Wow. Things are getting crazy around here.

Things have been crazy around here lately. The weather has been so mixed up that when the sun did come out I was very busy. Ad to this my wife was admitted to hospital today as our baby is trying to come out six weeks early... No stress.

So, to recap some of my fun of late, the above photo is of Mark Buchanan. He is a pastor, an author and a great neighbor. Couldn't be a nicer guy! The shot was taken in his office at the church.

The shot above was from Ashley and Bryan's wedding in Shawnigan Lake. Turned out to be a nice day after a rainy start. It was a very long day and lots of fun. 1400 photos of fun to go through...

This is Valdy. A folk legend from Saltspring Island. A real character and one heck of a nice guy too. He was playing at the Crofton Pub. It was great to see the place packed with middle aged folks sitting at tables with an assortment of wines and beers. Not a redneck bar these days!

This is Coco Love Alcorn performing at the Duncan Garage Showrrom. She's a silky-smooth jazz singer and an incredibly sweet lady!

Here's Todd Blumel, owner of Bowmel Chrysler. I was having fun with this one. I could have spent a looong time talking camera and bike with Todd but we really needed to get down to work. I got to choose which vehicle to use so I went with the super-new Dodge Durango which is like a sports car on steroids. The red colour worked with Todd's suit and the Dodge lettering on the building. I even drove it in the parking lot, like about 10 meters...

This is Al Slang, a super investment broker for Raymond James Financial. He knows his stuff and he's just a cool guy (likes motorcycles, surfing, lacrosse, etc...).

And to cap it all off, a nice family photo shoot out in Glenora. These are always fun. I like to get the more formal family shots out of the way then let the kids run free and catch shots of them playing. Thanks Amber, Sean, Alex and Amelia! I had a blast!

So tomorrow morning I will go visit Nina at the hospital and see where the day leads me...

http://www.kurtknock.com/

Movin' on up.

In British Columbia the provincial legislature in Victoria is the highest level of government, with 85 elected MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) who, under the Premier, run the province. Admittedly, I know very little about how government operates so I'm not going to pretend or toss out any more information at the risk of making myself sound completely ignorant... So I'll just tell you about my day at the legislature.

Doug Routley, the local MLS for Nanaimo/North Cowichan, kindly invited me to come to the capital and see what happens behind the scenes. This sounded great to me as I've never had the opportunity to step through those doors, even as a tourist. Now I was getting a guided tour from an MLA and an electronic pass that let me through all but office and maintenance staff doors.

After a little walk about in the legislature, Doug had to attend a meeting so I went for breakfast and then outside for some shots of the building. I know these may look a bit touristy but hey, I've never taken any shots of this place before. Actually, the shot above could only be taken if you have the special pass.

After Doug's meeting he had a school group to address, giving some background as to what the government does and answering some questions.

Then it was back to his office where he was doing what an MLA does - talking to people from his community who have issues that need attention.

We then went for lunch and I was introduced to some more MLAs and I was so surprised how down to earth these people are.

After lunch I happened upon a media scrum and since I was a guest I didn't have to abide by the media's rules - I crossed the media zone and got this shot Kevin Falcon, minister of finance, from a different perspective.

After the scrum, it was interesting to hear the media discuss how they were looking for something more interesting from the MLA interviewed. Always looking for the big story... I then sat in the gallery to watch the Question Period, which was entertaining with lots of energy, silliness and politics, but no cameras allowed...

Doug had to deliver his concerns over a new budget proposition and I was able to find a way to get photos of this - go down to the communications room! The guys down there were most helpful and provided a cool shot below.

This shot is looking into the library rotunda. Marble, marble and more marble. They were setting up for the premier's presentation to the media regarding a new treaty agreement. I heard from one MLA that the past premier, Gordon Campbell wanted the library and rotunda as his office. That idea was shot down. Go figure...
For me, this was an opportunity to meet some people who I would like to do some work with and I got to see things I would have never seen without the invite from Doug. Thanks!

http://www.kurtknock.com/

The Green Room

Sometimes you have to improvise. I was at the Duncan Garage Showroom last week to grab some shots as there were a few bands playing that night. I like to grab the behind the scenes pics that you don't get to see when you're in the audience. Well this didn't really pan out as there wasn't enough time for the bands to set up so they just sound-checked one set of instruments and everyone was going with the same setup.

I was walking around wondering what to do. Then I realized the green room! Normally a "green room" is a room where a band can sit down and relax before their show and in this case the room actually had a vibrant green wall.

Naomi Middlemiss (top) was there picking up a photo CD I had for her and I noticed her hair was reddish and her clothing was complimenting the green wall... I had a plan!

I went back to my van and grabbed one flash and a softbox. Always bring more gear than you think you'll need! After the fist shots of Naomi (top photo) the other bands were lining up to get their photos taken. It was a really fun way for them to kill the time before their show and I got some great photos, some of which are being used by the bands.  To avoid over-doing it with the green, I have made a couple of the images black & white which works out well as the wall had a nice texture to it too.

As a photographer, one has to be flexible. You may walk into a different situation than you are expecting and you have to come out with something useful or you're just wasting time!

http://www.kurtknock.com/

All lit up.

Sometimes you hit a mark you've set and you get to check that off your list. Last week this happened for me. I was able to create this look I had been hoping to for some time. It came with some practice, a couple new tricks and another little bit of gear for my camera.

You can see in these shots of Ashley and Bryan that the background is under-exposed (darker) and they are lit to normal exposure, which makes them really stand out as the focal point. I also processed the images with a really warm tone which I am really liking right now. I think it helps to convey the emotional of the image.

The cool thing here is you can adjust the background exposure as dark or bright as you like. Darker is more dramatic and that works well for some images. I think its good to have a range though. You can easily over-do things with all that drama... 

The day before doing the portraits of Ashley and Bryan, my friend Daryl helped me get some practice shots as I didn't want to be testing new equipment and ideas with clients. The new gadget that makes this shot easier for me is a flash tether cord or ETTL cord. This allows your camera to control the flash from a distance and operate up to maximum shutter speed. Normally a flash will only operate up to a shutter speed of around 1/250th of a second. Not much good for outdoors in the sun. I had been using radio transmitters to signal my flashes but that requires running back and forth to the flash unit to make adjustments and they didn't allow the high shutter speed flash either.

Unfortunately the test shoot was short lived. The wind picked up quickly (see photo above - Daryl is holding the flash from blowing over) and the rain soon followed. So we packed up as fast as possible and I got a couple shots to make sure I was going to be ready for Ashley and Bryan. Now that I know I can achieve this "look", I have a lot of projects in mind!

www.kurtknock.com