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...

Be a part of our crowd!

You might already know that we've spent a few days here and there shooting a music video for Burk's Falls singer Pam Millar... well, on the afternoon of June 26th, we'll be shooting our last scene and we're looking to get as many participants as possible & really end this shoot (which has gone quite smoothly) on a high note. This last scene will take place in Burk's Falls, and Pam knows she'll be able to draw a good bunch of people there.

It would be a bit of a road trip for anyone interested in taking part, but the more people we can get involved the better, and it would be great to see some familiar faces in the crowd.

If you'd be into joining us for a few hours, send me a message, and I'll get you the details.
Thanks!

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...