Old and New Collection 2013

Some of you have noticed the recent addition of the 2013 Old and New Collection.  I have a goal this year to have at least 40-50 photos completed.  Over the winter I have conducted research and searches for interesting and cool old pictures.  My recent additions in the album were taken around April.  I was hoping for spring to "spring" but Mother Nature has taken her time.  I still think they are quite well done and portray Lethbridge in the "golden" colors it always shows.  

As for this project, I have great news to share with everyone.  I will be published in the fall by the Lethbridge Historical Society.  They have elected to have my Old and New Collection as a yearly calendar fund raiser.   Watch out for these calendars around Christmas time.  

I do take requests for old photos, I recently had a client who requested I locate 2 old photos of where her grandfather worked growing up.   I already have several requests already from several people and I am always willing to take on the challenge of searching for others; just message me through Facebook.  

Mexico May 4 - 11, 2013

I have been to a few places down south now and I must say I really enjoyed this part of Mexico and this resort.   If anyone wants a great place to get away from it all, the Dreams Resort would be your best bet.  Its small but big enough where there is not very many crowds.   I did not have one complaint about the food and the service.   One thing which was totally different from all the other holidays was the amount of light and differences from west and east coast destinations.  Its the total opposite, which is a no brainer, but I really prefer the sunsets to the sun rises.  

On a geography note, I did experience my first mini earthquake.  It was a really weird feeling.  The whole room shook and then I just looked at Kellie.  Right away Kellie was able to find out Mexico did experience a recent earthquake a couple of weeks before and there was still some after tremors.  Scary but still a cool thing to experience.  

I did a lot of photography on this trip.  My good friend's Kara and Jason Richmond got married on the Monday.  They had a photography package with the resort which only covered the ceremony and the post pictures. So I was still hired to cover the whole thing.  I found it such a great experience cause I was able to work with the resorts photographer, Cristheell Bernal.  She is such an amazing photographer.   If you are interested on viewing her pictures her website is www.cristheellphotography.com    The light for the wedding was amazing, I was able to practice a few more techniques and poses.  

The next few days were spent focusing my ideas for the Candie Co Clothing Fashion shoot.  The shoot started at around 1900hrs, and the sun was still a fair distance from the horizon.  The model for the shoot was Ashley Lawrence, from Lethbridge.  I had an assistant who helped me with my reflector and to tell you the truth it was the first time I used this.  I think I will use the reflector a lot more.   I liked the shoot in general, I think in the next one I will have to get a more assortment of items for the shoot.   All in all, a cant wait to edit these pictures, I think there is some really great photos in there.  

Culturally, Puerto Vallarta was amazing.  Like a said before the people were really friendly and it was really easy to get off the resort.  The inner city was great to walk around in.   We found our way to their Parish church of Our Lady of Guadalupe.   I found some interesting facts about this church from WiKi:

 - English: The Crown of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Author: Sculptor and painter   Carlos Terres.

- 10.00 m in diameter and 15.50 m in height; sculpture in terroca (terres stone).

- The master sculptor and painter Carlos Terres made The Crown of Our Lady of Guadalupe basing his monumental sculpture in Nahuatl world Tecuntlanopeuh which means "that which has its origin at the peak of the boulders", alluding to the original name of the port, presently known as Puerto Vallarta.

- Symbolic elements of the sculpture are as follows. Eight angles wearing Marian symbols on their breast are holding the crown. The gems of the ring represent the 24 hours of the day. The five small palms represent the joyful mysteries of the Marian rosary. The five large palms represent the founding of Puerto Vallarta on December 12, 1851.

- Construction of the parish church began on April 15, 1883. The second phase of construction in 1915. The naming of the parish church in 1921. The borders of the sculpture are formed by a world of glass and a cross.

I did take in a night on the town with the amazing host Valentinno.  I attended the Zoo Bar for my first ever Foam Party.  What an amazing experience that was.  For $35 dollars you were treated like a VIP and drank for free.  Needless to say the next morning I was on the lounge chair with nothing planned.   

I feel relaxed, refreshed, and full of ideas and creativity.  This trip is a great start to my summer.  :-)

Old and New Begins Again

So it's been too long since my last entry on my blog. Winter has pasted and I had a chance to get out and spend a full morning gathering a bunch of photos needed for 2013 Collection of Old and New.

On particular picture a recently finished was a group of bridge workers posing by one of the trusses on the westside of the Oldman River. When I set out in the morning to take this photo my view of the original image changed. The picture was a standard group photo taken of just the group of men. I felt by just taking the same standard shot would not give these hard working men justice so I decided to take a panoramic of the High Level bridge.

By composing the picture in a panoramic format, I felt it gave the viewer a great perspective on how large this structure is and how small a human is next to this structure. It is probably one of my favorite structures to photograph. My goal with this years installment of the collection is around 35-40 pictures. Every time I go out it's amazing how much you learn from researching you cities history.

