Applied Arts 2011 Photography annual

Received my copy of the Applied Arts today and was able to see my photo printed. Looks good, it did print a little darker the I had hoped but over all it's nice to see a personal project printed.

Applied Arts win.

This past summer I did a personal project on rural county fairs. One of the images that I captured was in a little town on the south shore of Nova Scotia. I had just wrapped up shooting some tourism images and we were looking for a place to eat when we saw this fair. I entered one of the images from that fair in the Applied Arts Photography & Illustration annual Awards and won in the Personal category. I just started entering contests and it nice to have your personal work printed in such a great magazine. Here is a list of all the winners

Gathering the troops

Most of my work can be divided into two types. First is low key, just me and in most cases my camera and one lens. I'm capturing real moments, looking for the right place to stand. I really enjoy this way of working, no piles of gear or lights to get in the way just me and the subject matter. Sometimes it's editorial and others in simple lifestyle work. The second type of work is big production work. It's really a team of people that pull together to make the client vision happen. You need to be organized and calm under pressure. One of my biggest strengths is I am always calm, maybe I'm just too lazy to be bothered to worry? I like to think its just the way I'm wired, getting worked up is a waste of time. I put together a team of people that can handle what needs to be done. These large shoots have two end results, one to get amazing images that meet or exceed client expectations. Second is the photo shoot experience, for the agency and the client. As photographers it's easy to grow use to what's involved in a photo shoot. For your clients it might be the first time, and to me it's important to deliver a little photo shoot experience when creating amazing images.

The Washington Post - Nova Scotia Christmas

Right before the Christmas Break I head the pleasure of working on a story with The Washington Post. I had a great time and was able to travel along side the reporter Andrea Sachs. Dispite there being no show I think I captured some great images. They loved the photos and ended up included more images in a slide show. You can my handy work here The Washington Post

At Home

As a little side project I am creating portraits of people in their home. I'm using people who are friends and not really models and only using the light in the room. I'm shooting both film and digital. I like the relaxed nature of photographing without a flash going off each time I press the shutter. These are a few of the images from this past week.

The Equestrian

As a rule I try to shoot as much personal work as I can. I find once you get out there on one project two more come to mind. Lately I have been photographing Fox Hunts in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. Let me just say upfront that their is not "hunting" or foxes involved. The hounds chase a scent laid down by an ATV, this allows them to plan a route to ride. The season is short, starting in October and going to the snow falls or Dec 19th. I have been getting out every Sunday between assignments to capture photos. So far I'm very happy with the results. I am now hoping to round out the project with some portraits. This is a test shot I did but I liked it so much I think I'll use it in my online portfolio.

Bring back the blog.

I'm not the world's greatest writer that is one of the reasons I take photos for a living. I tried to get away from the blogging but I'm back. I always have a couple personal projects on the go at any given time and this is the best way to post updates. When I took the blog down I setup a tumblr page that I post images to that I take with my iphone. I will continue to do that be sure to check it out. I'm also on Facebook, no "fan" page just me personally. I don't post anything too personal and I add everyone that requests. Here is a recent iphone photo I took while in New York.