wider lenses for city spaces. I often use my Canon 10-22 on a crop body, settling in around 16mm. That would be around 26mm on a full frame. I will sometimes use a longer focal length, but I always have my wide angle with me

- A tripod is a must. I don't know anyone who can hand hold a camera for 15 seconds without shaking.

- To go with the tripod, you should have a remote release. Any movement can cause slight shake which will affect the image. Even the movement of hitting the shutter button. If you don't have a remote, then look into how to use the delay timer in your camera. I'll set mine to 2 second delay so the camera has time to settle after I hit the shutter

COMPOSITION

There are many composition rules that can be applied, and many more that can be broken. I'm not going to start listing the basics of photography such as rule of thirds, leading lines, triangles and so on, you can do some googling on that (or maybe I'll blog separately about it at a different time). What to look for when shooting at night?

REFLECTIONS
Finding a nice body of water to use as a reflection for either an entire cityscape or something as simple as a street lamp can add that fun element in the image. If you are doing a cityscape with a body of water, I find that reflections look nice when your horizon line is in the middle of your frame, allowing for the reflection to be almost as equal as the cityscape itself.

Another thing to think about with reflections in water is the weather. If you have a windy day, you will have ripples in the water that will distort the image but still show the light when shooting at longer shutter speeds.

See the below and how it compares to the intro image. Same place, different times of the year, different weather conditions. The one below had no wind, the one up top and more.

CAR LIGHT STREAKS
I mentioned it in the tools and settings. Long exposure means that cars will be passing through your frame. The head lights and tail lights being bright will register on your sensor while the rest of the car will not. Look for roads that twist and turn or use a bit of camera tilt to create a diagonal line in the streaks. This will add a sense of motion to the image.

Play with the shutter speed to get different streak effects. See what a 30 second exposure will give you vs. a 5 second exposure. If you are shooting a less travelled area, think about using Bulb mode. Let’s say your settings say that your shutter should be open for 25 seconds. But there aren't many cars going by. Set your camera in bulb mode and have something black to cover the front of the lens like a piece of cardboard. Start the picture with the front of the lens covered. When a car goes by, remove the cardboard and count how many seconds your shutter is open with no cardboard in front. Let’s say it took 3 seconds. Once the car is out of frame, put the cardboard back. Wait for more cars to come by and count again until you hit 25 seconds.

ZOOM PANS

A zoom pan is a simple process. And it only works if you have a zoom lens. You can always attempt if with a prime lens, but you need to be able to walk very very quietly (that’s my Elmer Fudd online typing imitation). I prefer zoom pans at night, but they also work during the day. You start your image at either end of your focal range. So let’s say you are shooting with a 10-22mm. You start at 10mm. You need to try and time the shot so that while the exposure is being taken, you are able to zoom to 22mm. When you hit the 22mm, your shutter closes.

That the basic idea, but if you hold the zoom in certain places for longer periods, it will give you different effects. Same if you zoom pan from 15mm to 22mm instead of 10mm to 22mm. Photography is about trying things out and learning as you go.

LONG EXPOSURE NOISE REDUCTION
Most modern cameras have this as a setting. You can turn it on or off in your custom menu area, check your instruction manual.

What does it do? Well, just as it says. For long exposures, it will reduce the noise. How does it work? Well, when your camera is done taking your image, it takes a second image without opening the shutter (called a dark frame). It then uses the dark image and compares it to your image and substracts the noise.

Is it perfect? No. But it does a good job. Should you use it over noise reduction in post processing? You be the judge. As I use low ISO which causes little noise, I find that using in camera noise reduction for long exposures does a great job and I dont need to process the image for noise reduction later.

It comes down to my philosophy of getting your image right in camera first...which means exposure, crop and noise control.

There you have it, a few tips and ideas for night shots. Nothing said anywhere in photography is gospel. So take the words for what they are worth, tips and ideas. If you want to try an ultra high ISO night shot, go for it! See what it gives and how you can work with that.

If you have questions, shoot me an email or post up a comment.

Thanks for reading!

Halloween costumes for photographers

2010-10-14T16:12:00.000-07:00

Not sure if you are like me, but I like to bring my camera everywhere I go. On Halloween, there will be so many photo ops when your friends, family and total strangers that are all dressed up.

So when thinking up what I'm going to dress up as, I like to try and incorporate my camera. Here are a few ideas I've had, feel free to comment and add more!!

1- 1930s Press Guy
What do you need? Trench coat, hat, card that says PRESS to stick in the hat. That's pretty much it. If you want to fancy up the costume, you can have a flash on a cord or even with a radio trigger. Take it one step further have bring your tripod, leave your camera on it and put a black sheet over yourself when taking an image.

Great way to get shots of strangers...

2- Death on vacation
I did this one a few years ago. What do you need? A death robe, Hawaiian shirt, sandals and white socks. As Halloween is the day for the dead people to come out, my shtick was that Death is taking the day off tonight and is on vacation. My camera hung around my neck, I'm a true tourist

3- Death on safari
A take on the Death on vacation, but with a photo vest, safari hat and some boots. You get the idea

4- Paparazzi
A little harder to explain to people, but if you dress in all black, stay away from people and then jump out and shoot in burst mode with the flash going off, you might pull off paparazzi. You can maybe throw in a copy of the National Enquirer in your back pocket and use some makeup for a black eye to show your "battle scar" from your last shot.

