Downtown All Day !

Ok was downtown London all day

Dundas Street closed from Talbot to Wellington - about 4 or 5 blocks.
This is a combined Car Free Days - hence why Dundas is closed off and Oh Fest - Indie Music Fest.
Great idea to combine the two !!

So the usual attendants, various Environmental groups, local charity orgs, health orgs all out. See the same familiar faces I have seen at all the past events.

Music is a good twist to the Car Free Day - adds a lot, brings out a different crowd, specially with university in full swing now at Western University of Ontario.

Oh! Fest is an independent music festival in downtown London. Outdoor events are all-ages and free. Organized by London's Open House Arts Collective in its first editions.

Some nice hardware on stage - everyone doing their retro look etc - lots of Traynor Guitar Amps from the 70's and 80's - wish I had kept all my stuff is worth money now.  Though I still have the Traynor Mono Block sitting in storage. hhhmmmmm am sure its worth about the same as some camera gear haha.

All the players seem small and skinny - not sure why - starving artist thing ?  No fat guys playing Heavy Metal here.

Cool guitar of the day haha
The Hondo Explorer Bass in some scary 80's New Age Blue.

Of course my preference is Bass being a fumbling player from the past, so always have to get shots of the Bass players in action. And a beat up Fender Bass.

And what festival is complete without some colorful people added to the mix.
Nice coat.

And even nicer shoes !  Red Shoes that is !!

Ok I have a number of photo book ideas. I wrote of one for high heel shoes after my observation in China.  The red shoes above qualify !!  So you have sene in the past my "Girls With Camera" my new book idea.

First thing I noticed was the amount of hardware out there on the street. Was a Canon and Nikon Fest. Obvious pros out with big camera bodies and lens. Very obvious that big high end cameras are more common place than ever.

Highlight of my day was having a chance encounter with Colombian Super Model, Maria - not seen in public very often. She keeps a low profile and out of the media spot light. 

 

Her managers and security close at hand. Actually her parents as Maria is daughter of one of my coworkers.  Obviously the genes have not fallen far from the tree.
Here Mom and Dad pose as tourists - funny shot !  Classic travel brochure pic haha

ok my artsy shot of the day and then am off to warm up the camera for another day of picture taking.

dang I still have to pack !!!

Time Flies when your busy

Wow Sept 13th already !!

6 days till blast off to Barcelona, Spain , guess I should pull out a suitcase and get packing haha.

not much photo taking in the last week or so , been busy.
To make up for it I have two days at Car Free Days downtown London , combined with Open Doors London all running Sept 17th thru t end of day Sept 18th.

Did hit up Wortley Village version of Car Free day last Sunday, was small and quiet.
My shot of the day was this young bulldog, waiting patiently.

Next photo fun for the week was taking pics of Miss Laurel, have known her for about 3 years and she wanted some pics of herself and I managed to get the job. She wanted nice natural looking, everyday kind of picture. This was my first job taking actual portraits outside for someone. So like every other assignment I take it was a learning experience.

This was done at the end of the day, with the setting sun behind me, at the fork of the Thames River.
Light was great, focus was right on, out of all the pics this is my favourite.

 

Speaking of the Thames River, I went out one night last week to try long exposures of the Fountain, located at the Fork of the Thames.

This particular picture was done with 30 second exposure (meaning camera was open for 30 seconds) and then I actually used my flash and manually ht the flash button about 20 times to light up the water even more. I was standing to the left of the picture about 75 feet from the camera.

Will go back and take more of this, winter is coming and should be interesting with some ice and snow involved. To bad for the wacky sky color because of the city lights !!

Time to dust off the suitcase and get it open and start packing before the weekend is here and I am out of time.

ok lets see, camera, batteries, 70-200mm lens, 50mm lens, 30mm lens, Oh cant forget the 10-20mm wide angle, flash............ (priorities haha)

September ? Where has the summer gone

Yes September already.

