Portraits - North Bay Photography

I do a lot of shooting at all kinds of events, and in various industrial settings, which I love, but because of the type of shots I'm hired to take, it's not very often that I get a photo that I'd call a nice portrait. A good portrait isn't a like a smiley corporate headshot, but more of a personal look at someone. A photo that gives a little insight on a person, and ideally makes you feel the mood and emotion on their face.

In the new year, I'm definitely looking forward to more of the type of work I've been doing in the past, and continuing to get better at it... but I also want to finally take time on a regular basis to get interesting people in front of the camera for some nice portraits. I'll post updates when I make any progress on that.

Until then, here are a few shots I've taken in the last little while that I'm pretty happy with (click on the images for a better look)...

My 2011 at a Glance- North Bay Photography and Video

Today I quickly scanned through my year in pictures, and if I talked about each of the shoots I had, this post would go on and on. Instead, I thought I'd just pick a few here and there and put together a random little collage of a few of the photos I was asked to take in 2011... Click on the image to get a closer look!

MUSIC VIDEO... Faye Blais "The Ways I Love You" - North Bay Cinematography

The first time I was introduced to Faye Blais and her music was at the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards in 2010.  I watched the musical showcase the night before the awards, and she completely stood out from the rest of the performers (in a good way). Right away, I knew I'd want to work with her eventually, in some way.

The next night, at the awards after party (I had just accepted the award for Best Cinematographer, and she had won her award for Best Vocal Performance), we chatted a bit about how we should work on something together sometime, but with all kinds of work, and Faye's world travels, it didn't go any further than that.

Fast forward to a few years later, and we actually found a time that Faye was available in Sudbury, and I was also free for the day.  We talked a bit, agreed to shoot a music video, and started tossing around a few ideas... Things that would be possible to shoot in a day.

We started shooting, with a rough idea of what we were after, and as the day progressed, the four of us - myself, Faye, Kelly and Andrew (the star couple) ironed out the story in the video.

With everyone's schedules, arriving/leaving at different times, etc... we didn't have a whole lot of time to wrap everything up, so we had to be efficient.  At the end of it all, we spent about six hours, shooting in a few different locations.  I could have spent many more hours, looking at different angles, and shooting different styles, but for how quick we had to work, I'm really happy with the outcome.

Getting this done last minute, on the fly was pretty much the only way it was ever going to happen, so it's great that we were actually able to make it work.

Below is a screen capture, followed by the music video "The Ways I Love You"... Press the Play button and watch it!!!

You can also click on the HD button on the video to see it in High Definition, Click on the arrows symbol to view it full screen (best with HD mode clicked on), or Click on the Vimeo logo to view the video larger on that site.

Hope you enjoy it!

Check out "Small Town Girl"! - North Bay Video

I've talked a few times before about our "Small Town Girl" music video which was in the works over the summer, and I thought it might be time to post the finished product.

We wrapped shooting on the video a while back, and the final edit was done shortly after, but since Pam was going to be having a big show at the end of this month, it seemed like that would be a good time to give the video its official premiere. The show took place on Saturday, and everyone had a great time... aside from kind of faking it for the video,  this was the first time I actually had the chance to see Pam perform, so it was nice to sit back and enjoy the show (without a camera in my face). 

I've had the video posted on my website, which a few people might have seen, but I thought I'd wait until after Pam's show to start posting this all over the place.  We had a great time working on this, and I'm happy to share it with everyone. If you haven't already seen it (and even if you have, hah), please take a few minutes to watch it, and pass it along! Here it is, Pam Millar &  "Small Town Girl" ... next step, CMT! 

New Short... "MISSING" - North Bay Cinematography

OK, I need to take a quick time-out in this crazy day to post something about a new short we've got in the works.  I can't really say much about it because it is really going to be quite short, so any explanation would probably describe the entire thing, but I figured I'd put up a few screen captures.  With an afternoon of shooting behind us, I'm pretty excited about how this one's looking.  We just have an other hour or two to spend whenever we can get together again, and then it'll be on to editing, and on to planning the next film. I'll go into that one (which will be a longer project) some other time.  One film at a time.

