Flowing Fabric Photo Shoot

This past weekend I had a creative photo shoot that I had been planning for a little while now. Finally got the team together for the shoot and despite a cold and windy day down by Iona Beach Park where this was shot the final results were great. A big thank you to the team of Jaime Halliday and Rebecca Chan who braved the cold in next to nothing but the flowing fabric that they wore that was put together by stylist Mimi Khounpilom. Makeup and hair was done by Mary Mims and Elaina Ismail. Last but not least was the help I received from fellow photographer Roger Hur who helped me wrangle the Paul C Buff parabolic in the windy conditions. Here are some of the shots from that day. 

To see these and more in full screen please visit my website at http://bernardngphotography.com

My website is finally up!

After much self doubt and procrastination I have finally put that all aside and launched my website today. I know I still have long way to go and lots to learn but this for me was a very important turning point. For some reason I just kept putting it off and maybe because it was that I couldn't come to a decision as to how it should look. I just knew that I wanted a site that would be simple and clean and most of all easy to upload pictures to and also easy for clients to download from. Yes, I don't want to send a hundred photos in an email ever again. I decided to go with Viewbook as I found it offered all that I needed plus there is great integration of your online portfolio with their iPhone and iPad apps. Please come by and take a look at bernardngphotography.com

Photo Shoot with Brittney Grabill

Earlier this month I had to opportunity to meet and work with singer, songwriter, guitarist and actress Brittney Grabill. We did a photo shoot for some promo material for her upcoming website launch which should be coming out in March. She also has a single and remix out on iTunes called "I Like You" that is great and you should check it out. On top of that she also has a number of videos on YouTube with one in particular that was a tribute to Whitney Houston right after she passed away. Watch out for this rising star!

Brittney had mentioned to me this billboard that she found and was willing to climb up on it for photos. She managed it in heels! With a little bit of Photoshop I turned it into a promo image for her remix launch on Valentine's Day.

Model Shoot - Maryna

Wow its 2012 and this is my first photo shoot of the year with Maryna. This was by far one of the most efficient and no fuss shoots I have done. From setup to tear down was less than two hours and we accomplished all the looks that Maryna was after in that time. Maryna arrived with her makeup already done and sported a fresh natural look that fit well with her perfect complexion and blond hair. My favourites out of the session were some natural light head shots by the window with just a silver reflector using an 85mm f/1.8

Hats don't always work well with everyone but she was able to rock it with style.

We had some fun and of course got in one or two obligatory "jump' shots.

Final look of the day was nice soft light from camera left and right against a black background.

Help Portrait Vancouver 2011- A Tradition!

Last Saturday on December 3rd was the third annual Help Portrait Vancouver event at the Union Gospel Mission. This year was bigger and better than ever with 150 volunteers in total we were able to deliver portraits to over 700 people. There was lots of local news media coverage of the event and a dedicated group of volunteers Tweeted and live blogged the event all day. One of the local stations even called our event a tradition for the downtown Eastside. By the excitement and smiles on all the faces of the guests that came through you knew that they look forward to this almost as much as all the volunteers do. They say that many hands makes the lifting easy. Well this year many hands lifted the hearts and spirits of all those that experienced Help Portrait Vancouver! I'm already looking forward to next year.

This was the morning crew of photographers that kicked things off for the day.

Here we are at the end of the day for the group shot with photographers, editors and make up artists. There were many more that day but they couldn't stay for the photo unfortunately.

Help Portrait Vancouver 2011

There is one particular event of the year that I as a photographer look forward to the most and that is Help Portrait Vancouver. I volunteered for this event three years ago and have been part of it since then and each year it just keeps getting better and better. This year will be no exception and on Saturday, December 3rd we'll be putting on the event at the Union Gospel Mission in Vancouver's downtown Eastside. Even before this large scale event we put on a smaller event at the BC Children's Hospital on November 2nd. A small group of photographers and makeup artists set up a small studio in the terminally ill ward and invited patients and their families in for portraits sessions. This year we were also very privileged and were welcomed into some of the patients rooms for those that could not make it to the studio. Here are two videos from that day plus a group photo of the team that made it possible.

Help Portrait itself is a world wide event that happens in almost every major city around the world so if you would like to find out more about it or volunteer then check out the site or get online and search for one in your city. There is no greater feeling than to be able to give back doing something that you love.

Pictures for Strathcona Homes website

A little while back I got a chance to provide some pictures for a local realty website called Strathcona Homes which they ended up using a few for their website's masthead. I also did the head shot for one of the realtors. Strathcona is really a very neat historical part of Vancouver and the houses there have amazing character and charm that you just don't find in todays houses anymore. Here are a few examples of the beautiful modern restorations that have been made to some of these houses in that area.