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!

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...