February 2012
3 posts
Pulling focus
Shooting the Awesome Canadian Woman spot was a barrel of good times as DP Maya Bankovic’s 1st AC. I was especially happy when the actor playing the lumberjack eventually showed up, because I was apparently fingered to replace him. #desperatemeasures on location…
Operating
I’m in the process of finding copies of projects I’ve shot since September, hoping to put together a new reel… (hint hint)… But here’s one music video that I operated on in the fall under DP/Director Jesse Blight. Ali Matthews won four 2011 GMA awards including Female Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year. Here’s her single ‘Carry Me Home’
Small Town Radio
Small Town Radio took its first steps to becoming a reality in late-2011 when it was granted its CRTC license for the Cobourg, Ont. region. Broadcasting will start in fall-2012, but in the meantime the board wanted some headshots of the founding executive members this past December. Typical of small town spirit, my mother’s nearby Port Hope home became the studio after losing our location...
October 2011
2 posts
On track
While working in 90 degree temperatures in the south this past month, the fall 2011 issue of Watershed Magazine hit stands in Ontario. Pages 38-40 have my piece on the Ganaraska Railway Modellers Club whose lives connect while building their intricate miniature world within Canada’s oldest working train station in Port Hope, Ontario.
The article can be read here. And a short multimedia is...
Back to YYZ
So I arrived back in YYZ about a week ago, and have since sifted through Toronto and other parts of Ontario prepping for what’s next.
My last month or so was spent in and around Seaside, FL, a bubble where wealthy Americans of the southern states vacation and retire among their unified architectural delights, some of which were featured in Peter Weir’s The Truman Show. Then a small...
August 2011
7 posts
Super Variety
My first multimedia assignment for the Record back in May or June introduced me to Ed Forwell of Forwell Super Variety on Lancaster Street in Kitchener. Fifty years in business is nothing to shrug at, especially when built pennies at a time, as Record reporter Greg Mercer wrote here.
Watch
July 2011
5 posts
Dust cloud
There are so many times I wish I had more than a half-hour or hour to shoot assignments. When I was a kid I’d visit my grandparents in Prince Edward County for a few weeks each summer. Several years in a row, I remember travelling down the road to a local rodeo show where I swallowed my allergies and gawked at what only happened on television come to life.
(Above) Aaron Riley of...
Robots live
For those who didn’t know me as a kid, an assignment featuring guys who build robots for a living made me super giddy. Restraining my inner-nerd, I travelled to Kitchener’s Clearpath Robotics where I found the team packing up a new shipment of their Husky A200s for various clients.
Chuck Howitt’s article for the Waterloo Region Record can be read here.
WatchFighter pilot jets home
Walking tall
Sixty-three male students and faculty members of Galt Collegiate Institute in Cambridge strutted their stuff on June 16 to raise over $2,200 as a part of Walk a Mile in Her Shoes in support of YWCA Cambridge.
On key
Between covering general news, various ribbon cutting ceremonies and some longer term projects, I’m awarded these little jewels of assignments. The opportunity to get to know a stranger at a defining moment in their life and make a portrait. I met 21-year-old composer Patrick Murray this week who seems to be perking ears nationally. You can read the story here.
June 2011
5 posts
WatchBefore starting at the Waterloo Region Record, my friend Andrew tipped me about the KW Classic road bike race. I found 17 year-old Brandon Etzl of the St. Catherines-based Planet Energy SpiderTech Junior Racing Team. Etzl currently leads the Junior Men division of the 2011 Ontario Cup Road Series. Here’s a quick multimedia I produced at the June 11 race.
Produced for the Waterloo Region...
WatchSince I’m in the spirit, I thought I’d upload my multimedia project from first year. I’ve since learned a lot about sound. But here it is, Behind the Wall, condensed since chopping about 30 seconds out of it a few months ago…
Last week, I travelled to Toronto with Record reporter Jeff Outhit. We met Bill McCormick, 91, who lead a troop of 15 men and three tanks during the Normandy D-Day landing when he was 24 years-old. The men helped liberate at least one village before their four day war came to an end.