Seems like summer had just started, and poof we are done
Kids go back to school, life starts to change as we get ready for fall.

Oh so whats been the fun.

Joined up to Model Mayhem , its a website for the model, photographer, makeup artist etc crew.
Found Katie and Eden up there and added them as friends and now have connected with a few other aspiring models.
Figured if I put myself out there I can continue to hone my skills and meet some people, including other photographers (learn something from them)  and some agencies. all great part time fun.

For picture fun in the past few weeks, hit up the Iron Horse Festival in St.Thomas,ON.
Pretty much the same as any other festival you would find in Ontario, same vendors, same displays. IN this case more people as they shut down the main street, had midway and various stages setup.

And what is a festival in rural Ontario without some cars haha !
Big engines, chrome, Sunday drivers as they are called.

Not sure at $1.30/litre if this is even worth starting,  Environmentalists shudder !

Though is nice to see people's hard work restoring or modifying cars, nothing bolt on about creating your own personal statement.

Or taking a classic Buick and making it something special.

And then the few that restore a car to near perfection, down to minor details. Unfortunately there were so many people out that getting full shots of cars was quite the chore.

They don't make hood ornaments like this anymore.

And this Labour Day Weekend, long weekend for Canada and the USA, got invited out for pics from various people.

The lovely Miss Morgan txt me to say her and a friend would be in the Green Space behind the Old School House practicing with Silks hanging from one of the big trees.

Actually Morgan and I have been trying to plan a picture session for some time now, not only to do a portrait session but also for capturing some of the poses using the silks.

Basically one long Silk tied in two sections hanging from a tree, small piece of foam underneath that you hope you hit, if you fall and your in business. 

This is not easy stuff !

And a certain amount of strength with flexibility is required.
Once it got dark I pulled out my one flash and with some help tried to keep them lit up.
This one lit from behind looks great, a little kick of light in front would have done but still happy.

Her friend was able to get into some great poses that only practice and ability to contort your body will get you to.
Cool stuff. And with it being evening, the background can be made black with little effort.

And since we were in Wortley Village, it was short walk to hook up with my other invite.

Hurtin Merv (see my previous posts) and the boys were rockin up the Wortley Roadhouse in Wortley Village. A village located in the middle of London and one of the desirable places to live. a mix of old and new.

My observation of the night was the amount of leopard and tiger prints being worn by the women. Can you say 'Cougar Bar' haha.  For Merv that was great has he had a full dance floor most of the night, which translates to beer sales. Everyone's happy.

Starbuck's shot of the month, well actually August , taken at the farmhouse while the girls prepped for Matt & Lauren's wedding.

Barcelona, Spain is now 15 days away. Few final preps and away we go.

Last Car Free Festival of summer is coming Sept 17th and 18th also with the combination of OH Fest and Doors Open London. More music orientated theme, am expecting big crowds out as University and Colleges  are back in session and the number of students on London has increased.
2 days of pictures before flying out on the 19th.

Outside the Comfort Zone !!

OK so if you have been reading this from the beginning and you know me. You have realized that I have been way outside my comfort zone for the last year.
Overcame my travel anxieties, ate food in places where you don't want to see the kitchen and have learned to never, ever , pass up a clean washroom.
Hotels are not for comfortable beds, they are for clean bathrooms haha.

Ok so being pushed outside your comfort zone means you say yes to things, you normally would'nt.
You "stick the tip in" even though the voice inside your head says "don't do it".

So aside from the demands of the job, pushing my comfort levels, photography has been another source of anxiety and working outside the zone. Meeting people, having that first interaction, walking up to complete strangers for pics (oh trust me am not over it) Working the various fairs and events this past two years. Sometimes its easy , a lot of times its not.
Being polite I tend not to 'invade' peoples private space, the camera being an obvious intrusion.

So this past Saturday was one of those big pushes outside the Zone.