Here are the screens...

The Lake showing at Cinefest - North Bay Cinematography

Well, The Lake (one of our short films) is showing at Cinefest International Filmf Festival today. This is pretty cool, unfortunately I don't think anyone who was involved with the film will actually be there for the experience.  Most of the cast and crew have regular jobs they couldn't just duck out of to go to a festival, which is too bad.

In my case, it's pretty much the same. I have quite a full month with a lot of different contracts on the go, from websites to video work and photography. I just can't take another day away from the computer right now. It's a little disappointing, but in the end paying the bills and hopefully keeping the family fed for a while happens to be quite a bit heavier on the priority scale.

The lake will actually also be showing at Film North - 2010 Huntsville International Film Festival this weekend.  I'll be out in the wild doing a full day of shooting for the tourism industry, so I'll have to miss this festival too. On the plus side, writer and partner in crime Michael Humble will be making it to the event, and I'm sure he'll have a blast.

This weekend will pretty much mark the end of The Lake's festival shelf life. It has been around for a little while, and played here and there over the past year. One of the highlights was the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards where a certain Patrick Gilbert (yay me!) and Ed Regan won for Best Cinematography. now it's time to move on and start pushing the next one.

We have had a pretty good run with The Lake, and I look forward to continued success with our recent, and future projects.

If you haven't seen it yet, why don't you take a few minutes to watch The Lake...

A Little Monologue - North Bay Cinematography

This summer should be a pretty productive one when it comes to shorts... Mike and I have a number of little films planned, which will come together nicely if we can get our butts in gear and make it happen. We have enough stuff to shoot to keep us busy for a while, so we need to get to it soon.

Aside from that, I'll be shooting a piece next weekend with Kevin Hoffman and Jim Calarco (among others). Hopefully the weather cooperates, all goes well, and we'll end up with an interesting, nice looking short. There are a few other possible projects on the horizon, but nothing solid enough for me to talk about at this point.

Before getting started with the film, Jim needed to get a quick demo video together to send off to someone. It was a good opportunity to test out a few things with equipment and editing, and in the end I think it turned out to be a pretty good little clip.

Have a look! (Clip running time: 2 minutes, 6 seconds)

I Can Fly! - North Bay Cinematography

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had been spending some time in a helicopter, and I was going to talk a bit more about that. Well, I guess it has been long enough now, it's about time I get to it.

So, I've been spending some time shooting for a corporate video, and it has required me to go up in a helicopter a few times. This wouldn't really be a big deal, but before this month, I had never been in a helicopter... oh, and I just happen to be terrified of heights!  

The first few times I went up were actually no big deal. I was so distracted by what I was shooting that I didn't even pay attention to where I was, so it all worked out. The third time was going to be more of the same, until the pilot says to me "How about I take the door off the helicopter so you can hang out and stand out there on the landing skid?"

"How about you take the door off?? Oh SURE!!" and that's when my stomach started feeling a little funny. They got to work on removing the door, and anything in the aircraft that wasn't strapped down, and off I went to get a harness on. About half an hour later, it was time. My harness was buckled in, and I actually felt pretty secure, even though half of me was hanging out of this big piece of metal that was about to be in the sky.

Take off was fine and the next thing I knew we were pretty high up, and the wind was hitting me quite nicely. Again I was distracted by what I was up there to do, and didn't focus much on the craziness of it. I was actually pretty calm. That is until we took a sharp right turn (I had no idea a helicopter could tilt so far sideways), and I found myself looking straight down, with nothing between me and the ground below. Far below. My heart started pounding a bit for a few seconds, until we straightened out and I started breathing again. hah.

It all worked out in the end, and I'd love to go up again! Here are a few screen captures taken from some of the video I shot while I was up there...

