EssPea | Photography

New Photoblog!

2007-01-04T00:08:00.000-05:00

I won't be updating here anymore, so hit up the new blog: http://www.esspea-photography.com/blog/

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-24T22:03:00.000-05:00

I took this shot as I was leaving some family festivities in Waterloo tonight. This shot will be the last shot I post on this blog and it will be the first shot I post on my new blog. Its pretty much ready to launch right now but I am going to wait until I get back from my Houston trip (January 3rd) to do so.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

AWOL

2006-12-20T01:58:00.000-05:00

New Website Coming
So I bit the bullet and bought my own domain and hosting. I am building the site now and hope to have it finished (at least the blog portion) by the new year. I am also traveling to Houston from the 26th until Jan 2nd. The long and the short of it is that there won't be any new pictures posts until i'm back and the new site is up.

I've got some great shots I did with the guys from Border Patrol to christen the new blog and I can't wait to show you them!

Snail

2006-12-14T10:47:00.000-05:00

I really like this shot because it looks like the snail is fully aware that his picture is being taken and he is posing for it. I also just think snails look really weird/cool.

Picture of the Day: Erik's Manual Lens Blog - Circle

Luminera II

2006-12-11T18:15:00.000-05:00

Another shot from Luminera.

Picture of the Day: Phot[o]lin - Black Pond

Luminera

2006-12-09T14:11:00.000-05:00

I completely forgot about the pictures I took at Luminera this year. It is a fundraiser where you purchase a bag with a candle and you (or a volunteer if you aren't there) light it. When you donate you get a piece of paper where you write who you are lighting the candle for. Its pretty neat seeing all these candles filling up the center of Laurier's campus.

Picture of the Day: In Photos - Up up and away

Waterloo Lutheran Seminary

2006-12-04T16:48:00.000-05:00

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Wilfrid Laurier University used to be called Waterloo Lutheran University until its name change in 1973. Pretty conveniant that the same initials (WLU) work for both names! The on campus seminary is one of the only reminders of what the school used to be called.

Picture of the Day: Andrew Norton Photo - For those about to rock....

Shoes

2006-12-01T14:11:00.000-05:00

A pair of shoes that caught my eye during one of the sets at the battle of the bands.

Picture of the Day: Reality Photography - Barstool Magazine 3

Bouquet

2006-11-29T16:29:00.000-05:00

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I saw this on the way home from a Laurier hockey game. I have no idea why it was there or who put it there, but that didn't stop me from taking a picture of it.

PS I am aware that there are some issues with the top navigation bars of my blog. They will be fixed as soon as I can figure out what I accidentally deleted to make them look like that.

Picture of the Day: Chambre Noire - Colored Night

Westpoint @ Wilfs III

2006-11-26T21:55:00.000-05:00

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This is my last shot from Westpoint's show. Things are finally slowing down around here... just in time for exams!

Picture of the Day: Pawel Szczerbik - on the move #2

Westpoint @ Wilfs II

2006-11-23T20:09:00.000-05:00

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This is Steve from Westpoint. They were in town this past friday for 'Music for Darfur' at Wilf's. If you've ever seen him play, you'll know that he really gets into his music and I think this picture captures exactly what his part of the live show feels like when you are watching it. I am off to Wilf's tonight, in celebration of my one day break between projects/tests and presentations, for 'Last Band Standing'. Its a battle of the bands, and those are always fun!

Picture of the Day: James Dodd - Coventry Cathedral Sunsetting

Westpoint @ Wilfs

2006-11-21T12:36:00.000-05:00

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Westpoint was in town this past friday for 'Music for Darfur' at Wilf's. It was a great show with a cool mix of bands (Macro Fiesta, Cain and Abel, The Video Dead and, of course, Westpoint)

Picture of the Day: Amateur Commune - #594

The Walk Home II

2006-11-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

Another shot from the walk home.

Picture of the Day: Photo Generalist - Rainy Fall Day

The Walk Home

2006-11-13T11:46:00.000-05:00

I took my 50mm out for a spin the other night on the walk home from a friends house. Its a really fun lens to use, especially outside at night.

Picture of the Day: Optic Distraction - Hazy

Online Security

2006-11-08T17:07:00.000-05:00

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The Cord needed a tight, vertical picture of a computer to accompany an article about identity theft online. I spent more time cleaning up my desk and computer than I did taking the shot!

Picture of the Day: Jon Swainson - South Landing #5

Sloth

2006-11-03T18:08:00.000-05:00

Weekly Shot's theme of the week was Seven Deadly Sins. As you can see I chose 'Sloth' for my submission because I was too lazy/busy to that week to actually put more than 15 minutes into my submission! Haha.

