Shaun Goudie - one of the good ones.

To my friend Shaun Goudie,

There are few photographers I have ever met who have little or no ego. You were the prince of this group. Our discussions and critiques early on helped shape my photography to what it is today. Moreover your constant positive attitude was an inspiration to me. Today when I heard the news of your passing on, my heart was filled with a great sadness.

You loved to travel, more than anything. Now you are taking the greatest trip one can take.

I'll miss you man, but I'll see you on the other side when the time is right.

C

City Hall Commission

Civic Politics

In the past year or so I have had the good fortune to have been given semi regular commission for the City of Edmonton to photograph the protocol items for the council sessions. Its an enjoyable job, but leaves little room for error as you have mere seconds to expose, frame and capture the protocol photographs.

Aside from the commission I am often given leeway to photograph my own images, in the style or a reportage photographer.

I'm not sure why, but I quite enjoy shooting political events on black and white, I think it draws the viewer into the emotion of the event.

Shooting in Italy

Here is the typical day of a travel photographer shooting in Italy... specifically in Verona and ROME. 10 am - wake up head down stairs for espresso and fruit breakfast. 11am stroll along the streets and snap a few warm up pics... they are all amazing, not because your a good photographer, but because its Italy, and everything looks cool.

11:50am park your ass in a restaurant and eat,... then when you have attempted to taste everything on the menu, and dropped about $150 euros. 1:15pm you head out again. but your tired... so you need another espresso so you stroll some more and find a nice cafe.

1:45pm you finish your espresso, walk some more, take some midday sun photographs, yay! your a hero your pics are looking great, your onfire you can literally smell the paycheck coming your way... 2:22pm, time for some gelato as personal reward for capturing so many great pics.

3:10pm leave the gelato bar, the day is closing out so you need finish your photo list. So you decide to work hard, after all you are a professional, and you need to do your job... 4:05pm you decide your list is complete for now, time to find a nice place to eat supper.

BACK HOME - Two weeks later, you cross reference you restaurant, espresso and gelato recipts to your paycheck and realize that you actually lost money, and gained 9 lbs around your midsection...

a night in Kansas City

Its 1245 am, and I should be sleeping... the thing is I just felt like working on pictures. Im not sure why, but I tend to work better on my images later in the evening. So I decided to take a little break from capture one and post an old image that I have been meaning to clean up since god knows when for no particular reason.

This image was shot in 05 i belive while I was on a 3 day shoot in Kansas City. From memory it must have been shot sometime around 2am after a night of a few beers... I cant for the name of me remember the street it was shot on, but for those who know KC, it was the one with all the bars.... I almost always carry my camera with me especially back then, and I do remember taking this image. This picture never ran in print, one probably because it dosent sell KC in anyway shape or form, the other because I didnt get a release from the guy...

But I like this picture for alot of reasons... One is that it was shot on film (which is why it needs to be cleaned up) and Two I find it has a rough charm to it.

Some lonley old dude who was out drinking on his own on a saturday night, too old to pick up a chick from a bar, but too young at heart to give it up. Then before retiring for the night he scarfs down a couple slices of pizza... its kind of a sad picture in many ways, but its real...

You know what else is real, beer prices in the USA. really its like 3-5 a beer in most cities excluding the tourist traps... You can even get a glass of coke here in Edmonton for $3...

I spend so much time taking pictures of things tring to make them look better than they are... so I like this because is simple and real... zero post production and enhancement techniques etc...

good night,

C

Panoramic of the Pyramids.

Ok,

here is something I have been working since 07. Panoramics. I started shooting them when I lived in Paris, and over time I just kind of kept shooting them when I had the chance.

Infact if you pick up the January issue of Avenue magazine you will see a panoramic of a bathroom interior I shot for the "homes" feature.

Here is one I shot in Egypt. The reason I like this one specifically is that it really shows how far apart the pyramids are from one another.

The other reason is that its shot back towards Giza (or Cairo), so you can see how close the city has crept to the pyramids. its actually shot at a pretty touristy look out point, where as most of my other works were shot from the back route, a much less travelled path.

enjoy!

C

10 frames.... thats it!

This image is more about the story than it is about the pic.... so strap in,

Were shooting in Calgary for Shoppers Drug Mary on a Saturday (in December), and at 3pm I get a call from the Stollery asking if I can shoot a family portrait of the Moreau family the following day at 3pm. This call itself wasnt strange as we provide the event coverage for almost everything Stollery does, but to shoot a family photo, that was different.

Because Robert Bray shoots the advertising and family work. However in this case he was booked. The main thing was considering hes a personal friend of mine I really didnt want to do it because I do not like moving in on other shooters territory...

Its just my thing, unfortunatly nowadays way to many shooters do not respect this code. "What the code means is simply this, next year I will not pitch myself to shoot this gig, In my eyes Its Bobs until he decides not to do it or pass it off... and if the stollery decides to move it to me, then if it were a paid gig I feel that Bob is entitled to some compensation from my end, thats just the way I do it.

Back to my story, the other thing was I think Bob's work is simply unreal, and my pic could never be as good as his.... So while I was pondering the "can I actually do this" thought? Hillary said "One more thing Ethans wife Ornella suggested you personally if Bob couldnt do it". Now this was good because I have photographed Ethan on a few occasions as well as his wife Ornella, so I said yes.

Not thinking about my Calgary time line and the fact that its PITCH BLACK in Edmonton by 430pm.

So trevor and I ended up leaving Calgary a 130pm on Sunday and hauling ass back to Edmonton (no usually it takes 3hrs to get from one city to another) but I was doing 140kms the whole way. At about 230 I get a call from Ornella asking me to shoot at 4 because of something that came up... "No Problem", I hung up then realized again the light will suck outside at about 4:15. I really didnt want that cheesy interior family "posed look" with a lame ass background or over used backlight on everyone style that all to many people shoot!

So I end up rolling into Edmonton and to my horror it Snowed and was really cold outside! Oh my god this was going from bad to worse! So I get to Ethans place at 3:55 and take a look around and would you believe it there was literally one small patch of grass with no snow on it. It was like god looked down and cleared me a little patch with no snow.

We head outside in the cold, set up the shot in like 1 minute and shoot 10 frames before the light got to low, seriously 10 frames... bang bang bang... I could actually see the light changing before my eyes!

We were done by 416pm.

You dont need a lot of time to get a decent photo. Its no robert bray, but I was happy with it.

C