We spent about two hours there, talking, laughing and pausing in the memories. I like Bill. A lot. Thank you to...
WatchBill McCormick, now 91, landed with the First Hussars armoured regiment in Normandy on June 6, 1944, at the age of 24. He lead 15 men and three Sherman tanks, and helped to liberate at least one French village before their four day war came to an abrupt end.
Produced for the Waterloo Region Record.
May 2011
3 posts
Week 2 roundup
(Below) What to do when assigned a story you can’t get into… aside from the managed scrum. I’d been hovering outside of the tense shareholders meeting, when this happened.
(Below) A father kisses it all better after his two-and-a-half year-old got goosed on the finger while feeding birds at Waterloo’s Silver Lake, Tuesday.
(Below) I was hanging outside the edit...
On The Record
One of my first day assignments included a portrait of Jamie Metzger, fresh out of the Sheridan College animation program who landed a prized position at Pixar. Record reporter, Michael DeRuyter interviewed her while I poked around the family home for a nice location. Finding her childhood hobby horse in the backyard pulled it all together.
Read the story...
Halifax to Kitchener-Waterloo
Lakeside after week one of life according to Kitchener-Waterloo leaves me satisfied. It’s a pretty town, this diverse center of southern Ontario where Mennonite farmlands and Canada’s silicone valley are within arms reach of each other.
So this is my home for the next four months, where I’ll be producing photos and videos for both the print and online editions of the Waterloo...
April 2011
3 posts
Halifax, week three
All is well in the hills of Halifax and yonder. I’ve been assigned a series of portraits for Progress Magazine’s June issue, which will take me north-west and south. In the meantime, the The Coast’s Green Guide landed on stands.
The Green Guide needed images for two stories: the not-so-green status of Nova Scotia’s power generation, and the demolition of a Halifax high school scheduled to...
Halifax, week two
Beautiful vistas, bewildering weather, and near staggering leg workouts for the uninitiated walking Halifax’s downtown core. But even in the HRM’s darkest corners, I’ve discovered surprising warmth from the citizens.
This past week took me to me to Pinecrest/Highfield Park in Dartmouth’s north end. “The Dark Side,” as it’s known to locals, has the highest...
Halifax, week one
Volume 18, Number 45 of The Coast came out today. Two assignments to date landed in the pages. One was a series of portraits of noted Haligonians chatting about the impending Pixies concert. But the first four days have been lovely, including a close encounter with primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall for a story running next week.
More to follow…
Atlantic Film Festival Director, Lia Rinaldo...
Wagons east!
My first blog almost one year ago, was a similar map, just headed in the opposite direction. With college wrapped up, I’m on the road again. This time Halifax, NS, one of my favourite cities in the world, plays host through the month of April.
On deck, 1,694 km later; a two-week shooting stint with The Coast, Halifax’s sociopolitical arts driven weekly. I then hop over to...
March 2011
3 posts
February 2011
7 posts
The Erie Otters were unrelenting in Kingston Sunday afternoon as they defeated the Frontenacs 10-3.
Erie Otters’ Anthony Luciani breaks in the first period versus the Kingston Frontenacs at Kingston’s K-Rock Centre, February 13, 2010. Luciani earned two goals and one assist.
The two captains, Kingston Frontenacs’ Taylor Doherty and Erie Otters’ Greg McKegg face-off...
Landscapes I pass en route to other places.
Vol. 44 - Issue #7
I rolled from desk to desk today in the integrated newsroom of QNet News/The Pioneer at Loyalist College. We were turning out the three-page Tuesday edition of The Pioneer during my inaugural turn as editor. I’m proud of what we’re accomplishing. Next stop, the full Thursday edition.
Link to the QNet News: http://www.qunetnews.ca Link to The Pioneer...