In other news my submission to RequeStock was accepted and I actually received the $50 payout. I wasn't expecting it to actually pay out as it is just starting out, but I am definitely going to be submitting more to that site now.

Picture of the Day: ----look-s---> - Little Veranda 2

Laurier Hockey II

2006-10-31T15:25:00.000-05:00

This is one of my favourites from the Laurier vs Queens hockey game. Mark Voakes split the defence and flipped a backhand by the goalie. It was a really nice goal. Laurier ended up winning the hockey game 5-4, but it was a tight last two minutes since Queens had pulled their goalie and we had a penalty.

Picture of the Day: The Subjective Lens - The Swimming Pool in the Smog

Laurier Hockey

2006-10-24T19:21:00.000-04:00

So I shot my first hockey game last sunday and let me say it was quite a challenge getting a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the action in the blackhole that is an arena. As if thats not enough the color temperature of the lights was constantly changing so getting the ice to look white was a challenge as well.

All in all it was a fun time and hockey is quite different to shoot compared to football. In football the plays are fairly predictable and you get time to move in between each play. In hockey there is constant unpredictable action and if you try to reposition you will miss something exciting.

Picture of the Day: Three Flavours - Rad

Royal Flush

2006-10-16T12:43:00.000-04:00

This shot is for RequeStock, which is a new stock website currently in the beta stages. Normally with stock you take a bunch of pictures and hope someone wants them. With requestock you get specific image requests from people and the image you submit gets put into a pool of everyone elses image. At the end of the deadline the original requestor picks what image he wants to use and pays the person who submitted it.

If you follow the above link I think you are still able to join the beta. Check it out!

Picture of the Day: 360degreez - two oaks in morning mist

Laurier vs McMaster II

2006-10-12T14:59:00.000-04:00

This is another shot from the Laurier / McMaster Football game this past weekend. I love the timing on the shot and that I was able to pick out which player got the ball in time to get a good shot of him. The only thing I wish was in the shot was the ground because without it you lose a lot of context (for example this is a touchdown dive right over top of the McMaster defensive line, but it is hard to tell that from the picture).

In other news: It snowed in Waterloo today. No accumulation, but it was pretty much a 10-20 minute blizzard.

Picture of the Day: Snaps of my Life - A Rider in the Dawn Mist

Laurier vs McMaster

2006-10-10T15:21:00.000-04:00

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I've been shooting a lot of football for The Cord (Laurier's Newspaper) over the past few weeks and I think I am starting to get the hang of it. This shot is from this past Saturday where Laurier demolished McMaster 31-12 at Ivor Wynne Stadium. I honestly thought that it was going to be a close game and I even gave McMaster the edge, but they didn't even score until the 4th quarter if I recall correctly.

Picture of the Day: Noushin - Harvest Farm

Salivate

2006-10-05T12:21:00.000-04:00

Everytime I look at this shot my mouth starts to water. This shot was taken as part of the 1 million shots that everyone takes with their new lens, in my case the 50mm, the day they get it. Other than the salivating I can't really explain what draws me to this shot, so I will leave it at: "I Like How It Looks!", Haha.

Picture of the Day: Points of Light - Colors of autumn

A Flower For Mom

2006-10-02T19:07:00.000-04:00

This is the same flower used in the previous shot, "Alien Eggs". My Mom had asked me to take some pictures that could be printed and hung in her bedroom. I took this picture, waited until she forgot she had asked me for it, then blew it up real big and gave it to her for her birthday.

Picture of the Day: West Coast PhotoWorks - Angles

The Morning After II

2006-09-28T19:25:00.000-04:00

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This is James Heaslip from The Magnificent Group of Seven and he isn't having a good morning.

Sorry for the lack of updates over the past 10 days. I am back at school so my shooting oppourtunities are few and far between. I am going to try to change that though, just gotta get ahead on some of my readings/assignments (haha).

This past weekend I went to three shows in three days: Tool with ISIS at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto, ISIS at the Underground in Hamilton, and Red Hot Chili Peppers with The Mars Volta at the Air Canada Center in Toronto. Way too much good music in such a short period of time, I can't believe I survived.

Picture of the Day: Geckonia - Dead Wood Walking

Moneen @ The Turret

2006-09-17T12:25:00.000-04:00

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This is Kenny Bridges, guitarist and lead singer from the band Moneen. This shot was taken at Wilfrid Laurier's O-Week Campus Party. Basically the Frosh take over a huge fenced off area in the main part of campus and no one else is allowed in. It looked like a pretty fun time, but didn't seem as packed as the one for my O-Week.

