Music Video - The METTAphors "My OwnFist"

This month has been a pretty busy one and a few weeks ago, in the middle of it all, I had the chance to film a local group (the METTAphors) as they did their thing.  With limited time and resources, we had to keep things nice and simple. So, with that in mind, I put together a rough little storyboard, we got a great location thanks to Bex McG, and off we went!  

If you haven't seen the METTAphors play live yet, add it on your to-do list... until then, check out a few still shots, the storyboard, and the final video down below!

Shooting North Bay

Over the past several months, I've had the opportunity to shoot a wide variety of events, locations and activities for the City of North Bay. I've been able to document the happenings, not only with stills, but also with a series of video clips which will soon be making their way into one complete piece, showcasing what the city has to offer, the scope of events it can accommodate, and the great facilities that can be found here.

I've had a great time working on this so far, and have been pretty impressed to see things like the sea of people at the Downtown Xmas Walk, and the overwhelming support from the community at events like the Military Appreciation celebration, and Relay for Life.

After spending some time scanning through all the video I've captured for this to date, I'm excited and looking forward to a few more rounds of filming, and to editing the final piece. Here's an image that's just a tiny sneak peek at some of what I've filmed so far (click the image to enlarge)...

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!