In one of my articles as a part of my journalism program, I wrote, “There is no question, people come here to die. It’s visible through the doorways to each of the 10 rooms where friends and family negotiate the particular stage of their loved one’s decline. But looking closer, it is soon clear that this is a safe place where life is encouraged to thrive even in its final...
January 2011
3 posts
Strolling the produce aisles
I tend to aim for the deep end on stories when the content warrants it…. and time allows. My first shift on The Pioneer/QNet News, the two Loyalist College news services, I probed an announcement by Walmart Canada the week prior.
A Globe and Mail article published January 21, 2011, reported that Wal-Mart won the backing of Michelle Obama for their new strategy to deliver affordable healthy...
Saving grace...
Just before the holidays, I traveled west to meet my friend, Lindsey for brunch as she passed through Toronto. Sometimes one has to weave new memories into a place to reclaim it from the past. This was a cathartic day, strolling through old stomping grounds at the end of a year that rooted itself as memorable. Saving Grace by the way, at Dundas West and Bellwoods, remains delicious.
Scenes from the D.R.
I’ve been absent from this sphere a while, tinkering away at some longer term school projects. But over the holidays, I managed to parachute into the Dominican Republic for a little solo adventure. The first two rolls of film landed in my palms this afternoon. Here are a few shots from my first glance.
(Above) I found this man and another skulking around a rock shelf off of a secluded...
December 2010
1 post
Cold cure.
Anyone near or north of the 49th parallel has witnessed an abrupt shift in the vista this past week. Sipping tea in long-johns while trolling through potential images for my website’s redesign, I discovered summer nostalgia hibernating in a hard drive.
In summer-2009, I covered the North American Eight Metre Championship, which sailed out of Port Credit, Ont. The 8 Metre is an exclusive...
October 2010
3 posts
A part of what drew me to photojournalism was the opportunity to explore pockets of the world I don’t understand, take some chances, and through all this learn about myself. Photographer Freeman Patterson summed it up nicely this evening on CBC Radio’s program Ideas when he said the lens points in two directions.
(Above) Mark Armstrong has been blowing glass for collectors and large...
September 2010
2 posts
Her Majesty
My mother keeps nudging me about one of my more momentous days with the Free Press this summer. So here it is, the 2010 Royal Tour, which rolled Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh through Winnipeg on a sweltering July day.
Organizers met twice with accredited media in advance to go through the tour’s minute by minute schedule, as well as detailed caption, etiquette and...
Spiritual corkscrew
When this assignment appeared in my inbox, I admittedly didn’t have much faith in its potential. But then I arrived…
Built in 1967, Precious Blood Catholic Church, dubbed the “corkscrew church” was designed by Franco-Manitoban architect, Etienne Gaboury. The largely cedar structure inspired pause. It felt good inside.
Photographing the steeple was tricky, given its angle...
August 2010
2 posts
Dénouement...
It’s my day off after working seven days in a row. Rain and an incredible Stella’s breakfast in Osbourne Village with a co-worker eased the feeling I was missing assignments. I’ve felt more at home here the last few weeks. Perhaps that magic three month mark kicked in. Perhaps just discovering the right spots. Perhaps the knowledge that it will drift away in my rearview mirror...
Off the road
I roll across a lot of pavement in a week, covering assignments one hour north or three hours south-west or whichever direction the desk happens to send me. Along the way I’ve listened to some great tunes, pondered various quirks in life and snapped a lot of pictures in my mind. Every once in a while I pull over to snap a few with my camera. Here are a few out-of-towners from the last...
July 2010
3 posts
Knee deep
On the morning of July 5th, two days after my day with Queen Elizabeth II, the Free Press photo editor called to say I was being sent north for the day. Peguis First Nation had been hit hard by flooding and winds that past weekend. Over 200 residents were waiting to be evacuated. I was about an hour behind the reporter, who would connect me with some locals he’d interviewed, and then leave...