Picture of the Day: photokej - Poppiger Neubau 1

The Reason @ The Turret

2006-09-15T11:33:00.000-04:00

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This is Jeremy Widerman, guitarist from the band The Reason. This shot was taken at Wilfrid Laurier's O-Week Campus Party. Basically the Frosh take over a huge fenced off area in the main part of campus and no one else is allowed in. It looked like a pretty fun time, but didn't seem as packed as the one for my O-Week.

Picture of the Day: Waiting For.. - Prato

Silverstein @ The Turret

2006-09-14T15:14:00.000-04:00

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This is Billy Hamilton from the band Silverstein

I decided to bring only my camera and my 50mm lens to the o-week campus party and leave my 18-70mm and my flash at home. It was definitly a change from what I am used to, but by the end of the show I think I had a decent grasp on what was working and what wasn't. Two advantages I found were that the shots feel a lot more like the concert (since there is no flash mixing in with the ambient) and that you don't have to worry about the band members getting annoyed with your flash. A disadvantage is that it is really hard to freeze motion and get crisp, sharp shots. The biggest disadvantage of the 50mm is that on a digital camera it is a bit too tight, so it was hard to get everything I wanted into the frame.

Picture of the Day: Shazeen Samad - Rannamaari Challenge

Alien Eggs

2006-09-11T17:00:00.000-04:00

Somewhere, around your garden or even inside your own home, there could be alien eggs waiting to hatch. I'd watch out for them if I were you.

Picture of the Day: chromasia - wyre wreck #10

Day in the Life II

2006-09-08T17:27:00.000-04:00

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This is another promo shot that I did for the band Day in the Life. They are based out of Hamilton so we did the shoot in Dundurn Park, which has a lot of cool spots to take some pictures.

Picture of the Day: Sydney Webcam - Kings Cross

Day in the Life

2006-09-07T16:01:00.000-04:00

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This is a promo shot that I did for the band Day in the Life. They are based out of Hamilton so we did the shoot in Dundurn Park, which is a neat little place.

Picture of the Day: Rock Daily Photo - Desperado

The Morning After

2006-09-05T14:45:00.000-04:00

The Magnificent Group of Seven had me back to do some more shots for them. This time they wanted something of the whole group together, seemingly after a night of intense partying. It was a challenge to frame and light, but I think I pulled it off nicely. Like I said last time, if you like to laugh you should check out some of their videos. They are currently working on a mockumentary series and from what I saw of it after the shoot it looks like it is going to be hilarious.

Picture of the Day: SPB - Magic Mushroom

Bug-Eyed

2006-09-02T20:40:00.000-04:00

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Yet another macro insect. I hope no one is getting too bored!
I did a shoot for the Magnificent Group of Seven again last night. It was a hilarious time and I will be posting the final shots from the night here soon.

Picture of the Day: Mark Power - untitled

Mini Bee

2006-08-31T14:22:00.000-04:00

This picture, like the previous two, was taken at the 1:1 setting with my new macro setup. It really opens up a whole new world of subjects to photograph. I still havent found a real bee or a bumble bee to try to capture but its sunny today so I just might.

Picture of the Day: The Shoebox - One to One

1:1

2006-08-30T11:13:00.000-04:00

This was taken at the 1:1 setting with my new macro setup. If anyone can identify the insect and/or what the white blobs on him are it would be greatly appreciated. I did a shoot for the band 'Day in the Life' last night, so I should be posting shots from it up in the next few days.

Picture of the Day: Reckless Camera Syndrome - rapelling

1:3

2006-08-28T12:47:00.000-04:00

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I've finally collected the pieces for my macro setup. The last piece was hard to find for a decent price (even used) but I eventually found it for 1/4 of the price some shops were selling a used copy for, and the one I found was new! The above image was taken on the 1:3 setting (the image on the sensor is 1/3rd lifesize) and then I cropped a bit.

Picture of the Day: LeggNet's Digital Capture - Backyard Visitor

Joyride IV

2006-08-26T17:06:00.000-04:00

I am in the middle of a busy weekend right now, so this one is from the 'archives'. This is another one from the Joyride shoot that I liked. They must have liked it too because they turned it into this banner:

Picture of the Day: ELECTROSPHERE - "-"

Big City

2006-08-23T11:12:00.000-04:00

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Tomorrow is my last day of work before going back for my last year of school at Wilfrid Laruier University. I won't miss the commute to Toronto, but I will miss the size and diversity of the city.

