Winsport Canada Cup

This weekend downhill skateboarding made its return to Canada Olympic Park.  The level of talent that was present was truly world class. The race was spread over three days with the top 97 qualifying for the semi final eliminations. Many of the top riders were knocked out in these eliminations. Calgary favourites G- Mack and Riley Harris were in the thick of it with G-Mack making it to the final. P-Swiss Patrick Switzer was riding clean and fast all weekend and dominated the final with Calgary fave G-Mack in Second and James Kelly in third Louis Pilloni lived up to his “first or last” motto charging hard and losing it over the speed bump just before the finish. It was a exciting finish to say the least. The finish was full of Sector Nine race leathers with “Jacko” Jackson Shapiera taking fourth. Here are a few images that I think capture the feeling of the event.

Bowness Car show and Shine Aug 28th 2011

What does a photographer do the day after an all day wedding shoot? Go out and take some more photographs. There was a show and shine in Bowness, Calgary AB today. Many beautiful vehicles lined the old main street which appropriately is equipped with angle parking stalls to accommodate the large numbers of exhibitors as well as spectators.   When it comes to classic cars I am a big fan of the aesthetics. The whole feel of the vintage autos just speaks to me. What really gets me is the details, the chrome, the lights, mirrors and more… I don’t know a 69 from a 72 or this model from that. I know a Chevy from a Ford but don’t really take sides . . .  it’s not like it’s Canon vs Nikon.  This is how I saw the cars today through my lens. I hope you enjoy.

Paul Kent Sequences

Shooting sequences with Paul Kent . . . Shooting with Paul is always an experience. This time was no exception! Paul takes what he does very seriously and what he does is ride a longboard skateboard. As mentioned before he is a world record holder. Today he is on a plane headed to . . . Georgia and Alabama  to compete in a distance push race, push is how we get around on a skateboard. The race is Apprx 300Km spread over 3 days. So here we are less than 12 hrs before he flies out, shooting freestyle trick sequences for an upcoming article in Concrete Wave magazine. Did I mention that Paul was injured from an unfortunate fall earlier in the week? He has a good size patch of road rash on his left hip and butt. So why are we doing this now? Well because it has to be done and there was a window of opportunity and light . . . At one point Paul fell while shooting . . . yes on the before mentioned road rash again! He yelped like a dog being kicked and I thought oh great I just ruined his chances  . . .  Then he lets me know that road rash will not affect his chances, and I think I believe him.  He has raced with injuries before, “I peed blood” “I chipped a tooth” and stepped on a pine cone in the middle of the night. He did all this while setting his world record.

So although Paul forgot about our shoot and we started late and he was trying to pack and wash clothes and . . . We still manged to fill an entire 4gig card in just over a 1/2 hr of shooting, because he is as serious about getting it right as I am.

Here are the best sequences of the shoot, enjoy.

Shoot with PK

Three locations, a two hr break and some off camera flash later we had something . . .  My friend Paul Kent needed some images of himself for a magazine article. After a few dozen texts back and forth and a conversation on the phone we had a plan.  Paul is a professional long distance longboard athlete of the highest calibre. He holds the WORLD record distance skated over a 24hr period a mind blowing 403km! .  He is a unique combination of quiet introvert and manic extrovert with this in mind we set out to shoot some images both lifestyle portraits and some action shots. I caught up with Paul at the Royal Board Shop Wednesday night clinics, which he is a coach at and again later that evening at a favourite SK8 spot. Finally we finished off the evening under the bridges in the new East Village development. This is a selection of my favourite images from our endeavours.

Recent Shoot With JD

May 5th 2011, I spent about an hour with my friend and talented Longboard SK8er JD. JD was SK8ing at a great slide hill but slightly less inspiring for photography.  I mentioned to him that I would like a shot that told a story that had that feeling of going over the edge. We drove only a few mins away to this manky little path that snakes down the hill over a bridge and finally out into the street. There was a story here, there was interesting images here. We shot for nearly an hr and here is what we got, enjoy.

Longboarding in Calgary AB

Things are looking good for the Long SK8 scene in Calgary. The season has kicked off in a big way the Royal Boardshop’s Wednesday night safety clinic, aka the Wednesday night sessions. The sessions were a success last year and quickly became a favourite the local rippers. Well the snow has finally melted and the temps have finally risen to normal. Wednesday May 4 was the first Wednesday night session of 2011 and what a start! The biggest turnout yet nearly 70 people! From the first timer to the seasoned ripper, the path was full from the top of the valley to the bottom and there were girls, girls, girls! There were new faces in the “Royal Family” as well as some returning coaches. There was a festive atmosphere with a reunion like feeling as high fives and greetings were exchanged as music and laughter filled the air.  It seems that word of the scene has gotten out as there were several photographers present as well as a couple of videographers. The bar has risen even more this year with BIG high speed stand-ups the new benchmark. What seemed barely attainable last season is now the norm.  I was in awe of the talent that was present, everyone seems to be upping their game!  People were riding harder, faster and with more style and control than I witnessed all last season. Thane was being shredded everywhere, even the dirt paths were fair game! Exciting times are ahead for the Calgary longboard scene!

Giving no instructions . . .Worked!

Recently I shot with Zoey and Tysin in a basement in Calgary AB.  I had never worked with either model before, in fact I believe that Tysin had never modeled before. Zoey pulled out this mod little red, white and blue leather looking jacket.  I just happened to have a set of red, white and blue motorcycle leathers with me as a prop, hmmm. Then Tysin walks through the door and he has this look of a bad ass but something more significant. We head back to the dungeon and start to set up a shoot. I tell Tysin to sit in a chair and just sort of chill while I focus on Zoey. What I want is to have him look disinterested and perhaps a little pissed off. As I start shooting I notice he is feeling a little aggravated with my lack of direction however I also notice that this is creating the look and mood I really wanted. Here are some of my favourite images from the shoot, I hope you enjoy.

 

 

White wedding dress and red wine don’t mix!

While shooting in a grungy basement creating a beautiful story of a beautiful bride in a beautiful wedding dress . . . a white wedding dress

 Then an idea SPLASHED into my mind.  What kind of crazy things could happen when red wine meets a white wedding dress?

Creativity

This is just a short blurb about creativity: I was part of a shoot out on the 27th of march at the Art spot. I went there with a few ideas and some props. In particular I wanted to create a beautiful bridal shoot and then do something crazy to trash this wedding dress I purchased to add to my portfolio. There was no shortage of creativity with a handful of shooters and several beautiful models. The setting although visually interesting and beautiful in its raw quality, was far from ideal for a wedding shoot. Awesome! This presented a whole new challenge: create a beautiful wedding shoot that looks like something any bride to be would love! Down in to the dungeon of a basement the stacks of emptys and disgarded art I found the perfect backdrop for a dreamy wedding shoot. While shooting I became inspired by the surrounding random artifacts and decided to finish off the dress trashing in the same space. Below is a sampling of what went down.

A new blog for a different expression

I shoot often and many different subject matters some are less related to my photographic services but are still part of what make conceptphotos tick. This is the first of many posts and I hope it to be a lot of fun and maybe even a few rants