Kids, Kids, Kids

Okay, so obviously in this week, we got to work with kids.  This is Quincy & Freddie.  Freddie wasn't actually scheduled to be a model, but is the son of one of my classmates.  I was really glad to have the opportunity to take pictures of both of them, because they were SO different.  Quincy was very shy and quiet & had been posing for a while, so by the time I got to him, he was also very tired.  Freddie on the other hand was FULL of energy.  This kid was bouncing off the walls. It was funny most the time, some of the time it was scary, like when he was running around the wires, or when he almost knocked down one of our reflector set ups, or when he almost broke through the background paper, which looking back, was all very funny too.  :)  Luckily, no children were harmed in the process of taking these photographs.

I have only one photo of Freddie, as I didn't get much time with him.  But there will be more photos of Quincy & his father tomorrow.

:) Roon-bop

Quincy. 

I thought he was pondering, but he later informed me that he was biting his nails.

I suspect that'll be a tough habbit for him to quit once he gets older.

Freddie.

Sitting still for a moment  :)

Quincy.

Caught in the act again.  But looking SO cute.

The Amazing Duo: Ben & Cole

First there was Ben & Jerry, now there is Ben & Cole!  Writer and Director tag-team extraordinaire.

They were a lot of fun to shoot together, because they get along so well.  They were laughing and having a great time. 

As this is it for photos of Ben & Cole, thanks so much guys for coming and spending some time with us!

:) Roon-bop

It's Ben time!

And now here comes Ben!  In addition to being an actor, he is also a playwright.  He has worked closely with Cole on projects and so they are great friends.  Today are pictures of Ben by himself, but tomorrow you'll be seeing pictures of Ben & Cole together. 

I had a lovely time meeting and getting to know Ben & his infectious smile!

:) Roon-bop

Cole 4

Ooops!  I forgot this last one of Cole.  And it wouldn't be fair NOT to include it, so here it is.  I like to call it "Cole 4" because it's the fourth picture of him that I have uploaded.  You can't argue logic people!

:) Roon-bop

Cool Cole

So today we venture on to Cole.  Cole is an actor and director.  I always find it amazing to meet people who follow their dreams, whether that becoming an artist, a lawyer, a vet, a dog walker - whatever it is that floats your boat.  To find people who know what they want, what drives them, what makes them happy AND they go out and do it?  Awesomeness.

:) Roon-bop

And With Daisy, I Am Back On Track!

What a relief!  Yesterday my husband had a nap, and I processed some of my images!  Good to my word, I present you with pictures of Daisy.

I was going to do a light map for this week... but because it was so long ago - I can't remember.  I'm sure if I spent some time looking at the pictures I could figure it out, but I'm sleepy and possibly will consider for another day... but who am I kidding - I'll probably just keep moving forward.

Daisy was a treat to shoot.  She was very quiet, very sweet & look at her - she's cute as a button!

Tomorrow?  I think we'll go with Cole.  Yes - tomorrow is Cole day.

:) Roon-bop

I know... I've been bad

Very, very bad.  I have not blogged in far too long.  I had been doing SO well.

I have been busy with school & life.  I am behind in processing my photos from class.  Good news, is that I have been working on branding my company & creating my new website, which I'm hoping to launch in the new year.  Plus Christmas is coming up, which means there is a lot of shopping to do, parties to prepare for, and so on.  But I promise to get cracking and bring more of the good stuff.

My people class was good this week, soon you'll see pictures of Donna, Kyle and Danica, in addition to the 2 other weeks I'm behind on.  Hopefully I'll have time to get started on them this week (after I work on my homework for business, which is due Saturday - thank goodness I got my business cards prepared a week early).

For now, I'd like to share an article I received from Modern Dog Magazine re: photographing dogs.
Please follow this link.

:) Roon-bop

No gig last night

Well... the trials and tribulations were many last night.  Curtis and I didn't end up going to Absolute Comedy for The Dark Show last night.  Curtis' intern videographer backed out AGAIN last night & at the very last minute.  I feel pretty bad for Curtis, this is the third time this guy has failed to get equipment for filming.

So, because there was no filming equipment and the fact that Curtis has H1N1, we decided to stay home.  I decided that I would go out for a jog and ended up exerting myself a little too much.  I haven't gone running for months and I went for a 7km run.  It felt great, until it was time to stop.  Luckily, a long cool down has left my legs feeling okay today, but my poor back is not happy with me.