Picture of the Day: Geckonia - A Night in Tunisia

Natural Spring Water

2006-08-21T11:15:00.000-04:00

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This was my entry for the Strobist bootcamp assignment #4. You had to take a simple, graphic picture of bottled water that would be suitable for use in an advertisement. If you have a camera, a flash, and a way of using that flash off camera I highly suggest you check out Strobist. Its a great resource and the assignments are challenging.

Picture of the Day: Cozmo Photography - the base

Kings and Pawns

2006-08-18T10:11:00.000-04:00

As I was walking through a park I can't remember the name of (Queen and Church) I saw a bunch of people playing speed chess. I watched for a bit until I took this picture. The man on the left is a business man with a nice tie, jacket and a blackberry. The guy on the right is a homeless person. I thought it was pretty cool how chess was bringing them together.

Picture of the Day: Brian Garson - Full Pipe

The Timeless Art of Seduction

2006-08-16T10:01:00.000-04:00

Click Image To Remove Frame

Don't Ask.... Seriously.

Alright fine, but only because you insist: My friend Kevin had a birthday coming up and we had no idea what to get him. Somehow the topic of Seinfeld came up (as it always does) and Jordan, pictured above, jokingly said that we should re-shoot the famous George poster, frame it, and give it to him at the party Kevins parents were throwing for him. I jokingly agreed and that was that, or so we thought.
A week later and no closer to a present Jordan brought up the poster again. I said that I would shoot it if he was up for posing. He laughed it off at first, but then I told him to think of how funny it would be when we handed it to Kevin and he unwrapped it infront of his girlfriend, his parents, and all his other friends. He agreed.
Jordan had the perfect couch at his house so we shot there with his younger brother holding a white sheet in front of my flash to try to emulate the light in the real shot. Jordans mother was watching from the kitchen door. It was an awkward/hilarious shoot to say the least.
I added the matte, the title, and the '1/1', got it printed at 11x14 (I think) and put it in a transparent frame.
Long story short everyone at the party was dying with laughter when they saw the final product and it now sits on the family room fireplace in Kevins parents house!
Here is the end result: Click
And here is the original: Click

Picture of the Day: | c2photo.com | - Route 163

The Pirates

2006-08-14T10:47:00.000-04:00

This is Tristan from a local cover band called 'The Pirates' that some friends play in. They put on a good show that includes music from all over the spectrum, from Radiohead to Hieroglyphics to Led Zeppelin and everything in between. Also, after every song they switch intruments (aside from the drummer) so each member ends up playing each different instrument.

Picture of the Day: Photojenic - Swimming in Bracebridge Bay

50mm

2006-08-12T11:48:00.000-04:00

My new (used) 50mm lens came in the mail today. I had to wait for the owner to get back from a month long vacation to get it, but it was well worth it. The above shot is not the new lens, it is the 50mm lens used on my Yashica FX-D. I shot it for a stock photo website so I purposely blew the highlights on the lens to get rid of the 'Yashica' that was written there.

Picture of the Day: Optic Distraction - Caught by the River

Magic Man

2006-08-10T18:37:00.000-04:00

This is one character from the character shoot for a friends film school project. The group behind the proposed film is 'The Magnificent Group of Seven'. If you like laughing I highly suggest you follow that link and check out some of their work.

Picture of the Day: the daily sunrise - Simply Sleek

Big Sister

2006-08-09T09:23:00.000-04:00

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"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself - anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime..."
- George Orwell, 1984

Picture of the Day: Thinsite - quick break

RGB

2006-08-08T10:04:00.000-04:00

I was standing on the street waiting for the timing of another photo to come together (it will probably be my next post) when I looked up and saw this view. It is somewhat abstract, so if you have a guess at what it is feel free to comment. I like this shot, but I can't look at it for an extended time. All the weird angles and the perspective messes with my head.

Picture of the Day: DP Blog - Promenade

Speed

2006-08-04T08:35:00.000-04:00

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This was taken on another boat ride up at the cottage we rent in muskoka. For obvious reasons I was holding on to my camera and its strap a lot tighter than usual when I took this shot.

Picture of the Day: Absolutely Nothing - 5 o'clock shadows

Summertime

2006-08-02T09:27:00.000-04:00

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I'd love to say that this is a representation of the majority of my summer, but I can't. When I got home from the cottage I saw a billboard for corona and it was earily similar (the beer is on its side and the lime is beside the beer), which is cool.

Picture of the Day: The G8 - Fire Hour

Setting Sun

2006-08-01T09:52:00.000-04:00

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A view from sitting out front of the cottage we rent on Lake Rosseau.

