The Last of Fashion Class

Well, this is the last set of pictures from Fashion Photography @ GBC.

These pictures were taken at High Park in Toronto. A great location, very scenic. Make-up is done by the lovely Leslie Grey and the model, the very beautiful and reliable Ashley. I met a lot of very nice and talented people and am glad to have had the experience.

From now on I'll need to find my own models and location if I want to keep it up. For now... I think I do. Its fun working with all sorts of people to make a good picture.

My next class, People Photography starts in Sept and I'll be reunited with my girl Lisa for this one.

For now I think I will go back to basics. Take my camera for a walk, meet some nice people with some nice dogs and hopefully get a chance to do some beauty shots for friends.

:) Roon-bop

I'm on yet ANOTHER website!!!

Well, cheers be to me! I can be found on the front page of another website.

The Ontario Community Support Association asked me to take pictures of a press conference. Yes ... I realize they are my employer (I work as the program assistant for the Personal Support Network of Ontario, which is part of OCSA), none the less, my work is there!

There were definitely some challenges and I learned a lot!
1) The lighting was poor, so I had to use my flash, which meant I had to wait for the flash to reload after every shot - there were a couple GREAT shots that I missed because of this - some that I tried taking anyway, but were too dark even to salvage.
2) The people I were photographing were speaking, therefore most of the pictures their mouths are open, or their eyes looked closed (because they are reading). Therefore, I really need to work on my timing, making sure to pay attention to when they are looking down, and try to shoot as soon as they look up.
3) I tried to move around the room often to get different angles, but I would sometimes find myself on the wrong side, so I need to better anticipate the speaker's potential movements.

One step closer!

:) Roon-bop

These pictures are some miscellaneous pictures, and the last 2 are from the Botanical Gardens.

I really can't say enough about the photographic opportunities in Buenos Aires. There are beautiful parks everywhere, with statues and monuments and fountains. Dogs, cats, birds, butterflies. There is always something to look at and explore.

:) Roon-bop

Back

Okay, well... admittedly I was gone for a while. I was sick and then I had a conference to run. The good news is that the conference was a booming success! I was even asked by my boss to take some photos. The lucky duck that I am was able to take pictures of Shirley Douglas, who is quite spectacular. She is an actress and activist. The daughter of Tommy Douglas, who was the amazing man who brought universal health care to Canada and mother of Kiefer Sutherland, who spends his time bringing down terrorists as the unkillable and never-wrong Jack Bauer.

She gave a very motivational speech - a long motivational speech. As such, I got to meet her. That was pretty great. She is very photogenic - must be nice. It was a great experience. I almost felt like a pro, so about 5 minutes. We did have a professional photographer for the duration of the conference, but he had another engagement to get to, leaving the door open for me to have some fun.

What did I learn?
1. I am in desperate need of a flash. The difference it would have made is HUGE! In every shot that I took, the background is completely black, which can be a very nice effect, however, not always what you want. The blackness makes the photo very dark and cuts into people's headlines. If I had a good flash, and had bounced it up, the whole area would have been lit up, which in this instance still would have been nice, because the background was a lovely velvet sheet. This would have lit up the people's faces, clothing and hair nicely. The other problem I had with my flash was that because it was pointing directly at the people I was shooting, if they wore glasses you can see the flash in them. This was annoying to try and photoshop out and I wasn't completely successful at it.
2. I should have taken more pictures while Shirley Douglas was speaking with people. One of the best shots I took is of her and the CEO of my organization chatting and laughing. It would have been nice to have more of those.

It was a great time, but it made me very tired (hence the long break in blogging). Now I am rejuvenated and ready for my next project.

:) Roon-bop

Thanksgiving weekend

So, after being crapily sick... I am back with photos.

I spent my Thanksgiving weekend in Ottawa, and I blame Ottawa for getting sick. I had a wonderful time with my family & a quick visit with a couple friends. Thanksgiving is great because:
1) You get to see your family, extended and all
2) Amazing food - stuffing is my absolute favourite... mmm... I could go for some right now.

This year, at my side of the family's T-giving dinner we even got to play Rock Band... which of course, I love and rock at.

So here are a few pictures of my family & 2 of my friends' kid - Brayden.

:) Roon-bop

A Fault of Digital Photography

One things I've been thinking about as a fault of digital photography is that because there is no film, photographers may perceive that they don't need to take as much time thinking about the photograph, because there is no limit to the number of pictures one can take. Perhaps, its just me, because I'm so used to point and shoot cameras, where you're taking pictures of your life events, but it seems to me perhaps we've just lost our patience in an age of instant gratification.

Back in the day when plates were used to take photographs, you only had a few tries to get it right. As such, you had to really concentrate to make sure the lighting was right, the picture is framed properly, the exposure is correct, etc. I've been thinking about it quite a bit. So my latest resolution is to scope out and think about my pictures more before I start shooting. This should hopefully make my photos better.

We'll see.

:) Roon-bop

Where I Dwell - The Forgotten Pictures

Okay, as I mentioned in the last post, there were a couple pictures I forgot to post. I think they are mostly B & W photos.

Here they are. I should also probably note that the last one with the green chairs, isn't my apartment building. Its the building across the street from where I live. I just thought it was a nice picture.

Today I'm going to meet with a realtor, so there is a pretty good chance, that soon (within the next year) this will no longer be where I dwell. That is of course, if there is anything we can afford in Toronto.... we'll see.

:) Roon-bop

Where I Dwell - Part 3

Alright, the last installment (though, I realized there are a few more B&W pics I'll probably post from the same photog session later).

These photos are my most experimental. I used a slow shutter speed to play with light. In some pictures, the camera is steady for the entire duration of the open shutter, in others, the camera moved around.

Hopefully you enjoy these ones. I haven't done anything that hasn't been done before, only things that are new to me. Its funny, I remember seeing pictures like these in the past thinking, wow that's so cool, it must take major talent to do that! But in reality its so easy. Pick you shutter speed and aperture and then hit the shutter release button. Great fun though! I suggest others try it out.

:) Roon-bop

DPS Blog - 10 Ways...

Alrighty, Digital Photography School, which is probably my most favourite photography blog, because I learn so much from it, has an AWESOME blog today. Its really of interest to me, because I love portraits and taking pictures of people.

So check out today's DPS blog on 10 Ways to Take Stunning Pictures.

More Roon-bop pictures coming soon. I had too much fun at the cottage not to post more pictures.

:) Roon-bop