Without listening to my inner voice I took on the task of taking photo's for a wedding, held outside the town of Dutton, about 40 minutes West of London.

Matt and Lauren both live and work out in the country.  So relaxed atmosphere was the key for the day.

Went out at 9am to meet the girls and get some pics while they got ready.

This was the grooms sister just after makeup all done. Wonderful !!

A shot of the lovely bride, Lauren once all dressed, makeup and hair done. Ready for the hitchin !

There were also dogs involved. This is Foxy , Basset Hound and a sweetheart of a dog, just happy to be with everyone,played with the kids and slept.

Though they had been planning this since February, you think that they had started this just last week haha. Marriage license didn't show up till sometime around 3pm (ceremony was to start at 4). Flower lady showed up missing a bouquet. Brides answer was "give her mine, I don't need flowers", so some scrambling happened rearranging things.
 
There was also cowboy boots involved. These people live/work on farms, have horses. The Bride in fact is a Farrier, works in the region helping people with showing horses etc, so this was to be expected.

And yes she wore those boots under her wedding dress and of course the groom has his own on.

And so your asking at this point, "what about horses ?".
Well you know they were involved int he ceremony. After walking down the aisle, they mounted Big Mac and Pepsi (yes they name their horses after fast food haha) and rode off up the hill.

And now the money shot. Am proud of this one , even with its issues. Am sure a lot more could have been done on my part for this picture. One thing I found out yesterday, you have to really get the client reeled in and under control, every moment seemed to be rushed. Pictures were wanted but they don't understand it takes time, put that up to my lack of experience.

  

Oh ya and for reference, cowboy hats make for really hard picture taking, they have a tendency to shade the face. So even though we had pretty good light, I always found myself having to push some in just to try and balance it all out. Again very tough for first time shooter, with no planning. Yes i was the last minute, no other option guy to do this job. Oh we love the stress.

While we did that last pic , rain drops started !
And 5 minutes after that the clouds broke and the downpour started. Could not have planned that if we had wanted.

No wedding cake, apparently there was some major meltdown during the job and things didnot go as planned. Of course the bride found out while they were seconds away from Cake Cutting portion of the fun. gotta love it. She said fine, we have the cup cakes.

Made to match the wedding flowers. Well done.

For my first time, i got lucky ! I had had great people to work with, very inviting, very happy to have me there.
Now to sort through it all, organize and maybe make a few prints for them (not included in my 'package') thinking the Money Shot and a few others. They will enjoy.
Hope they are happy when i deliver it all to them in about a week.

29 Days to Barcelona

Summer coming to an End !!!

Seems like I just started summer and suddenly its winding down.
Days are getting cooler, little more rain during the week, and its already August 15th !!

Was having a coffee downtown, yes am now severely addicted to Starbucks Venti Americano. For those that don't know, a Cafe Americano is basically Expresso with water added to it. So take 4 healthy shots of Expresso into an extra large cup , fill with hot water and your good to go.
All the taste , all the caffeine , oh ya.
regular coffee does not cut it after this.

ok back to my thought, sitting at Starbucks, corner of Richmond and Dundas, London,ON. Took a picture of my fix and the mobile sitting on the counter and had one of those realizations again.
When you look at that picture, coffee and mobile, without really checking the background, you don't know where you are.
Could be anywhere in the world.think of my Starbuck coffee pics in the last updates, nothing really gives it away. interesting.

If your observant and know, you can see the Canada Post Mailbox in the background, thats the give that your in Canada.  Hey there's an idea for some photo ! pic of something familiar (ok we pick the Starbucks coffee cup) and then some kind of identifier behind. As if i will remember to do that haha.

Have been able to catch a few of the last festivals here in London.
Ribfest, which looked no different than it did 5 years ago when i went, same people, same food, nothing to show.

