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!

kurtknock.com

Quality time.

It's hard to beat spending time with family. And when you have a growing family it becomes a challenge to spend time with friends. People have commitments to work and everything changes compared to when we were all young and worry free. Time is such a valuable commodity these days. This past weekend my good friend Mike invited my son and I for a weekend trip in his fantastic motorhome (called the Moho from now on). Kole had never been camping and it has been way too long for me so this was a great opportunity for us. Given that the weather was not going to be reliable the Moho was going to prove priceless.

Taking photos on this trip was really secondary to having a good time with my son and Mike. But I did manage to set up a couple speedlites while Kole stoked the fire and played around a little before we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows.

Kole and Mike enjoying a quiet evening after a busy day.

Feeding time at the zoo. Hotdogs and Mike's gourmet Kraft dinner.

Playing in the puddles the morning after a very rainy night. When we woke up Kole said to me "It sounds like it is raining ice". I asked "do you mean hail?". Kole said "no, ice cubes! And it sounds like lego!"

A moist morning at the beach. Just me and Kole. Quality time!

kurtknock.com

Photos for a photographer.

You think taking photos for a customer is stressful? Try taking photos for another photographer who is a city councilor who happens to be running for mayor. Good thing is I don't find taking photos stressful. Quite the opposite really. And having Paul Fletcher as my subject here was actually quite beneficial. As I took the shots I'd show him and he'd give me his feedback. I wanted to do a full-length shot since I wanted the street and Paul's shadow shown. Paul suggested the street was boring and I should do a tighter crop. So I did. But I also got my full-length shot (below) for comparison (I still like it).

A couple other key things to point out from these first two photos:

1. This was an open public street so I chose a day when I knew the traffic would be at the absolute minimum.

2. I wanted the light to be on the tower and highlighting the trees but not the street or Paul. I chose 6:00 pm as the sun was going down and this also added a nice summer-warm look.

3. To make these shots look as "real" as possible, I lit Paul from the same side as the sun was setting (the west or right side of photo). I also had Paul exposed about the same as the far background for more realizm.

Another nice thing about doing photos for another photographer is getting ideas from them. Once I had taken the shot I had in mind with the Duncan City Hall tower in the background I asked Paul if he had any ideas. Sure enough, he did. There is a city square just to the left of the above shots where a band stage is set up. The stage is circular in shape and has a few steps going up. Paul suggested we go over and see what we could do with the shapes over there. Ended up being perfect for a casual looking shot with some interesting lines.

I think I've been lucky in photography to enter it having some experience in life. I'm not so afraid of failure or making mistakes anymore. It happens and you learn from it (hopefully) and move on. Some people get nervous about this and it sets them back from either taking on work or approaching people when you have an idea (see It never hurts to ask). I'm not saying take on work that you're not capable of. I'm just saying that one should not be intimidated by who you might be taking photos of. We are all just people after all...

kurtknock.com

Now showing...

It's that time again when I have to shamelessly promote myself. Not something I'm terribly comfortable with but it comes with the territory... On exhibit now at the Dancing Bean Cafe in Chemainus is a collection of some of my work from the past year. There is a wide range of subject matter and if you can guess which ones are newer photos and which are older, you'll really see where my direction has changed.
It has been a year of serious learning - Learning how to take better photos of course but also what it takes to survive as a photographer in a small town. This exhibition has already been up for a month and will be coming down on Sept 15th, so please stop by the "Bean" and take a look and tell me what you think.
My next scheduled exhibition is at Coffee on the Moon in Duncan in April 2012.

kurtknock.com