Day 203- Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Day 203:

As I mentioned before, I'm going to just look at shapes and light for a while. It really helps to stir things up from the recognizable day to day imagery. This is clean and fresh for me - it feels like opening a window as that first beautiful gust of spring air blows.

Very invigorating.

Day 202- Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Day 202:

I apologize for the lateness. It was a long, chaotic night.

This should help to communicate the frantic strangeness; what happened?

Day 201- Monday, September 28, 2009

Day 201:

After getting the shots I wanted for my assignment last night, I grabbed some stuff just for me.

I've been experimenting with some new ideas in the processing stages. I dig.

I want to do more of this.

Goodnight

Day 200- Sunday, September 27, 2009

Day 200:

Jackie Musial: Artist & Entertainer

Tonight was fabulous. I haven't had this much fun shooting someone in a while, and the location and shoot itself were really great. So huge props to Jackie for being able to make it on such short notice, and for being generally awesome. Jackie, I owe you a huge 'Sandy Cohen'. Everyone, please check out Jackie's art and illustration blog HERE!

These are some out-takes from the set, which was a shoot for my 'location fashion' assignment for Location Lighting. This is about half of my original concept - the location and 'general idea' was all set but having Jackie model and the styling theme were very last minute. We made a pretty fly team, MacGyvering the whole thing, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Building the set for the background was especially fun. The big drafting table-esque beast on the right side was such a lucky find, pretty much exactly what I wanted and never hoped to stumble upon. And propping the whole thing was really fun too. I could easily see myself doing this every day!

Anyways, it took a while to start shooting but I think my confidence and decisiveness with lighting and the general technical side are improving. That's really pretty crucial in this field, so hopefully it's only up and up from here. Dope.

Now. I have to tell you something:

My Dad has been The Man. Letting me use his factory space for this shoot was awesome. Being patient while I took twice as long as I predicted was even more awesome. Driving me around and helping me up and down, into/out from my apartment with my absurd baggage for the last year of college has been even infinitely awesomer. Seriously, I can't stress how awesomazingly supportive he's been, and I worry that sometimes I don't say 'thank you' enough, so I'd like to just make my humble attempt at conveying to you the literal awesomeness. It's awesome.

Dad: Thank you!

Ps - (Stay tuned next week for 'Ode To My Mom: The Bitchinest Lady In The 905')

Goodnight!

Day 199- Saturday, September 26, 2009

Day 199:

It has been a lazy day. I spent most of it just feeling tired and sluggish from last night but I managed to get a failed photoshoot for tomorrow back on track. I'll be shooting my "location fashion" assignment for second year Location Lighting. Very stoked.

Anyways, this is a shot I did this week for my first assignment in Commercial Lighting. The digital Hasselblad, the power packs and the lights are all new to me, so there was a definite learning curve in terms of using the equipment. I had a pretty good time though - all four and a half hours of it, heh heh.

I also took a photo of the set up just to give you a look inside the working environment. I mentioned a long time ago in response to a blog post by Jackie Musial, that the working space itself is so extremely intertwined with the work created within, and this just gives a bit of context to that relationship.

Also, on the technical side, I really like seeing behind-the-scenes shots from photoshoots because it allows you to reverse engineer the lighting and really read the situation. You can learn so much from just seeing where lights and modifiers were placed.

So, that's that. I also really wanted to share this because there's a nice nostalgia and family connection here. The photo album is a collection of old family photos (I'm thinking from the late 70's) from my mum's side and the camera and light-meter there belonged to my Granddad. I hope they like it.

Anyways, I'm about to fall face first into my laptop.

More tomorrow!

Love

Ps. For film nerds, there's a logic/"continuity" error in the assignment shot. Do you see?

Day 198- Friday, September 25, 2009

Day 198:

Who took the shot below? I liked it.

A Very Pisces Housewarming!

So, to make up for being so slack with posting from last night, I decided to make one epic post with some favorite shots. It's sad that I shot a roll of 120 film and some 35mm and won't get to see those for a while.

