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Strategic Nudes

I love challenges and boy did I encounter one this past weekend. Shoot a calendar of portraits of a dozen or so people in various locations in one day. The common thread of the portraits ? They'll all be naked with extremities strategically concealed. 18 models, 13 locations in 10 hours. Well this idea is all a part of a fundraiser for the "Friends of Glen Davis Ravine." This Toronto community organization formed of local residents is protesting and fighting to stop the construction of a large condominium which threatens to damage the City-designated ravine. The Glen Davis Ravine is this lush small valley within the city's Beaches area that the surrounding neighbourhood enjoys as a natural abundant habitat. It was once an undisturbed part of "Lake Iroquois ." To help fund their legal battle the neighbours have decided to pose naked to create a fund raising calendar to be sold next month. I'd really like to tell you all about the shoot but "what happens in the ravine, stays in the ravine." For some behind the scenes photos you can go here. Stayed tuned and I'll shout out when the calendars become available.

Pure Talent

As my neighbour and great friend Mark Davidson has stated " I love my neighbourhood." For me I couldn't agree more. On Friday night my next door neighbour Rob Adams performed at Molly Bloom's here in Kitchener. His new band " Deadbolt Jam" played a solid 3 hours of classic rock that grooved the hood. For a band that has been in the mix for under a year the line up of local professionals that have brought this group to fruition radiates passion. You can check them out for yourselves at the Embassy in Waterloo on Friday night August 19th and at Goodfellows II in Brantford on August 27th.

Great Lakes Helicopter

So what does it take to get me up at 4am on a Sunday morning? Well in this case it was just an opportunity to shoot some local crop dusting at the break of dawn. My good old friend Stan Mance from Great Lakes Helicopter in Kitchener was out on location with his crew attending fields loaded with an anti-fungal spray to ensure the crops will be healthy in time for harvest. The Bell Jet Ranger piloted by Adam Tastula chopped through the morning air delivering a spray that reminded me of the application of cologne to a newly shaven face. Unfortunately a weather front moved in from Lake Huron and 90 minutes after the first field pass was complete the operation had to shut down because of impending rain. Hopefully I'll get back out with the boys in a couple of weeks when the weather gets better. Photos here.

Motorcycle Expo

Alright. I'll say it right off the bat...I am so done with the winter of 2011. First full day of spring couldn't have come any quicker. Cold, dull and nasty. Good riddance.

A sure sign of spring is the sightings of those two wheeled motorized contraptions known as motorcycles. This past weekend the World of Motorcycles Expo was held in Kitchener at Bingeman Park and I as the official photographer covering the event over the weekend. Sometimes it's difficult working in your hometown where you're running into people you know, chatting and catching up and the next thing you know the show is over. Now I'm not complaining I actually ran into one old friend I hadn't seen in years and that mini reunion was stimulating.

For those itching to ride and whom live in the Southwestern Ontario area Friday the 13th in Port Dover only comes once this year in May. That's always a questionable ride since I know in the past it's been cold and rainy. Let's hope this winter weather vanishes so we can really kick start the spring.

iStock Editorial Here We Go

A lot of you know that I'm a contributor to iStockphoto one of the world's largest on-line sellers of royalty free stock photography owned by Getty Images. For me I joined the Calgary company way back in January 2003 (shortly after getting my first digital camera) and have been supplying images of all kinds to them and exchanging royalties in return. Well...here's the BIG news. They've just started excepting "editorial" images. Previously all they excepted were images used for commercial sales but now we're able to supply them with anything that would be considered for news and commentary on an editorial basis. This now means for me that I don't have to worry about cleaning up trademarked areas within my photos, having model releases for people in my shots and or releases for properties that may be shown. Needless to say I've been shooting a ton of crime scenes over the years that can now breathe a sigh of "royalties" and be seen publicly for the first time. This first one I shot just outside Paris on the freeway while standing up through the sunroof of our rental.

Sons of Butcher

Every once in a while during your career you get lucky and that certainly happened for me a few years ago. Canadian producer/director Karl Dipelino got me involved with S & S (Smith and Smith) Productions in Burlington and we started shooting a new animated cartoon series for Teletoon Canada. " Sons of Butcher " was a concept developed by animator Jay Ziebarth his brother Trevor and college buddy Dave Dunham. The cartoon was about three guys who work in a meat shop during the day and were metal rock and rollers by night. Jay's style of flash animation was very unique where we used the actual heads of the three actors in the scenes and everything else (landscape, scenery and other characters) were drawn. This meant that everything we shot in the studio was green screen. The actors wore green body shirts to the neck line. This meant that we could use their heads for all facial expressions yet animate the rest of their bodies. The guy that lead the show from writing through final cut was Max Smith. I had worked with Max and his family on other projects including the Comedy Network's "Fifth Quadrant" sci-fi comedy. A man with a very unique twisted view of life Max is the son of Steve Smith aka "Red Green." Anyway there's a ton of "Sons of Butcher" on YouTube and now my tribute to the production on flickr.