Picture of the Day: [daily dose of imagery] - Off Balanced

I Love Cloud

2006-07-31T10:44:00.000-04:00

I saw this cloud when I was out for a boat ride with Kate at my cottage. I got brownie points for pointing it out and taking a picture. Don't tell her but I don't really love cloud. I was just looking at things around the lake and saying that I loved them.

Picture of the Day: Lightscape-Images - Paignton Harbour

Goodbye, Blue Sky

2006-07-28T10:53:00.000-04:00

If you were watching this blog a year ago when it first started up (doubtful) you will remember a waterfall picture I posted from my trip to the cottage (as well as many other pictures). This shot was taken from the top right corner of the waterfall picture, but facing in the other direction. On the walk to the waterfall we saw a fox who was suprisingly comfortable around us. I tried to take a picture of it but it is impossible to focus on a running fox when it is pitch black, so it came out pretty blurry.

I am going to try to post a "Picture of the Day" with every new post that I make, so that you can see some of the photographers whose work I enjoy.

Picture of the Day: Chromasia - living on the edge

Joyride III

2006-07-27T10:48:00.000-04:00

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One more shot from Joyride. I did this exact shot for each of the band members. My next update will be something from my cottage. After checking them out on a bigger screen and doing some preliminary processing I am pretty happy with how a lot of them turned out.

Joyride II

2006-07-26T10:12:00.000-04:00

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Another shot from Joyride. I had a great time at my cottage and took tons of pictures, many of which you will be seeing here over the next week or so.

Joyride

2006-07-22T08:07:00.000-04:00

I figure since I will be missing the monday post that I might as well do it now. This is the band Joyride from Hamilton.

Cool Down

2006-07-21T10:01:00.000-04:00

It was a hot day in Toronto. I really wanted to join her but I couldn't imagine trying to explain why I was soaked when I got back to work.

I am off to my cottage, have a good weekend!

The Goodbye Celebration

2006-07-19T10:06:00.000-04:00

I was shooting some singles for The Goodbye Celebration and I decided to shoot a group shot when I was done. One of the members Dad had a nice big umbrella, so I wanted to get all the experimentation I could with it before I finally bought one for myself. I may get together with them for another promo shot oriented shoot, so keep and eye out!

Oh yeah, I did daily updates last week and it made me realise that I don't have enough time or images to continue doing that. I am going to try to do Monday, Wednesday, Friday (If I am home) updates from now on, so we will see how that goes. Hopefully its a nice balance.

Rainy Day

2006-07-17T10:19:00.000-04:00

The lady with the umbrella in the back of this picture was just sitting outside in the pouring rain eating her lunch. I was thinking to myself 'man, she must be crazy' but then I realised that I was out in the same wind and rain holding onto my camera with one hand and my umbrella with the other.

Tags: Rain Leaves Toronto Black+and+White Photo Photoblog

Hidden Gem

2006-07-14T19:37:00.000-04:00

I've walked by this flower so many times, but I've never seen it (or it wasn't in bloom). It caught my eye this time though.
I am going away for the weekend so there won't be any new posts until monday, have a great weekend!

Tags: Flower, Color, Rain, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Photo, Photography

Summer

2006-07-14T00:05:00.000-04:00

This is one of my favourite shots from last summer at my cottage. Its not technically perfect, but I think it captures the theme of 'summer' quite well. Shot with my Yashica FX-D and scanned from the print.

Tags: Summer, Cottage, Sun, Bubble, Film, Yashica, Photoblog, Photography

Weeds

2006-07-12T10:37:00.000-04:00

Man is by definition the first and primary weed
under whose influence all other weeds have evolved.
- Jack R. Harland

Tags: B+W Weeds Weed Concrete Wall Toronto Ontario Canada Contrast Street Urban Photography Photoblog

When It Rains...

2006-07-11T08:02:00.000-04:00

I was walking around on my lunch and it all of a sudden started pouring the hardest I've seen it pour in a while. I ran under an overhang and had some fun watching people rush to try and get out of the rain.

Tags: Black and White, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Contrast, Rain, Bike, Wet, Photography, Photo, Photo Blog

Guilty III

2006-07-07T11:05:00.000-04:00

I feel really guilty about putting another one up from this shoot, but I really like the results. I promise something new tomorrow, but I wont promise that you wont see another shot or two from them in the future if I don't have a photo ready to update. Enjoy

Tags: Music Band Promotional Promo Guilty Hamilton Waterdown Ontario Photo Photoblog Graveyard

Guilty II

2006-07-06T10:39:00.000-04:00

This is my favourite from the Guilty shoot. I'll probably post one more from the shoot and then move on to some newer stuff that I have shot. Who knows, maybe I can even keep the update streak alive!

