12x12 Vancouver Photo Marathon 2011

The rules are simple. 12 Hours, 12 Themes and 12 Exposures. ON FILM! Last year I found out about the Vancouver Photo Marathon but unfortunately I was too late at the time to register. This year was different and when the time for online registration was opened I was busy mashing the refresh button on the website and lo and behold I got in. I was going to be one of sixty lucky participants this year and I was thrilled. I dusted off my Canon Rebel film camera and tested it out with a roll of film which ironically I still have yet to develop so I went on faith that all would be good. I knew that on the day of the event that one roll with 12 exposures would be handed out to each participant so you'd have one shot per theme and you need to shoot it in the order that the themes are presented. Must not mess up! As the day unfolded and the themes were announced at the top of every hour I quickly realized that there was not only a huge element of creativity required but also a matter of logistics. How far can you go away from the meeting spot and get back to it and find your subject to photograph? Sometimes I would find something within a few blocks and within the first half hour. Then there were a few challenging themes that really had me creatively struggling. I didn't want to fall behind so I kept pace with one theme per hour and must admit that I compromised on a few shots with ideas that didn't exactly feel great. In the end I was pleased to have finished and each person got a big cheer as they handed in their roll of film. It was a great experience that I will definitely do again next year.

On September 25th all of the photos from all 60 participants will be on display at PhotoHaus Gallery at the Vancouver Photo Workshops: 14 West 7th Ave, Vancouver. It will also be the first time that the participants get to see them so it's going to be exciting.

Here are the 12 Themes and brief description of what I did for them and the P or L in brackets denotes whether I shot it landscape or portrait.

1. My entry number plus different angle - blue tile mosaic "29" (L)

2. The usual suspects - a group of four old guys (L)

3. Human Nature - lemonade stand sour faces (L)

4. Reliable - three firemen in front of fire truck (P)

5. My greatest wish - big yacht (L)

6. Odour - two fish heads (P)

7. Echo - Christine shouting under bridge (P)

8. Trapped - mannequin behind glass (P)

9. Take it to the grave - picture of guy in antique store (P)

10. Second chance - group of VPD prepping (L)

11. Not for sale - old mansion (L)

12. Expectation - girl looking into illuminated box labelled Top Secret

Model Shoot - Clayton

On my last day of class at Vancouver Photo Workshops I did two separate shoots and the other model that I worked with that night was Clayton. He was styled by Amanda that evening. We did a similar edge lighting setup that I had used before and the look with the grey suit and sunglasses worked out well. Amanda brought along a very stylish long leather coat that had great texture to it and it worked really well with both the edge lighting and also the full white background shots as well. The third lighting setup we had was a pair of Kino Flo lights against a brushed metal background. Here are a few shots from that evening.

Later that same week we teamed up again for a location shoot this time. Amanda once again pulled some great outfits together for the shoot. We did the shoot in the early evening just as the sun was starting to go down in the sky a bit. I was really hoping for a day with fewer clouds but as it turned that day was partly overcast. For the lighting on these shots I used a small softbox and portable strobe triggered by Pocket Wizards. I did some minor colour balancing in post to give it a warmer look too. Clayton had been talking about trying to get signed with an agency. He mentioned that his agent really liked the stuff we had done together and soon after these photos were taken he was signed on by Next Canada and it even has one of the photos we did together on his portfolio page. Congrats Clayton! Here are some of the location shots.

Model Shoot - Carolina

The very last class of my course at Vancouver Photo Workshops wrapped up a few weeks ago. It was a great night and I shot two models that night. Our assignment was to put our own creative teams together and to plan things out. One of the shoots that night was with model Carolina. Working their magic behind the scenes was Lindsey for the wardrobe and styling and Ruhi was in charge of hair and makeup. The concept came from Lindsey who wanted to create a look inspired by the movie Before Coco Chanel. Carolina was a real joy to work with and her modelling experience really shows in how she struck her poses and her fierce expressions. We had some fun with a few jumping shots as well.

The other model that night was Clayton. Stay tuned for pictures from that shoot.

Model Shoot - Tony

This set of photos is from the second to last class of our course at Vancouver Photo Workshop. I gathered together the team of make up artist Diana, stylist Pirabalini and model Tony. This team had a lot of chemistry and I look forward to working with them again soon. Three separate lighting setups where used. One was done against a grey backdrop and consisted of two gridded strobes of to the left and right behind Tony and then a beauty dish above in front. The two back strobes were about one and half stops brighter so that gives that nice bright edge look. I included an out take that looks pretty cool as Tony totally stayed in character while Piraba and Diana touched him up.

The next was a just a pure white setup and I took multiple shots and composited the image above. Finally I did some shots with Tony using a pair of Kino Flo lights and angled them so that I was using the light falloff to light him. This gave it a bit more light and shadow to the look than just sandwiching him between them and blasting him with light.

Stay tuned for my next post of the last shoot from the VPW studios. Two models and two teams.

Model Shoot - Melanie

I had the pleasure of working with Melanie last week at the VPW class. Melanie is not only a fantastic model but also a very talented photographer as well and owns her own creative photography business called Sugar Creative. She also has one of the most symmetrically perfect faces I have seen in a long time. That evening she was sporting a hairstyle will low bangs across the front so that accentuated the symmetry even more. Here are a number of shots from that shoot. The first three images were shot in a setup of two diffused Kino Flo lights directly in front of her to camera left and right and then one overhead. You'll notice the vertical catchlights in her eyes. They were originally shot on a bright pink background but I decided to work on my Photoshop skills and composited her on different backgrounds plus worked on desaturating the colour as well. The last three images were shot with two lights. One strobe was overhead and diffused while the second light was around knee level and provided just enough fill to eliminate shadows from the top light. A little help from my fellow classmates for providing just enough "wind" for the hair effect. Thanks guys.

Stay tuned for more photo shoots coming up soon. We are down to our last two classes at VPW and it's time for the students to bring in models and their entire creative team to pull off shoots. I'm planning on shooting two different male models to add to my portfolio which is really needing some more guys represented. Don't worry, there will be some ladies too.

Model Shoot - Cecilia

I've been taking a Creative Lighting for Fashion and Editorial course at Vancouver Photo Workshop and we had the chance to work with model Cecilia and stylist Candice last week. Nothing too fancy for this particular set of photos. Just one very big softbox! In fact it was the biggest one I've used and was really made up of two 8 foot tall foam core dividers forming a box with an open side that was covered by two bedsheets. Inside of this was a Profoto head that was triggered at full power. The box was placed at camera left and lit the model from her right side and with the fall off alone it cast a really even wrapping light as you can see from the photos. All that was needed to bring out a bit of detail on her left side was to use a big fill card or reflector. Nothing beats a big light source for soft light. Some really minor skin retouching and Lightroom tweaks otherwise this is as shot.

Cannabis Day - July 1st

While other people across the city and across the country celebrated Canada Day on July 1st there was something a bit different going on outside of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Thousands gathered here on this day to celebrate Cannabis Day and pot growers, sellers, smokers and just people out to check it out had a great time. The crowd was entertained by live performances as well as some great vibes from the DJ. People watching was high on the list of entertainment as well. Here are some shots from that day. I even ran into one of my former instructors Syx Langemann from Vancouver Photo Workshops out taking pictures too.