Pembroke Shoot

This morning was a pretty hectic day for shooting. We shot 4 different things in under 4 hours. When you have to come up with a vision, set up lighting, shoot and then tear down and do the same thing all over again it can feel very rushed. When it comes to shooting with groups of children it becomes even more difficult as they aren't always the best at taking direction, like to act out to be the centre of attention, and get fed up very easily. We were lucky to work with some great teachers though and some really great kids. Here is a picture of the school that we shot at and also a shot of the Pembroke water tower across the street from the school.
After shooting we went for lunch and headed on out to Sudbury for our shoot at Laurentian University on Thursday. We stopped off in Matawa so I could have the pleasure of meeting this big strapping man, Big Joe Mufferaw! Tomorrow the day consists of figuring out our shoot location for Thursday and playing tourists for the day!

Photographers Assistant

This week I am traveling around working as a photographers assistant, working to capture a couple of portraits and other shots for a magazine. I am hoping to learn a lot about lighting, as it is not often I have the opportunity to work with anything but available light. It will also be interested to see how different subjects interact with a photographer and any possible issues that may arise.
Today we drove to Pembroke and checked out the school we are shooting at tomorrow, we are shooting a couple of different activities that are part of the Booster program. So my day tomorrow will be full of lots of young children, should be a fun but possibly difficult shoot. After tomorrow the next location is in Sudbury, and then at a cottage in Quebec near Wakefield.

I am hoping I will be able to capture a lot of great shots of these different towns and country life around me. Since I did not have the opportunity to shoot today here is one of my personal favourite portraits I have taken. Also things to watch out for are a review and some photos of Alexisonfire and Moneen at Bluesfest last Tuesday.

Jason Collett & City and Colour

This past Monday July 12th I had the pleasure of seeing Jason Collett and City and Colour play part of Bluesfest on the Pop Life Stage in Market on York St. There was a huge turn out for the free show with people standing up in the parking garages to see the show. Although I was not very close to the stage I managed to capture a couple photos of the event.

I had never seen or listened to Jason Collett before but have heard great things of his music and was not disappointed in the slightest. Playing with the band Zeus they delivered great summer time tunes and were lucky enough to have the rain hold out for their performance.

City and Colour then performed and put on a great show opening with Coming Home. Dallas kept everyones spirtis up through the rain thanking the crowd for waiting through the rain. I found with the warm air, a calming rain and Dallas Greens melodic voice it all worked perfectly to create a very serene moment for tons of fans in the market.

Vans Warped Tour 2010 Montreal

I had the pleasure of attending my first Vans Warped Tour this year in Montreal on July 10 in Park Drapeau, and must say I was not in anyway let down from all the hype it gets. Although it took a bit longer to navigate there due to a pesky iPhone GPS, we made it just in time to catch the first act at 11am. The Dillinger Escape Plan kicked off the beginning of the all day festival on the main stage revving the crowd up for the day with their amazing energy, pulling stunts like Jeff Tuttle, the guitarist, running around through the crowd and pit while still playing guitar.
Although it was a hot sunny day I managed to beat the heat and catch as many acts as I could including:

Alesana
Andrew W.K.
Attack Attack
Bring Me the Horizon
Emarosa
Every Time I Die
Mayday Parade
Of Mice and Men
Pierce the Veil
Polar Bear Club
Sum 41
The All-American Rejects
The Cab
The Casualties
The Dillinger Escape Plan
and White Chapel

I unfortunately was not brave enough to bring out the Dslr with me as I didn't think it would handle well with the continuous crowd surfing and walls of death. Although it was weird not shooting I feel it allowed me to focus myself in more on the music. I feel every band playing is blog worthy but some bands that really deserve some notice include Emarosa, with Johnny Craig's amazing vocals that are just as powerful and breath taking as they are recorded. Mayday Parade is a personal favourite of mine and I was very to happy to hear a lot of their older songs such as Three Cheers for Five Years. We finished our day off with The Casualties, and those old crust punks still know how to put on a great show with fast riffs and Jorge Herrera chugging beers on stage and commenting on all the "shitty" music at Warped Tour. Overall it was an awesome day out in the sun listening to countless amazing bands and soaking up the sun.

Canada Day- Owen Pallett

This Canada Day I spent the majority of my afternoon in Confederation Park enjoying the one free day of jazz festival. It was very relaxing to sit in the grass all afternoon and listen to jazz bands perform. Our afternoon wait was to see Owen Pallett perform on the main stage in the early evening. Owen Pallett put on an excellent Canada Day show playing one song after another on his dusty violin. I was amazed by how he actually performs his music, using a loop pedal that is connected to three separate amps creating a deep layered effect with his violin, keyboard, and rich voice. After the show Owen met with fans taking pictures and doing creative signings, including a pac man themed one on the back of an ipod.