May 22, 2009
Day 2: Shadows and light
On day 2 of the workshop, we photographed on location at a gorgeous hacienda. Everywhere you turned, there were gorgeous rooms and stunning light. This day we learned about shooting with directional natural light, as well as off-camera flash. Cliff taught us how to be efficient with the minimal amount of lighting equipment, which I appreciated as I'm not one for lugging around tons of lighting gear.
May 20, 2009
Day 1: I saw the light
Last week I attended an absolutely amazing wedding photography workshop with Cliff Mautner. The only downside was that my head nearly exploded from everything I learned.
Because I'm slowly adding portrait and wedding photography to my business, I felt the need to learn some new skills that would be a good foundation going forward. Cliff is a master when it comes to seeing and capturing light. The first day we learned how to shoot in the harsh midday sun. As photographers, we love that soft and warm early morning and late afternoon/early evening sunlight; those two hours after sunrise and before sunset. But when shooting a wedding, you have to be able to shoot in that harsh sun and come back with what you're being paid for ... beautiful photographs. Cliff taught us that we didn't need to run for the cover of open shade. We just needed to know what the heck we were doing.
More photographs from day 2 of the workshop to come.
Because I'm slowly adding portrait and wedding photography to my business, I felt the need to learn some new skills that would be a good foundation going forward. Cliff is a master when it comes to seeing and capturing light. The first day we learned how to shoot in the harsh midday sun. As photographers, we love that soft and warm early morning and late afternoon/early evening sunlight; those two hours after sunrise and before sunset. But when shooting a wedding, you have to be able to shoot in that harsh sun and come back with what you're being paid for ... beautiful photographs. Cliff taught us that we didn't need to run for the cover of open shade. We just needed to know what the heck we were doing.
More photographs from day 2 of the workshop to come.
May 06, 2009
The most wonderful time of the year
May. It just may be my favorite month of the year. Because of this ....
April 29, 2009
Imagine
Last week I went to the Musee de Beaux Arts in Montreal to see the exhibition Imagine: The Peace Ballad of John & Yoko. The exhibit celebrates the 40th anniversary of John & Yoko's bed-in at the Queen Elizabeth hotel in Montreal in 1969. It explores their musical, artistic, and political collaboration through drawings, photographs, videos, films, and interactive installations.
This was one of my favorite drawings, which shows them leaving Gibraltar shortly after their wedding. It's amazing how, in just a few squiggly lines, John managed to capture their essence.
These posters were displayed above the bed during the bed-in. It was while in the hotel room that they recorded the song Give peace a chance.
Contemplating the meaning of bagism. According to Yoko, bagism was inspired by the theme of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, which was "One sees rightly only with the heart, the essential is invisible to the eyes." She hoped that the bag, by hiding her and John's physical appearance, would make their essence or the essence of their message visible.
The lyrics to the song Imagine where largely inspired by the words in Yoko's book Grapefruit. “In it (Grapefruit) are a lot of pieces saying imagine this, imagine that,” he remembered. “Yoko actually helped me a lot with the lyrics, but I wasn’t man enough to let her have credit for it . . . I was still full of wanting my own space after being in a room with the guys all the time, having to share everything.” John Lennon
On the left is Yoko Ono's concept piece called Play it by trust. By painting the chess board and pieces a uniform white, players lose track of their pieces as the game progresses. Ideally this leads to a shared understanding of their mutual concerns and a new relationship based on empathy rather than opposition. On the right is the Wish Tree. As a child in Japan, Yoko would write her wishes on little pieces of paper that she would then hang on the branches of trees in temple courtyards. Here, she encourages visitors to do the same.
This was one of my favorite drawings, which shows them leaving Gibraltar shortly after their wedding. It's amazing how, in just a few squiggly lines, John managed to capture their essence.
These posters were displayed above the bed during the bed-in. It was while in the hotel room that they recorded the song Give peace a chance.
Contemplating the meaning of bagism. According to Yoko, bagism was inspired by the theme of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince, which was "One sees rightly only with the heart, the essential is invisible to the eyes." She hoped that the bag, by hiding her and John's physical appearance, would make their essence or the essence of their message visible.
The lyrics to the song Imagine where largely inspired by the words in Yoko's book Grapefruit. “In it (Grapefruit) are a lot of pieces saying imagine this, imagine that,” he remembered. “Yoko actually helped me a lot with the lyrics, but I wasn’t man enough to let her have credit for it . . . I was still full of wanting my own space after being in a room with the guys all the time, having to share everything.” John Lennon
On the left is Yoko Ono's concept piece called Play it by trust. By painting the chess board and pieces a uniform white, players lose track of their pieces as the game progresses. Ideally this leads to a shared understanding of their mutual concerns and a new relationship based on empathy rather than opposition. On the right is the Wish Tree. As a child in Japan, Yoko would write her wishes on little pieces of paper that she would then hang on the branches of trees in temple courtyards. Here, she encourages visitors to do the same.
April 24, 2009
Orange you glad?
I'm glad:
* to be celebrating 9 years of coupledom with TB this weekend
* that it's warm enough today to eat ice cream ... outside!
* that my vintage alarm clock arrived in the mail today (it's so cute)
* that next weekend is my annual girls' weekend away
* that the weekend after that I get to learn a whole bunch of new skills during my
wedding photography workshop with Cliff Mautner
I hope that you have things to be glad about too. Have a wonderful weekend!
April 20, 2009
A day in the country
I'm a city girl through and through. But this year I'm going to make an effort to make more trips to the countryside. It was a little early to go for landscapes as everything is still muddy and brown. But I did manage to find some quaint vintage vignettes in the town I visited. That's the great thing about exploring and finding new locations. You never know what you're going to find.
April 03, 2009
Butterflies are free
Yesterday was such a glorious spring day, so I decided to head over to the Montreal Botanical Gardens where they are having their 12th annual Butterflies Go Free exhibit. It's a wonderful experience walking amongst these beautiful fluttery creatures. At least half a dozen of them landed on me during my visit.
"How does one become a butterfly?
You must want to fly so much
that you are willing to give up
being a caterpillar."
~Trina Paulus
"How does one become a butterfly?
You must want to fly so much
that you are willing to give up
being a caterpillar."
~Trina Paulus
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