My good friend Rizzo (check her out here) moved to Cabbagetown recently and had herself a little housewarming party. I was excited to bring my cameras because Rizzo's parties are a full-blown hoot. I was certainly not disappointed. It was a really good night and I hope you all had just as much fun.

Love love love

Goodnight

Day 197- Thursday, September 24, 2009

Day 197:

(Initial Edit - Final image to come...)

The Rose Theatre

Brampton, Ontario

This image is hand-stitched together from three exposures, taken hours apart. The technique is called HDR, which stands for High Dynamic Range.

A camera, unlike our eye, only sees a limited range of tones from pure black to pure white. Whereas we can see detail in the brightest and darkest corners of a dynamically lit scene, a camera cannot. You have to direct it to either capture the detail in the highlights and lose the darks, or vice versa. Anyways, HDR solves this problem by capturing multiple exposures for each end of the tonal scale; ergo (heh heh, just wanted to say that), you get detail in the highlights, detail in the shadows, and a nice mid-tone.

Once stitched together, the image takes on a bit of a graphic/illustrated look that can be quite appealing. HDR today has become a bit of a bane to"artists" however. Cheap, quick programs can perform the task with a high degree of automation and not much of an eye for what is "nice" and what is "too much!" It's become a very trendy style over the last few years, and I'm hoping it quiets itself down to a nice, well behaved style that speaks only when spoken to, and pops up only when really needed.

So, the task of hand-stitching allows the photographer to control how much or how little the effect is applied, and to what areas. Another photographer who stopped to chat while I was shooting this actually said, "Oh, you're doing it the right way," after I explained what it was I was up to. I have to agree, it definitely is the right way - it just takes a ******* long time! It can be pretty fun though, especially because at the beginning, the image looks like garbage, but as it really takes its form, it's sooo satisfying.

Forgive me as the colours aren't exactly as they appeared as I was working, but I just learned today about soft-proofing (I've know about it for a while, but we're only now getting into the details) and how you can only view an image in photoshop with a colour profile for ONE particular output at a time; I was editing it in relation to how the colour will come out in print, not online. It's still pretty nice though, just not as saturated. I'm dying to learn more about this stuff as colour has been a big problem for me.

So, there's the last three and a half hours of my night, plus the three and a half that I stood in front of the Rose last Saturday to get this shot.

Hope you like it.

Hope my teacher likes it more!

Goodnight!

Day 196- Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Day 196:

The lovely Mil. Check her work out here.

Day 195- Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Day 195:

Bed.

Love

Day 194- Monday, September 21, 2009

Day 194:

The Trifecta of Power:

Nikon FE SLR

Yashica C TLR

Kodak Retina Ia Rangefinder

(Yes.... I am a nerd)

I've been meaning to take a photo of the camera that started my film experience (the FE) for a while, so it's nice to finally do that. I got the Retina from my grandfather a few weeks ago and this weekend, I picked up the Yashica from Halton Camera Exchange in Georgetown.

I'm pretty stoked about it - I just need to get my butt in gear and build a home darkroom setup for B&W film.

Anyways, today was really productive. I took a trip back to 1841 and made my first Calotype or 'Salted Print' at school, a process invented by William Fox Talbot. Contact printing is very cool; I could see myself doing a lot of these 'alternative processes' if in the future I built them into my workflow. It would be a wonderful and unique service to offer!

(And playing around with chemicals in a lab coat is pretty much the sweetest job ever. Science rules!)

Hopefully I can share some of those images soon. Until then, be well.

Goodnight

Day 193- Sunday, September 20, 2009

Day 193:

Since Friday night's post, I'm thinking abstractions, shapes and textures might be 'in' for a while. We shall definitely see where that takes us.

Tomorrow night will hopefully be a sweet post too. I got a new toy.

Goodnight

PS - it is still Sunday night - I was just too late to post before the date stamp changed over.

