#868 Assignment Spotlight – editorial portrait

Posted on November 1, 2012 by admin

This fall I photographed a local, new, Guiness Record Breaker.

Tessum Weber of (near) Wakefield, Quebec officially got in the record books by being the youngest to ever ski to the North Pole. Oh, and in doing so, this team did it faster than anyone else has ever done it.

Not bad, eh?

There is an article in the current edition of Ottawa Magazine celebrating Tessum’s adventures. I provided the opening portrait for the article.

Get a copy at your news stand today – worth a read!
Congratulations, Tessum!

Ottawa portrait - Tessum Weber for Ottawa Magazine

#867 Night Light Photo Course in Victoria BC

Posted on October 30, 2012 by admin

We’re excited as we prepare to trek to Victoria in November to present one of our most fun workshops – Night Light.

I’ve said before it’s not our most popular (we only offer once or twice a year) but it is one of our most fun workshops. You see, there’s photo magic involved. We help you photograph things you cannot see with your naked eye.

Night Light photo course

Night Light – Ottawa sold out in this year – we had a fun group who learned tons of fun ideas and techniques – everything from:
• capturing stunning skyscapes as the daylight sky gets sucked into night blackness.
• using flashlights to paint everything from statues to trees to words in thin air.
• using camera flash (SB units) to capture elusive ghosts in photos.
• two techniques to turn normal traffic into rivers of light or race cars among laser beams!

Night Photo Course Before Light Painting

Night Photography Course - Light Painting!

Ottawa students said:
“Excellent; night photography has always been intimidating and frustrating. No longer!” JM
“Harry was patient & challenging – love it.” JK
“You do a great job, Harry. Don’t change.” Anon.

Join us in Victoria, BC as guests of Luz Galley.
Registration Details.

Night Photography Course - Victoria BC

#866 Santa Agrees to Help Pet Portraits at the SPCA

Posted on October 28, 2012 by admin

Yes, we have recently confirmed that Santa has agreed, again, to make an appearance at the West Quebec SPCA Pet Portrait fundraiser on December 9th, 2012.

Pet Portraits Ottawa Gatineau

He is a busy man but we kinda guessed he’d help, again!

Why?!
• He has a soft spot for the furry friends.
• The SPCA feeds him good cookies!
• The event raises much needed $funds to support the dogs, cats and other pets.

We have helped Santa help the SPCA of West Quebec for years now by offering portrait services for pets and their humans. All proceeds go to the SPCA.

Pet Portraits - Ottawa Gatineau

So, please come to have your portrait taken with your dog, cat, pig, goldfish or hamster to support the SPCA.

Details
Sunday, December 9th; noon-4pm
SPCA of West Quebec
659 Auguste Mondoux Gatineau, QC J9J 3K2
(819) 770-7722

Portraits provided on site – $15.
Please be generous!

Over the years we photographed packs of dogs, some cats, one hamster and one pet pig (Einstein) with Santa.
Why do we do it?

DOGS. We love ’em. A lot.
After dear old Tigger died we adopted Biscuit from the SPCA of West Quebec. They do good work and we wanted to help. This was a way we could!

Tigger!!

Biscuit!!

#865 Night Light Photo Class Review – Student Successes!!

Posted on October 25, 2012 by admin

Ok, so Night Light is not our longest running workshop and it’s not our most popular (Creative Fundamentals and Natural Light Portraits attract more people over the year) but it’s currently my favourite and most fun workshop that I teach. This fall it was a full workshop.

Night Light photo class - Ottawa - © Julie K

Why?

There’s magic to be captured at night. I see people’s faces shine as they see their pictures appear on their screens…

And they say…
“But where do those amazing colours come from?”
“How do those lights make that affect?”
“Why do the ghosts appear?”
Magic, I say.

Night Light photo class - Ottawa - © Marcel M

Ok, it’s NOT really magic, just some advanced photo techniques to help get magical results.

See some of the student photos from the weekend we spent in central Ottawa. They made me smile!

Night photography class - Ottawa - © Madeleine B

And what did students say?

“Excellent; night photography has always been intimidating and frustrating. No longer!” JM
“Harry was patient & challenging – love it.” JK
“You do a great job, Harry. Don’t change.” Anon.

Night photography class - Ottawa - © Ted M

The photo course is travelling this fall. We’ve been invited to present Night Light in Victoria by Quinton Gordon’s Luz Gallery. Stay tuned for reports from western Canada.

Finally, this photo was presented at the end of the night by one of the students to express her feelings for the workshop! Thank-YOU, Murielle and students for the fun, fun, fun!

Night photo course - Ottawa - light painting © Murielle C

#864 Photo Class Feedback

Posted on October 23, 2012 by admin

It’s been a good week. At the risk of tooting our own horn we’d like to share some unsolicited feedback we received for our photography courses and portraits.

We received this note about CK’s experiences so far on our online photo program:
“Just want to tell you how much I am enjoying your monthly challenges. You have taken the Online Workshops to a different photography level and have me thinking outside the photo norm.

