05
Feb
10
Thought of the day
03
Feb
10
Month of love!
It is February the “Month of LOVE” and ConceptPhotos is spreading the love!
For the month of Feb I’ll be offering great discounts and free engagement portraits with all wedding packages booked. So if you or a friend could benefit from this call and book now!
Also for the rest of the month I’ll be focusing on images of couples in love!
Stay tuned . . .
29
Jan
10
Canon celebrates a milestone
Canon has 50 millionth lens roll off the production floor! http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Press-Release/Canon-50-Million-EF-Lenses-Press-Release.aspx
I have been a Canon user for many, many years now. Over the years I have seen a lot of exciting product come from Canon and this is just a testament to their success.
So you are in the mountains staying in a great resort hotel and you want to get some great photos. Simple just walk outside you are surrounded by greatness right? Not so simple? . . . Okay you have a spot in mind you have seen great shots of this place in countless books and magazines all you have to do is go there and . . . but what you get is anything but great, why? Experience not your experience with your camera or with composing landscape photos but with the area, specifically the light in the area. When is the best time? Well that is a varying answer. But there are some things you can do to prepare yourself a bit better. Consider the geographic positioning of the area. Are you shooting in a valley that orients east/west? Which direction is the light going to hit your chosen subject from? The sun rises in the east is a given but that early morning fire reflects on the east and south facing landscape! Some areas don’t get sunrise or sunset light but look great in the golden light of early morning or late day. Some areas look best in overcast weather and are a challenge to shoot in bright sunny days! Take the time to research an area before you get there and maybe even set aside a day to just visit areas of potential shoots to get a lay of the land and the light! There is nothing more frustrating than feeling all the time energy and money go to waste because you didn’t take the time to learn about an area. We have all gone on a photo trip at one time or another that just didn’t produce. The best Photoshop skills cannot beat the feeling of catching the light through your lens! The only substitute for experience is someone else’s experience. This usually a good choice however not everyone has an experienced professional photographer at their disposal for this purpose. This is what Catch the Light is offering experience, over 15 years of it to take you into the landscape so you can catch the light in your lens.
The difference is being dejected because you missed the light!
Or ecstatic because you were able to Catch the Light
27
Jan
10
xc ski in the “K” country
Today I decided to have a day just for me! I went XC skiing with a good friend for the first time in 6 or 7 years!!! Next time I will not wait that long. I took my G10 with me just to shoot a few snap shots. I was amazed at the colour today, the blue skies were so intense that even with out a polarizer they look great. I only snapped a few but next time I’ll be armed with my DSL kit! Here is one of the snaps from the day with only a slight level adjustment and remember no polarizer!
26
Jan
10
A mid winter walk
Flat grey light for days on end finally gave way to blue sky. I was madly working away on the computer when it caught my eye. I had to be in SE Calgary by 3pm which left me a few hrs to spare. I decided to head near the area I needed to be and explore. What I discovered was a park I had been to before but not to shoot. Carburn park is along the bike path in Calgary and I had ridden through many times. The skies were not disappointing! What stuck me was the contrast between the dry yellows and browns of the trees and bush against the blues of the cold winter sky. This was added to by the low angle of the sun. I came across some of the largest trees I have seen in the city. As usual I was trigger happy(it doesn’t cost anything to take some extra shots). It was fun to play with details and or a single tree, a pleasant contrast to the grand vistas of the mountain shoots of late. I truly enjoy being able to (re)discover such gems right here in the city limits. It is days like this that remind me why I fell in love with photography in the first place. There are just so many ways to capture an image. What should be a 10-15 min walk around the park lasted 2 hrs and could have gone on longer. Here is a small selection of my favourite shots of the day enjoy.
25
Jan
10
Photo tourism it is
I have been working on the brochure for Catch the Light tours, my photo tour business! I think they are the best so far! I am really excited about this business because it allows me to do two things I really love: I get to shoot with people in the great outdoors! and I get to share with people the many years of experience I have here shooting in this area. Have a look . . . any feed back is always welcome.
24
Jan
10
Daily picture Jan 24 2010
A short outing today to check out an area I had all but forgotten about. I only had abit of time not enough to drive all the way to the mountains. The area is quite nice. I remembered the rock and water in the area to be interesting but I had only experienced this as a fishing venue. It is a short drive from the end of town and well worth it. I plan to return for a sun rise or set session soon! Here are a few of my images I am happy with.
23
Jan
10
Happy birthday Jason!
My good friend and fellow photographer Jason recently celebrated his birthday. We are to get together to celebrate it with cake and refreshments, however Jason requested that we don’t bring gifts. So I have decided to give Jason a gift by thanking him for being a good friend and always someone I can count on to go shooting with. Jason and I met through our mutual love of photography and have developed a close friendship. In fact when Jason was married he asked me to be his best man. I had actually hoped to shoot his wedding. So when I was redeveloping my portfolio and marketing material I thought of asking he and his wife to pose for me, I especially wanted to shoot his wife in her Chinese wedding dress. Not only does she look great in it the dress is beautiful through the lens also. I appreciated their willingness and I think we got some great shots! Over the years I have watched Jason become an formidable photographer himself the student is quickly becoming the master. Thanks for being there Jason every photographer needs a good friend to support their ambitions as well as challenge their skills. Keep raising the bar buddy! Here are a few of my recent favourite shots Jason took, enjoy!
You can find more images here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/24567529@N02/
Please have a look at the latest evolution of my new marketing materials, these are full size so if you want to download on just click on the image.
The desire was to create a set of marketing materials that create brand identity. I want to represent my best new work in a manner that is pleasing from a design standpoint. The challenge was to represent my work as well as my message within such a small space. I had to choose only 8 images total for each brochure (front and back) as well I needed those images to work well together. If you saw the weeding brochure I posted a while back you’ll notice the change in background colour. I made this change after having the printer run a proof, we decided the grey was to dark. The lay out for all three new brochures is the same. The wedding and portrait are the same color scheme just the words and images changed. For the Catch The Light Tours version the layout stays but the color shifts to an earth tone version, identifying with the outdoor aspect of the tours. One major benefit of keeping the layout identical was time savings! Although the first one took some serious time to mock up once all the design decisions were solidified it was easy to translate that into the next brochures. I am still working on the wording for the Catch The Light brochures and will post them soon. Any feedback is welcome.