5- Flasher
Think trench coat. Wear shorts and a tank top so your legs and bare chest show. Make some sort of harness that can support your camera with a flash attached. Pre focus the lens for 5 feet in front of you and switch it to manual focus. Set the shutter to be triggered by remote, putting the remote in your sleeve. When you go and "flash" someone, open the trench coat, hit the remote and BANG! they are flashed and you get a cool picture. Makes for a nice montage at the end of the night.

That's what I've come up with. Some original, some not really.

Happy Halloween!!!

:)

La Ronde rides

2010-10-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

My wife and I had season passes for La Ronde, the Six Flags park here in Montreal. We went as many times as we could go and I brought along my XSI (wasn't brave enough to drag the 7D)

We were there mostly for fun, and I had all intentions to head back one day and one night just for photography, but never got around to it.

I was going through my Lightroom and realized I never did anything with any of those images, so here are a few quick edits of the Goliath, the tallest coaster in Canada when it was built (now second tallest).

Hope you enjoy!

OMG!!! Here we GooooOOooOOoo. The front is really fun on this one

Putting a little motion in the image

This is taken from the back parking lot

A couple more stylized shots of the park

Black Rapid RS-5 camera strap

2010-10-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

Images are provided by Black Rapid (www.blackrapid.com)

Some would think that a camera strap isn't too important. The manufacturer includes one with the camera and that should be good enough, right? And for some people, it is. When I started using a Canon 7D with a grip and had a 70-200 f/2.8 IS mounted when shooting multi hour events or walking the streets for hours on end, I would start to get neck and back pain. So I started looking into getting a new camera strap.

Thats when I came upon Black Rapid straps. They don't go around your neck, you wear them slung accross your chest with the camera hanging near your waist. When you need to shoot, the camera is near your hand, so its one quick motion to bring it up to your eye. Looked cool, alot of people like them. I was hesistant, as they range in prices from $40 to over $120.

Friend of mine was heading to our fave camera store at lunch time one day to buy a grip and battery for his D700. I tagged along and actually came out of the store with a new Black Rapid RS-5 strap. Its the one that has the flap that comes down to store memory cards, cell phone, battery, credit cards,... They didnt have the standard RS-4 in stock, just the RS-5, RS-7, Doubler and the RS-W1 for woman.

Here is an image of the flap compartment from the RS-5. This part of the strap goes over your shoulder:

I got home and tried it on, adjusted it (took me a while to find the right lenght and such) and I was not convinced. It just seemed awkward having this cross body strap to carry around my camera. I attached my 70-200. It held fine, but I was still thinking of this odd setup was worth $80.

I was going out with Reneau (same friend who I went to the camera shop with) to shoot some power / speed boat races that Sunday. Nothing too complicated, one of the sponsors wanted shots of the boat that had his name on it, and everywhere else there was a sign with his name. No prob. He got us VIP access (so we were at the water's edge) and also pit access.

--Side bar--it was the first time I ever had to sign a death waiver for a photoshoot. The pits are like organized chaos with teams putting their boats in the water and some taking them out with the help of 4 cranes. The boats would be going over your head...check out the shots a few blog posts below.

All that to say that I used the RS-5 for race day. I figured that if I didn't like it, I'd bring it back. I had with me my Lowepro Classified (shoulder bag) that I usually have, slung accross one side of my chest and the RS-5 going the other way. The bag had my 10-22 and 28-75 while my 70-200 was on the camera. I also had a monopod. We worked from 11am to about 5pm.

And here an image with a 70-200 attached. Notice how it handgs upside down

I got home, I had no neck pain, no backpain. The strap was comfortable, the swing motion to bring the camera up was easy to get used to. I was hesitant at first of having the camera hang there, but towards the end of the day, I was just letting it drop to the side. Once you find that sweet spot for the lenght of the strap, no more adjusting is needed. My strap goes a bit lower than what most people do as I had issues with holding the camera in portrait mode when the strap was shorter.

The other issue I had was with the tripod quick release plate. See, the Black Rapid strap screws into the tripod socket of your camera or your grip. But when using a monopod, I need to screw the mounting plate in that same hole. While the mounting plate has a D ring to fasten the it to the camera, no way am I connecting the R-strap to that D ring as I'm 99% sure its not a solid piece of metal and would not hold the weight of the 7D, grip and 70-200 for very long. I however saw a press release from Black Rapid on September 13th about a new FastenR-T1 Tripod Solution. Looks like a solution is around the corner. Seems that it will replace the D ring that comes with the mounting plate with a Black Rapid super solid D ring

To get around that, I had the RS-5 connected to the camera and I kept the mounting plate on the mount of my 70-200. When I used the monopod, I'd just quickly release the carabiner at the end of the strap, attached the monopod to the quick release that is on the lens, and voila!

I ran out of memory and was happy to have quick access to the cards in the strap flap. I found out that when your cell phone rings, it will be loud as its really close to your ear. I took note to adjust the volume nex time.

While I dont have an iPhone, it apparently does fit in the cell phone pouch, but nice and tight, not much room to spare.

Overall, I'm happy with the strap, its staying for sure. And turns out Reneau picked up a Black Rapid as well. I'll try and get some images of me wearing it up soon :)

My Froknowsphoto chat

2010-09-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, when I was doing online research on Black Rapid straps, I stumbled on Jared Polin's site froknowsphoto. He had a fun twist on typical reviews, adding a bit of humour, which was interesting to say the least.

I joined his site, ended up following him on twitter and his flickr group. No, I'm not a stalker, I swear.

I posted a recent image I took to his group as I like to randomly do to flickr groups and he messaged me saying he wanted to use my image as his Picture of the Week and have a quick interview on Skype.

