tillsonburg.com

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.