ellipsis…

the Olympic rings from Stanley Park

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!

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

Help-Portrait Vancouver was an overwhelming success! the Grace Mansion was full of joy and laughter. the makeup artist and hair stylist were buzzing making women and girls look beautiful. Mark Hildebrand and Kathi Reid filled the room with music. photographers were making people smile and laugh and giggle with excitement. and when the printers starting rolling off prints, it was priceless to see people’s reactions to their portraits. it was such an amazing experience to watch it all unfold before me.

the day went off without a hitch. all of my worries disappears as the first family walked through our doors. that was one of my favourite moments. we all had been waiting for our first family and a photographer suggested we take a group photo of the morning crew. just as we were about to take the picture the first family walked in and we all turned and cheered and clapped, we almost scared them away. lol! my heart jumped and the day had officially begun. everyone seemed to get into a good rhythm, a relaxed joyous rhythm. the day honestly flew by so quickly. i’ve watching the videos that Steve Tan has produced over and over again. they capture the day so well.

by the end of the day we took approximately 175 portraits of families & individuals, which translates to having about 430 people walk through our studios. pretty amazing that we were able to touch that many people. this is just the beginning. there is much more Help-Portrait to come!

the morning crew

the afternoon crew

mr. leigh culpin taking a portrait

bernard ng firing away

michael moore’s larger than life personality

Steve Tan, the resident Help-Portrait Vancouver videographer, has produced two videos of our event. watching these videos almost make me cry. they capture the day so well. i’ll let the videos do the rest of the talking.

Help-Portrait Vancouver

Help-Portrait Vancouver “Let It Shine”