Day 192- Saturday, September 19, 2009

Day 192:

Enjoy it while you can.

Love

Day 191- Friday, September 18, 2009

Day 191:

I had a bad day. Creatively, I feel pretty frustrated; I could be doing so much more right now. I think I'm getting really fed up with being poor and constrained by my situation, and naively, deep down I long for a 9-5 photography job, wanting to fast forward through the next few years of obligatory toiling, bent over, kissing ass.

I feel like I could be accomplishing galaxies of tasks if only I had the right help, but how do I just 'get' it? How do I pay?

Often I get the impression that really succesful people in history, while having worked hard for what they achieved, simply lucked out with a lot of circumstances. The two factors that really stand out to me are how much money you have to invest(less important), and who you know(way important). It's frustrating to think that sometimes, something that arbitrary can limit you.

Either way, after all is said and done, I have to keep pushing. I'm aware of my 'complaining', and I think that that self-awareness of complaining means I'm just... sharing my thoughts, letting go of some steam... The drinks I had earlier just made me feel lazy and guilty...

Goodnight

Day 190- Thursday, September 17, 2009

Day 190:

Guest Photographer Brenden Wilson

or What He'd Call, ReBlogging

I loved this shot so much, I had to post it. Brenden, good form sir.

Love!

Day 189- Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Day 189:

REGINA SPEKTOR CONERT TONIGHT!

... it was fucking incredible!!!

(...sorry, sometimes the f-bomb is the only thing that

really conveys the gravity of the emotion.)

Tonight was bloody incredible. Janice and I went down to Sound Academy to see Regina Spektor play. The scheduled opening act, Little Joy got stuck at the border, but lucky for us, her violinist opened the show by playing songs from another band he's in called Jupiter One. And he certainly opened well.

But Regina...sigh.... played a ton of stuff from her new album, played a few old songs (which I was very happy about, although sadly, she didn't play Chemo Limo), and two I'd never heard, including the closing song from her FOUR SONG ENCORE, a country song (totally random) the chorus of which went something like "Love is a whore, love is a whore, love is a whore". It was rompin, stompin, rootin tootin fun. Even if it was country.

So, the hairy part of the night was, Sound Academy doesn't seem to let any kind of "professional slr" cameras into their club. Their criteria is, if the lens comes of the body, it's no good. Anyways, I had a weird, confusing and in the end, totally fortuitous run in with security who at first almost took my camera, then got confused and let me keep it. I sort of had to lie, no good I know, but it was seeeriously worth it. I shot two rolls of Ilford Delta 3200 B&W and a roll of Fuji Press 1600 colour.

... I'm dying to see these shots. I can't wait.

So, that was my night. It was bloody incredible, Janice and I had a great time, we got about three or four rows back from the front, and everything just went well.

Come back soon Reg!

Goodnight and Love!

Day 188- Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Day 188:

Janny

This is my first post with Humber's new cameras. This was shot on a Hasselblad H3d II39 - 39 megapixels of awesomeness, heh heh.

Anyways, I've been editing at my desk all night and I think it's time to lie down.

Goodnight!

Ps, Regina Spektor tomorrow night!!

Day 187- Monday, September 14, 2009

Day 187:

I like this, because it's my photo of Janice, but I've captured Emilie in the background, about to take a photo of the shadow of that street sign, which is a photo of hers that I really like.

I never really noticed that before... I wish I had Emilie's photo to pair this with; a photo within a photo. That could be a neat idea for a project.

Goodnight

Day 186- Sunday, September 13, 2009

Day 186:

More MSTRKRFT

This week has been insane. I've been over at the school late at night pretty much every day. I wouldn't mind sitting on a patio downtown for an afternoon drinking rum and cokes sometime soon. Anyone want to donate some of their Time to that end? I could use more...

That's all for tonight friends. I've had a strange weekend.

But very good.

Love love love.

Day 185- Saturday, September 12, 2009

Day 185:

SPEECHLESS

And also photoless.