As such, there are no photos from last night's event (from me at least).  Tonight I am meeting up with some friends from my Fashion Photography class, so it'll be a couple days before pictures of Daisy, Ben & Cole find their way online.

:) Roon-bop

Loving the Fall Weather!

So, as promised I've got what everyone has been waiting for!

More pictures of MY DOGS!  :) 

I just can't help it... beautiful weather, super duper new lens, little critters... how could I resist?

Class last night was good.  You'll soon be seeing pictures of Daisy, Ben & Cole.  And tonight I've got a gig.  I'll be taking pictures of the Dark Show at Absolute Comedy.  Nothing like working for your husband :P  He is filming the event tonight and will use my still shots for the video & promotion.

Dogs Will Be Dogs

Here are some indoor pictures of the dogs rough-housing.  Not as strong as the outdoor ones, I admit.  But they are my babies and I love them! 

Tomorrow?  More pictures of the Dimi & Poco.  Why?  Because Sunday was such a beautiful day to spend outside. 

:) Roon-bop

The dogs

Well, I had a lot of fun this weekend with my new lens.  The weather was ABSOLUTELY amazing here in Toronto.  I think it was up to 16 degrees Celcius today, which is CRAZY!

Here are some pictures I took of the dogs (& Curtis).  The challenge with my new lens is getting the focus correct.  It is manual focus, and with two dogs running around, it's a challenge.  A challenge that I hope to master  :)  And I had some trouble with exposure, but overall I had a blast with this baby.  I went out again today and took some more pictures of the poochies with the leaves and sticks.  Once I have uploaded them, I'll be putting them up.

Tomorrow I'll be posting some pics of the dogs playing inside the apt.

:) Roon-bop

New 50mm!!!

First pic with the new 50mm lens
Originally uploaded by Roon-bop

Recently, it was my birthday... the BIG 2-7 :P

My lovely, wonderful, amazing, thoughtful, loving (among other things) husband bought me a new toy to add to my camera bag - a 50mm f1.4 lens (woo hoo).

This is the first picture I took with it.

Tomorrow... more pictures of the dogs! It's been a while and is long overdue.

:) Roon-bop

Can Humans Infect Pets with H1N1?

This is not photography related, but is pet related. I recently found an article which may be of interest to some:

Can Humans Infect Pets with H1N1? from the Discovery Channel.

The results may surprise you. It looks like no dog has been infected at this point, but they aren't so sure about cats.

:) Roon-bop

25 Inspirational Dog Portraits

Here is a post from the Digital Photography School that peaked my interest. It is a post on 25 inspirational dog portraits. They don't all float my boat, but many of them are spectacular!

View the article here.

:) Roon-bop

Maria & Devon

And now on to the second set up from last week's class. Here we have 2 large soft boxes focusing on the model and 2 umbrella lights bouncing on to the background. We used this set up with a white background and it was a very bright shoot.

Here are some of the images produced with this set up:





The only thing I had to be conscious of when shooting this was not to get in the way of the lighting while trying to get close to the subject. So, other than making sure I was aware of what was around me, it worked just fine.

In tonight's class we will be presenting 2-3 of the photo's we've taken so far in class. One needs to be a Gap-like ad, one of a person in their environment and the third a Rembrandt portrait, which I have yet to do, because I missed that class. There will be no photos taken this week in class.

:) Roon-bop

Devon & Maria

Alright, so as I mentioned last time, I'm going to be doing things a little differently this week. Instead of focusing each post on a person, I'm going to focus the post on the lighting set up and include a lighting map.

This week we had two set ups. To begin, I'll start with the simpler of the two.

Here you see that we had two lights, one on a stand in front of the subject with a large soft box, and the other on a boom stand with a large soft box to highlight the hair of the subject. For this set up we had a gray background.

Here are the results of this set up:






There were two major challenges with this set up.
1) The large soft box in front of the subject made it difficult to shoot the subject. All my photos were head shots or upper body shots. Also, the large light made it difficult to get a shot straight on.
2) The initial set up had the light in front on a short stand pointing upwards, however this created dark shadows under the subject's eyes, which obviously, is not flattering. So, we moved the light to a taller stand, however, I found that it didn't completely do away with the rings under the eyes. It was a MAJOR improvement, however if I were to use this set up again, I would tweak it a little more.

:) Roon-bop

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a lovely Halloween. My husband and I dressed up as Vampire Bill and Sookie Stackhouse from HBO's True Blood, our first couples costume.



:) Roon-bop