Helloooo Dolly! - North Bay Cinematography

I've been working on a promotional video for the past week or so (when the weather has cooperated), and now that it's almost done, I'm looking forward to shooting our next short film. Mike's been kicking around a few scripts, but I'm not sure which one we'll be shooting next. Either way, I'm getting the itch to start.

In preparation for our upcoming production(s), I've picked up some gear that will come in handy. The camera was obviously number one, followed by the Zoom H4N for audio, bigger memory cards and a bigger hard drive, etc... It never ends. My latest addition is a dolly which I put together using roller blade wheels, a sheet of MDF, and a few PVC pipes. Good Times!

There's still plenty of gear I want to get, and will eventually need, but this will have to do for a while, A loooong while. It's a good thing this stuff is for work and it pays for itself eventually (sometimes more quickly than others), the fact that it will also help out with our personal projects is just a bonus!

Have a look at a short clip I put together, testing how smoothly I could roll around with the dolly. I still need to practice with it a bit to get a more consistent speed, but overall, it worked out great. Check it out!

What a weekend! - North Bay Cinematography

This weekend, I went to the Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards, and had an awesome time (and not only because I walked away from it with an award)! I haven't posted anything here for quite a while, and I figured I'd have time to put a few things together throughout the weekend, but I was just too distracted.

I got to Sudbury Friday evening, just in time to check in and be taken to the theatre to introduce our film at the screening. I was a little nervous about that because The Lake was first on the list. I was hoping to see what a few of the other people would say about their work, so I'd know how long I should talk. hah. Anyway, it went well and it was nice to see our work on the big screen, and to hear the reactions in the audience. Once we had seen all the nominated films, it was off to the musical showcase at the Townhouse. The sets were great, and I was really impressed, especially with Sarah Craig and Faye Blais.

Saturday was a day to go to a few panels, and do some networking at the hotel, and that went pretty well. The whole weekend was really well organized, and so was the main event at Laurentian University, hosted by Montreal musician Tricia Foster (She did a great job). Over the few days of the conference, it was strange to talk to people in the industry who knew about us and respected our work, and things got even more strange when the winner for Best Cinematography was announced.

I got up to accept the award, and because I was in a little bit in shock, I didn't even notice that the house band was playing the music from The Lake. Once I made my way up I clumsily babbled a bit, then thanked Michael Humble and Kevin Hoffman for their writing and editing, and off I went.

Wait a minute, that's not good... I really didn't expect to win, but one thing I did know was that if I did make it up on that stage, I wanted to thank nicole for putting up with me spending time working on these silly projects. Did I do that? Not at all. I got up there, looked out at the rather large crowd and completely choked. hah. I'm pretty sure I was coherent and even got a laugh out of the audience which is great, but I didn't get out a single word I had wanted to say. Next time!

Here are a few quick shots of the award, and some souvenirs of the event...

New Additions to the Family! - North Bay Cinematography

Yes, we have a few new additions to the family! Well, the camera family anyway. I mentioned something a few weeks ago about a new toy I had just been given, and yet another toy I was hoping to get. Well, a few weeks have passed and I've finally had a chance to play with both of them.

The first toy is one I got for my birthday from Derf Rellim, a sweet Yashica-A medium format camera. He bought it about 50 years ago when he was starting out as a photographer, and now it has been handed down to yours truly. A great addition to the camera family, and I'm sure it'll occupy a lot of my time.

The second toy is really more of a workhorse, the Canon 7D. I've been looking to get more involved in video work for a while now (and wanting to have a good camera to shoot our short film projects), but the cost of a good quality HD camera was something I just couldn't justify. All of a sudden, Canon and Nikon came our with SLRs that could also shoot video. WOW! The quality and manual options weren't quite up to par with those early models though, so they weren't a practical option for professional video work. Along comes the 7D, with full HD video capability, and all the manual options you could want. Did I mention it's also a 18MP SLR? I couldn't resist any longer. SOLD!

I was going to post some pics of my new additions, but instead I figured I'd post a short little video of the Yashica, shot with the 7D. HAVE A LOOK!!