A visit to the doctor.

Michelle standing in for a lighting test.

The other day I shot some photos of a doctor for an article. Didn't realize how cramped those spaces are till I tried setting up a soft box and awkwardly banging into walls every where I went trying to position the damn thing. I ended up bouncing the light since that was the only real option I had without loosing my sanity. My efforts can be viewed in the up and coming Pie Magazine Issue 4.

Calspo Project

A while ago Tamara asked me to help her out with some photos that show what she does on a daily basis for a contest being held by CALSPO. The concept that we came up with, was to show the interaction of the SLP with the client while He/she interacts with a alternative communication device. We also wanted to show the actual speaking tool in a totally separate photograph aswell, so we paired them up in a dyptic to make them more effective and visually appealing. The dyptics ended up giving the project a contemporary feel, which is what we were going for. For Tamara and I it became so much more then a contest entry. I was glad I could help make something so moving for her, and I got to see the difference she's making for these kids(and families) first hand. So if we didn't win anything in the contest we still could feel good because we did something important for each other, awwwwwe(we ended up getting first in the photography category!)

To read the writing, click on the photograph.

Go Talk 20 AAC device aka "The Speak and Spell"

Speaking Green Button(not sure what the actual title is) an AAC device

Iphone as an AAC device.

So these tools are often used to communicate the basics, such as turning a page or what to eat, Anything that can help these kids communicate their needs, wants and opinions. I am quite obviously not educated in AAC but from what I understand and have heard and seen, the devices work by combining multiple buttons to form a sentence. This is especially the case with the Iphone and the Go Talk 20. The "Speaking Green Button" is slightly less elaborate and more basic but still equally effective in terms of transmitting a message.

Recent peoples.

Brandon no.4

I recently purchased new lighting equipment and have been dying to use it, luckily I have some friends that like it when I take their photos and Brandon is one of them. He seems to be always down which is great because wrangling people to shoot can be difficult at times, no one wants a photo of themselves? I don't know if taking "nice family PG photos" is what I do but I do think the pictures I take are attractive in one way or another.

I do feel however feel this photo isn't as good as it could have been(operator error, not you Bran its all me) and could even be described as a "miss". When I look at it I feel like it is something that would be considered average or something that might be produced in the first year of photography school. Maybe more post production, maybe a tighter crop could revive this sucker and label it "useable"? who knows.

Brandon no.5

The man that is always down, Brandon again, shot at Garage Studio. Shot similarly to my buddy Garrette, I just love showing the set and everything and using the environment to frame the homies. The great Annie L does this time to time, so why can't I? I find it interesting when other photographers do this because you get to see how they work, what they are working with and where they are working, its kinda like a lesson in lighting and composition all in one, plus it looks cool don't it? Cool lookin' photo is what its all about right?

Kim, broken nose.

One of my fave photos this year so far. Pretty straight up shot but the photo has an infinite amount of context and narrative that could be applied to it, its this that makes it so appealing to me. Thanks Kim.

Garrett in the Garage.

Garrett Williams.

Photo of my friend Garrett, Kenora newspaper writer extraordinaire. Shot on location at "The Garage Studio".

Garrett Williams no.2

Garrett was very relaxed infront of the camera and made shooting him super easy which is not always the case when shooting friends. Oddly I still have friends that are nervous when I take their photograph no matter how long I have known them.

Changes.

Andrea no.1 Originally shot for the series "Immortalized In Flesh"

This is the first version of the Andrea photo for my series "Immortalized In Flesh" that I recently removed and replaced with the image below, making a better fit with other images.

Andrea for the series "immortalized In Flesh"

This photo was taken a while ago for my second coming of the series "Immortalized In Flesh" that I initially passed on. I returned to it as I liked the shape and just the look that Andrea has, plus her first photo didn't mesh well with another photo I took later of 'Kim' that was posed in a similar way. The photo of Kim looked better interms of posing in conjunction with her amazing tattoo work, so Andrea got the boot and had to be switched up for variety purposes. Deems da breaks! Luckily I like this photo just as much as Andreas first intended shot(and so does she), so its all good!

No Toast.

Tamara cutting to the chase!

Bitchin' Brooklin Fair.

So recently My girlfriend Tamara and I went to check out the Brooklin County Fair, just outside of her home town of Whitby. I was picturing like a small ghetto little fair that usually comes to various towns throughout ontario in the summer. Boy was I wrong! This is like a huge oldschool kinda fair with all kinds of rides, ridiculous amounts of tasty americana-isk food to eat, freestyle motocross(dirt bikes hitting huge jumps) and a totally bitchin' crash up derby to top things off. A pretty epic time was had!

Whats a fair without rides that are put together in an hour and the unsuspecting parents that send their kids down them.

So this is mid crash up derby, I was told that these were the amateurs. Once the pros came out after this match (they take things to the next level!) you could see the difference right away; Flooring it and crashing at full speed into each other, fighting with the ref's and as told by an ex derby pro sitting near us, that all the competitors usually hate each other! It was like a manly white trash version of a soup opera!

There was some epic backgrounds there also(this was one of them) whens a 7b around when you need one? Oh well, next time.

Dirt bikers hitting huge jumps and doin' awesome tricks that one would see on the X Games was pretty sweet! luckily no one ate shit and all the bikers survived to jump again next year.