On April 27, 2012, I had another awesome opportunity to photography one of Lethbridge's local bands; The Coal Creek Boys, on location at Bellevue Mine, Alberta.  Growing up in the East Kootney's of British Columbia I never took the opportunity to see this amazing attraction in my own back yard.  I never knew how vast this mine was until today.   It was awesome to get into this attraction before the official opening day and have staff welcome us like family.  A special thanks to Diane Peterson and John Kinnear for taking time on their Friday to show us around.  You guys are have a wealth of knowledge and stories about the mine and its history which were greatly appreciated.

The shot went well.  I brought along 2 portable light sets, which had a set of LED spot lights in each.  The light these light put out was amazing.  Camera wise I shot the pictures in manual mode at iso 800 with a 1 second shutter to help gather all the light I needed.   Post production proved there was a little bit of lens flare and a shake in some photos.  It was interesting to use these settings but with only the lights from the light packs it still was not enough for a normal shutter release.

I was able to get a few pictures to JohnPaul Smith right away and with his help in correcting the sharpness was able to produce some printable versions for the Coal Creek Boys upcoming BC cd release party at the Art Station in Fernie, British Columbia on April 28, 2012.

For those who like local history you can view it at:

http://www.crowsnestguide.com/bellevuemine/history.htm

PETE

My hat is off to my friend Pete.  Pete is a personal trainer and has been training himself and others for 10 years.  It amazing the level of dedication his guy has.  As it was coming of on his 10 year mark for working out and training he approached me with the ideal about taking some gym pictures to prove down the road when he got old that he was once fit.  (we both laughed)  

I thought the shoot went well.  It was the first time for me to truck a bunch of gear and get to a location, gym, Platinum Fitness (THANK YOU TO YOU AS WELL), set up and start shooting.  Pete did an awesome job and I was told by him it was harder than an actual workout.  

The lighting kit worked wonders and all I kept thinking was a youtube video about an egg and how the egg changes when you move the light around it.  I was able, with some tweaking, get the lighting to where I needed it to go.  The shoot was just shy of 2 hours, but it was nice, no rushing, we would take a few shots and Pete would have to lift again, then a few more.  This gave me plenty of time to see / visualize the shot I was taking and move things accordingly.  

Post Production - WOW! Tougher than I originally planned.  My back drop even though its large was not large enough and I really had to concentrate on removing the unwanted equipment.  In the end, the pictures turned out great and Pete was more than happy.  

Congratulation Pete on your awesome accomplishment!

I recently pickup a lighting kit from a friend at work.  I have to say it has opened the creative door for me. Its amazing to use light to create and actually learn its advantages.  My first subjects were Kellie's nephews.  Seeing it was my first kick at posed lighting shoot, I thought it went pretty well.  I basically shot till the kids were sick of me and the flash going off; they were troopers.  Then of course we hit the park and again the lighting from the over cast sky was ideal, so more pictures and a promise of McDonalds and the shoot was over.  


I can't wait to start using this kit for more shoots.  Practice, practice, practice.