A few snaps of Jeff and Darren from a quick shoot last night. I never realized how much I need my new 70–200mm lens after getting a full-frame camera; 70mm is much too short, even in my small studio room.
It’s strange to see so much natural vignetting. I’m not sure if it’s the lens or the way the light falls off when spread across the background from one direction.
The three of us, plus boy.
Like old times — camping, weekends at the farm, studying in the comp sci lounge — with a twist.
One of us is expecting, one of us just bought a house, and one of us has been thinking about kids of his own some day.
One of Trolley’s shots.
At some point, the flowering cabbage plant Heather gave me started to shed. The top leaves remained supple and fresh, while the bottom leaves would dry up and fall off. I couldn’t figure out why. I liked the look anyway, to see this plant growing out of the decay it cast around itself, so I didn’t worry too much.
I wasn’t used to having a plant that was so alive. It had a pungent smell, and I noticed a few insects on it here and there. I thought the insects were a good thing, cause that meant the plant was healthy enough to support other life.
Aaron came over with Ryan for breakfast one morning, and it gave me a chance to use them as models to try some of the techniques I learned from Sid when I was in New Hampshire. I still had to do some work in Photoshop to keep the midpoint where I wanted, but it was still quite minimal compared to my work with colour lately. This type of portraiture is very different from what I normally do, where instead of using an out-of-focus background to make the subject stand out, I’m using the contrast of light.
I turned on Chicken Run to keep Ryan occupied while we ate, and Aaron kept getting distracted by it as much as he did. For a moment, I couldn’t tell if it was the son who took after the father, or vice versa.
I took these of Navid and Jess a little while back.
More recently, Navid called to let me know the childbirth went well, and now he has another adorable little half-Persian girl.
Rose is old enough to walk on her own now and give me kisses before she leaves.
There’s a fundraiser for Haitian earthquake survivors at the Cube Gallery happening in two weeks. An auction will be held after the viewing, and any money raised from the auction will go to the Red Cross. I’ve donated one of my favourite photos, the very first print of “Carrot Feet” (to which I hold much sentimental attachment), to the cause. I’m also going to personally extend this to all other prints from my Fruit and Body series, so if you purchase a print between now and the auction, I’ll put 100% of the sale price towards the fundraiser.
If you have artwork you’d like to donate, please contact me and I’ll get you in touch with the appropriate people. When people can walk away with amazing artwork while helping those in need, it’s a win-win situation. I’ll be attending to meet the other artists and hopefully pick something up for myself if any artwork speaks to me.
From the Cube Gallery website:
Haitian Disaster Art Fundraiser
In light of the disaster that has befallen the people of Haiti, Cube Gallery and AfrikArt Konnection, in collaboration with Paul Dewar, MP are calling Canadian artists to rally together to assist in the efforts underway to make the lives of Haitian survivors better.
Event Date: February 9, 2010
Event Time: 6 pm viewing; 8 pm auction
Location: Cube Gallery, 7 Hamilton Ave. N.Artwork viewing: begins at 6pm
Fundraising Auction: 8pmThere will be a reception, music, light foods and entertainment at Cube Gallery on Hamilton Ave. The event is hosted by Oni the Haitian Sensation.
It’s SO great to work with a couple who appreciates art…enough to be willing to get naked for it.
Tina and I headed to a couple of small towns around Ottawa. She had her Nikon and I was armed with my new Canon 5D Mark II, which is a full frame camera and gives me such wonderfully wide angles. You can see her shots at her flickr set. They give me great ideas on how I can look at things from another perspective because they’re so different from mine, approaching shots from closer ranges and composing with more diagonal angles.
This is by far my favourite shot (above), and I’ll probably get a large print of it when I have the money. There’s a series of acrylic paintings by Ken Vincent at the Koyman Galleries in Ottawa, and I’ve always wanted this one in particular because the colours and the moody clouds speak of pure emotion to me, and I never believed I was capable of capturing such moments with my last camera1. The price — $2300 for a 28“x61” painting — had always held me back, but now I’m confident I can get that elusive look I’ve been trying to capture, myself.
If you’re in Toronto, you can check out one of my prints at the University of Toronto Photographic Art Show. Rita Bauer, to whom I owe so much in support, asked me if she could submit the print she bought from me. Also featuring the work of some of the amazing people I met the last time I was down there, such as Jeff Comber, who does awesome work with skateboarders, and Kate Tarini, whose work with panoramas won her best in show at Maximum Exposure last year.
I generally don’t show my models the pictures I’m taking of them until I’m finished the shoot, and have had a chance to do some post-processing. That’s because I want them to see the final product, not the draft, and the impact is much greater. But if a model is insecure, or I want them to get a better sense of the idea I’m going for, I’ll show them a picture or two. It helps build their confidence, and they start to trust me a little more, which, in turn, gives me a little more creative control.
I also try to look at the LCD screen as infrequently as possible. It forces me to have faith in myself and my photographic abilities. Some people laugh at those who chimp; admittedly, when I see a “professional” who checks their screen after every shot, I lose confidence in them. That doesn’t mean I won’t look down to at least make sure my flashes went off, or the auto exposure isn’t going wonky due to some extreme light conditions, but that’s it.
Some portraits of Tatiana. As a person into voyeurism (more specifically, on the end being observed), she’s more comfortable with her clothes off than on. I love working with people who are comfortable with their bodies. You get total creative freedom, instead of the frustration of having to walk on eggshells, lest you offend a model’s sensibilities.
I’ve discovered that when doing nude photography, you need to open up the aperture so that a greater portion of the person is in focus than in conventional portraits. If you focus on only the eyes, you lose the nudity and it becomes a distraction. If you focus on nakedness, you lose the eyes and it becomes vulgar.
Photographing people with darker skin is a little different than capturing those with fairer skin. You don’t worry so much about the colour tones during shoot as after, when you’re post-processing the photos.
I also find that, in general, girls are natural posers. They’ll change positions on their own initiative and play with the camera, which is very different from guys, who will just stand there until you give them some sort of direction. Each has their own advantages, as I can feed off the creativity of a model who wants to try different things, but also work well with those who will be posing dolls for me.