It's 6:37 am and I just got home from Etobicoke General Hospital. Don't worry yourself though; I'm fine.

I went out around midnight to meet some friends who were leaving a party. We went back to their house for a quick stop.

The stop was good. The stop was uneventful. The stop was, dare I say, pleasant.

And then one of their room mates had an accident and hurt herself pretty bad.

And so the journey to the hospital (waiting room) ensued. I was at the hospital from about 1:45 - 6:00 am... totally sweet... I don't think they'll get out for another few hours.

All in all, it's been a pretty whacky night. I'm glad I was there to help.

Anyways, I'm about to start seeing things, so I'm going to shut this thing off and climb into bed.

Regardless of the scary emergency, it's been a really good night.

Hope you all had a safe and happy one!

Love

Day 184- Friday, September 11, 2009

Day 184:

MSTRKRFT @ Humber College

Tonight was bloody incredible. I shot MSTRKRFT for Humber and they friggin pwned. So many photos to share, not enough energy to work on them all!!!

I'll share more soon.

On another note, I've never felt 100% about my band-photo skills. Tonight wasn't a breakthrough or anything, but I had a buttload of fun doing this. Band photography has one hell of a perk... best damn seat in the house!

Anyways, tomorrow is yet another busy day.

Goodnight!

Day 183- Thursday, September 10, 2009

Day 183:

Mr. Lehey and Randy of Sunnyvale Trailer Park, two fine officers of the peace on Canada's beloved Trailer Park Boys.

The Boys came to Humber tonight to help celebrate opening pub night, which sadly actually didn't happen due to construction delays (,damn contractors!).

Anyways, I got up front and centre for some amazing shots - too many to share all in one post of course. I suppose they will trickle on here slowly.

Well, it's late, I've got class tomorrow, and if I don't sleep, it'll be "a double barreled shit cannon" of fun trying to get out of bed. In honor of the Boys, I'd make more shit references but of course, my grandparents enjoy this fine and tasteful blog and I don't want to push it.

Goodnight friends!

Love (TPB!)

Day 182- Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Day 182:

I should have posted this sooner.

* (However) This film was scanned low rez - I have to rescan it before it'll be really presentable. If you've noticed some other annoyingly small photos lately, it's because I can't enlarge them any more than that.

That's about all the excuse-ing I will ever make here though. I strive for a high standard....

Day 181- Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Day 181:

Guess who finally went legit!

It just sucks how much it cost....

Anyways, today was my first day back at school. Year two. Lots of new and exciting projects, lots of stress and fun. Notice the order I put that in. Stress, then fun.

Well, we shall see.

Goodnight friends.

Love

Day 180- Monday, September 7, 2009

Day 180:

Toronto Air Show # 2

Blue Angels cnt'd

Today I went down to Oakville to help my grandparents again with unpacking and settling in. Thanks to Craigslist, I also managed to find a Hitachi receiver/amplifier for the turntable my grandfather gave me, right in Oakville. At the risk of sounding "poncy", I'll tell you it was kismet! But the best part was still to come; I still didn't have speakers for my turntable + amplifier. Well what do you know, I'm helping my mom unload a pickup truck with stuff from my grandparents this morning and I find two 100 watt speakers in a rubbermaid bin.

So with $20.00, and a little dumb luck, I've got everything I need. I've been wanting one of these babies for so long.

Anyways, there's more shots from the air show yesterday. I would have liked to post a whole lot in one go yesterday but I was just way too tired by the time I got to it. I might post a few more in the coming days.

So, tomorrow is the first day of my second year at Humber. I'm very, very stoked. Wish me luck!!!

Goodnight friends,

Love

Day 179- Sunday, September 6, 2009

Day 179:

The Blue Angels at the Toronto Air Show

Today was pretty fun. We went down to Toronto island on my uncle's boat to watch the air show. Man I wish I had a bigger lens....

