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  • Luminouscity

    I’d like to take this post to showcase a project I was very honoured to participate in – the shoot for Luminousity, designed and conceived of by my dear friend, the incredibly talented stylist, Dylan Dias.

    Dylan is amazing; he designs collections based around a concept – then produces his own book. He assembles his own team of models, books a photographer, make up artist and studio, designs the book and produces it himself.

    His concept this time was to shoot entirely in black light. He used UV Reactive hair dye, and make up. I designed a piece of UV reactive jewellery and shot the collection. It was my first model shoot, and I had a blast! I was nervous at first but got into the zone easily, in fact I loved it so much I’m looking to do more fashion editorial. What I lack in fashion shooting experience I make up for in adverse light condition experience, the shots took a lot of work (don’t even ask about white balance, ugh) but I’m very happy with the results.

    I want to congratulate Dylan; to design and conceive of, and plan and style something in light other than the light that it was going to be shot in takes real vision. We could have turned out the lights and turned on the strobes and this whole thing could have gone to hell. But it didn’t – we turned on those lights and were blown away and that’s all thanks to the skill and vision of a talented and dedicated artist.

    Anyone looking to learn more about Dylan can click here to see his personal site, and previous collections.

    Shanali is wearing a piece of jewellery that I designed for the shoot – I’ll blog about it soon! Thank you Dylan, for a great shoot :)

  • Oh, Canada!

    Tito and I are leaving tomorrow morning for BC – hooray! We have never been that far west, so we’re really looking forward to it. As a special bonus we’re getting to see our good friends in concert on Canada Day – the Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra (who are showing off many photos taken by yours truly).

    Friends, kickass music, ocean and mountains. I can’t think of a better way to enjoy this absolutely stunning country that I’m so very much in love with, and so grateful and proud to be a part of.

    I’ll leave you all with some of my favourite shots taken all over Canada, soon to be added to!

    Lake Quidi Vidi – Newfoundland

    The Battery – also Newfoundland.

    Off the highway in Quebec – about halfway between Montreal and Quebec City.

    Home sweet home – this was taken in Ontario, on the Rideau Canal in Merrickville.

    Continuing west – Selkirk Manitoba.

    As far west as I have ever gone – Banff, Alberta.

    And one of my all time faves – taken from a helicopter just outside Calgary.

    I wish everyone a wonderful Canada day!

  • Hamilton Steel Mills

    Just one photo today, and a hard-won photo it is. You wouldn’t believe how well guarded the steel mills in the Hammer are; I had to take this from beneath the skyway when it was quiet – around 2:30 am. A 5 stitch panorama with a 100 mm prime lens for those interested ;) Click on it to see the big version, the little one does not do it justice.

  • Engagement photos at the Music Garden

    Look at this gorgeous couple =) Jessica and Mike are dear friends of mine who asked me to do their engagement shoot last weekend. I couldn’t have asked for more fun, relaxed, beautiful people to work with!

    We went to the Toronto Music Garden – a special place for both them and me; it’s one of my favourite places to take pictures and it’s the site of some of their first dates.

    They’re very much in love, and I think it really shows in the pictures.

    The light was perfect that evening; golden and very summery.

    After leaving the Music Garden we switched gears (and outfits) for a little fun at Harbourfont.

    And yes, this was totally inspired by the kissing couple from the Vancouver post-hockey riots.

    I just had to include shots from the ‘ice cream incident’

    We were going for cheesy-romantic, but it definitely got sloppy :)

    The unexpected mess led us to some very fun shots.

    We ended a beautiful shoot at the Starbucks where they went on their very first date :)

    Jessica and Mike have asked me to be their wedding photographer as well, so you’ll be seeing more of this gorgeous couple later this year

  • Prisma Colours

    One of my favourite mediums is coloured pencil – Prisma Colours in particular. I remember looking at a piece in high school that one of my best friends had done, and realizing how beautiful pencil crayons could be, how much potential for blending and shading they contained. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that I finally had the opportunity to learn how to blend coloured pencils from Tito, who is also a very accomplished artist.

    There is always so much on the go that I feel I never have time for this type of work anymore, but I’m getting back into it and I thought I’d share a few of my older pieces here :)

    This is called “The Holding Tree” and was done as a birthday gift for Tito’s daughter.