Junkyard Fire

A while ago I thought I might shoot some long shutter traffic shots and proceeded to a previously scouted location to set up. While on the street I noticed smoke on the horizon and knew it was out of place. Sure enough I could see orange reflections and billowing black smoke coming from my right so I pulled into a convenient parking lot and gazed down past some railway tracks. There sat a car in full blaze outside of a junkyard fence. I grabbed my camera and ran down past the tracks and began shooting as I approached the flames. Then I heard someone yelling at me and looked back to see a set of car lights beside my vehicle in the parking lot. Not knowing if it was the police I yelled back... "got a cell phone ? Call 911!" Which they acknowledged. Whew ! I had a perfectly working cell phone but since the scene didn't look dangerous I didn't want to waste precious time on the phone and miss out on the intensity of the moment !

The next day I dropped by shot what was left of the car and found an interesting ol' truck as well. Hot spot !

Seeking Students

Just recently I have begun to accept students of photography into my stable. Now for a period of eight weeks you can be my grasshopper and I your mentor. Would you like to take your photography to the next level ? Maybe you don't have a level yet ? Well you're at the right place. Think of our relationship as a one on one weekly lesson where I will critique your work and help you advance your knowledge of photography so that you'll be confident to capture anything that falls in front of your lens. Each week ( for 8 ) you'll submit up to ten images that we will together share and advance from. As well I can help motivate you to take that lens cap off and start making pictures. Just like those who want to learn guitar or piano have weekly lessons...you will too. Let me know what you'd like to do and let's get started. Send me an email for more information.

Detroit 2011 Wrap

On Sunday just before I left for the auto show I thought I'd view the new ABC Television series " Detroit 187." There's a couple of reasons...Shaun Majumder the funny talented comedian from Newfoundland and the setting ...the City of Detroit. Now I'm not really into cop shows but what I loved about this series were the scene setting shots captured all around the Motor City. Time lapsed images, urban / suburban and a great mixture of icons. After viewing the first episode I had to have another and then another. It's like heroin in a box. During the third episode they shot a great foot chase into the old Michigan Central Railway Station. If you know anything about this mammoth monolith you'll enjoy these scenes. As a huge fan of urban decay photography I can say that this enjoyable prime time drama has me hooked.

Now on to the show. First of all....NAIAS the North American International Auto Show crammed almost all of the auto manufacturer unveilings / press conferences and launches into one day. We covered most of them with a lot of grief. Too many accredited "journalists" especially all of the so called "bloggers" who even had some reserved seating areas. I'll let you know that myself along with about 50 other videographers shooting for national and international broadcasts would love to "shoot" these people whom in most cases are taking up valuable space and energy blogging to friends and neighbours ONLY. They with their camera phones standing up and blocking views from countless pros positioned or perched from manufacturer supplied scaffolding. It's immediacy over quality. Enough said.

Highlights for me... the new Porsche 918 RSR , the Hyundai Curb Concept, the Honda Civic Concept ( should have been an unveiling for immediate production ) and that crazy florescent green Mercedes Gull Wing. Several likes and trends...more females modelling with cars and the styling of matte paint finishes. Biggest disappointment at a presentation was Kia announcing their concept to reflect the van craze of the seventies. I should have known that since they didn't use phrases like..."shaggin wagon" or " if the van's rocking...don't bother knocking!" that my previous youthful dreams about driving around in my "apartment on wheels" wasn't going to be fulfilled. They wheeled out a metal box that looked like the Ford Flex containing three male geeks inside playing on a flat screen table computer. What they needed was a sofa that folded out into a double bed. But even if they did it the vehicle didn't look long enough to "sleep" in.

Anyway.

Have a peek at some of my photos here on flickr. We're currently putting a feature together for Motoring 2011 and I'll keep you posted on the date. Immediacy no...quality yes.

