Alyssa Bistonath Photography: Of Life After 24,

Editing video makes me feel like I am in high school. Here is a little clip show I shot on my Canon 5D MKII with a lensbaby. I mounted the camera to my bike for some of the shots with a Manfrotto superclamp and a ballhead and I edited the whole thing in iMovie ‘08.

Special thanks to Sam, Mel, Laura and Lisa for letting me turn our bike ride into a video shoot!

On Saturday morning I woke up before then sun, laced up my steel toe boots, strapped my camera bag to my bike, and glided through the empty streets of our lovely city. The clouds only seemed present in order to make the rising sun more beautiful and the wind gently pushed me downtown as if it knew exactly where I was going. I usually photograph people, but this time my assignment involved photographing a building. It reminded me of my days with Eye Weekly when I would explore places that Shawn Micallef had detailed in Stroll. Every once in a while I would show up to a location and the mysteriousness of it would peak my curiosity. Time would fly by and the it seemed like the only sound in the world was my shutter opening and closing. All photographers are different, but for me little else is more satisfying.

Here’s more from my shoot with Mel and Dave. Right after we took these shots I took a pretty hard spill. I’m still sporting a bruise but it was definitely worth it.

Mel and Dave drove up to Brampton on Saturday so I could do some floating tests. What nice friends.

I’m an Aunt!

These days I’ve been feeling really lucky. I’m surrounded by loved ones. Loved ones who love each other. You’ve probably seen Armen and Lisa on my blog a million times but I couldn’t help but make them promise that I could shoot their engagement photos. When Lisa, a bunch of friends and I drove up to Eganville to play a show at Armen’s library I thought it the perfect opportunity to round them up and go on a photo-taking adventure.

In the beginning one of the things that spurred my interest in photography forward was the joy and accomplishment I felt each time I added a sparkling new photograph to my portfolio. As the years went by, keeping an up to date portfolio became harder and harder. Especially when I started shooting for World Vision. I would come home with thousands of photographs and often feel overwhelmed with the task of sorting out the best ones. Recently as music has become more and more a part of my life I’ve suddenly found that joy again… collecting each song we record and putting it in a special place. With this inspiration I decided to take a stab at revamping my portfolio with the simple direction of picking images that stir up some joy in my chest. First up, a selection of My Hometown, Your Hometown, next — a selection of my favourite portraits that I’ve taken here in Toronto, and lastly you’ll find a selection of some of the most meaningful photographs I’ve taken while on assignment overseas. So take a look and I hope that they bring you some joy too.