Going Public

I had a pleasant surprise yesterday while driving through town. I ended up behind a public transit bus featuring an ad for the Lighthouse Mortgage group - a photo that I took. Unfortunately my camera was in the back of my van so I couldn't grab a photo. Today I made sure to have the camera at my side as I was in town just in case I spotted the bus again. And sure enough, I found it. I just had to catch up to it and wait for it to turn north-bound so I could get the right light on the back of the bus and get a shot slightly from the side all while carefully adhering to the laws of the road. Maybe I bent the rules a little when I raised my camera for almost one second to get this photo...

The photo shoot for this was a couple months ago on a windy day. I remember weighing down my monster lighting stand and hoping the gusts would not topple it over and destroy my speedlite and 60" lighting umbrella. 60" umbrellas really love the wind... The original shot is below.

 

And in other somewhat "public" related matters, I had an editorial/news type photo in the paper a couple days ago. I was just on my way to the beach with my son when fire trucks raced by and we saw the plume of smoke in the direction they were travelling. Since we were already going this way I decided to pull over and take a couple shots. Luck for the Cowichan Valley Citizen newspaper as they didn't have their staff reports on the scene. Good news is nobody was injured. Just a silly mistake leading to a roasted RV...

So with all this high-level publicity in the big town of Duncan will I become a famous photographer. Nope. But it is something to ad to my portfolio.

kurtknock.com

Giving back

It's not every day that I'm asked to volunteer time to photograph moms and dads with babies or expecting babies. My friend Laura asked if I could help with a project for the Healthy Babies program. I thought this would be a great way to get some more experience and give back to those who may not otherwise get a nice photo of themselves. Sometimes people have priorities more important than just looking good. Providing for a family isn't always easy. The Healthy Babies programs it there to help, so I was very happy to do my part. The group of ladies in the photo above run the program in Duncan. The following photos are some behind the scenes shots of ladies getting all dolled up by volunteer make-up, hair, nail, and massage professionals. Mixed in there are some shots of parents and soon to be parents. 

There was such a warm vibe there while I was taking the photos. And when I got home to do the editing it really sunk in. I don't think I've ever felt so good about photos I've taken. I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I enjoyed taking them! I'm sure this is how people get hooked with volunteering. It just feels great!