Vancouver Help-Portrait 2009 Wrap up

The Vancouver Help-Portrait event at the Salvation Army's Grace Mansion was a huge success yesterday. I am so happy to have been a part if it and even more proud of all the volunteers that came out to help and support this event. I saw so many smiling faces and incredible reactions from individuals and families upon seeing and receiving their photos. A few individuals I talked with had never had their pictures taken before. One couple who lived across the street had just gotten married a few days ago but didn't have any pictures yet of them together and were so happy to get a portrait together. Another sweet elderly Chinese woman who came in with her grand daughter had never had make up on before in her whole life was treated to a great session by the volunteer make up artists and had her picture taken. She was all smiles!

The initial tallies indicate that we gave out approximately 200 portraits and had around 430 people come through. A huge success for our first year!

Special thanks to Ian Sheh for organizing this event in Vancouver.

Here is a link by one of the fellow volunteers to some behind the scenes shots.

Looking forward to next year.

Help Portrait - Vancouver 12-12-09

Having a way of giving back or just giving is something I always want to do with my photography. I've volunteered for workplace events and taking pictures of kids and their families with Santa but when I heard about the Help-Portrait movement I knew I had to get involved. Most of us think of having our photographs taken as something we take for granted. We'll print out a few for keepsakes or to give them to family. But there are also those who may be less fortunate or have never had a professional portrait done before. To be able to have their picture taken and getting an actual print of it to keep can be something very special.

Help-Portrait is a global movement of photographers who on December 12th this year will do just that. Take pictures but give back portraits. I've signed up to volunteer for the Vancouver group of Help-Portrait and I am very excited to be part of something like this.

I encourage all photographers to get involved in this and other events that give back to your communities and to people who really need it.

HDR - MacMillan Bloedel Conservatory

If you've ever been to Vancouver you know that one of the tourist destinations on almost every travel book is Queen Elizabeth Park and at the top of the park you will find the famous geodesic dome known as the MacMillan Bloedel Conservatory. This structure is now forty years old but somehow the strange shapes on the dome makes me think it's something from a science fiction movie set in the distant future. I'm sure everyone who visits this place ends up taking pictures in front of it but I wanted to get more of an abstract look and focus on the shapes. On this particular day the sun was starting to set and so I decided to experiment with some high dynamic range imagery. Below are some of my results.

First Shoot in my studio space

I wasted very little time in getting my first shoot done at my new studio space with one of the models that I have worked with before. Some of you may remember Katie. The day was sunny for the most part so it gave us some incredible natural light coming in from the big front windows for a few of the shots here. A combination of fill lights and reflector work helped to balance the lighting out and overall I was super pleased with the results.

Finally have my studio space

I've been searching for a place where I could consistent use for my model photo shoots as it was becoming extremely challenging having to look for an available studio not to mention that some of them were pretty expensive. I finally found a great shared studio space in Vancouver in the Gastown area. The space is huge and has great natural light plus it's in a heritage building that has some really cool interior spaces for shooting in. Check back often as I'll be posting shoots from the studio in the upcoming blogs.

Crazy Colors of Fall

The amazing colors of fall have the leaves on this tree almost looking as if they are on fire!

Red Bull Soapbox Race

The first ever Canadian Red Bull Soapbox race was held in Vancouver on Sept 7th and the turnout was incredible. People lined both sides of the street and filled rooftops, balconies and every other imaginable space to get a glimpse of the daring racers speed down 4th Avenue to either their victory or demise. The weather could not have been better. The event was MC'd by local radio host Kid Carson from The Beat 94.5 and television host of Urban Rush, Fiona Forbes. Races were held between two teams for each race and they each had to do a 30 second skit to earn points from the judges. Here are some shots from the day.