Live Band Shoot with Freedom Ride

This past Friday I got the opportunity to shoot a band called Freedom Ride at the Rickshaw Theatre. The venue was pretty cool as I remember it well when I was a little kid. It used to be a Chinese movie theatre called Shaw Theatre that specialized in kung fu movies. That of course is many many years ago and it went out of business and remained unoccupied till recently. I have to say that this was my first real exposure to shooting a live band up close. I knew of course that flash wasn't allowed so planned on shooting with high ISO and fast lenses and timed my shots to the stage lighting changes. I was able to shoot from the front and edge of the stage plus from the balcony as well. We did manage to squeeze two minutes in the backstage area for the obligatory "band" shot before being told by the security guards to clear out. Here are some shots from the show. I cleaned up some of the noise in Photoshop and touched up some exposure in Lightroom for these shots below.

A special thanks to the band
Devin McManus -Lead Guitar and Lead Vocals
Slayad Nassir -Rhythm Guitar
Nat Green -Drums and backing vocals
James Weekes -Bass Guitar

Check out their MySpace page at
http://www.myspace.com/freedomriderocks

Wrapping up January with Bands, Headshots and Models

Finishing off the month of January on a very busy and positive note. Friday night I shot a live band performing on stage which was a brand new experience and challenge for me. Today I did a headshot session and a model shoot back to back. I also wanted to do my first blog post through my iPhone to see what that would be like. Yes, I'm a geek! I'll have individual posts to cover the shoots coming soon.


- Posted from my Iphone

Model Shoot - Shazmin, Cleopatra Look

Last year was quite a whirlwind with the wedding and it has been awhile since I've been in the studio. Thought I'd start 2010 with a more focused approach on building up my portfolio and networking more with likeminded people. Last weekend I got together with model Shazmin who had put out a casting call looking for a photographer to help with a Cleopatra inspired theme that she was looking to do. We teamed up with make up artist Cherry and hairstylist Rhi for the shoot. The two of them were true perfectionists and I think it really shows in the final results. To enhance the golden skin look of the makeup I tried something a bit different. I used the gold side of my 60" reflector and bounced a flash off of it as the key light and kind of turned it into a big golden softbox. Additional hairlight at camera left was covered with a quarter cut of CTO gel. I did some very minor spot exposure corrections in Lightroom but for the most part not much post work was done for these shots.

Lenin in Richmond, BC

A very interesting sculpture has popped up recently in Richmond, BC and I stumbled upon it today by accident. It was attracting a lot of attention and lots of motorists stopped to take a look and many got out of their cars to take pictures as did I. The interesting thing about this sculpture is that it also has a figure of Chairman Mao atop of Lenin's head with a balance bar. So as can be imagined a lot of talk about what the artists are trying to say here with this piece is usually the topic of discussion amongst viewers. Upon further digging on the internet I found out this is part of the Vancouver Biennale and around the city there are various art instalments.

I found it just so surreal that I decided to post process some of my shots and give it a more other worldly look. I tried some HDR and then went really crazy and did some that give it almost a comic book feel. First day of the new year and already trying to be a bit more on the creative side, hahaha..

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.

Antoni Gaudi's Casa Milà - Barcelona

By far one of Antoni Gaudi's most iconic and recognizable works of Modernista architecture is the Casa Milà (The Quarry). It was also a place where Gaudi lived and when you visit Casa Milà you can actually tour through his apartment although the most inspiring part of this building has to be the rooftop. The chimney-like adornments and even the shape of the undulating rooftop hold true to Gaudi's fascination with organic shapes. If you are ever in Barcelona you have to make sure you check this out. Here are some of the photos I took while I was there. You will find a combination of some B&W as well as some colour conversion work done in Lightroom and some blended HDR work as well. Hope you enjoy these!