Frankly I was feeling a little bored and unchallenged before your On-Line Workshops. Bravo to you! You have done it again by sharing such great photography techniques. Love that fact that I can work at my own pace and time frame.
Great Job!”

Online photo course

And Erica sent this note about her family photos:
“I just wanted to let you know we had a peek at the photos tonight, and really loved them! What a fun session, and you managed to catch some really candid, natural shots of everyone! THANK YOU!”

Fun family photos

And PR sent this unsolicited note about the Lightroom seminar we presented at our photo studio by Peter Handley:
“Harry, just to let you know that today’s workshop on Lightroom was Fantastic. Thank you and Peter. Looking forward to next Saturday. Hope your Night light workshop went as fun as last years. Have a great week.”

Now, it’s true we receive feedback regularly but it’s always nice when it comes!
And a big THANKS to all of our students and clients – without YOU this couldn’t happen.

#863 New photo class experience – process of photography

Posted on October 21, 2012 by admin

In October one of our regular photo course participants asked for a specific photo session. She had done well in photo courses and understood photo concepts. Where she wanted was help on the process of taking a photo.

She suggested that she shadow me on a simple photo assignment. I was to do some shooting and talk through every aspect of what I was doing from:
• pre planning
• equipment selection
• approaching & evaluating the ‘assignment’
• selecting specific equipment
• evaluating and setting exposure
• shooting, angles and approach
• assessment
• edit
• self critique

We went to the Byward Market and spent a couple of hours shooting, editing and critiquing my process and work on a mini photo class.

Process of Photography

What happened?
Well, I’ll let Madeleine say:

“Harry – yesterday morning I got out of bed and made it to the Champlain bridge before sunrise. This picture (below) is not perfect but I had fun going through the exercise of adjusting the ISO, shutter speed and aperture while the light kept changing.

If it had not been of the two hour safari we did together in the Byward Market going through the process step by step I don’t think I would have even attempted this morning’s adventure. Thanks to you I don’t feel overwhelmed by the technical aspects of photography any more and I am now confident enough to go out, take pictures and learn.”

Merci, Madeleine!

Process of photography

Photography is a challenging adventure if you are looking to improve your photos beyond snapshots! Madeleine has done well and her photos are improving nicely over the last year!

Interested in a customized mini course to explore the process of taking a photo? It helped Madeleine and has helped others. Contact us if you want to learn more about the process!

#862 Online Photo Program Success

Posted on October 18, 2012 by admin

Many of you know we run an online photo course for those people who want to take better photos but don’t always have time for regular classes.

Last month we sent members of the program a challenge to get closer. No, really close to their subjects. Their work took a good step forward as I saw creative developments.

Help cheer a few of the many successes from September’s challenge. Members are working towards their October deadline and we just started filming November’s class – there’s still time to register for the online fun!

#861 Ottawa Photo Exhibition – Istanbul, Turkey

Posted on October 17, 2012 by admin

On the weekend we hosted a photo exhibition – Walk the Streets of Istanbul at our photo studio, Ottawa Studio Works.

By the end of the opening the photographer had a very wide smile on her face. The show was very well attended, feedback was excellent and she made good sales.

Photo Exhibition – Ottawa & Turkey

The show covered a three year span spent living in Turkey, capturing architecture, life and sights of Istanbul and surrounding areas.

If you missed the show you have another chance – she will be at the studio this Thursday, October, 2012 from 3:30 onwards (no set closing time – come earlier than later!) based on demand!

Photo Exhibition - Ottawa - Shona Schneider - Turkey

Photo Exhibition – Ottawa – Turkey

Putting on a show like this is a lot of work! We offer the space to artist’s wanting a venue to exhibit their work. So far we’ve had great success with shows by David Trattles, Blair Gable, Kevin Foisy, Lou Truss, Elmwood School’s Art Classes, and others. Interested in promoting your work? Let us help you step into the spotlight!

Photo Exhibition – Ottawa – Turkey

#860 Ottawa Gatineau Family Portraits

Posted on October 14, 2012 by admin

A while back I showcased a recent wedding and talked about a candid style.

Today’s blog post features a fun family who wanted a similar experience in portraits – less structured and more true to the personalities of the family. For this kind of portrait I travel lightly and spend an hour following the family in their fun.

Candid family portrait - Ottawa Gatineau

Family pictures - Ottawa Gatineau

We played in a forested park and I captured the antics of the family. Big smiles and true personalities came through.

Candid family portrait - Ottawa Gatineau

If you’re looking for better portraits either to be in them or to take them we have a few options:
• We can photograph you. Contact us for details.
• We can teach you – we have a series of fun photo classes. We’ve offered Natural Light Portraits for years. The portrait class offers simple tips on how to get better portraits of friends or family.
• You can take your own portraits with guaranteed success and smiles. We offer DIY Portraits whereby you bring your camera and plug into our lights at our central Ottawa photo studio. We make it easy. You take the photos. Easy, fun, and way cheaper than hiring us to do it for you!!

Candid family portrait - Ottawa Gatineau