Awards Banquet and Event Photography

I enjoy doing commercial work for my clients, aerials, product images, corporate headshots, and onsite photography. Sometimes this leads to other work for those clients such as company Christmas parties or awards banquets. This is one such example of where I was asked to photograph a company awards banquet and in addition to the awards coverage, they wanted me to take couples portraits when they were arriving for cocktails. I then had the images processed and inserted into mounts so the guests were able to take home their portraits at the end of the evening. This makes a great gift from the company to the employees, and it is always well received. I have always enjoyed the challenge of doing studio portraits on location because you never really know what you are going to have to work with for space, and I enjoy problem solving and improvising on the fly. Here are a couple of examples of the portraits I was providing for the guests.

Dance club photography

The lovely folks over in Summerside had me come out to do the photography for their dance program this year. I showed up a bit early, and put together a bit of an elaborate lighting set up. I had 6 strobes, my 2 main lights were gridded to prevent too much spill, and feathered in from the front edges to make the light even across the frame. Then I slaved 2 rear lights for the highlights from either corner as well. In addition to that, I also had 2 slaves that I gelled and snooted to make the BG go pink. Like I said, a bit elaborate considering most photographers set up 1 or maybe 2 umbrellas when shooting dance photos, but that is why there is such a difference in the look of the images. I like to make everything look like it has a huge budget, not just the huge budget stuff.

Aerial Jobsite Photography

I was in the air shooting for a few different construction companies the other day. The wind was pretty strong, and I have to admit, I was getting pretty nautious by the time I was done. The length of the flight and the constant jerking around was just too much for my poor stomach. Fortunately I learned from my last trip not to go on an empty stomach, and it wsn’t until about 3 minutes before we touched down that I started feeling woozy. I was able to get some great images of some of the largest construction sites in town though. Here are a few.

Edmonton Roller Derby Girls

I have been meaning to get out and shoot some images of the roller derby girls for quite some time, and I finally got the chance to do it tonight. It surprised me to see fellow photographer Buffy Goodman there as well, hitting hard and taking people out (who knew she was so tough). I was rather impressed by the crowd of people who turned out, there was literally standing room only. Even the parking lot was overflowing. I am a bit dissapointed that I was only able to watch 1 of the 3 games tonight or I would have had something more to show you. Here are a couple of E-ville’s finest in action.

Edmonton Professional Realtor Headshot Photography

Edmonton Realtor Nancy Sanborn

I had the pleasure of shooting with Nancy Sanborn today, who you may know since she does a good job of marketing her name, and she turned out to be such a nice woman. You know when sometimes you would just rather chit chat with someone rather than do your work, well this was one of those times. I really enjoyed our time together this morning, and look forward to working with you again.
Now some of you who have read the blog before may say to yourself ‘Hey! I thought you usually shoot realtors on a white cyclic?’ Well, I did. The difference here is that I kept the spill off the white background in order to keep it dark because she was in such dark colors. But it’s nice to know you are paying attention. You are paying attention aren’t you?

Francis & Marianna Wedding Photography

I think somewhere in the archives of this blog, I promised in a posting of their engagement, that I would be posting some wedding images here as soon as I could. Well the time is now, and I have a few really cool images to show you. I loved the great decor at Marianna’s mothers place, the red couches were a nice touch. I knew right away that they would provide a great prop for the bridesmaid portrait.



Then while doing the formals I was inspired by the brick walls. And no, this was not taken at night, this was 3pm in the afternoon. That is why you get a professional photographer, we can fake anything. ; )



And this has to be one of my favorites. I love how the veil is flowing in the wind, kind of reminds me of that underwater look.

A New Friend

Jenna - by Trident Photography

You know how sometimes you meet someone, and instantly there is a good chemistry between you. I was fortunate enough to have that happen with Jenna, a young lady who needed some headshots for her portfolio. I noticed it right away when she came over for the pre-shoot consultation. It was a pleasure to work with her, and I was continually surprised at how much we are alike. I am normally pretty reserved, and try to keep it very professional when working with a client, but we were bantering back and forth like old friends. I think that is why the photos we made were so stunning. I hope to work with you again. I know you will go far based on your personality, and hey, you can always fall back on your degree right? ; )

Photographing Realtor Headshots

I have had the pleasure to work with a bunch of realtors over the years while doing my photography.  One thing I find that seems to hold true for most is that they like their photos on plain white backgrounds.  I always suggest this for them as well, since it allows them to easily remove the background should they need to drop their image as an overlay onto a listing or other material.   The key thing when shooting on white, is to ensure that your wrap is not too harsh.  Many people think that it is easy to shoot on white, but in actuality, it can pose a few challenges.  If you blast too much light on your background to make it white, and the subject is too close to it, then the wrap (that is the light comming off the cyclic and wrapping around the person) is so strong that it can blow out the details in the hair and near the edges of the subject.  The other thing is making sure that the background is not left underlit, and therby going to an off white, or grey tone which can make the subject harder to separate from the background in the future.  So here is a portrait I made for Nadeem last week just befor I headed out to Ontario for the Easter weekend.