A year of firsts...

2010 marked the year I got serious about photography. It definitely wasn't the year of first place finishes on my bike. I was ill and had back trouble so much going into 2010 that I was almost afraid to race. I hated not finishing where I once had and my ego took a beating! However, my camera was more understanding of my situation. It allowed me to be as creative as I could imagine. I have compiled some of what I consider significant points of the past year.

My first self-assignment was to do a kind of journalistic day of photos riding along with my brother in a logging truck. It was super fun and I actually sold some of the photos I took. I was hoping to shop these out to some industry publications. I had interest but they were not willing to pay for the images. Too bad for them...

My second challenge was a portrait shoot for some friends (Chantal S.and Chantal W.) from Coffee on the Moon. I was nervous as I had never directed people in this situation before. Luckily I knew them and they were great to work with. Had I been working with strangers it would not have been so easy.

Cyclo-cross season was super fun for me as a spectator this year rather than being pack-fodder in the race as I usually am. I love the action of the sport and I try to catch this in my photos. I'm really looking forward to the start of the mtb and road race season. I'll likely do a bit of mtb racing but I want to catch some great shots too.

The coming of winter marked the start of indoor portrait season. Indoor portraits take way more practice than I would have thought. You'd think a good camera will just do it all for you. Not... It takes a lot of experimentation with lighting and really getting to know how to work with you equipment in the environment or setting you have to work with. I love doing these shots as you get as much out of them as you put in. I know one could just set the camera to the auto mode and use the little pop-up flash, but then you'd have a shot that looks like they could have been taken by any amateur. It takes time, some lighting equipment, some research and experimentation to get an understanding of how to produce the type of shots that look professional.

My first exhibition of my work came a year early and I was so nervous as I wasn't ready. I had one week to decide which photos to show and get everything printed and mounted. It was stressful. But it worked out just fine. I sold several pieces which was great! I made new contacts and this leads to more showing of my photos around town and more clients. Thank you Dan and Leeanne from Coffee on the Moon!

For 2011 I have lots of goals and projects in mind. I love what I'm doing and am very thankful for my lovely wife Nina for putting up with me!

A day in the life...

Sometimes it is fun to put a project together just for the sake of trying something out. A while back I rode shotgun with my brother who is a logging truck driver. I was hoping to get some cool shots of the industry that people seldom get to see and hopefully market these photos to industry publications. Turns out the industry publications I contacted only use freely submitted photos and don't have a budget to pay for professional photos. At least I got some interesting shots...

My brother Kevin also rides and races road, mtb and cyclo-cross so I of course have some cool shots of him on the bike.

And once in a while Kevin likes to head out to the awesome "shed" he built himself to do a little work on his Harley or clean up his bikes and maybe enjoy a beer. So I thought it would be fun to catch him relaxing here. This was the hardest spot to take photos as there was no useful light other than my flash and a little continuous light I use for fill. And it was really tight in there! But I'm sure Kevin didn't have photo-shoots in mind when he designed the shed so its just one of those things you have to learn to deal with.

The point here is capturing someone in their natural "habitat" or environment. I like the honesty of shots like these as they really show who the person is, no props involved. With just a few photos of my brother you can probably get an idea of who he is and what he does.

So, this is something that I want to do more of. A day in the life of...