Volunteered for Car Free Day, where Dundas street is blocked from Talbot to Wellington.Turn out was not what I expected, am thinking people are "festival'd out" as every weekend there is something going on. Saying that was still nice to be out for the day , do my part as volunteer photographer.
There were all kinds of performers, at any one time 2 different acts were playing music, one at each end of the street.

These two were interesting though, I don't think anyone knew what they were talking or singing about.

And to add some flavor the local Mariachi Band played at the end of the day. Gotta love the hats !

Flash mob during the day, took this with the Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens, just cant close enough. I was within a foot or two of bumping into the girl in white, while taking the pic. Course I have to look like a nut case while i do it, running in the middle of the street and the crowd to get the pic.

Some local color, you know street things have a tendency to bring out all the fun people.

Various demonstrations happen during the day.
This girl is 12yrs old and has been learning and performing silk acrobatics since she was 6. Was amazing seeing her drop 10ft unrolling herself or doing these poses in mid air.

am hoping to get out to their practice facility to try some pics with flash and white background, will see what i can schedule.

What else was there. ?

Girl doing chalk drawing on some slate paving stones, she spent most of the day working on this. The results speak for themselves. Has to be hard doing this knowing it will be gone in a few days.

and the final result...

This girl I have spotted a few times out at various venues and festivals over the last 2 years.
You cant help but remember that look and of course the red hair. Next time I will ask to take some pics of her. Getting something a little more substantial.

 

Oh ya the new Sigma 70-200 f2.8 silky smoothness ! Picked it up on the way through Hong Kong.

Awesome lens, that weighs 1.5kg on the home scale, like handling a bazooka after attached to the camera. took a quick shot coming into work one morning of the GMC Terrain, early morning sun, the right angle and we have our promo shot ! Funny how I manage these guerrilla shooting style quick shots, if I had planned this it would just not have happened.

For planned photo's have had Miss Katie back in to do some pics (still need to get them out to her) using the Aline Bee 800 and 48" Octabank up close and personal.

 

You get up close like that so you can get the wonderful wrap around of light. giving you this kind of pic.

 

You have no idea how much the light pulls out the colors in her hair.

Next up was Miss Vicky, she has not been out for awhile, you know busy teenage girl, now 16, boyfriends, beach, parties. She has a busy social life, so some time for pics with Uncle Doug is a scheduled event. Have your people, call my people kind of thing. Princess is growing up.

Past weekend out for pics for Hurtin Merv and the boys, playing The Pierside Pub in Port Stanley,ON. 

Small energetic crowd, though Merv and the guys play it hard and have a good time.

 

Am finding the black and white pics work better for band stuff. They don't have the big production or lighting rig giving dramatic colors.  We are talking some Canadian Tire outdoor 150watt lights  and the glow of the street lights for them at this place. Kinda like playing on someone's backyard deck. 

For those outside of North America, most homes here have a backyard, and a platform coming off the back of the house, place to put your chairs and the bbq, and it looks just like that picture above.

Was at the Detroit Metro Airport, doing a drop off with Senor Diego (Nikon shooter but we forgive him). took a pic of the seating.

 

Rows of nondescript shiny metal and styled seating for the masses while they wait to embark on some journey. Again no idea where we are , we just are.

Well a member of the family has left us !

The Canon T1i and Sigma 18-70mm f2.8-5, has left us for a new home. It was a little ragged , a little worn, but still very functional. It survived two trips to China, one to India and has been with me everyday for the last two years, tagging along, taking more bad pictures than good. 

It has been adopted by a young lady in Kitchener, who's camera was stolen at school. She had posted an advertisement on Kijiji looking for a replacement. Met up with her yesterday, did the deed. great kid looking for a future in advertising with a big focus on photography. Could not wipe the smile off her face when she was holding the camera in her hand.   

I now move over to the other Canon T1i that I picked up in the spring. brand new never used. 

It feels unfamiliar in my hand, even though the same body etc, it does not have the same feel.

Ok Barcelona is now 35 days away !

Rev up the engines.