I'm pretty pooped though. I'll share more photos from the show soon.

Goodnight

Day 178- Saturday, September 5, 2009

Day 178:

Today was a busy one!

Off to the bank this morning for business stuff, then Oakville to stand around for two hours in two different Canadian Tire stores, then to my grandparents' new apartment to help settle them in (they just moved), assembling chairs and a table, back to Georgetown for Thai (mmmmm), and then over to my Aunt's house to check out my Grandad's old cameras.

After looking through all the stuff, I can't believe my Grandad let me take home his old Kodak Retina Ia, which dates back to (I believe) 1951. It's such an incredible gift and a beautiful piece of history to pass on. I'm incredibly thankful and pretty excited to put it to good use, and I can't wait to see the images that it will produce!

So, tomorrow I will have to take some photos of that wonderful camera to share. Tonight, I posted another shot from the wedding I went to last weekend. Andrew was being incredibly adorable as usual and I just really like the "moment" that I captured; It says good things to me : )

Anyways, tomorrow's going to be another busy one. We're going out to Toronto Island to watch the airshow from my uncles' boat. It should be pretty exciting!

Goodnight friends!

Love

Day 177- Friday, September 4, 2009

Day 177:

Ulysses and The Siren - CT's Birthday Bash back in July.

Never really did much with these shots but I like them. I love assembling the images too; gives a nice editorial feel. I've discovered how tricky and annoying it can be if you don't have the right photo to finish off or balance out the collection though. It'd be neat to try and plan something out though - that could be a good solution, and a great exercise in pre-visualizing concepts. Hmmm....

Enjoy

Love

Day 176- Thursday, September 3, 2009

Day 176:

From last weekend at a family friend's wedding. What a little prince.

Anyways, it's been a busy day and I've got an early morning job to shoot.

Hope you're all well,

Love

Day 175- Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Day 175:

So, today has been a good one.

This morning, Brenden, Emilie and I went to the R.O.M to pick up a ton of film, paper and chemistry courtesy of the Imaging Department.

Brian Boyle, the R.O.M's head photographer gave us a tour of the studio where they document every item that comes into the museum, and then showed us the goods.

We had to take a cab to get it all home!

After a brief inventory, a few interesting items include:

- 1600 feet of bulk medium-format Kodalith duplication film

- 500 feet of bulk Ektachrome and Tri-x medium format film

- Just over a thousand sheets of 4x5 Kodak B&W duplication film

- A few packs of 8x10 sheet film

- Several rolls of 35mm infrared colour and B&W film

- 2 spools of bulk 35mm mystery film

- 200 sheets of really nice Ilford 4x5 B&W, and a few hundred sheets of the same in Kodak

- 4 or 5 packs of Fuji 4x5 polaroid film

- A ton of 5 x 7 and 8 x 10 photosensitive paper

- Several packs of 20"x24"(and other sizes) photosensitive paper

- A 4 foot x 100 foot roll of photosensitive paper

- 3 bulk film loaders

- Some darkroom chemistry

- And a huge assortment of different 35mm and medium format films

... That's about all I can think of off the top...

So, basically, I love the R.O.M, and I love Humber for the hookup.

And lastly, Janice officially moved in to Em's apartment today downtown, so we're all busy unpacking and celebrating the togetherness.

Goodnight friends,

Joy

Day 174- Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Day 174:

Another from Dundas square a few weeks ago. I sat on this film for a while but here it is.

Janice is moving in to Em's tomorrow too. This is a beautiful thing. We are all pretty thrilled.

And it gets better. One of my professors at Humber *coughCharlescough* arranged for the four of us to receive an incredible donation from the Royal Ontario Museum. Their staff photographer is getting rid of a fridge-freezer full of 35mm - 8x10 film, developing chemistry, and some photo paper, so we're getting it all for free.

THANK YOU R.O.M!!!

So it's been a pretty good evening. I better get off to bed though; it's gonna be a long day tomorrow!

Love