Doll Town

You never know what you're going to find until you open that door. There are many cool businesses operating around here and I'm lucky enough to be called out to do photos for some of them.
Bamboletta Dolls are hand made here in the valley and are well known for their quality and style. Christina, the owner, needed some photos for a craft magazine that was doing an article on her and her business.

I did some photos of Christina amongst her creations and then a group shot with the ladies who work with her at the shop. Walking into this shop is what I imagine it would be like if one were to visit Santa's workshop (minus the elves). These ladies are all busy cutting fabric and sewing these dolls for little ones to love. What a great cottage industry. I only say that because the shop really does have a cosy-cottage feel to it. 

Before I left, I took a few shots of Christina and her son just because you never have too many photos of your kids!

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Tis the Season!

Those of you who live in Duncan may know of the relatively new bike shop, Cycle Therapy. Lots of cool bike stuff that you won't find elsewhere.

I was there to do some photos of their customer appreciation night and then I came back the next day to do some Christmas photos for their ad in the newspaper.

Dave and his wife, Sandra have a really great shop.

This was just one of those chance photos that happened before I put my camera away. Fun stuff!

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Ho, ho, ho!

I had fun doing the photos for the United Way's Santa Shuffle this past Sunday. With over 200 Santas running and walking the course, it was quite a sight to see!

To view all the photos, just click on the picture above and you will be redirected to my skydrive.
Photos are available for $10 with partial proceeds going back to the Cowichan United way. Contact me if you are interested :)

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Downtown

I live in the small town town of Duncan which is great. The old downtown has such a nice feel to it. You can walk ten minutes and cover the whole core area. This area has many nice boutique shops, restaurants and coffee shops and it just great to spend time there. I just finished up a job for the downtown business association which was looking to get photos of the window displays of the local shops. I thought that was great that they wanted me to do it. I just had to take photos of shop windows. Not really. That is what I possibly could have done. But I had bigger plans. Plans on making downtown Duncan look like a place to come and check out and take in the holiday feel. After all, these photos were to be used for publication with my name there for all to see so I wanted to produce something I'd be proud of.
I had originally thought of using some people I know to model for the photos but with the weather here (often raining) and work and school schedules that people have it was going to be difficult to arrange. I realized the solution was right in front of me. My beautiful family!
So we set out to do our photo shoot one afternoon just as the light was getting to be about the way I wanted it and suddenly the sky opened up and the rain poured down. As we drove I could see breaks in the clouds so we carried on. We got to our destination and sat in my van and waited. The rain was easing off! And then it stopped. We got out and set up in front of Fabrications boutique clothing store and got to work.

The photo above is what I had envisioned and it worked out just right. You can see the reflection of my wife's face and just a hint that she's holding our baby, while our four year old gazes into the window in awe of the display.
Just before packing up, Nina (my wife) suggested another angle. So I looked at it and set up the lights and it worked! It really worked! It is the photo on the top of the page. Lots of reflected light, glimmering decorations and great interaction between Nina and our baby.

A few days later I had another idea...

I thought a pure shopping street scene would be good, taking in some of the character of downtown Duncan. Lucky for me, my sister-in-law (Camila) and niece were available on short notice.
Timing a scene like this is not easy. The intersection in the background had a steady flow of cars going by and waiting for pedestrians to pass felt never ending. We were waiting around more than we were actually shooting.

Judging by how many of the photos I took have my niece's feet off the ground, I'd say she was actually having as much fun as me!
My wife and son enjoyed being part of the process as well. It really was a great family project.

I also took a multitude of the requisite window photos which I simply do not have room to show here. Go downtown and see them for yourself. You won't be disappointed!

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Portraits made easy.

Every once in a while you do photos for someone and it just clicks. I know, it is my job to provide the best possible photos every single time but with Cory Towriss, a lawyer at Orchard and Company here in Duncan, it was just easy.

Cory came to me looking for some business portraits that would look a bit different than what you'd normally get. At least here in Duncan... That got me excited. I love it when people come to me for what I offer instead of just because they "need" to get some photos done.

I spent a fair bit of time scouting locations for the shoot as Cory had a vision of what she was looking for and so did I. I came up with two locations that I really liked. The hallway with windows, seen in the first two photos, and this metal wall.

Cory and I instantly had this comfort working with each other which made for a super-smooth photo shoot. Not to mention she smiled easily and naturally and could also put on the serious face when asked.

