Portrait Just Because

Hey everyone,

Often I am so focused on creating an image for such a specific purpose whether it be for an editorial piece or commercial photograph sometimes I forget about the world around me, which constantly offers images that touch the soul.

Today I was shooting some images of children for the Hudsons Bay Company. So we had this little one come with her Grandpa and Grandma.

Once I finished shooting the little one I decided to ask the Grandfather if he would mind sitting in for a picture. He wondered why I would ever want to take his photo… I had no answer, so I replied, “I honestly have no idea, and something tells me I just have to take your photograph.”

I’m glad he let me. I think the image speaks for itself.
Rafael Rodriguez is 90 years old. He has 9-month-old great granddaughter.

TOM GILBERT OF THE EDMONTON OILERS FOR NIKE VISION

Just before the end of the Oilers NHL hockey season Jason Gregor from Just a Game Productions hooked me up with Nike Vision to shoot Tom Gilbert of the Edmonton Oilers.

The idea I had was to shoot Tom outside in a cul-de-sac in an old street hockey type setting wearing the new Olympic Nike sunglasses.

So basically the night before I scoured the whole neighborhood looking for an old beat up street hockey net, well worn gloves and an old tennis ball, which would be beat to shit.

The problem was I couldn’t find a really old beat up wooden street hockey stick because all kids use now are one-piece sticks, even for street hockey. So I brought the worst stick I could find.

Anyways we end up shooting at Toms place, which is actually Ethan Moreau’s house. So just before we were about to shoot I see in Moreau’s garage an old Sherwood hockey stick! Wow what luck.
So we end up using this stick which looks like its been through a war in the shoot. Tom and the Nike Rep were great they gave me as much time as I needed to shoot this, and I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. So were Nike Vision, Tom and Gregor.

CANADIAN OLYMPIC TAEKWONDO EXHIBITION ONLINE

Hey Gang,

Well my photography exhibition of the 2008 Canadian Olympic Taekwondo Team opened up today at the Junior Nationals in Calgary. The exhibition website (where you can see the full exhibition) is also online at http://www.photographyexhibition.net/

Unfortunately I was only had the chance to be in Calgary for an hour. I had to race back home for another shoot. However the designer of the exhibition Kevan Morin is in Calgary all weekend overseeing the exhibit.

(Here is a sample board from the exhibion. It shows various images Karine our current world champion and Olympic hopeful)

When I returned home from Beijing last month I was a little nervous at how it would all come together. I knew I had several fantastic images, but I there was this creeping uncertainty if my images could tell the story I wanted it to.

I was particularly nervous this morning when going to Calgary to open the exhibition.

(eva snuck a pic of me loading the exhibition into the car, you cant see it but im really nervous)

Even though I really liked what Kevan had done with everything all photographers get a little nervous when they are about to exhibit their work to the public.

But I have to say once the exhibit was up I immediacy received plenty of positive feedback from viewers which put all my concerns to rest. “whew”

(Another sample board from the exhibiton. Here we see Ivett who competed at the Athens Olympics at age 17, now she aims her sights on gold in Beijing in August 2008)

I hope you all enjoy this particular exhibition and please feel free to contact me or give me feedback if you like the exhibition. You can check it out here one more time if you want at http://www.photographyexhibiton.net/ Hope you enjoy!

C

Great Wall of China

Hey Gang,

My Olympic TaeKwonDo project is coming along just fine. Kevan Morin tells me he should have some designs later this week, so I am pretty excited to see what he has come up with, the exhibition should be complete within 2 weeks.

Anyways, while in shooting the Olympic exhibition in China I ended up shooting some travel images of the Great Wall for a client.

As to be expected I was very impressed with grandeur of the Wall. But what really amazed me was that it was very difficult to photograph.

Its not straight at all, it snakes in every which direction, which made it very difficult to use vanishing point framing.




I really like to use my 70-200 and to shoot a snaking wall with a telephoto didn’t really work.

So I chose to use my 17mm wide angle… I think it worked well. At end of the day I think I came up with some pretty cool images.

Its funny because when shooting commercial travel images, many people think that photographers shoot should off the beaten path, but in reality the best selling photos are of tourist attractions.


Most books like Lonely Planet, Lets Go or Airline Magazines need images of “popular” tourist attractions and not some landmark or local in a crazy little town in the middle of nowhere. Very few travelers go off the beaten path.

Enjoy!

C

Hair Massacure Charity Photograph Edmonton Alberta

Just before I left for China I shot a series of portraits for the charity called the Valentine's Day Hair Massacure. The Massacure is a brilliant charity effort in Edmonton Alberta, which raises money to support children with life threatening illnesses.

Participants of all ages and genders lined up in droves to get their hair died pink then have their heads shaved in order to show their support for the cause. Special guests included athletes from the Edmonton Rush and Edmonton Eskimos as well as guest entertainer Wayne Lee.

I basically shot a series of portraits for next years advertising campaigns. I choose a pretty dark and moody felling for the images. What I did with the kids was basically ask them, could you think about why you shaved your head? Dont talk just think. Then I just shot their reactions.

Nick and Trevor also helped out in assisting for this shoot, I have to thank them immensely, it turned out to be a huge endeavor, which I could not have shot alone.

In fact Nick and Trevor shot the actual event though I M P special event photography. You can see some of their work at www.impevents.ca

Enjoy!

C

CANADIAN OLYMPIC TAE KWON DO TEAM IN CHINA

Hey gang,

I just returned home from Beijing China where my shooting phase with the Canadian Olympic Tae Kwon Do team is finished. Now we are moving into the design side of the photography exhibition.

Kevan Morin from more in mind is taking up the responsibility for the exhibition design. He is also creating a website for the exhibition.

I am hoping that it is complete within the next month.

The shooting was split up into two phases one was the training phase, and the following was the Olympic pre tournament. The pre Olympic tournament was really cool because it was held at the Olympic center, which was an amazing venue for Tae Kwon Do.



Our athletes did very well brining in 1 gold and 2 bronze medals out of three athletes.

TEST SHOOT with the TIGER Taekwondo Team

Hey Gang,

I have some pretty cool news. On February 22 I will be off to Beijing China for a week or so with the Canadian Olympic Taekwondo team. The team is heading to China in a preparation tournament for the Olympics this August. During this time I will be photographing their press kits as well as a photography documentary on the team itself to be exhibited across Canada.

I am pretty excited but thought I needed to work on my timing before I leave.

So I decided to shoot a training session with the Tiger team of Tiger Taekwondo in Edmonton. These images you will see here are basically shot in two hours of training at our dojang.
I plan to shoot the Olympic documentary in high grain black and white for dramatic feel. Here are some of the "test" images I shot today. The training session was as usual very intense, so I got some pretty cool images, close to what I think I will see at the tournament in China.

I will be updating the blog of the Olympic images while in China.

Take care.

C