Cool! Having anyone take interest in your images is great, specially when that someone knows their stuff. Jared is a great photographer. I particularly like his concert and back stage shots.

So after a few days of back and forths, we finally managed to meet up on Skype. What happens when you get two guys who like to talk together talking about what they like? About 40 minutes (and it could of been more). Started with a 5 minute "hey, how are you", moved into him being disappointed I didn't have a french accent (and can't do one), then the 15 minute interview (with no prep, which is fun), then another 20 minutes chatting about photos, marketing, online, lenses and going into health care, politics, canadians, palestine and other stuff.

Here is a link to the interview and to the image

Fro's POTW - Montreal

And here is a link to Jared's personal site, if you want to check out his work

Back to my urban shooting roots

2010-09-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

Well, not really back to my roots, but seeing as I haven't done much urban shooting in a while, it felt good to get out there... specially night shooting, which is something I love.

Andrea suggested we go check out the tall ships that sailed into the Old Port of Montreal on Saturday. One of the boats being the Bounry from the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. As our main bridge onto the island was closed, it took us a good 2 hours before getting there and finding parking (as compared to 20 minutes).

There were so many people. You needed to buy a $5 ticket to go onto the boats, which isn't expensive. However, they were sold out. People were lined up 4 deep along the railings just to see the boats, so it was somewhat of a struggle to get to a decent spot. Not much of a chance to get good shots. Oh well, there is always next year.

We were headed to a friend's house for a late evening drink and decided to stop by a spot I had been before to shoot a few night cityscapes. While I was at the same spot, the net result was slightly different. Less wind made for more reflections, but I find the images are a bit busier.

Enough of my rambling on. The first 4 are versions of cityscapes, processed differently. The last are some shots of the hoards of people at the boats, in Old Montreal and some shots while I waited for Andrea to finish up some shopping.

I hope you enjoy!
(you can click on the images to go to my flickr and see the images a bit bigger)

Fast as fast can be....

2010-09-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

I was invited by my friend Reneau to shoot the boat races at the Beauharnois regatta a few weeks ago. We had a great weekend, nice sun shine, just a spot of rain on Sunday.

Reneau had the chance to try out his shiny new Nikon D700 and I went along with my Canon 7D. Both equipped with 70-200 lenses, our VIP and pit access passes in hand, it was a fun shooting day.

I'm not a fan of boats or boat races, but I must say that these things go freakin fast. To gain access to the pit, you had to sign a waiver. See, they would lift the boats in and out of the water by crane. When you are in the pit, you have boats going over your head, people going all over the place. It was organized chaos.

Here are a mix of images, from boats, people, cranes, pilots,... Click my flickr on the right hand side to check out more of the set.

Hook 'em up!

Swinging around, ready to go!

This guy's back end wasn't fixed on properly when he left the dock..

More Retro Spex

2010-09-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

Looks like Montreal's coolest rock cover band has a new lineup. And with a new lineup comes....NEW PICTURES!

This new lineup is actually near and dear to my heart as my wife Andrea is their new female vocalist. So now I can do event shots, music shots and shots of my love all in one night. Not a bad gig, eh?

Here are a few from last night's show. If you have read my blog before, you know the drill. Below, some of my fave shots from the night. Click on an image to go to my flickr with more shots (30 ish).

Retro Spex - live at Double Deuce

2010-09-05T18:17:00.000-07:00

The great about having friends who are musicians is that you get to go shoot live events often. And lucky for me, I love music and I love shooting live events :)

John invited me to his new band's show at the Double Deuce in La Prairie. The band is great, they play covers of the 60s - 90s rock. Fun tunes, make you want to get up and dance! They are very new, this is only their second show, so I'm looking forward to many more shoots with them in the near future.

More images up on my flickr, just click an image to go to my flickr

Random urban, cars and other things

2010-09-02T19:03:00.000-07:00

A little mix bag of images for today. There is a post a bit lower down with a battle of the bands shooting in Sainte-Catherine. Well, before the bands played, I wandered around and took some shots. Here are a couple.

The next few are some panning shots along Pine avenue in Montreal, right near Mont-Royal

And lastly, Reneau and I went into the Percival Molson Stadium, where our Montreal Alouettes football team play, and walked around and took some shots.

Val and Ari's wedding - July 31st 2010

2010-08-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

Val and Ari are friends of mine who got married on July 31st and asked me to be their wedding photographer. It was a great wedding, held in a small venue in the country about an hour outside of Montreal. Very cute and rustic looking place, which was great for the photos.

We battled through massivetraffic getting there, and while things ran a little bit late, the wedding was really fun. They are both very photogenic people, which makes the images all that much better. They are also very fun people who enjoy life and didn't want anything too dramatic or artsy in their images, which is the type of photography I love doing, but yet provides a challenge as you don't want your images to look too much like snapshots.

So I kept with my ever developing photo-journalistic style and tried capturing their story as it happened. I find it is a good idea to have a second photographer there, as it allows for a bigger variety of images and coverage, so I asked my friend Didier to come along with me on the shoot. All in all, we ended up with about 400 great shots.

Here are a few that I love. At the time of writing this, I have 30 up on my FLICKR. I'll probably be adding more to the set when I go through the images again with a rested eye.

Thanks for letting me capture your day guys, it was a great one!

More live music

2010-08-28T18:19:00.000-07:00

I was asked by a good friend (and amazing drummer) John to shoot his band during a battle of the bands in Sainte-Catherine on the South Shore of Montreal. His band, Retrospex, is a very new band and does really funky 70s rock, fun stuff you can dance to. I'll definitely be shooting them again.

