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!

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... 

Through Jaden's eyes

On the weekend, Jaden (our daughter) was bored and asked me if we could go out and take pictures for a little while. It doesn't take much convincing to get me playing with a camera, so since she finally asked me to do something when we had some free time, we quickly got our things together and took off to see what we could capture. 

Jaden had showed a bit of interest in photography in the past, but she seemed to get frustrated with the limitations of using small point and shoot cameras, and got bored of it. This time, I figured I'd let her use my old 40D, with a 50mm 1.8 lens (a dirt cheap lens that is still one of my favorites). Armed with a tool that was much better than anything she had used before, it was nice to watch her doing her thing, and having fun with it.

We had a few locations in mind on our little adventure, but the rain started coming down not long after we left the house, so we had to change our plans.  She told me I was weird when I said we were going to a parking garage, but I told her that some of the most interesting things are in unlikely places. Being able to find beauty in a grubby setting, looking at things most people don't notice, that's part of the fun.  Still, she told me again that I'm pretty weird. I can't really argue that.

As soon as we got out of the car though, she started actually looking at everything, snapping away, and got a bunch of really good shots.

We were out for a few hours, and had a good time. Looking through her pictures at the end of the day, I was really impressed with what I saw, and she actually even managed to get a few decent shots of me! 

Here are a few of her shots, and I'll be posting a gallery with more of them on Facebook a little later...

FACES - North Bay Photography

I have fun taking pictures and video of just about everything, and I've especially enjoyed aerial work, and food photography I've done over the past few years. 

I have to say though, there's nothing that's quite as rewarding as taking shots of people. When your subject is a person, anything can happen. You can control the setting and lighting all you want, but if the person you're taking pictures of is insecure, not comfortable in front of the camera, or even worse very unhappy about having to have their picture taken, it can be a pretty big challenge to get good results.  

People can be pretty unpredictable, and that lack of control keeps things interesting. If all goes well, you get nice shots that make the person look great. If it goes really well and you have a little luck, you get a few shots that give you a closer look at a person, almost like a little sneak peek at their soul. That's what I'm after, and that's what has made me decide to start this new project.

FACES

I'd like to put together a collection of portraits, a book of faces, or maybe even a wall of faces. I guess it all depends how many people want to take part. I don't just want to get a group of clean, corporate looking head shots, but rather a bunch of portraits showing the real personal side of people.  An old mechanic covered in grease, an adrenaline junkie about to jump out of a plane, a widower talking about his lost love, a baker working in the kitchen, a burn victim showing her old scars, a couch potato sitting in front of the tv with chip crumbs on his face...  You get the idea. There isn't anything specific I'm looking for, just an honest look at all types of people, men and women, all ages 18 and up.

I don't have a whole lot of free time, so I have no idea how long this will take, or when I'll consider the project complete (if ever).  but I just thought I'd get the ball rolling.  

If you'd be interested in taking part in this project and being one of my faces, please click here to send me an email at faces@patrickgilbert.com, and tell me a little bit about yourself, just so I can have an idea of who you are and what makes you tick. This will help me with planning some shots. 

I'm really hoping to get a LOT of people involved in this, so please pass this along to anyone you can think of.  I can't pay anyone to take part, but at the very least, you will get a cool free picture out of it! 

I'm looking forward to getting this started! Here's a little look at a few faces I've had in front of my camera in the past (shots not a part of this new project)...

T Dot

Over the past few weeks, I've had the chance to go to Toronto (one of my favorite places to be) a few times. I really expected to spend some time just wandering the streets and taking pictures, but I didn't end up doing much of that at all.  We did wander, but I just didn't end up taking the camera out of the bag very often.

I was a little worried when I started doing more photography and video work for money that I would lose interest in doing it for fun, and that seems to have happened a little. It's not something I really noticed, but now that I think of it, I do actually go for days now without holding a camera. Not many days mind you, but before the camera became a tool I use for my business, I would take at the very least 10 pictures every single day. And that would be a slow day!

I guess I've been more focused on work stuff, and less on just having fun with the camera. The Hipstamatic application for the iPhone has brought some of the fun back and I think I've actually taken more non-business related shots with the phone than with any of my actual cameras since I got the app.

I have a photo project in mind which I've vaguely mentioned a few times. I think it's something that could be really fun, and I'll talk about it in my next post. 

Mike and I also have a short film we've been meaning to shoot all summer, but time flies by, and scheduling people who have regular jobs to worry about is always an issue. We haven't shot a thing just yet, but I'm hoping we can get rolling on that over the next few weeks.

Anyway, that's it for now. Here's a handful of shots I took with my phone while in Toronto. Don't forget to check back soon to read about "The Project"... Maybe it's something you'll want to join in and be a part of!

Come freeze in my shower? - North Bay Photography

Not too long ago, I posted a few shots I took of Scott in my shower. These photos were the result of a little test I did, in preparation for an actual shoot that would take place the following week. Having never taken pictures of someone in the shower (It's not something that people ask for a lot), I wanted to play a little and make sure everything would work out perfectly.

