Baby Rylie

Early Morning Shooting!

Was up really really early to do May's Free Shoot for my portfolio.

Generally I post some favourite pics right off the bat, but these ones needs some extra special love before they see the light of day. Sometimes the magic happens in front of the camera, and others the magic comes long after the image is taken.

In the meantime, here's one teaser image:



There were a lot of hilarious incidents on this shoot including: a marauding scout troop, iffy wardrobe malfunctions, frantic searching for a new shooting location and almost being locked out
of the car!!

Thanks Sarah and Dakota for your shoot idea, your laughter, and for braving the cold early morning temperatures!

More soon...

Sweet Custom Cakes

Mmmhhh yummy yummy cakes!! Had an awesome day shooting with Sarah of Sweet Custom Cakes. She also fed me some delicious cupcakes! See below... Wonderful raspberry and chocolate icing... oh man it was to die for!!

Thanks so much Sarah for a fantastic day!

April Shoot - Ben

Ben is a friend from back in my teenage days going to music camp (NOoooo NOT American Pie "Band Camp"...yeah definitely not) and about a month ago he sent me a note saying he'd been thinking about asking me to take pictures of himself but he was kinda nervous about the whole picture taking deal.

So I asked what his ideas were and what he wanted them for and I think the response was something along the lines of "I have many geeky passions and I want to document me enjoying them." From there the conversation turned to where we'd shoot them and the idea of shooting in a comicbook store that he used to work at came up. Loved it instantly and had just finished reading McNally's Hot Shoe Diaries and noticed a lot of use of coloured gels...I wanted to try adding that in to my mix. Bought some coloured acetate about a year ago and so trimmed some of these down and velcroed them up.... I'll share more about those in another post though.

Ben's comicbook store pictures worked JUST as I had envisioned:


I surprised myself! I got the shots I wanted in about 10 frames! It was a little unnerving. I would've stayed longer to push things and test out different lighting scenarios, but I already had what I wanted and what Ben loved. So off to the beaches to take some more pics:





I asked Ben after these if there was a specific place or activity that meant a great deal to him and was really important for him to be caught on camera. He thought about it and after a few minutes said "I have a key to my church! Lets head over there and do some of me playing piano!" Sure thing I said!:

Finished the McNally

As predicted I plowed through McNally's Hot Shoe Diaries like a farm hand at dinner. All important bits highlighted, every ounce of knowledge absorbed. It was a great read, but like I said yesterday, I'm a bit disappointed that I had already read most of the chapters before the book was even printed! The vast majority of chapters were blog fodder over the last five months and not just "oh the pictures and anecdotes are the same," it was VERBATIM. I know I know...I shouldn't be that hung up on it, I just was looking forward to new material that I hadn't already read. This would be true for anyone who's not a regular reader of his blog, but I am, and therein lies the problem.

I still highly recommend it for anyone in love with photography and lighting and looking for tips, info and clues as to how to become a better photographer. Although it's not like McNally says "THIS WILL MAKE YOU A PHOTOGRAPHY GOD" anywhere in his book, it's more like: "here's some things I've learned in the school of hard knocks photography that I think will make your life easier."

It's about building a knowledge base. If you're just starting out, you don't have 30+ years of photography shoot knowledge database to pull from when you go up to a situation and the weather is crap and the light is awful and you only have three minutes to get a well lit shot. I'm a big fan of learning things from those older and wiser than you, cuz if you listen you don't have to repeat their mistakes; you already know that a+b+donkey dodo = awful photo and unhappy client.

Now thankfully I get to make use of some of this photographic knowledge/inspiration. I did notice in all of McNally's stories that he uses tungsten white balance (which turns the world blue) a lot, and I've never really found the need for this. However, on Saturday night I'm scheduled to a do a shoot that I'm entitling "Locked in the Comic Bookstore" and I think it will be the perfect place to try out some tungsten white balance and some theatrical gels ala Joe McNally.

I'm looking forward to it!

More soon...

March Shoot - Sarah and Jim

Had the good fortune of driving out to Brantford yesterday and shooting pictures of Sarah and Jim who quickly volunteered for my photo-shoot-a-month project when I announced it back in December.

I know Sarah from my teenage years at camp, she was our crazy, lovable, hilarious Sarah C. It was great to see that she has not changed at all...she now corrals much younger children who do many more stupid things than I think anyone in our counseling group ever did... but her youthful, vibrance is the same as ever.

On the same branch of thought, it was awesome to meet Jim, the mister Sarah picked from the pack! He knows exactly how to get Sarah to crack a smile (not that's a difficult feat); lots and lots of tickles :D

Anyways, enough! Here are some of their photos:

What Cuties!

Had the opportunity to take pictures of two amazing people this afternoon, and thought I'd share one of the cutest pics of the two of them!


Thanks Jenn; thanks Robin!

It was cute watching the two of you spending time together. Hopefully one day you'll find yourselves in the same town for a while.

Individual pictures to come!

More soon...

An Event to Remember by Meghan Guerin

Shot some pictures this evening for Meghan of An Event to Remember by Meghan Guerin.

She's a totally organized gal with some very cool party ideas. Check out these for an upcoming baby shower:

Thanks so much for allowing me the chance to shoot some pictures for your site Meghan! Good luck with your business as your dreams start to grow!

More soon...

Lindsey's Session!

Had an awesome time last night taking pictures of Lindsey. We laughed our pants off doing this shoot! Always an enjoyable time when you can combine photography with good old fashioned laughter.



Thanks so much for a hilarious time Lindsey! You made my cheeks hurt from all the laughter and Cleo is the cutest cat ever. I see why she gets so many treats!

More soon...

January Photo Shoot

JS3PT

At the start of December I did a boxing shoot for Joey and his company JS3PT. Well he's in the last stages of getting his website redesigned and so it was time to get the fashion type shots of his logoed athletic wear.

Thought I'd share some of my favourite picks from the shoot.






Joey also asked me to shoot some pictures of his trophies and medals from some body building competitions and boxing matches.



The other thing I was asked to shoot was Joey's medal from his tour in Afghanistan.



It's a really cool feeling to have someone trust you with photographing items like this that mean something not only to them, but the rest of the world.

Thanks Joey, Monica and Jolene for an awesome shoot!! Oh and keep on eye on the countdown clock at JS3PT.com

More soon...

Thanks...

To everyone for the overwhelming response to the project and yesterday's shoot results!!

As of an hour ago I already have shoots for this project lined up for January and October 2009. That means there are only 10 months of shoots left to fill!

More soon...

December's Shoot

So here it is...

The first few pictures of my Photoshoot a month project. Thanks to the beautiful and wonderfully gifted Ellen for enthusiastically agreeing to come play with me and my camera.



More soon...