I didn't stick around for the last band, but here are some of the pics from the first two (Retrospex and TNT). Both bands had different styles...in the end, John's band did bring home the cash.

Retrospex

TNT

NYC - La Grande Pomme

2010-08-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

My wife and I went on an anniversary trip to New York City. It was about a month after our actual anniversary, but hey, any reason is a good reason to head down to New York City

I hadn't been to NYC in just over 4 years, so I was looking forward to making my way down. While my wife had on her agenda a trip to Century 21, I had on mine a trip to BH Photo Video. Together, we planned on hitting some Broadway shows and just soaking in the city. We ended up seeing La Cage aux Folles (which was just brilliant) and Rock of Ages (which was so-so...too tacky for our tastes).

We stayed on 9th and 39th, right at the edge of the Garment district and Hell's Kitchen. Found some great restaurants, met up with a friend for supper, did some touring, lots and lots of walking and spent way more money than we had planned. But its all good, you only live once, right?

Here are some of my favorite photos from the 5 day trip. I'm playing with some different processing, would love to hear what you all think...

I have about 30 of them uploaded on my FLICKR account if you want to see more.

Cirque du Soleil - Les Chemins Invisibles

2010-07-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

I had the amazing opportunity to take some images of the Cirque du Soleil last weekend during their outdoor show in the streets of Quebec City. The venue for the show is not your typical yellow and blue Cirque big top, it is actually held outdoors under the Dufferin-Montmorency overpass (highway 440).

The show is called Les Chemins Invisibles (The invisibles paths) and brings together over 50 artists – dancers, jugglers, singers, acrobats and contortionists.

The show was launched in summer 2009 to celebrate the Cirque du Soleil’s 25th anniversary. The first chapter was based on a fictitious story of three tribes known as Brumes, Brasiers and Sables (fog, fire and sand), living in Quebec’s Saint-Roch district who sought to form a single community with the current inhabitants of the area known as Les Embarassants (The Embarrassments).

This year, the second chapter titled Furrow of Dreams continues upon the new community theme. The show begins with the leaders of the three tribes making their way back to the stage through the crowd, some carried in, some riding mechanical birds and others flying in over the crowd. The show goes on in typical Cirque du Soleil fashion with some daring aerial acts, incredible costumes and amazing choreography all the while backed with great music and lyrics.

The troupe receiving funding from the city to put on the show for 5 consecutive years...so looks like there are 3 more chapters to come! It started on June 24th and runs until September 1st. I think I’ll be making time each year to go and follow the rest of their story.

Here are some images from the show. I have about 60 of them uploaded on my FLICKR account if you want to see more.

Needless to say, if you have never seen a Cirque du Soleil show, make the time. This was my fifth or sixth show, and I’m definitely not done.

Maternity shoot

2010-07-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

I dedicated 2010 to trying to grown and practice more portrait photography. I was excited when my friend Jennifer asked me to do some natural style maternity shots. I met Jennifer a few years ago while taking a photography course and got a chance to meet her husband Stefano during the shoot. They were well prepared for the shoot as they were nicely coordinated in black shirts and jeans. Solid colours are key when doing portraits, specially classy portraits where you want viewers to focus on the models and not the lines and shapes in their clothes.
I went their place earlier this week and we ended up having about 50 mins of shooting time. These were taken mostly in their living room where they had a nice big window that was shining some nice light, which is a must when trying to go for natural, "zen" style shots.

What did I learn? While I like to allow people to pose themselves with only slight direction from me (keeps things natural and organic), I still need to pay more attention to the small details. Plan some, but not too much. I had looked through some maternity shots online to get my creative mind going. The morning of the shoot I just scribbled 6-7 ideas down on a piece of paper, but once you get started, you just move from one thing to another based on the location, the light and the inspiration that hits you (or the models) at the time.

So here are my fave shots...

G20 900 arrest protest

2010-07-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

The Toronto police made the biggest mass arrest in Canadian history, arresting 900 people, some innocent some not, during the G8/G20 summits in Toronto.

Protests were organized across the country June 30th and July 1st, and I made my way down to the Montreal noon time protest. Andrea came with me and met some friends there and they all marched while I ran around taking images.

There were approx 1400 people at the protest which was mainly peaceful and non eventful, other than a small scuffle at the start between some of the protesters as one guy tried to push his own cause, which was totally irrelevant to the reason the people were gathered.

The walk went from Square St-Louis (Sherbrooke metro area), down Sherbrooke street, up St-Laurent, down Mont-Royal and back up St-Denis to end at Laurier metro. Those are some pretty busy downtown streets in Montreal.

The cops were present, some at the front of the march, some along the sides and some in the back. The riot ready cops were all on side streets out of view of the crowd so as not to get them too pumped.

Here are a few images from the march, click on my FLICKR to see about 40 of them.

Take Two ... a second time.

2010-06-23T10:31:00.001-07:00

I had the opportunity to shoot the Take Two dance show this past Saturday night. It was my second time shooting, and as always, the dancers put on a great show which led to some fun shots. 2 hours, small theatre, 400 shots. I was being picky about my shots, only using the 8 fps of my camera on a few occasions.

A bit of history... last year around this time, my friend Didier asked me to shoot a dance show with him. Having never really done it (neither of us) we were up for the challenge. Take Two is a local group that raises just enough money each year to put on 1 dance show. They are all graduates of a high school dance program, and some of the older graduates decided to form Take Two. Great initiative, so I'm all for supporting them via photography.