And finally Cory thought she'd like a more natural setting to finish up with and it was a good time to wrap up as the sun was dissappearing and it was getting cold.

Who said lawyers aren't fun?

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Party Time!

I recently did a photo shoot for Island Style at the Craig Street Brew Pub with a holiday fashion theme. It was fun to work as a team with a make up artist Heather from Bella), hair stylist (Jenn from Studio One) and a coordinator (Eliza Faulkner). The models were great too! Thanks to Shae, Tom and Jordyn!

Some good fashion poses from Shae.

Some fun goofing around.

And more modelling from Jordyn.

And Tom and Jordyn on the stairs.

To do all these shots with multiple wardrobe and lighting changes was a real challenge. I thought we'd be fine with maybe just over one hour. It took two hours for the shoot, not including the make-up and hair before the shoot started. Given that we had to be out before the pub opened in the morning for business meant the pressure was on to get it done. It also meant an early start in the morning for the ladies getting their hair and makeup done before the shoot.

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Portrait Express

Rarely things go as planned when taking photos. Sometimes you have things pretty much mapped out in your mind as to what you think you'd like to do so you prepare to do what you accordingly. And then sometimes there is a miscommunication and you show up late to do photos. Yep, I was 15 minutes late for this photo shoot with Michelle Staples.

When I arrived she sprang a surprise on me. She had originally planned to do a portrait shoot for her professional use but also some with a more casual look. But now she had decided to run for City of Duncan council and the photos had to be ready right away for the upcoming election campaign. And more good news. We had just over 60 minutes to do it all! 

Luckily, we were in downtown Duncan, which is tiny but charming. I had already scouted out some locations, all within five minutes walking distance. My goal was to give as much variety as possible in the time we had to work with and carry as little gear as needed since we were on foot.

The late afternoon sun was perfect as a back light and I used one speedlite with a huge 60" umbrella as the key light. We actually got everything we needed done downtown ahead of schedule so we packed up and went for a more casual look about 1.5kms from downtown. Gotta love Duncan!

The grass in this field was so tall (over 2 meters), I had to pack down a trail for us to get through.

And just as the sun was starting to drop in the horizon and time was about to run out, I grabbed my favorite shot. Lots of productivity in practically no time at all!

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Great Collaborations!

A little while back I was asked to do the photos for a monthly fashion section in the local News Leader paper. Eliza Faulkner (the one above talking on the phone), a fashion designer, has this monthly section and wanted to get me in to help with photos. I was pretty happy about this as it opened a new door to photo opportunities to me. I hadn't really done any fashion photos before and this also was to include some more editorial interviews with artists and designers. Lots of fun!

Along with myself, Eliza recruited style guru Jenn Glenn from Studio 1 Salon (seen above helping with hair). It is so fun working with others on a shoot as you have more than one set of eyes to look for any issues, plus you have someone else to help with any issues. All I need now is one of those voice activated light stands...

This photo shoot was for the style of the month girl, Ruth, also known as scooter girl.

And now things are really moving ahead. We are putting our heads together to grind out a blog called Island Style which features all sorts of cool and stylish things happening here in Duncan, the Cowichan Valley and Vancouver Island. The blog is still in it's infancy and I'm working to get it filled with interesting content.

My wife Nina (above photo) has also signed on to help. Her first blog entry is a great read!

Eliza and Jenn will also be adding fun articles and I might even have contributions every once in a while. But you are more likely to see my photos...

And once again, here's the link to our new blog: Island Style

Any suggestions or people who would like to work with us on this please feel free to comment!

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Film - dead or alive?

Lately I've been using my Olympus OM-PC film camera for family outings and when I take my older son out for adventures. The camera is half the size of my Canon 7D digital and I'm just really enjoying it. For some reason the old Olympus seems to never expose the photos incorrectly. With my Canon, the only way I know the photo will be correctly exposed is if I am shooting with all manual control. One thing I need to get better at with the Olympus is the focusing - it is manual focus and that is a challenge when taking photos of people!

Another huge benefit of using film for family photos is that you get the images in multiple forms when processed - print, disk and of course, negatives. Good thing to keep in mind as you always want to have back-ups of your photos...

I'm also really liking the colour tones and look of the film photos. When I picked up my last batch from London Drugs for processing the lady there said "These are really good. Are you a professional?" That got me thinking - If I can get good photos from my film camera, is it possible to use it for some of my work and not just for play?

