The Yarmouth Photo Club has an upcoming show at the Art Gallery of NS with the theme of ‘Explorations in Photography’. I’ve committed to myself to come up with some new work to contribute so I went out this morning purposefully trying to push myself to explore some different techniques. It was a beautiful morning to be out in the woods. I was a bit later getting out than I had hoped (late night playing board games last night, some by candlelight for Earth Hour) and I wanted to find a shady spot to shoot in so I headed for the Chebogue Meadows Trail. I shot with my toy camera that takes medium format film, played again with some reversed lens macros, and tried some freelensing for the first time (that sentence is photography-speak for intentionally incorporating happy accidents into the final picture). I’m going to try to finish off the film I have on hand this week and send it all off to get processed. If any of it turns out I’ll share some results here. In the meantime, here are some digital shots from this morning.
I’m also starting to send out a monthly newsletter by e-mail. It will be a bit of an update on what I’ve been up to, what’s coming up, photography tips and tricks, and so on. If you’re interested in receiving it, here’s your chance:
Sherrie and P had their March Break last week so we went to Saint John to have a visit with my family. We always try to cram as much fun into our time there as possible and end up coming home tired (and often with colds, like this time) and satisfied. This trip was no exception. We visited with family, went to trivia night, saw friends, bowled, watched a lot of March Madness, and just had a great time overall. I also got to grab coffee (well, tea and hot chocolate) a couple of times with fellow photographers and met with an awesome wedding couple. We ended our trip by having a sleepover with some fantastic friends and their two girls near Fredericton (hence the pictures with kids still in their pajamas) and then going back to Saint John for a pre-birthday party for T (2 this coming weekend!) and Sherrie. There are, of course, about a hundred more people we would like to have visited with but I feel like we squeezed about as much out of this March Break as we could.
Last Sunday was the first (hopefully at least annual) Southwest NS Photoshoot (maybe we’ll come up with a catchier name next year). 5 of us photographers got together with 7 models for the afternoon to make pictures. It seemed like anytime I ran into another photographer we’d finish off the conversation by saying, “We should get together sometime to shoot.” Then I got inspired by seeing what some friends of mine have put together in Saint John a couple of times now (check out this post by my friend Barb Crawford for some info about the first one and google #SaintJohnCut to see more). I really wanted it to happen so I started the ball rolling just by asking some people if they were interested in being involved and things got going from there (as a side note, I took a class in first year university with a guy named James. We got along well and always said that we should hang out sometime, but never did. I saw him on campus for 4 years but neither of us took the initiative to just pick a time and a place. It became a running joke for us but also gives me motivation to try a little harder to pin down times to make things happen.). Everyone I talked to got really excited about it and it quickly became a joint effort. I had an amazing time getting to know everyone, shooting with our fabulous models, and seeing how other photographers work. It’s been great over these past few days to see some of the images everyone else made. I love seeing how our 5 distinct styles show through even though we had the same models and locations to work with. Thank you so much to everyone who was involved. I can’t wait until we do it again. Here are some of the details about who was involved.
Photographers (other than me): Clifton Saulnier, Tracey Devine, Jodi Spicer, Michael Carty
Models: Jessica Atwood, Jessica Matthews, Holly Richardson, Ashley Goodwin, Spencer Robertson, Kirk Fougere. The models were all incredible. They were so patient with us as we experimented with lighting setups and gear and poses. They had the longest day of any of us and were amazing the whole time.
Hair: Shawna Jackson from Shawna’s Hair Studios (in Sodalicious on Main St., Yarmouth) did hair for three of the girls and Jill Goodwin from Styles Unlimited (on Starrs Rd, Yarmouth) took care of the other two (the guys were on their own). Thank you both so much.
Makeup: Jennie Surette from Afterglow Spa did the makeup for all the girls. Thanks Jennie!
Wardrobe: Sharon and Laura from Making Memories Bridal and Tuxedo (Main St., Yarmouth) provided us with the clothes. Thank you so much. I know it was a lot of work and I really appreciate it.
Locations: We ended up having the opportunity to shoot at two locations. The first was the Mackinnon Cann Inn. It’s a very cool bed and breakfast with rooms that are themed for various decades. Sherrie always gets her visiting co-workers to stay there now so she can slip over in the morning for an amazing breakfast. They also have authentic Indian cuisine on Friday and Saturday nights with Kabir’s at the Inn. Unbelievably good food. After a couple of hours there we moved over to another house that Neil and Mike own, the Charles C Richards house. It’s an amazing old brick mansion that has been beautifully maintained. Thank you so much for letting us invade for the day.
Yesterday was the bridal and prom show here in Yarmouth. Thanks to everyone who stopped by. I had a great time chatting with the brides and getting to know the other vendors. A lot of the brides that stopped by are planning for 2013. Making Memories put on a fashion show again this year and then had the dresses for sale afterward for huge discounts. It was a lot of fun. I’m already looking forward to next year.
P and I went out for a bit of a photo excursion this morning. We both took our cameras and if either of us saw something we wanted to take shoot, I would park and we’d both get out to take pictures. He got cold pretty quickly but it was fun. Here are some that we took (see if you can tell which photographer took which picture).
Sometimes opportunities present themselves in unexpected ways. These pictures are from a wedding that I shot with Halifax photographer Emma Poliquin. I came across Emma online and had been following her work for a while before I figured out that her mom and my mom are cousins. So then starting from a quick ‘isn’t it a small world’ e-mail, Emma asked if I could help out with a wedding. It happened to be for a Saturday that I had a cancellation and needed to be in Halifax the next day anyway (for Dane Sanders’ excellent workshop). The reason Emma needed someone shooting with her is because she was the maid of honour for her sister Anne. It’s a bit tricky to both be in the wedding (and family pictures) and cover the whole day. I was happy to help out. It was an absolutely beautiful day all around. Anne and Matt are the definition of hospitality. Every wedding day is a bit of a whirlwind but in the midst of it all they were both focused on making sure that everyone around them was comfortable. I quickly lost count of how many times Anne asked me if there was anything I needed. It’s also really clear that they extend the same generosity to each other in their relationship. I was really pleased to have been able to be there. These are a few of my favourites from the day. Here’s a link to Emma’s post for more pictures and her perspective.
I’m still in review 2011 / plan 2012 mode and am enjoying going through some of my pics that I haven’t shared here yet. This session with the Hanfs was from October (if the pumpkins didn’t give it away). We went through a couple location changes leading up to the session before deciding to do them at their house. It is the perfect spot with an apple orchard, grassy fields, and gorgeous trees. I could be happy doing every family session from now on there. It was a very fun session with cartwheels, tree climbing, and me getting hit on the head by an apple (My fault, I asked Quynn to toss it over my head with predictable results).
I hope everyone had a great Christmas Day yesterday. We had a fantastic morning. I think P forgot what day it was and the boys mercifully slept until 7. We opened our stockings and then had some delicious overnight french toast that I had made. Then we took our time opening the rest of the presents, letting the boys play with whatever they opened. It was great. After lunch we headed out to Sherrie’s parents’ place and spent the afternoon with family and had a delicious turkey dinner. My family arrives today so we’re having another turkey dinner today. It’s going to be a full house with 10 adults and 3 little ones. Just the right amount of Christmas chaos.
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