It is funny how much we can grow or change in a year of doing a hobby. I remember when we showed up last year, we were all focused (no pun intended) on the settings of our cameras and where we would shoot from. Didier had showed up early and taken shots during rehearsals so we could know what we were facing in terms of light and exposure. He had a list of routines the group was doing, with the number of dancers per routine so we could prepare our lenses ahead of time, or at least have an idea of what was coming up. Yeah, I know, totally over prepared, but when you are new at something, always better to be over prepared than under prepared! I was shooting with an XSI, had 4 lenses with me and ended up taking about 700 shots.

Fast foward 365 days later. We meet up again at the same place. Instead of his huge assortment of lenses, he has a 50mm f/1.4. I brought along three lenses, two of mine and a third that I rented and was considering buying, but wanted to compare to my current lens. I had a 10-22mm, 28-75mm and a 24-70mm (the renter). Aaaaanyways. We chatted a bit about how it was last year and laughed at ourselves. The plan this time around? Do whatever. We each went to one side of the stage to ensure max close ups of the dancers on either side, but that was pretty much it. The shoot went fine, had a great time. While I shot half as many images this year, I had more keepers and spent less time processing, which in my eyes, is the way to go. I was happy to have rented the 24-70 instead of buying it. It is way more expensive than my current lens, similar image quality and sharpness, but a faster auto focusing. Not worth the extra coin.

So looking back, after a year of shooting, my thought process while shooting has something changed. I tried out some thing with my wide angle lens and love the results. And while I had some great shots from last year, I had some interesting shots this year.

Click here for a link to the set of images from this year, and here for the set of images from last year (both links point to the respective flickr sets).

These first two images are where I was playing with a wide angle

And some of my other favorites from the show:

The Real Deal

2010-06-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago a friend of mine was playing a gig down in Vermont. She is the singer for a really funky band called The Real Deal. They are based in Vermont and play a great set of classic R&B, soul and rock songs. They know how to get the crowd up and dancing. Check out their website.

While the show as in a bar, it had somewhat decent lighting. Got most of these shots using a 50mm 1.8 @ ISO 2000. It was a fun challenge trying to make my way around the dancing crowd to get into good shooting angles.

The rest of the weekend was spent camping out in Little River State Park, near Williston in Vermont, spending some great time with great people.

You can check out the full set on my flickr, and here are a few of my faves from the evening.

Got to love great customer service

2010-06-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

You wonder why you pay extra for name brand things? Sometimes, the generic or house brand works just as fine, but I have found that as a general rule for photography equipment, buying the name brand is worth it.

While I own a third party lens (Tamron) which I have enjoyed, I have always stuck to name brand accessories for stuff like my memory cards (Sandisk), tripods / monopods (Manfrotto), camera bags (Lowepro) and so on.

I have had 4 Lowepro bags and never had any issues with them. Great quality, fit what I was looking for at the time. I recently lost a strap for my Lowepro Primus backpack, the little strap that holds the tripod in place. I have been using a velcro thing in its place which kind of does the job.

So I decide to email Lowepro to see how much a replacement strap would be and where I could purchase one from. I get a next day email asking me for my full name, address and phone number so that they may ship me a new strap. Next day, I get a confirmation that they have sent the strap Express Post.

I wasn't fishing for a freebie, I lost it and was prepared to pay for a new one. But yeah, that is what customer service is about. Seems that customer service is the thing of the past, mainly due to big box stores like Best Buy and Futureshop taking consumers for a ride, but its great to see some companies, like Lowepro, not only make great products, but back it up with great service.

Just thought I would share, as we often don't read about good stories, we only hear the bad.

More urban goodness

2010-06-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

Haven't updated in a while, so thought I'd throw this up. Reneau (fellow photography enthusiast extraordinaire) and I went out for a few hours after work and walked around an area of Montreal near Prince Arthur street. It was a really nice evening, not too warm, not too cool. Too bad the sky was cloudless, would of made for some fun images.

The area is really nice, very typical Montreal. Prince Arthur is a pedestrian only street, full of outdoor terraces, cute little houses, and plenty of visual goodness.

I hadn't taken a photo walk in a while and it felt good to just head on out, take some shots, and shoot the photography shiz.

Here are a few images from the walk. If you want to see more of my urban and city shots, you can check out my flickr set.

Feel free to leave a comment :)

Shooting from the field at the Impact game!

2010-05-15T05:53:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity last week to shoot a pro soccer game with a press pass. My wife was great in securing me the pass for the Montreal Impact game against the Toronto FC. My only issue was that the game was on the same day as the Montreal Canadians game 7 against Pittsburgh, but hey, its a chance in a life time for a new photographer like me.

My first thought was to gear...or lack there of. I was going to be able to spread the 7D's wings as this camera was said to be built for sports and wildlife photography. 8 fps, good AI servo focusing, 19 cross type AF points, various focusing modes, good high ISO handling. What I lack was lenses. I know sports photography requires some fast glass... f/2.8 or faster. Why? Well, you need to capture motion...and very fast motion. In order to freeze soccer, you need approx 1/400th shutter speed. And when you are shooting at night, the light just isn't there.

So I asked a good friend, Didier, who is ever so generous in loaning his photography gear, and borrowed a 70-200 f/2.8 L IS and a 300 f/4 L IS. I also brought along my XSI and a 28-75 f/2.8 for when they got close. Soccer is played on a big field, so you need long lenses. Ever watch a football game and see all these photographers on the sidelines with these giant lenses that look like bazookas? They need those if they want to get up close and emotional shots. But one of those is about $8,000, so they normally have their companies pay for them.