    This one is called “hope” and was done as a gift for a friend undergoing cancer treatment. He pulled though :)

    This slick fella is “Mr. Disco” – he’s a collaborative work – Tito drew him and I did the colouring.

    I’ll post more later – it’s fun getting back into it!

  • The Music Garden

    One of my favourite ways to relax is to take my camera for a walk in Toronto’s music garden. It’s close to home, beautiful, and you can always find something interesting to photograph!

    Like a flower having a bad hair day…

    …or a bee-bum….

    …or these flowers shaped like little hearts.

    And even a creepy crawlie…

    …or two ;o)

     

  • Clapotis

    I’ve been going up to Honey Harbour a lot lately for photography – it’s an amazing new cottage project on Georgian Bay that our agency is working with, and it deserves it’s own post later on – but right now I wanted to show off what I’ve been doing with all the extra knitting time I’m getting from the long drive!

    Clapotis

    I’ve finally finished my clapotis. This clever pattern was designed by Kate Gilbert and featured in the fall 2004 edition of Knitty.com. I was at the Purple Purl eyeing up these beautiful skeins of Dye Version Bamboo fingering weight yarn, in a gorgeous colourway called ‘Rustico’. It’s silky and has lots of drape, and Jenn recommended the Clapotis as the perfect pattern for it.

    Clapotis

    I followed the directions for the scarf and not the shawl, but the result is quite large. The nature of the pattern allows the scarf to be worn as a shawl or wrapped comfortably around the neck without feeling all the extra weight.

    Clapotis

    It’s a brilliant pattern that worked up faster than I expected it to, owing to the large needles. The stripes are made by dropping a stitch and letting it unravel all the way to the bottom – a process I found oddly satisfying, kind of like popping bubble wrap ;)

    Clapotis

    Clapotis

    It ended up taking about 2.5 skeins, and I can’t wait to wear it out!

  • Virtual Houses

    Today I’d like to share one of the more fun aspects of my day job – 3D Manipulation. I don’t get to do it often, so when I do it’s a real treat. My most recent challenge was the rendering of virtual cottages into real landscapes – to show prospective customers what their cottages would look like.

    The architects team provided me with models that had been produced in Google sketchup.

    And I photographed a sample site to composite my house into.

    I matched the lighting to the photograph, and rotated the house into place. I then rendered it out with an alpha channel (blank background).

    The next step takes lots of attention to detail, but it’s the most challenging part, and the most fun. I added foliage, reflections, shadows and plants by hand. I added cold light filters to the shaded areas and warm light filters to the highlight areas and, in short, did everything I could to make it look real.

    And here we go! The client was very happy, and found the results convincing.

    There you have it. 3D is not a muscle I get to work very often, but when I do it’s always fun =o)

  • Jordan Station Shipwreck

    Jordan Station shipwreck

    Anyone who’s taken the QEW from Toronto to Niagara Falls is familiar with seeing an old wreck on the south side, it’s masts just rising high enough to be visible from the highway. It’s hard to find information about this wreck on google – but I did manage to find this quote from a comment on this flickr page:

    Jordan Station shipwreck

    “Jordan’s beloved “pirate ship” began life in 1914 as a St. Lawrence River ferry named Le Progress.It was converted into a floating restaurant in 1991 and built to resemble La Grande Hermine (The Big Weasel), the ship French explorer Jacques Cartier sailed along the St. Lawrence River in 1535. An owner with big dreams but little money parked the vessel in the marina of the Beacon Harbourside Inn on Canada Day 1997 – the final stop on an odyssey of unpaid dockages along the St. Lawrence River. Arsonists cooked the floating restaurant in a 2003 blaze, leaving a slowly rusting hulk on the Lake Ontario shoreline.”

    I’m not sure how accurate it is – but it was the most detail I could find!

    Jordan Station shipwreck

    Tito and I were actually on our way to shoot the Welland Canal locks at the time – and just had to pull over to get a few pics.

    I’ll leave you with my favourite shot of the evening – done in HDR (produced from a single RAW, processed with Photomatix Pro Lightroom Plugin)

    Jordan Station shipwreck

  • Sweet Mary Janes with ceramic buttons

    Quickie post today – I just finished a cute pair of crocheted Mary Janes in a beautiful robins egg blue – complete with cute little hand made ceramic buttons. I whipped off the buttons while bored in the ceramic studio a few months ago and I’m happy I finally got to use them for something!