Blue Mountains Jamaica

This past week I was shooting in Jamaica, specifically in the Blue Mountain area. I have worked in Jamaica several times before shooting travel gigs in Negril, Ocho Rios, Browns Town, Trelawny and Lucea, but this by far was the most interesting of all my previous shoots.

In this set I shot a well-known yet rarely visited tourist site - Bob Marleys birthplace. About a 2 hr white knuckle cab ride from Ocho Rios.

bob marleys one bedroom room inspired these lyrics- ("We'll be together, with a roof right over our heads" we'll share the shelter of my single bed")

Because I tend to shoot off of the resorts or out of the main cities of Negril or Ocho these assignments can become at times a little daunting. Although Jamaicans are by and large friendly when you head off the beaten path you encounter many “screw faces” – people who are not really impressed with what you are doing.

I have learned a lot shooting travel all over the world. The first thing I do is put away the big white expensive telephoto lens and travel light. The expensive looking gear not only puts you a risk of being robbed but it also tends to put your subjects on edge as well.

So I find using small fast lenses the best way to go. The small lenses force you to get closer to your subjects but they are also non-imposing.

Enjoy.

C

Siberian Tiger

I came across some photographs of a Siberian Tiger and Snow Leopard I shot back in 2005 for the Valley Zoo and thought you all might like to take a look.

One of the fortunate things about being a photographer is looking back at some of your past work. It’s kind of like a visual trip down memory lane.

Sometimes however its not such a pleasant experience; meaning you look at your old work and can’t imagine how you thought it was good, but other times you see a good photo that in the past you would have dismissed as a bad frame.

When I was living in Paris I had the chance to see Frank Horvat. A his exhibition he said “never throw out a photo right away, because you need to give yourself some space and disassociate yourself from a shoot to really be able to appreciate what you have created.”

Thanks for taking the time on my blog!

Enjoy!
C

Chris Bolovar from Optamedia

I work quite a bit for Chris Bolovar at Optamedia http://www.optamedia.com an Ad Agency here in Edmonton.

Recently I photographed Chris and his team for their new promotional materials. If you know Chris he is a very professional Ad man. Naturally I took some inspiration from the hit TV series MAD MEN to shoot Chris's portaits.

For some of the images Chris really played it up with a “hard ass” MadMen look. Initially we shot on a white seamless. We shot on seamless because the Creative team at Optamedia was going to do their own post with the images and needed them shot on pure white.

Two weeks later I was photographing Ethan Moreau of the Edmonton Oilers on a 20 story roof top. While shooting Ethan the image of Chris popped in my head. I could almost see the picture of Chris in the chair with the cityscape view as a backdrop. It was really weird.

So I shot a slate of the city scape.. then later I found the image of chris and merged the files.

Now this portait of Chris is one of my favorite pics... Funny how photography works sometimes.

Tyler Christopher for Chris Smith Managment

A few weeks ago I had the chance once again to work with Canadian Olympic runner Tyler Christopher. The first time I shot Tyler was for an avenue magazine feature just before the Beijing Olympics.

Tyler and his manager apparently liked my images so they asked me to shoot Tyler again for a portfolio for the Chris Smith Management, the agency that reps Tyler, coincidently this is also the same agent who reps Nelly Furtado.

On this specific shoot with Tyler we pretty much stayed away from the “sports” theme as Tyler is already sponsored by Nike. It was all shot here in Edmonton.
Again it was a pleasure to shoot Tyler and as always he came out ready to work in front of the camera, making my job easier.

Shooting J in Edmonton Alberta

I first met J a quite a few years ago. His personal style reflects that of a tough I’ll kick your ass punk, yet when you speak with J he has a very soft and compassionate voice.

One day I asked J if he would let me shoot him he agreed but it took us almost 2 years to finally hook up to shoot together.

It was really interesting because he asked me what I wanted him to wear, but I really tired to let him and his style run free and I would just shoot what came.

In the commercial world almost all photography is pre-planned, but with this shoot we just met up, and found a location that worked that day.
I feel that this is one of the most honest portraits I have ever taken of a person. No plan, No pre conceived location or lens selection or lighting set up, just straight raw and from the hip. Enjoy.

Taking Photos of Sushi

This past week I ended up taking photographs for a sushi restaurant here in Edmonton called Kyoto Japan.

Although Im not known as a food photographer I do shoot the monthly drink features for Cargo and James. I have also shot some food for editorial puropses as well.

I quite enjoy shooting food. Mainly because it doesn’t talk back and stays super still when you need it to…

For this specific project I ended up using Trevor as my assistant as opposed to Nick. I this Trevor is more suited for the attention to detail rather than Nick who is much more technical and enjoys working with people.

Anyways I am quite pleased with the overall work. We decided to keep the styling simple and let the food speak for itself as opposed to heavily styling each image.

ENJOY!
C

You have 5 minutes....

Here is a fun invite with a Blues Brothers concept. Its of the owners of Wayward Steel, INLAND cement, AGRA foundations and Expocrete.

The owners were all light hearted and laid back guys but they were all very busy the day we were shooting.

So Nick and I arrive on location at Characters Lounge in Edmonton Alberta to set up at11:25 and one of the owners is like “sorry I have a phone conference at 11:30 sharp. I give the typical answer, which is a slight bending of the truth. - “No problem.”

So we shot the concept in 4 minutes and 45 seconds. It was busy, no room for error, our lighting had to be bang on pretty much from putting the soft box on the stand...

This is not the first time we have been thrown a 5 min time limit on us when we were supposed to have an hour... anyways with 4 busy company owners i was par for the course.

Im pretty happy with the turnout.