Archive for the ‘Portrait’ Category
Make Fun.
The whole concept behind Little City was to encourage a community of artists to create just for the fun of it. It keeps the creative mind healthy - builds imagination and just makes us better professionals. So in following my own advice I shoot as much personal work as possible. My bud Marco and I have a running deal that he’ll pose as often as I ask (which is pretty awesome.) I am working on a series of nostalgic photos and the pool was an amazing find. I was really stoked when I saw the wood panelling and the fish (the fish!) mounted to the walls (plus it’s always fun to go swimming in winter!) I thought a dimly lit scene a pretty interesting challenge. So this is what I came up with. It’s different than my usual so I’d love to hear what you think.
52 Thursdays
My friend Mike and his dog Gambit come over for lunch every Thursday to talk hopes, dreams, fears and the like. I enjoy the steady progress updates, encouragement, advice and ridiculous puppy faces. You’ll be seeing Mike a lot on this blog since I tend to pull my camera out during our time together.
The Right Questions
This month has been such a rad roller coaster of asking questions (deep and superficial, work and personal). A friend was asking me this week about the merits of doing an unpaid internship and I told them that the sure benefit of such a time suck is that you learn what questions to ask and in return you improve exponentially. I’m learning that maturing (professionally/ personally) is consistently learning what questions to ask and seeking the answers relentlessly.
After a insane week (my brain literally hurts) I’m having a very purposefully lazy weekend. It feels luxurious to be able to sit around and experiment with post processing techniques. To have questions and research the answers. The above is a photo of Antje (who is really awesome by the way) that I took in the summer. It has taken me a few attempts to figure out what I wanted to do with the vibrant colours. In the end I was glad that I waited until I had the answers.
I’ve been testing some new colour and black and white conversion techniques.
Summer City
I’ve been living in Toronto for almost 8 years and I’ve never spent an entire summer here. (The closest was in 2005 and even then I was in Florida once in a while). So needless to say Ive bee enjoying the summer city immensely. Yesterday I woke up and for a second imagined what it would be like to get up and run to a cold bathroom and hurriedly put on thick socks and a winter jacket to go outside. I shuddered and proceeded with a leisurely day (although I was and am sick - it’s okay because at least it’s summer!!)
In any case, I’ve managed to skip the city for a few days here and there. On Father’s Day I photographed Ingrid at my favourite barn in Bramps. There she is above with her dog Scruffy-Bear. This photo makes me long for summer and wish that it would stay. The second photo is of an old friend from University Jamie Kaiser and his fiancee Melissa down by the waterfront. This photo makes me happy because even when summer has gone these two won’t mind because they can’t wait for October (they’re getting married!)
So there we have it. A summer update. More to come as I run around bare foot, ride around town on the Raleigh and hit up every patio I can find.
Alan is My Hero
For my homeboy Alan who I hear has won yet another race! Congrats.
Yeah yeah yeah…
I’m sitting in the living room listening to the new Yeah Yeah Yeahs album (Dar lent it to me though she barely just got it). The window is wide open but I’m boiling hot because I’m wearing EWBJ’s hoodie (he doesn’t even know it!) and am covered up with the throw my Mum tucked into my bag the other day. I’m thinking about 1 Corinthians 13 (someone read it aloud at church yesterday after we had crooned a Hank Williams song). Those two (yeah you know who) are in the kitchen cooking up a fish concoction, and I can’t wait to taste it. I’m patiently sipping cold tea (chocolaty chai!) and I am learning how to round corners in photoshop. I’m trying some new things just for the heck of it. The acoustic version of Hysteric comes on and I look down at this photo of Lisa and suddenly I am filled with so much optimism I might just burst. Doesn’t Lisa look optimistic? Thank goodness life isn’t boring.
