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Monday 28 March 2011

blowing off the studio cobwebs

 

I went into the studio today to shoot this piece of jewelry. The bracelet was made in under 30 minutes, its a contest that my boyfriends mom, Ann, has entered. I was pretty impressed by it, it is really unique looking piece and somewhat challenging to shoot as well. It felt good to be back in the studio, as it has been a while, and I felt kinda like I was learning to walk again. But eventually things came together and I got a shot. 


The advertising world.

We had a product photography course (that is sadly now over) with Sean Fenzl. This class was awesome, we learned tons of really cool lighting tricks, how to make beers look ohhh mouth watering and refreshing and how to make metal objects look good without reflecting everything that is around them. The thing I loved the most about creating ads is the creativity. So you are given a product, and then you have to come up with a concept to make it look appealing and make people want to buy it. When you are shooting in the studio you are designing these mini worlds, like my beer ad for example, it looks like you are in Africa on a safari, but that whole set up is about 1 1/2 feet wide by about 1 foot wide. Grasses from Art Knapps, dirt from outside, safari hat from friend, some lights and gels, voila Kenya. 








Mystery Lady

   A while ago my boyfriends parents bought an old house in Kaslo. The house came with some stories, and the previous owners left some old stuff that was in the basement behind. Someone had an interest in photography because there was a lot of old dark room equipment, old paper, chemical trays, chemicals and even an enlarger. Niels and Anne gave all the old stuff to me, most of it is beyond its years but is still really neat to have around. The enlarger is the most special though, the thing is massive. My boyfriend plunked the think in the middle of our living room and I didn't know what it was. it looks really retro and it weighs a ton. The coolest part is though that their was a negative in the slide! This photo had been sitting, abandoned   for for about 40 years, then it randomly ends up in our house in cumberland to be brought to life again. I took the negative to school and scanned it, sent it to niels and anne and they are currently trying to track down who this mystery lady with the impressive curls is.




                                                          

Sunday 27 March 2011

mountain biking madness

 This week in our lifestyle class we shot some mountain biking here in cumberland. It was pretty cool, and hard to really capture the movement, and emphisize the speed that gives the pictures the energy that encompasses mountain biking. Got to try some fun techniques such as blurring and panning, also got to play with the off camera flash too.






                        

the adventures of tequliia

  
 Last night it was a friends birthday, she had a tequilla and taco party. There was lots of both, and i am glad. I think that if you are going to have a booze themed party, its a good idea to have some food too. I have a feeling  that today everyone is thankful for that, and if it wasn't for the crazy amount of tasty taco fillings for late night grazing there would be a lot more seriously hungover people today. Anyhoo, as we were wondering home at about 2am this morning we passed Marrochi's Grocery, a place i see everyday as we live behind it. But last night, through my tequilla haze it looked spectacular, the light on it was awesome, it looked even more desolate and condemned then it usually does. I had to take some photos of it. Currently it is being completely gutted and pretty soon it will look totally different, and probably much less interesting.





Friday 25 March 2011

Night time creepings

    
 Taking photos at night is pretty exciting for me. The results are always a little unexpected, and really really cool. Lights are seen in a whole new way, movement is frozen, and because of the extremely long exposures you can get in there and and put your own creative twists on things. I am looking forward to playing around a whole lot more once the winter blanket of clouds and rain is lifted. I am optimistic, and i think it will be petty soon. This is what my nighttime wandering has got me so far. 












Xtreme yoga

  I was pretty excited about doing this photoshoot...... the more i thought about it the more ideas i got and the more excited I became. I had recently bought pocket wizards, they are little (expensive) devices that allow you to use off camera flash. When your flash comes off your camera a whole bunch of new and exciting doors are opened..... i was pumped to give these things a try. I asked my friend toni to be my model and she was in. Had she known what she was in for I don't know if she would have so eagerly agreed.  We wern't in the easiest places to do yoga, but toni was amazing, standing in freezing creek water in poses that are not easy, posing on logs and stumps, wearing minimal clothing in not so warm conditions. She was a trooper, and honestly if it wasn't for her easy going attitude and mad yoga skills these shots would not look as nice as they do.















                                                                      

Thursday 24 March 2011

This blog may make you hungary

       A couple months ago in our advertising class we were lucky enough to visit chef Cathy Jerritt at the Tria Culinary School, here in the Comox Valley. All day long we photographed her delicious creations she created for us. There were a few tricks we learned that really gives the food the ability to make your mouth water when you see it in pictures. The ironic thing is that the things that make it look delicious on film, are things that you wouldn't or couldn't eat. It was tough to be looking at all this food that looks so tasty but knowing that you couldn't eat it was tortourous. The tempatation, was too much for Jamie to handle and he ate the carppaccio canapes, he said that he couldn't taste the windex and it was delicious....but no canape pictures for me. Our efforts were rewarded at the end of the day, and cathy cooked us all crepes filled with spinach, bacon, fresh mushrooms and the most delicious sauce. Yep, it was a tough day at school. Cathy you rock!

The chocolates in this picture are the creation on the lovely Jan of Darkside Chocolates, in Cumberland. Her chocolates are amazing, go eat them, they will make you happy.