Catch Up

The past few weeks have been an interesting time for myself and my photography. I know I have fallen behind in the blogging department but hey its a good sign I it maybe coming together for me. It's interesting one how many projects I am taking on and managing my "real" job, family and daily life. I guess that is the fun part of being with and doing the things you love the most.

So to recap the last month and a half, I have continued on with my Old and New project. I have been interviewed by the Downtown BRZ and Shaw Cable TV. I have lots of interest from the local businesses downtown in Lethbridge. The Mocha Cabana have graciously given me a space on their wall for have 6 prints rom this project. From this project I have grown my interests further with history and joined / became a member and part of the board of directors with the Lethbridge Historical Society. I am really excited venture down this road. With my love of this project it's a great way to spread the joy of the project we well as work on the general awareness of our local history.

Matt Gillin told me a should be on Twitter and Instagram so I hopped on those two trains. I tell you what a blast learning those two programs. At the time I could not think of a cool name and though "man I can't believe I am on Twitter, how the heck do you work this" So name name on Twitter is @BlackLameWood and on Instagram and I @myworldphoto. So as I was connecting to all these apps, and had a heck of a time going from one to the other and then I I wanted to post on one I had to post on another. I left like when I had a cell phone and a separate iPod and then another device. So I searched and found an app called Hootsuite. It's an all in one app which syncs everything and you can post on both Facebook and Twitter at the same time. But hey that is enough about that.

I ventured into the realm of fashion photography, with a local company called Candie Co. It was such an amazing opportunity to be accepted and given the chance to be able to photograph with Candie Co. I am so excited for the work Matt Gillin, owner of Candie Co, has given me. It's was also a great way for me to learn the aspects of studio photography and actually edit to the clients specifications. I was surprised how many times I had to resend an image as I was working with someone else's vision of the shot. Already Candie Co, has opened my eyes to endless creative possibilities.

To close off the month and into December I was taking a breather from my "real" job and was able to spend a time with my son and family as well as schedule another Candie Co photo shoot, before heading to the Dominican Republic. While down there I was max relax and ended up photographing everything in site. Since photographing for Candie Co, I was able to borrow some product and bring it with me down for a possible beach shoot. I was able to convince Amy Leffingwell, of Grand Prairie, Alberta, to get her model on and spend an hour on the beach in front of the camera. She did a stellar job and I can't wait to sit down and edit them. I also the opportunity to photography my fiancé's friend's wedding. First time I have ever photographed I beach wedding before. I tell you its was interesting, I had a tough time nailing the light and was forced to make things a little underexposed do to the harshness of the light from the sand and the sky. But after reviewing the images and editing a few they will be just fine.

So now that I am all caught up, I welcome the rest of December, with a few more shoots planned and a ton of editing from the trip. This all should wrap up 2012 as one of my busiest and productive years yet.

Simplicity

First off I want to say Thank you to the owners of Catwalk Salon for letting me on their roof. If they didn't say yes, tell me to climb at my own risk I would not be able to get the shots I needed to get this image completed.

This image was still a tough one to compose as I was still about 30 feet below and about 40 feet at a different angle from the original shot. It's too bad the Sherlock Building is long gone as this was the spot I needed to be, however, the Catwalk Salon was just as good and got me high enough to use my PS skills. The image still needed to be tweaked and skewed to get it at the right angle.

I like this image cause it speaks volumes for how the urban landscape has changed. The iconic Canada Post Officer Building is about the only building still standing. The old church has been replaced by the Telus building and the buildings along 7th Street have encompassed the whole block. It was nice to see a building in the old photo using the space where the Atrium Building has stood for all these years. Its a shame this old building was torn down to be replaced by 4 levels of concrete which has not given back to Lethbridge's economy.

More images to come.

Lethbridge Corn Maze

A special thank you to the great family who runs the Lethbridge Corn Maze north of Park Lake Alberta. This is really a unique place. Living in Lethbridge for years I never really took note until a photography shoot required something different. The family who runs this farm were the most friendly people I have ever met. I can not say thank you enough for letting me come onto their property and take the photos I needed. If you have a free moment its a great spot to take the family and get away from the noisy city life.

Here is a little info on the Lethbridge Corn Maze:

In 2000 Theo & Esther Slingerland started the 1st Cornmaze in Alberta on the RobinPick Berry Farm north of Lethbridge. Every year Theo designs a new Cornmaze and carves it into the Cornfield. Over the years the Slingerlands added a kids maze, petting zoo, picnic shelters, hayrides, a cow train, pumpkins, a pumpkin slingshot, a bale maze and a playground.

http://lethbridgecornmaze.com/

Fall is upon us.

Is it me or does it seem the summer just flew by with out anyone noticing. Now the cool crisp air greets us when we awake up in the morning and we are wearing sweaters and long sleeves. Don't get me wrong I love fall and winter but nothing is better than seeing everything change in color. It's like when you were a kid and had a color wheel with all the shades of colors. Fall is a great time to look at all the shades of yellows and reds. My last two photography shoots were full of color and light. Its amazing how the sun in the morning and evening time emphasizes these colors. Hopefully we will be able to get a few more weeks to enjoy color wheel of fall.