ellipsis…

here’s a quick behind-the-scenes video of my shoot with John Fluevog.

continuing with my personal portrait project Designer Series, i had was privileged to photograph legendary Canadian shoe designer John Fluevog. John is probably one of the most chill men i have ever encountered. Miss Georgia Esporlas assisted me on this shoot and shot the behind-the-scenes footage.

i received a call late one Saturday night in October from a odd area code. i picked up and on the other side was Ron MacSpadyen, publisher of Ontario Lacrosse Magazine. it was at least 11pm on the west coast, so he was burning the mid-night oil. he had seen the images i took at the 2009 Mann Cup and wanted to use them in his article on the championship. they ended up publishing 8 of my images. thanks to Steve Kojima, designer of Lax Fuj Clothing, for inviting me to photograph the championships.

well there are two for today. though the day is early so there maybe more.

Judy and her new Aussie husband Mark braved the cold of January in Edmonton to grab the shot that Judy dreamt up; the bride & groom on a chairlift. i was more than a bit worried about Mark, he was shivering earlier that morning and we were still inside. we just made it onto the chairlift before they shutdown for the day. usually you have cars honking on your wedding, Judy & Mark had skiers & snowboarders hollering on the hill. i enlisted my buddy Brad, who’s actually Judy’s brother-in-law, to make sure i didn’t fall off the chair. he came prepared; Sorel boots, snowpants, down jacket and big mittens, all overtop of his suit. we rode the chairlift all the way around (first time i’ve ever done that), which gave me enough time to figure out how to shoot backwards on a chairlift. it was cold, but it was definitely fun. checked this off my list of locations to shoot. congratulation Judy & Mark!

as of tomorrow a new decade will begin. it’s already been ten years since we all partied like it was 1999. 2009 was a very interesting year. packed up my life and moved to Vancouver. spent the last 10 months of the year cooking good food, hanging out at the beach, eating sushi in Seattle, knocking off a couple more of those 10,000 photography hours, and connecting with some amazing people. i will admit that i have reinvented myself and my art a couple times over since i’ve been in Vancouver. all for the better.

thank-you to everyone who has stopped by and read my blog. i am really excited to see what 2010 has to offer. you can guarantee that there will be more pictures, videos, and behind-the-scenes posts to come.

have a safe NYE. i’ll see you on the flip side.

I’m cutting this Merry Christmas wish pretty tight. Being back home with my family, with piles of snow around the house, smells of pine and apple cider, and the all the chaos in the kitchen, I feel right at home and blessed to be back.

Have a very Merry Christmas.

a thank-you video to all of the people who made Help-Portrait Vancouver a huge success.