Annual NAIAS Trip

This time every year for about the past gazillion I've headed down to the North American International Auto Show at Detroit's Cobo Hall with the Motoring TV gang. It's there that we've been witness to some of the most extravagant presentations and parties the automotive world has ever seen. As one of now somewhere around 5000 journalists who get accredited all of us have the same motive... grab the best spot to record and witness the unveiling of a new vehicle. Presentations have included trucks dropping from the ceiling, crashing through windows, leap frogging lily pads, torrential snow storms and even being escorted through downtown Detroit with a hundred head of long horned cattle. The launches are held at Cobo Hall which is probably as big as the field of Comerica Park. Something that has always alluded me is that there has never been a physical confrontation amongst journalists. I've certainly spoken up on occasion to drop the f bomb on lingering reporters and their microphones that sometimes sneak into our "exclusive" interviews. But ironically everyone seems to get along. Even if you can't speak the language of the journalist usually some hand signs go a long way. I could probably write a book on my experiences alone. Like this one.

Back in 2008 I'm set up waiting for a Mitsubishi premiere when another cameraman comes up to me a says that he just came in from out front of the hall having a smoke when all of a sudden a police car t-boned another car leaving the parking garage and apparently it's the cop's fault.

Well...thank God for timing as we had about twenty minutes before the presentation so I whipped out and grabbed half a dozen shots. At one point an officer asked me to stand back from the cruiser since it was still part of the crime scene. Looking back at the pictures I remember how eerie the sight was and the lack of people around the area of the wreck. It was like a Twilight Zone set. Very surreal.

Let's see what tomorrow brings. I'm guaranteed eye candy.

Bengali Dyes

Something I really had fun creating last year were my collection of Bengali Dyes. These exotic colours injected into milk of magnesia ( due to density )consistently created something different every second of the shoots. The dyes are included in my feature in the newly released book "Talent Next Door." The book features artists from the K-W area and is available at Amazon.ca ( shameless plug ). I also have recently printed a limited run of 11 x 17 inch posters which I have for sale for $ 20. each. The pieces look incredible when framed and matted and have been very popular over the holidays. Have a look at the dyes in my flickr gallery and contact me for more information.

Silky Smooth

So now that you're putting your lens cap in your front left pocket something I always keep in that pocket as well is a silk lens cleaner. It's a "silky" soft and smooth patch of material that is perfect for cleaning the front of your lens. Cleaning the glass on the front of your image gatherer is another good habit to get into. It's another step in setting up your shot and after continual use will become a standard habit. To clean your lens use a circular motion when wiping to help from creating streaks. Hold the lens up to your eyes and then at different angles of light check to see if there's any visible gunk or dust. If you've got a filter on the lens then take it off and clean both the lens and both sides of the filter. Take this one step further and buy yourself a Giotto Rocket Air blower and squeeze some man made wind across the glass. Making sure your lens is clean will save you time in post production and help guarantee that everything in your shot is clean from spots.

Home Video Improvement

During the nineties ( remember them ?) I produced a series of over 50 instructional videos that aired on CKCO-TV in Kitchener for a couple of years.  "Home Video Improvement" was designed to help the novice videographer through simple tips become a better shooter.  I have started to upload these features to YouTube and thought that today would be a great time to introduce them to you. 

New Shooter First Tip

If you're one of the millions that received a DSLR camera for Xmas and are just starting your new hobby I have a tip for you. Like anything new you will pick up a few bad habits along the way. Well there's one simple habit you should get into when out shooting. One of the first things you'll always do when out is taking off your lens cap. Once that's done.... where do you put it ? I really hate those little strings that are sold that you stick to the cap and the lens where it dangles in the wind while you're shooting. Here's my tip and something I consistently do every time I take off my cap. Put it in my front left pocket. Always. You'll never lose it if you get into this very simple habit.

Best of 2010

Alright. New year , new beginning. Reflecting back on 2010 I was in a helluva lot of places shooting a helluva lot of different people , places and things. Choosing my best photograph was a toughie but one that didn't take long to figure out.

During my brief stint in London Ontario covering the Canadian Special Olympic Summer Games I'd rise early just before sunrise and head out into the city's down town core to shoot ...whatever. During one of my sun rising photo walks I noticed a man in a large parking lot checking the parking meters for change. As he walked closer I noticed that this was a man with incredible facial character and I stopped him and introduced myself to him. He replied...."My God ! My name is Danny too ! I live over the other side of the tracks at the shelter. " Well hearing that was the perfect way to break the ice and I told him what I was up to and asked if I could shoot a portrait of him. He agreed and I shot a series of four or five shots. As I finished I offered to buy him breakfast but he declined and as he walked away he said " I'm on my way to find my next hundred. " Little did he realize he was pure gold.