Tags: Music Band Promotional Promo Guilty Hamilton Waterdown Ontario Photo Photoblog Graveyard

Guilty

2006-07-05T08:40:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, it was a busy weekend and I spent it out of town. I had the chance to take some promo shots for the band Guilty last week and I am in the middle of processing them now. I am pretty happy with the overall shoot so I am going to post a few shots from it over the next few days. As for all my vertical shots, click for a bigger picture.

Tags: Music Band Promotional Promo Guilty Hamilton Waterdown Ontario Photo Photoblog Graveyard

Strobist Boot Camp

2006-06-27T22:47:00.000-04:00

I completely forgot about the Strobist Boot Camp assignment until tonight (which happens to be the 'due' date), so I grabbed my sister and went into the basement to get a picture that met the 'Headshot' assignment guidelines. Above is the result.

If you have the chance you should check the Strobist site out. It has tons of information on lighting and every few weeks you get an assignment as if you were shooting for a newspaper. This was the first assignment, so it was just getting a simple headshot, but he says as the assignments progress the requirements will become more and more specific.

Tech Tags: Portrait Strobist Sister Photo Photoblog

Rob

2006-06-26T19:05:00.000-04:00

Meet Rob. I hadn't seen him in a while and I ran into him at the Sound of Music Festival. The story behind this shot: All of us at SOMF were wondering what time it was, but none of us had a watch. I decided to take a picture just to check the time. I was fully planning to delete it, but when I got home and played around with it a bit I decided to keep it. I sent it to Rob over msn and his response was "Wow, a picture of me that does not involve me making a stupid face".

I don't agree, but don't tell him that... haha.

Tags: Photo, Photoblog, Rob, Sound of Music, Grabshot, Photography, Burlington, Ontario, Canada, Portrait

Sound of Music II

2006-06-24T19:53:00.000-04:00

Another, this time of the whole band, from Westpoint at the sound of music.

Tags: Photo, Photoblog, Burlington, Sound of Music Festival, Ontario, Canada, Westpoint, Live Music, Band

Sound of Music

2006-06-21T22:47:00.000-04:00

It was a busy weekend, but I was able to drop by the Sound of Music Festival to catch Westpoint play their set. It was filled with new songs, which were good to hear.

PS I am trying to fix some bugs in my layout, so if its not looking normal (The flicker sidebar is at the bottom for example) please leave a comment telling me what resolution your screen is and what browser you are using. Thank a lot!

Tags: Photo, Photoblog, Burlington, Sound of Music Festival, Ontario, Canada, Westpoint, Live Music, Band

Rise

2006-06-19T20:54:00.000-04:00

Taken on my way to Union Station to catch the GO train to go home for the day.

Tags: Photo, Photoblog, Toronto, RBC, Royal Bank, Sky, Clouds, Skyscraper, Highrise, Office Buildings

Poverty

2006-06-15T18:08:00.000-04:00

For those of you who have been checking this blog for a bit you will recognize this shot. For those of you who are seeing this for the first time, this is a child that I stopped and talked to (with Kate translating of course) while on a tour through the Dominican Republic. Everytime the children saw a tour bus pass they started running after the bus screaming "Candy!". No one saw this little guy and he couldn't get out to the road to chase us, so when we stopped I walked back and gave him some candy and tried to talk with him.

The reason I am posting it again is because of this website called Photo Friday and its weekly assignments. This weeks theme is "poverty" and I tried all week in Toronto to get a shot that did the theme justice, but I didn't really get anything with as much feeling as the above shot you see. I reworked the shot from the original and now I can't tell which one I like better. As always, click the picture for a bigger view.

The Photo Friday website is weekly contest, so if you like my shot feel free to vote. I am #451 after you follow the link (EssPea | Photo). Thanks!

Tags: Dominican Republic, Child, Yu-Gi-Oh, Barb Wire, Photo, Photoblog, Poverty, Photo Friday

Slant

2006-06-13T22:08:00.000-04:00

When it comes to black and white conversions I really have no idea what I am doing. If anyone has some tips or tricks they use, feel free to share them.

The above is some stairs that caught my eye on my lunch today near York and Adelaide. It was really busy on the road and the streets, so it took some time for this shot to get deserted.

Tags: Stairs, Toronto, Photo, Photoblog, Nikon, D70

A Moment of Your Time...

