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! 

Sleepin' All Over The Place

I recently had the chance to take a quick trip across the country (and way north)  with friend and colleague Kevin Hoffman of Clark Marketing Communications. We were traveling to get some photos and video in quite a remote location. I can't say or show a whole lot of anything of what we were doing at this point, but what I've included below is a bit of a by-product of our little adventure. Our trip included 8 flights over the course of three days... travel to our destination went like clockwork, but on our way back, we did have some pretty long delays in a few airports.

As we waited for our last flight home, it somehow came up that it would be funny to get shots of Kevin with my phone, of him sleeping in various spots in the airport, and send them along to those at home waiting for us. Right away, we started walking around the airport, scoping out possible settings for our shots, and we got right down to business. The plan was to start with some slightly believable shots, then progress to some more goofy settings.

I spent years with a camera covering my face, looking at life through the lens just as a hobby, until photography quickly became a big part of my business. I couldn't be happier about this progression, but I rarely spend much time taking shots just for fun anymore. So this was a nice change from the usual, and I was actually having a hard time taking some of the shots because I was laughing and shaking (and crying) so much.

Kevin was great, getting right into it in any of the settings we spotted. Well, almost... I did suggest a shot of him sleeping on the bathroom counter, but that wasn't happening. It's ok, there's no way in hell I would ever lay down in any bathroom. That's just gross! A dude has to draw the line somewhere.

Of course, because we're both pretty artsy guys, I think we were happy to see that a few of the pictures we were getting were not only  a bit funny, but just really looked nice and interesting as stand alone shots too. 

Anyway, here's a look at what a couple of artistic goofs do at an airport when they have a few hours to kill... 

Go WILD! - North Bay Photography

Not too long ago, I went out and took pictures of a Nipissing Wild football game, and had a great time doing it.  There's a level of excitement with sports photography (especially contact sports) that you just don't get with other types of photo shoots. You have no idea what's going to happen, the tension is high, everyone is emotional, bodies are twisted and flying all over the place... it's great!

The best you can do is hope you're in a good spot to capture the action, and when something interesting does happen, make sure you don't miss the shot.

At this game, the Wild were playing Toronto's Junior Argos. I spent the first half of the match taking shots from the visitors' side, right next to their bench, listening to their insults about small town folk as they took a convincing lead on the Wild.

My time in the second half was spent on the other side with the home team, and it was great to be near them as they encouraged each other and completely took over the game. The wild came back and ended up winning 37-27. Things got pretty intense and I'm happy that I was able to capture a whole bunch of great action shots, and some nice emotional snapshots too.

Here's a look at a few of my photos from the game...