Emotion is what sports is about. Just as with any other people photography. You want to capture faces, you want to capture emotions, triumph, struggle. You don't want the back of someone's head (although that can work for some shots). Heh, look at me, thinking I'm a pro. This was my first time shooting pro sports, and I have minimal sports shooting experience. On to the game!

I show up early (I'm anal about that) and get my press pass. My wife was meeting some friends and her dad, so we went our seperate ways. Having the pass was pretty neat as I was able to skip over the lineups to get in. When I got near the field, the security guard opened the gate to let me on the field. "Cool! I'm a superstar!". Then reality hit...where the hell do I go? Its a big field, lots of people. And yet, there were no photographers there (the bane of being early).

The Impact staff on the field where great. The Field Coordinator gave me the ins and outs of what I can and can't do. I was basically limited to one of four spaces between the corner kick line and the goal post. No sideline access, as this is reserved for their staff photographer. Hey, I'm just happy being there.

So I start taking out my gear. I mount the 70-200 on my 7D and attach the monopod. I take out the XSI and mount the 300. I prepare the 28-75 for quick access, put the lens hood on, and ready it in case I need to grab it. I set the empty memories cards in the bag for easy access. Then the big guys show... the Associated Press and the Reuters photographers. They walk by me, giving me a little glance as I guess I'm the new competition. But man oh man, did I have lens envy. They each had these ginormous lenses slung over their shoulder, shooting with 1D Mk IIIs (2 of them) and 70-200's on their second body. When you tally up the cost of the two bodies and two lenses, you hit just over the $20k mark. This is why they say sports photography is the most expensive type of photography.

The game started, I shot away. I had a 1.4x extender on the 300mm lens which was mounted on the XSI, which made it more like a 420mm on my 7D (which also has a crop factor of 1.4). However, it cuts 1 stop of light, so the f/4 is not an f/5.6. I was only able to get a shutter of 1/100 at ISO 800, which was useless. So I quickly switched on the 28-75 for the really close shots (which didn't happen).

I spent most of the game shooting with the 70-200 on the 7D. The game is so fast, its insane. One moment, you are zooming in on the winger running down the line and within an instant, the ball is flying to the goalie. You have to know the game and anticipate shots. I would sometimes wait with my camera pointed at the goalie to capture a save or a goal. I probably missed a few shots in doing so, but I did manage to get a diving save (which the AP and Reuters guys, sitting opposite me, had a great shot of the goal post and the goalie's butt haha!)

I would assume that hockey is the same style of shooting, but on a smaller surface. The gameplay is fast and hectic and can change directions at anytime. Basketball is on a small court, but a different shooting style as one team is on offense, one on defense. Sure, that can change quickly, but generally, you can get in a mindset for a certain shot and wait for it. With 80+ points in a game, you have many opportunities for layups and dunks. Football would be a mix of soccer and basketball... the field is huge, but the play is a little more straight forward. Knowing each sport is key though. If you are shooting an NFL game and its 3rd and 1, I wouldn't really focus on the receivers as chances are its a run play.

All in all, I had an amazing time. I would do it again in a heartbeat. You can view the set of 50ish images on my flickr and here are a few of my faves from the game. I have plenty more to say on the game, but I feel I've gone on long enough

In closing, I have to say that I chose the correct place to shoot from as I could see the TV sets in the boxes not too far and was able to zoom in to watch replays of the Habs game! haha :)

Never forget

2010-05-05T23:27:00.000-07:00

I heard a quote not long ago that rings true with me: "Photography is about capturing life at 1/100 shutter speed" (I think thats going to be my blog's subtitle!). Sounds geeky, I know, but it is very true. One of the reasons I love candid portrait photography is that you can capture a moment in time forever, and you need to be quick, else its gone.

I've been taking photos at the Remembrance Day memorials for the last 2 years. My first year in 2008, I went to capture an event. After taking pictures from the outside in, I made my way inside the tent they had setup for the veterans and managed to get up close with some of them. I was mezmorized by these heroes. When I went back to the memorial in 2009, I went with a different focus, one to capture the people and not the event. I managed to wiggle my way up with the press photographers and managed to get up close with the people. I'm very proud of these photographs, I feel they are my best work to date as they capture the people and the emotion of the day.

You can view the full set (42 images) up on my flickr, here are the few images that I particularly like from the day:

Go Canada Go!

2010-04-28T22:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a proud french canadian. So when I was told that our amazing olympic and paralympic athletes were coming to downtown Montreal for a parade, I made sure to book an extra long lunch, packed up my new 7D and headed out with a friend to capture the event.

The parade was from 11:30am to 1:30pm and went through most of the downtown core. We got to the end of the parade around 11:15am to ensure we have a decent vantage point, up on some stairs, above the crowd.

Ste-Catherine street was packed, office workers, families, kids...everyone was out waiting to cheer on their favorite athlete. Kids got one of the better seats in the house, sitting on top of their parents shoulders, patiently waiting. The first few people to parade down were the local radio stations and other event sponsors (got to love marketing), followed by some people who were simply trying to get the crowd excited. But trust me, Montreal rarely needs encouragement to be loud.

The first few athletes were carrying flags. They were right close to the crowd, and taking the time to give high fives and sign autographs. I managed to find John Montgomery (gold, skeleton) being his typical excited and happy self. All he was missing was a pitcher of beer in his hands.