I know my digital camera blows away the film camera in terms of absolute resolution and sharpness but to be honest, I quite regularly have to soften my digital images to get them the way I like. Sometimes you don't want the most detail possible and the mood of the photo is more important.

A benefit I am realizing from using the film camera, which is passing over to how I use my digital, is to really think out the photo before pressing the trigger. With film, every photo costs money. With digital it is not so and as a result one can take a whole pile of photos to only come away with a few "keepers". Going through all those digital photos and editing them takes time. And when you're busy and you have a family, time is a very valuable commodity!

So I am needing some input here. Does one care if the photos are taken with a film or digital camera? Does the look of film appeal to anyone? I need to know before I spend too much time mulling this over in my mind!

Just something to point out - none of these photos had any touch-ups or post processing. Just straight from the camera so you can see what film photos really look like.

Please send me your comments and thoughts on this topic. Thanks!

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Let's get Physio!

OK, I know that has to be the corniest title ever. I just couldn't get that stupid song out of my head!

Vince Avery is a physiotherapist and owner of South Cowichan Physiotherapy. He had me come in and do some photos for a new website for the business. Some staff head shots and photos of some of the equipment in use.
The first photo is pretty self-explanatory - the treadmill in use. I arranged this shot so you could see the huge wall map of the world in the mirror reflection and the exercise balls just off to the side. The model was lit from both sides and just slightly to the front on the left side to get more light on his face. The light on the right side was slightly behind to get some light on, you guessed it, his back side... You need to light more when playing with mirrors there is more visible...

 When talking to Vince he was telling me how great it was that he could now access client's x-rays electronically. I thought - why not put that into some context in a photo. You see the client who is recovering from a bad clavicle break (see very long scar) and you see the x-ray of the titanium plate and staples. Fun stuff!

And you have to get some interesting detail shots like a client receiving an acupuncture treatment.

The office has these huge solid cedar doors that just had to see some attention. I thought they'd make a nice background to the head shots. With a little light on them to separate the subject from the background they really worked out nicely.

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Fashion Week.

Last week had a strong fashion theme for me. It just worked out that way. I did two photo shoots for Eliza Faulkner's fashion section of the local paper and another shoot for Outlooks for Men clothing store, Duncan location. The photos are not exactly in chronological order, forgive me.

Starting with the first three photos of our model Jenn Glenn. Jenn is a stylist at Studio 1 in Duncan and Eliza chose her as a model for style feature for the upcoming fashion section.

(thanks to Noodles of the World for allowing us to take this shot on their patio)

Jenn's red hair was great to photo against different backgrounds and colours. We did a walk around downtown Duncan just trying different spots that I could think up. The weather was really mixed up between sun and cloud and a little rain so we just used shady locations to keep the colour contrast rich. And this was done at 12:00 if I remember correctly. Pretty much the worst time of day to do photos outside.

I didn't carry a flash with me as we were going for a more natural street look. That is until we got back to Jenn's studio when I asked if there was time for me to set up a light and do a couple shots. Lucky for me, Jenn and Eliza had a few minutes and we caught the shot at the very top (first one on the page) just behind city hall. If you look closely you'll see the little drops of rain captured by the light of the flash.

Eliza had also arranged to meet up with local artist Tacy Rockwell. Upon walking into Tacy's house you are instantly drawn to the style theme at play here. Lots of white, layers of mirrors and cool antiques here and there. And not to forget, Aidan the corgi dog... Somehow Aidan just completed the scene perfectly!

Lighting here was pretty simple. There was lots of natural light coming in the big kitchen and living room windows but I still set op a speedlite to take the shadows out of the scene where needed.

Look for Eliza's interview (and my photos) with Tacy in the upcoming style feature in the Leader/Pictorial.

Sunday was the wrap-up of my mini-Fashion Week. I did a photo shoot for the Duncan location of Outlooks for Men. The idea was to get some stock photos for use in their advertising, website, etc...

Good thing we were starting with indoor shots of Shae, the owner, and some product shots as there was a monsoon rain happening outside.

Again, I kept the lighting simple. The idea was to have a "look" carry through all of the photos.

After a lunch break the weather let up and our model Pete arrived with style expert Eliza and we started on the out door shots.

Tilly, Shae's dog, also had a modelling role here. Notice how Pete's foot is on Tilly's tennis ball. Pete is such mean model :) We took some shots downtown and then headed out to the Somenoes Marsh boardwalk to finish up in the late afternoon sun.

Thanks to Eliza, Jenn, Tacy, Shae and Pete for a very fun week!

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