2006-06-10T15:50:00.000-04:00

...to see what was an eternity in mine. My battery died during the noise reduction stage of this shot, so its kinda grainy, but I love the curves and the colors. I only took one shot last night, and since I am still feeling out how to expose properly for the conditions I am pretty happy that it turned out.

Tags: Long Exposure, Night, Photo, Photoblog, Photography, Digital, Lake

Play Oliver II

2006-06-09T08:28:00.000-04:00

Another shot from the Play Oliver shoot this past weekend. These guys are sweet dudes playing some pretty cool music, you should check them out.

Tags: Photo, Promo, Play Oliver, Photoblog, Music, Band

Scientists

2006-06-07T09:41:00.000-04:00

This was done for the rap outfit Scientists on the same day as the previous Play Oliver shots. The plasma orb puts out some interference that messes with my gear so it made for a interesting setup.

Tags: Photography, Photo, Photoblog, Plasma Ball, Orb, Music, Rap, Promotional

Play Oliver

2006-06-05T23:06:00.000-04:00

Had the chance this weekend to do some promo shots for semi-local band Play Oliver. These guys are sweet dudes playing some nice music, you should check them out.

Tags: Photo, Promo, Play Oliver, Photoblog, Music, Band

Fight!

2006-06-01T00:15:00.000-04:00

Just me fooling around in the basement in preparation for a bands promo shot idea I have.

Tags: Radio Shack, Plasma, Photo, Photoblog, Photography, Blue, Red

Scrumptious

2006-05-29T18:08:00.000-04:00

Two weekends ago I had my friends Tyler and Jordan came over for dinner.
Tyler has worked in restaurants all his life so he is pretty good a preparing foods. This is one of his masterpieces. It is a shish-kabob with green and orange peppers, shrimp in a mango sauce and chicken in a curry-salsa sauce (my creation). The kabobs were laid over top of some mango covered, multi-colored tortilla chips. Thats a Margarita in the background too, don't ask it was Margarita night.

Tags: Photoblog, Photo, Dinner, Food, Margarita, BBQ, Chicken, Shrimp, Curry, Salsa, Sauce, Mango

Many!

2006-05-28T17:44:00.000-04:00

I found this on a walk through Toronto on my lunch. I'll be trying to bring my camera into work more often now that it isn't freezing cold out at lunch now.

Technorati Tags: Photoblog, Graffiti, Blue, Urban, Toronto

My Bike

2006-05-23T21:10:00.000-04:00

On monday I rode with a friend from Burlington into Toronto. It's been a goal for us for a while so to actually do it was pretty cool. We took Lakeshore and it took about 3 hours riding time and was 54km. We grabbed some indian food, ate in on the train home and then realised that the train only went back to oakville station so we had a suprise 13km ride home! All in all it was a good day and I rode 74km which was a lot more than I have ever done in a day.

Next up ride there AND back.

Technorati Tags: Photoblog, Mountain Bike, Orange, silhouette

Windy Day II

2006-05-21T17:53:00.000-04:00

It was quite a windy day out yesterday!

Windy Day I

2006-05-20T17:34:00.000-04:00

The sky was pretty nice looking today so I dragged my sister out and tried to get some portrait practice. It was windy, so her hair is kinda all over the place but I still love the shot.

Circumduct

2006-05-19T08:46:00.000-04:00

Not really much to say about this shot. I think its better when you feel that you recognize it but don't know exactly what it is.

Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma...

2006-05-18T08:36:00.000-04:00

Part 2 of giving Will Hayward (the lizard king) a run for his money.

Chameleons are a pretty cool creature. When I first got up to their exhibit it took me a second to find the one in the foreground. I thought he was the only one, but then the guy in the background moved.

Three's A Crowd

2006-05-17T09:51:00.000-04:00

I am trying to give Will Hayward (the lizard king) a run for his money.

When I got to these guys at the zoo, they weren't doing anything particularily interesting. I sat with my camera pressed against the glass for a while, but they still didn't give me the time of day. Then just as I was about to leave they struck this pose. This is one of my favourites from the zoo trip. You would never know that it was shot through glass since it is suprisingly sharp and reflection free.

Turtle Power

2006-05-15T17:26:00.000-04:00

More from the Zoo. This time its turtles in their (un)natural habitat.

If you had trouble seeing what the last one was, it was a crocadile (or alligator?) with his eyes above water.

See Ya Later

2006-05-14T01:04:00.000-04:00

I completely forgot about the pictures I took on my trip to the zoo a few weeks ago. Here they are:

No Footer Endo

2006-05-09T20:44:00.000-04:00

Mark again from the same day as before.