Joannie Rochette was an inspiration to all during the olympics. Having lost her mother but a few days before she performed, and still managing to go through it all and bring home a bronze was just amazing. She was the first to come through behind the flag bearers, in a car with the mayor of Montreal

I There are just about 50 photos up on my flickr set , I won't go through them all here. The athletes were really gracious, taking the time to let people touch their medals, talk with some people, pose for pictures. While the crowds were so loud that I couldn't hear a friend of mine calling my name from 5 feet in front of me, I'm not sure who was more excited, us or the athletes

Here are a few images from the parade:

New gear!

2010-04-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

It is known in the photography world that between the camera body and the lenses, the lenses are the more important components. Even to the point of buying a cheaper body if this will allow you to buy better lenses.

But once in a while, you find yourself lagging behind in technology. At the rate that the big boys (Canon and Nikon) pump out new bodies, within a few years, you are behind the curb. I bought my Canon XSI in summer 2008 while it was the newest of the Canon Rebel line and out at the same time as the Canon 40D, their top "pro-sumer" body. From 2008 to spring 2010, Canon upped their Rebel line not just once with the T1i, but a second time with the T2i. Adding in higher ISO, movie modes and so on. They have upped their 40D to a 50D, they came out with the uber awesome full frame 5D MkII and also started with a new top of the line crop sensor camera, the 7D.

I bought the camera not knowing much. It met my needs at the time...it was a dSLR, it fit the 2 Canon lenses I had found in my mom's camera bag, and it was the cheapest. But now that I'm getting into photography and understanding light and how your camera records it, I was in need of an upgrade. The main drivers were higher ISO performance, more weather resistant body and faster shooting speeds.

Cost of a new body ranged from $600 for a used 40D all the way up to $3200 for the 5D MkII, with the others falling in order from the T1i (900), 50D (1200), 5D (1500) and then the 7D (1800).

Decisions, decisions. I work hard for my money, so when I decide to spend it, I want to make sure I am spending in on what is best for me. Here is a bit of my decision thought process:

The flagship model for Canon is the 1D series. But this comes with a price tag of over $5000. Not in my budget and actually not in my current needs. The top of what I can get would be the 5D MkII. However, this would be a full frame camera and my XSI is a crop sensor camera. In changing sensor types, my beloved 10-22mm wide angle lens would no longer work as it can only be mounted on a crop sensor camera (it has the EF-S designation). So not only would I be dishing out $3000 on a new camera, I would need to either replace this lens with the full frame equivalent, the 16-35 which is approx $1500, or not have a wide angle lens. So I'll have to wait longer for the switch to full frame.

I decided to stick with crop sensor cameras and my choices were now the T1i, 50D or 7D.

The debate between the 50D and the T1i is the same I first had in 2008 when chosing between the 40D and the XSI. Back then, I went with the XSI and after 6 months I wished I had the 40D. Not that the Rebel isn't a good camera, as I've loved having it, when you handle a higher end camera, you can easily tell why they are the "entry level" line. The Rebel camera is plastic, small, shoots slower and has some important functions in the menu instead of easily accessible buttons. The xxD line is magnesium body, bigger and shoots usually twice as fast (6.3 fps vs 3.4 fps). Without going into more details, I decided to not repeat the past and go with a higher end line of cameras.

So that left me to decide between the 50D and the 7D. What are the differences? The 7D is fully weather sealed, it shoots 8 fps and has a new autofocussing system (first Canon camera with it), dual processors, a 100% magnification view finder.... basically a bunch of improvements. The 50D is a great camera and I wouldn't hesitate buying it, but its already a little over a year old and will be replaced by the 60D in a few months.

So while I normally go for the cheaper alternative, I decided to go with the new tech and pay more money.

I've had the camera for a few weeks and I must say, it is flippin' awesome. Just for the ease of access of the menu and its button layout alone. The high ISO (I've shot up to 6400) is great, although still not as nice as the 5D MkII. I've done some concert shots at 2000 ISO using a 50mm 1.8 and had great results. I'll have a chance to try the 8 fps along with the new auto focusing system when I actually get to shoot a Montreal Impact soccer game on March 12th. The reviews called this camera the best crop sensor camera out there and say that its made for sports and fast action. I guess we'll see.

Where to go from here? I should be good for 3-4 years with this camera, maybe more. My next step up is full frame. But before getting there, I'll start the journey of getting better lenses so that when I am ready for the switch, I'll have all the lenses to go with the new body. Maybe by that time, the 5D MkIV will be out. I'm also going to be looking at strobes and all the gear that goes with them.

Here are some low light photos from a concert. You can view the full set on my flickr.

These were mostly shot at ISO 2000-3200, f/1.8 - f/2.8 and with a shutter of around 1/30 - 1/80.

Urban art walk

2010-04-12T09:17:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite subjects to photograph in a city is graffiti. I'm not talking about tags that people throw out anywhere, but actual art that people have taken the time to create. I have taken photos of graffiti that are no longer there, and others that were commissioned by actual shop owners.

A few weeks ago, I walked down Duluth street from the Lafontaine Park down to about St-Laurent street. Its a great little street to walk down, not much in terms of shops, but it has alot of character. I found some interesting art up on their walls, doors and garages

You can view my full graffiti set on flickr, but here are some highlights from my little Duluth street walk

Down under and back again!

2010-04-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

Still trying to get into the regular rhythm of updating a blog....

