A Happy Exception

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In the past, whenever I have been asked to shoot a wedding, I have politely declined (while resisting the urge to run away screaming). It’s pressure I don’t need, and the modern day wedding for many people has been turned into a spectacle bordering on an ordeal — a display of conspicuous consumption and bad taste, from the stretch SUV in the morning to pulling off the garter at the reception. Add an overwrought bride (often referrred to as a “bridezilla” in the business) and the recipe for disaster is complete.

The wedding I shot yesterday was a happy exception: the wedding was low key but beautiful, with the service just as (if not more) important than the reception.   Just two people obviously very much in love, and very happy. The air was filled with a quiet joy, and I am glad I made an exception when it came to photographing this wedding.

From the first wedding I've ever shot

Details

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While in Arizona for the week, I was fortunate on the business outing yesterday to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West Complex, his winter home and architectural school. I took many images, mainly film, but did take a few digital shots, including this one a of a detail of a sculpture near the main entrance. Everywhere one looks in this Complex, there are amazing lines, both on large and small scales. It was a truly unforgettable experience!

Metal sculpture at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West Complex

Accuracy

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This week I am in Scottsdale, Arizona and it is hot even for this time of year: over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, 40 C every day. Today’s image is the view I get when I step out of my hotel room, captured on my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app and “infrared” film. The “wrong” colours actually capture the feeling of being in this spot better than accurate colour rendition ever would.

Outside my hotel room in Arizona

Hidden and Magnified

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This is Danielle, a young model I had the pleasuring of working with in downtown Toronto last weekend. We were shooting at an abstract sculpture near Roy Thompson Hall, and she suggested shooting through some holes in one of the panels of the sculpture. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but now I’m pretty happy with the results, especially this image: the fact that so much is obscured really seems to focus what we can see of her eyes and expression.

Danielle through spaces

Another Everyday Abstraction

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It can be fun looking for interesting patterns and shapes in everyday mundane objects, and a bus shelter in Toronto is about as mundane as it gets. But today’s image was created by strong sunlight beaming through a bus shelter onto the concrete sidewalk, and the geometry seemed interesting to me.

Refractions

(Contax IIIA, Jupiter 8 52/2 lens, HP5+ developed in HC-110 dilution B, 7:30)

Karen and Penelope

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“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed;
he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

 – Genesis, 3:15

Note: today’s photo is NSFW (not safe for work – partial nudity) so I am just posting a link instead of embedding the image: Karen and Penelope .

It was most interesting to work with Karen and her pet snake Penelope — I observed the complete opposite of the common aversion many women (and men!) have towards snakes. Penelope the snake emphasizes lines and curves on a model with a strikingly modern look, in a vintage inspired photograph.

(Photo taken with Mamiya M645 Pro TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Fomapan 100 film developed in HC-110, dilution H for 7.5 minutes)

A New Mistress, A New Affair

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I think I will be starting a torrid, complicated affair with a new mistress.  Now before I go any further I should say that the mistress in question is a film, Kodak SO-331, a special purpose black and white film that I picked up in a one thousand foot reel.

so 331 test005

SO-331 is a tempestous, challenging and alluring film: very slow speed, but changeable based on lighting/contrast, and very difficult to develop without getting touch much contrast. This is meant to be a high contrast film, so to be successful and show proper tonality, it must be convinced to be something it isn’t.

Like a lover, this film can be coy, difficult and demanding — showing flashes of the magic it can create, while at other times stubbornly refusing to cooperate.

I only have the one bulk roll of this film, and it may be hard to get more, so like many affairs, when it’s over it will be over, but hopefully with many great photographs and memories.

L’Homage Pour Édith Piaf

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Today (the opening night of Man of La Mancha in which I play the Governor and the Innkeeper) seemed like the perfect day to post this image of model Léah, who wanted a portrait that pays tribute to her hero, twentieth century French singer and icon Édith Piaf. I have to admit I didn’t know much about Édith before working with Léah (I had heard La Vie en Rose, but hadn’t made the connection), but in reading about her, listening to her music and watching performances on YouTube I was struck by how this tiny (4 foot 8 inch tall) woman had such a powerful, commanding stage presence, and how her essentially tragic life is transmuted into the emotional intensity of her singing. She literally put everything she had, and everything she was into her performance. As an amateur actor who clearly has so so much to learn, I can really take a lesson from her life and music.

L'Homage Pour Edith Piaf

The Eyes of the Actor

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I took this photo for a production of Man of La Mancha that I am currently in, and shows two of the main characters, Don Quixote (played by Robbie Burko) and Sancho Panza (played by Antonio Olivito). What strikes me are their eyes — it shows how much they have both internalized and become their characters, as well as how much energy they bring to their roles. When I work with models, I try to get them to think like actors: find a story, a reason for a facial expression, etc. In a lot of ways, actors make the best models.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza

If you’re in the Toronto area, why not come see the show? Show dates are May 4th, 5th, 6th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th. (More information and tickets here) I will be playing two roles: “The Governor” (a rather nasty prison gang leader) and “The Innkeeper” (who is actually a rather nice guy).

Hope to see you there!

Something Different

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Something different this time around — tack sharp and in colour, taken with my Contax IIIa rangefinder 50mm Jupiter 8 lens and some 400 speed Fuji color negative film. I was struck by the colours and geometric patterns, as if I stumbled onto a piece of abstract art. Sports Court