Four Stair

2006-05-08T19:55:00.000-04:00

My buddy Mark airing it out huge on a four stair at Nelson High School. Actually, he is just my guinea pig while I try to light something that I've never tried to light before. I don't like how dark his face and the front half of his body is, but I am happy with the result. I'll be trying to build on it over the summer.

Youthfest II

2006-05-07T18:20:00.000-04:00

Connor from Boys Night Out getting air born.

Youthfest I

2006-05-07T02:26:00.000-04:00

I dropped by the annual Youthfest that Burlington puts on today. Boys Night Out was playing and they always put on a good show:

Sno-Kones

2006-05-02T21:10:00.000-04:00

Here is another shot from the deserted fair last weekend:

I took a few more creative liberties in PS than I usually do, but it ended up pretty much how I envisioned it when I shot it.

I am just getting back into the swing of things at work so I'll probably start bringing my camera with me to Toronto everyday within the next few days. I moved to a new office, so that means different things fall within walking distance of the time I have for my lunch break.

Self Titled

2006-04-30T16:55:00.000-04:00

This one is for Kate who finally arrived in Brasil, she wanted a picture of me smiling that she could take with her, so here it is:

;)

Color Management 101

2006-04-28T15:49:00.000-04:00

So it turns out that what I thought to be 'correct color management' with my digital camera was actually 'terrible color management'. I shoot Adobe RGB 1998 to capture the most color and then convert to sRGB to make it look nice on computer screens. At least thats what I thought I was doing. I found out that I was doing this wrong and the result wass that when I wanted you to see this:

You were actually seeing this:

Its a pretty big difference as you can see.

Pharaoh's Fury

2006-04-27T16:57:00.000-04:00

I've been out shooting a lot, I just havent had the time to process my shots and make an update. I went to the fair last saturday. It was cold, rainy and it was pretty much empty. We rode the ferris wheel once and then left because it was just too cold.

This shot is made up from three separate shots, which explains the distortion visible in the parking lot lines and the sides of the pyramid.

My girlfriends plane leaves for Brazil in about 2 hours. She will be back in 2 months. Kate if your wireless works in in any of the airports you are in: I hope you are having a fun trip and that you will survive the 36 hour journey!

Liquid Hot Magma II

2006-04-17T13:53:00.000-04:00

Thats it for now, but I will probably try to refine the technique on another rainy day. In other news, it is now summer for me since I finished my last exam today at 12!

Liquid Hot Magma

2006-04-15T23:25:00.000-04:00

I almost burnt my fingers off to get this one.

Careful, Hot.

2006-04-12T18:21:00.000-04:00

I was bored after my exam yesterday and I wanted to go out and shoot but it was raining. I saw this linked from a blog that I check and decided to try my hand at it. Its an overplayed and cliche technique, but I tried to put my own twist on it. This shot isn't the technique I linked to, but I thought of it while I was setting up.

Support

2006-04-10T22:45:00.000-04:00

One from the archives, I am right smack dab in the middle of my exams and time is short. This didn't really turn out the way I had envisioned it, so watch for similar things soon.

Billy Talent

2006-04-06T12:22:00.000-04:00

I was stuck in one spot for the whole show, but some very nice people let me move up against the railing so I could hang over and manouver a bit. The only person who I had a perfect view of was Ben (singer), so thats why there are many of him.

I didn't get any good shots of Jon (bassist), but what can you do when there is a security guards head in your way!
Anyways, back to the books. One down, four to go.

12:59am

2006-04-05T16:07:00.000-04:00

This is a 'Proof of Concept' shot I took a week ago. I had been waiting a while for the sky to look like this and when it finally did I really didn't have time to shoot it properly. I didn't want to waste the sky though, so I went out back and tried to come up with something semi interesting. This is an 148 second exposure taken at 12:59am.

From Fiction

2006-04-04T18:12:00.000-04:00

I missed the first band, but I got in (more on that later) just before 'From Fiction' started to play. I've never heard of them before but the second they started playing I knew I was in for a show. Their sound was Mars Volta'esque, with disjointed guitar work and crazy drumming, but they definitly weren't just copying what had already been done.

Through out the entire show they never stopped moving (unless you count falling to the ground while playing) and the drummer would often stand up and jump to hit the drums. He knocked his tom and crash over a few times, but would just keep on playing on them while they were on the ground.

All in all it was a great set and one of the craziest live shows I've seen (aside from 'The End'). I went looking for their album ('Bloodwork') today. I'll post some Billy Talent pictures tomorrow when I take a break from studying.