So the March trip to Australia has come and gone. Was a great trip, and it’s definitely a place I want to visit again.

A lot of things to see, a lot of things to do, and the people are just so nice. The 13 hour flight from LA to Sydney wasn't all that bad, considering we walked for 8 hours prior to getting on the plane, so we just conked out from being so tired.

I didn't have any issues with camera gear as carry-on. The flight from Montreal to LA was my only worry as the carry-on rules stated I could only have 1 carry-on item and 1 personal item. I had planned on a backpack and a camera bag with my body, lenses and accessories. The rules stated that I could bring a camera bag as long as it only held a camera. So I figured I'd try my luck with my Lowepro Classified as my camera bag, but as a backup plan, I could put all my gear in the bottom part of my backpack, put the Classified in the top part of my backpack and carry it all on, with a possible issue with weight limitations. When I got to the ticket counter at the airport, I asked about the camera bag and they instructed me to go chat with a security official. The only thing the security official asked was whether only camera gear was in the bag, to which I said yes, and I was allowed to carry it on. So tripod packed in my checked bag and the rest of the gear with me, I was able to go on my trip.

I visited different climates, which ended up being a slight strain on my little Rebel. From country living in the wine region, tropical rain forests and the salt water near the Great Barrier Reef to the dry desert with the blowing red sand. Seems that my camera didn't agree with the salt water. While I did my best to keep it safe and stowed away while the boat was moving, I still got some salt water residue between the setting dial and the on/off switch. So each time I would turn the camera on or off, it would change my shooting mode. What a pain.

I took a total of 3500 photos. Sounds like a lot, but when you visit a place you don't plan on going back, to take as many as you can, different angles, different times. I lost count of how many pictures of the Sydney Opera House I took. Each night, back in the hotel room, I would copy all the photos onto my netbook and do some minor editing so my wife could use some images for her blog.

You can read my wife's travel blog here http://aussietripandrea.blogspot.com/

Now on to some of the images!

A week or so before leaving, a co-worker showed me his photos from his trip to Hawaii. They were all printed and in a hard cover book, which was a great idea. He told me the site her used to get the book done was http://www.blurb.com/.

I just finished putting together a 108 page book, which contains over 200 photos and am waiting for shipment. I hope the quality works out. Well, thats a quick summary of the trip.

Hope you like the photos.

Australia, here I come

2010-02-27T11:46:00.000-08:00

From March 6th to March 27th 2010, I will be on a life long dream trip and heading down to Australia with my wife and some friends. This is my first time traveling with my dSLR and I've been going through the motions of planning for the trip.

My photography should center around both urban city shooting and landscape shooting. Our trip is starting off in Adelaide, We are here for 4 days, and as our first stop, probably the main thing we will be doing here is getting over jet lag. We have a day tour planned in the famed Barossa Valley wine regions, and the city itself seems to have a lot of classic buildings and churches. Turns out we are going to be there during the Adelaide Festival of Arts which consists of outdoor concerts, plays, opera, theatre and other cultural activities. I'm hoping to get in some street candids and such.

We are then heading out to the Great Barrier Reef and staying in Palm Cove, which is just north of Cairns. Photo interests here are going to be centered around beaches, sun sets and rain forests. I'm undecided whether I'll have a underwater camera. The beaches around the area have box jellyfish, one of the world's most dangerous sea creatures...add to that the tiny octopus, the sharks, eels... I sometimes wonder why we are heading down!

We then head off to Ayer's Rock for some time in the Outback, aboriginal art, Uluru, desert landscapes and hopefully some amazing star gazing.

Our last stop is Sydney. We are going to be taking a trip to the Australia Zoo, maybe head out to the Blue Mountains, Bondi Beach and of course, the opera house, Sydney Bridge and many chances to get some great urban shots.

Lenses and equipement

- Picked up a 70-300 lens. While not a fan of telephotos, it gives a decent image, is light and 300mm on a crop body should be good for wildlift
- Canon 10-22 wide angle which should see alot of action both in landscapes and in city shooting
- Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 lens. Dont leave home without it
- CPL for my wide angle + a Cokin system with a couple of ND filters.
- Manfrotto tripod and head. Wont be with me all the time, but essential for night photos
- 2 Lowepro bags. A Primus AW for longer hikes. Body + 3 lenses in the bottom, plenty of room up top and a tripod strap. Classified 160AW for a general purpose bag with body and 1-2 lenses.
- 1x 8GB card and 3x 4GB card. Asus netbook with upgraded ram which allows me to run Adobe Lightroom and PS Elements. Will also be a backup for my photos

Travelling prep
- Keeping my eye on carry-on restrictions. Went from being allowed to have 2 bags down to just 1. Will store most of my gear in my carry-on, maybe 1 lens, nicely wrapped, in my checked bag
- Photocopies of all my lens and body receipts to allow for easier customs time
- Reading up on what to see and what to shoot in Australia. Been checking posting forums and getting ideas from local photographers

That pretty much covers the prep for the trip. I hope I didn't forget anything, but at least we are headed somewhere where I can always purchase something essential I may have forgotten.

I'll let you all know how things went!

Welcome to my blog!

2010-02-25T17:48:00.000-08:00

Heya and welcome to my first ever blog! I have been seeing many people blogging left and right and decided to throw my own up.

The focus of this blog is going to be photography (haha, get it? focus, photography... heh), which has been a passion of mine for the last few years. It will contain general ramblings of what I am doing in photography, trials and errors, pictures and anything else that comes to mind.

Lets see how this develops (ok, I suck at humour).