Tuesday, June 28, 2011

A Second Look...

I was cleaning up my image library tonight and came across this image from my 365 project in 2010.

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This particular image from that day never made the cut but when I saw it again tonight I loved this image much more than the one I chose and, I thought it was the best image of the bunch.

It's interesting how vision evolves.

Keep shooting.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Weeds... Beautiful Weeds

I snapped this Instagram picture on the way to meet a couple of filmmaker buddies for a few beers tonight. At the time I entitled it "Weeds".

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I met with my friends and of course there was much discussion of film making and photography. Sometimes the conversation veered a little and Instagram popped up. The one fellow, an accomplished film maker, had never heard of it so I showed him my shot I made tonight and explained the phenomenon. Upon seeing the photo, he said, "it's beautiful". The comment immediately struck me. Of course it's beautiful - that's why I made the picture in the first place. At that moment I realized that the title was inappropriate. They were not just weeds, they were "beautiful" weeds.

Keep shooting.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

iPhone: Great Location Scouting Tool

Today I hopped on the bike with my iPhone and SLR and went scouting locations for an upcoming stock shoot. I brought both devices for different reasons. The SLR was brought so when I do find that great location I can take a shot with the lens of my choice and get a really good sense of whether or not it will fit my plans.

The iPhone, on the other hand, serves a different purpose. With the iPhone, I can bang off a bunch of quick shots but most importantly each of those shots is geotagged. I don't have to scribble down all the locations because the iPhone is already gathering that information for me. So sweet. :)

Keep shooting.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Fun on the Fly

I was the photographer for my partner Jen's sister's convocation this past Friday. I pretty much say "yes" to every opportunity because it provides a chance to hone skills and try new things.

I shot pictures before, during and after the ceremony but I felt the best stuff was at the end when I asked the girls if they were up for trying something "different". Of course they were so I came up with a few ideas on the fly. The first thought was to stick the girls in the bleachers where all the parents, friends and family were sitting just an hour before watching the graduates.

I had a couple people hold up a couple of 580EX IIs and we banged out some quick shots.

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The next idea was to pose them in front of the large windows on the ground level of the gymnasium. What appealed to me in that location was the backlighting, the red colouring on the window, the colourful green grass and the lovely reflections on the polished floor. We banged out a few quick, more traditional poses. My partner Jen had the great idea of getting the girls to put their hands on their hips and sass it up a bit. Instantly the pose came alive, as did the smiles, and we got a great shot.

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For the finally we did the "jump shot". OK, perhaps it's a bit cliche but the girls were up for it and it kept the smiles flowing. It took three takes to get our shot.

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Awesome!

Keep shooting.