Well, that actual shoot took place earlier this week, and it went great. I'm so surprised that anyone was even interested in doing this. "Hey, do you want to come into a stranger's house and freeze in the shower while he takes pictures?". Sounds appealing right? Well, it was appealing enough I guess, and everything went as planned. I'm happy the girls were brave enough to hop in the shower for this, and I'm really pleased with the end result.

You'll be seeing these in the newspaper soon, and I'll talk some more about it at some point, and maybe post more shots from the collection as time goes on. I really had a lot of fun with this, and it has raised my interest in a little project I already had in mind. That's something else I'll go into more detail about soon.

OK, I'm all over the place now, here are a few shots. Till next time!

Welcome to my shower!

So I got a call this week, and was asked if I'd be interested in taking pictures of a few girls in the shower. My mind started going right away, but not at all how you might think.

I started running through the scenario and trying to figure out exactly how I'd get the shots needed without getting my camera and my lights wet. I also didn't really think people would want to go into someone else's house, especially someone else's shower to pose for a few shots. So I tried to think of a few options for setting up the scene outside somehow. This would have been good for many reasons. The natural light would have been nice, I wouldn't have had to worry about any mess, and I would have had enough room to shoot from far enough away to not get my camera soaked.

In the end, it just didn't make any sense (or work with the timeline and budget) to assemble a faux shower. So the next obvious choice was our upstairs bathroom. We have a huge skylight, so the natural light would help, and there would be enough room for me to jam a few artificial light in there and still be able to move around somewhat comfortably.

I figured everything would work out fine, but just to make sure, I wanted to have a test run with someone else first. This way I could work out any issues that might come up and see what problems we might run into, before the actual models come over. Friday was the trial day, and Scott (probably the most cartoony and animated person I know) came over, jumped in my shower, and we got down to business.

I originally had only one light set up, a reflector which I didn't end up using, and a lot of sun coming in from the skylight. Then the clouds started rolling in and the constantly changing daylight became a problem. I decided to not rely on it at all, set up a second light and all was good!

Everything worked out great, and I'm looking forward to the official shoot later this week. I'll talk more about this, and what it's for some other time. Until then, here are a few pictures from Friday...

What's for lunch?

I seem to have developed a habit of taking a few pictures of my lunch. Well, when lunch is interesting anyway. It's not like I'm obsessed with food or anything, but it does make a good subject. Today's lunch, yummy spring rolls, and some black bean rice.

Shooting food can be quite challenging at times. Lighting has to be set up just right, otherwise things just look off, and the food doesn't look appealing at all. Then, depending on the dish, you have to worry about getting the shots while the food is still hot, or before it dries out under hot lights.

There are a series of tricks photographers can use to make food look delicious, and keep it looking great throughout a long shoot. For example, a few scoops of shortening can be used to replace ice cream, which can obviously be problematic thanks to the whole melting thing. To keep meat, fruit or vegetables looking fresh and juicy, spraying a bit of veggie oil over the subject is sure to do the trick. Need a bowl of corn flakes in a shot, but don't want the cereal to get soggy? Use white glue instead of milk. Problem solved!

I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get the idea. So the next time you see a delicious dish in a magazine, take a good look and wonder what was done to that food to make it look so good. These lunch shots I post are not lit, or enhanced with foreign materials (I actually eat the food after I take a few quick shots), so they're not the greatest, but I still enjoy taking them. Hope you like seeing them.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Goin' low tech

Thanks to digital photography, and not having to worry about the cost of buying and developing film, people went from just taking the same old boring pictures at special events like birthdays & holidays, to now really documenting their lives. With 100,000+ pictures sitting in my hard drives, photography is definitely an everyday thing for me.

Digital is obviously great, but when I received my Holga (a very low tech, all plastic camera) in the mail, I got a little excited. Like a kid with a new toy, I was giddy when I opened the package.

There's nothing fancy about this camera, it's not much more than a plastic box that houses medium format film. It even comes with a roll of black tape that can be used around the seams to prevent light leaks. That is if you want to prevent them. Letting light in and getting random burns on the film can be a nice effect too. Thanks to the flawed plastic lens, the shots have a nice hazy retro feel. The results are completely unpredictable, and that's why I love it.

Here are few of thd shots I've taken with the Holga.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Kitchens! - North Bay Photography

I just finished cleaning up a few things in the kitchen, and now I'm enjoying the fact that this kitchen actually looks decent. Before we had it redone, it didn't matter how clean it was, it still looked disgusting. Now, it's my favorite room in the house. I haven't had time to take any decent shots of this room since we've had it done, but I have taken quite a few shots of other people's kitchens for use on The Brownstone's website. here are a few of those shots I took. You can see many more here http://thebrownstone.ca/maingallery.html .