#837 Young Cancer Survivors Photo Exhibit @ Ottawa Photo Studio

It’s coming up fast.

Lou Truss introduces you to the faces of some courageous young women. Her show, “Faces and a Cause,” showcases young women who have fought breast cancer.

Cancer Survivor Photo Exhibition Ottawa

© Lou Truss - courageous cancer survivors!

Lou says:

My father was diagnosed and died quite suddenly with Cancer eleven years ago.

Since then I’ve always wanted to raise awareness about this horrendous disease, and my photography seemed like the fitting avenue to go down. The idea photographing women who have survived Breast Cancer came about when Harry Nowell photographed Katie Evans.

I met Katie and talked to her about Breast Cancer and how she dealt with the treatment. She blew me away with her courage and strength.

It also blew me away when I found out how young she was when she was diagnosed.

Cancer Survivor Photo Exhibition Ottawa

© Lou Truss - courageous cancer survivors!

Meeting Katie was a turning point for me. I then decided to photograph women who have been diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

I’m amazed that women in their early twenties are now being diagnosed. When you are in your 20’s you think you’re invincible, you can live forever. Women in their 40’s + get Breast Cancer!

I never checked myself when I was in my 20’s. Having a young daughter has made me more aware that she needs to check herself when she’s older.

The charity I chose to support is Young Adult Cancer Canada which is close to Katie’s heart.

The women I photographed are amazing.

They are incredibly strong, beautiful women and I feel incredibly honoured to have been able to capture their images.

Come celebrate the show, meet courageous women, share experiences, donate, laugh and live.

Details:
Friday, September 14th, 2012;

7:30-10pm

160 Preston St. – between Gladstone and Somerset.
Funds will be collected for “Young Adult Cancer Canada.”
Congratulations Lou! We are very proud of Lou’s success – she’s a graduate of our Pro Photo Program.
Cancer Survivor Photo Exhibition Ottawa

#836 David Trattles’ South India Bicycle (and Photo) Adventure

Remember David Trattles?

He has run a workshop for us like no other – helping people see beyond f-stops and shutter speeds and looking at the story and vision. We hope to offer his course again in the next year. (This year we are offering Quinton Gordon’s workshop for a different experience.)

David Trattles

David Trattles

But David has a new venture coming up (we’re not involved in this one) – a bike / photo tour of south India!

If you have met Dave or been on his workshop you know he does things differently. I expect his bike / photo adventure to paste a permanent smile on your face!

Check it out.

Dave is also publishing a book on his work of the German rodeo scene… Have a look – there are opportunities to support this project online.

photo bike tour India

South India Bicycle Adventure

#835 Thank-you!

A big thank-you to everyone who came to see and learn from the Watershed exhibit in Chelsea this weekend. We had visitors from the municipality of Chelsea, Hendrick Farm, Orleans photo club, Club Polarisé, photo students, neighbours and art buyers. People came from far away to see the largest showing of Watershed work to date.

Thanks to Becky and Reid and Susan for helping us take the show down at the end of the weekend before the rain came!

We will be showing the work by appointment at our photo studio within a week and will be announcing a show at a gallery soon for the fall. Interested in seeing the work? Let us know by email.

We will also be showing the work of Lou Truss at the studio in September – stay tuned for an announcement soon!

Watershed art exhibit

Watershed art exhibit

#834 Photojournalism awards in Ottawa

The World Press Photo Exhibition are back in Ottawa at the War Museum.

It’s a collection of the best press photography in the last year. There are some tear-jerking, heart-crushing, hard-to-look-at photos from some of the world’s hot spots.

But there is some fun, lively and lovely imagery as well. I make sure to see the exhibit every year.

Last year we brought a group and then had Blair Gable present some of his photo work at our studio.

GO! That’s an order.

The exhibit is on only until August 26th.

It’s worth a visit. And it’s free.

World Press Photo Exhibit - Ottawa

World Press Photo Exhibit - Ottawa

#833 On Location Lighting – Course Review

A few weeks ago we ran a second session of On Location Lighting with Blair Gable.

We had a strong group of photographer who soaked up Blair’s info.

Some comments:

Exactly what I wanted and needed.

I was really impressed with the course with Blair, and with your studio. Thanks again for offering such high-quality courses. I can’t wait to see what else you’ve got in store!

Tons of tips to handle many different scenarios.

Join us as Blair shares his skills in September on “Shooting Summer Sports.”

flash photography workshop

On Location Lighting - student success - © Danielle Donders

 

#832 Creative Business Seminar Series – starting a business…

We’ve been in business a long time and made many, many mistakes. I’ve also taught many photographers and helped them start their creative businesses.

The photography is hard but easier to learn than the business side.

Why?

Because most new photographers LOVE photography but don’t love the challenges presented in business.

We’ve shaken up our long running “Creative Business Seminar” into smaller different segments to help people answer:

• What’s involved in starting a business?

• What do I need to succeed?

• I have artistic skills… but how am I ever going to sell my work?

• How am I ever going to manage my own collection of artwork?

• How can the web help my business?

Our new Creative Business Seminar Series allows photographers and other creative people answers to these questions! We’ve gathered some experts to help you answer these types of questions.

Creative Business Seminar Series

• Is a Creative Business Right for Me?

September – In this seminar we provided questions and insights to help you find answers. This is based on many early business mistakes and years of teaching the Creative Business Seminar.

How to start a new business

Harry Nowell

• Learn Better Selling Strategies for Creative Businesses

October – We have brought in a veteran sales man who spent almost 40 years learning sales techniques, sales strategies and developing trusted relationships with clients based on solid communication skills.

how to sell

Cedric Nowell, 36 year veteran salesman

• “Managing your Creative Work

October – We’ve got a seasoned graphic designer to assist you in developing a library as well as refining your work and using the powerful output tools of Adobe Lightroom.

Peter Handley Lightroom expert

Peter Handley, Registered Graphic Designer

• “Web Basics for Business”

Coming soon… We’re there to help you decipher the world of web. We explain strategies to harness the web and get people finding you and your business!

#831 Better photos through online learning

If you read this blog you’ve probably heard about our new Online Photo Program – it’s been a lot of work but a very fun adventure building the program and connecting with photographers from far and wide.

This week I got a personal email from one of the online photo members. It made me smile:

… I really like the format of these discussions/lessons. I purchased my camera last year, and despite having taken various classes, what I really needed was to take more pictures and practice certain techniques. Being able to do so from my home is very convenient.

It’s the student comments like these  from our regular photo classes (and the new online program) that helps me  help you get better photos!

See some of the past photos from the program.

learn photo skills

Online photo program - student success!

 

#830 “Do something different” – reader photo on the blog…

Last week we sent out our latest Exposed! photo newsletter urging you to do something differently!

We poked you to start exploring new passions and ideas.

And we asked you to send us something different…

Robert’s submission, below, caught our eye and won its way onto the photo blog. He says:

That’s three of my four children, I was trying to get the youngest at 20 months to don a pair of goggles but she wasn’t to happy about it. My plan wasn’t to place all four images together, but while doing some adjustments in Lightroom, I thought I would try something different using Photoshop.  I was still thinking about the missing photo of my daughter that would have completed the scene, then remembered I had a colourful abstract shot of some pool flotation devices.  

All the images were shot on a very hot day with a helpful cloud cover, using a 50mm wide open at 1.8. On the smaller APS-C sensor, that equates to about 85mm, a nice portrait lens and one of my favourite focal lengths.

What caught our attention?

It’s a photo of portraits of very different kids but all very similar – shot with a similar thread in a different way. I like it…

Nicely done.

And for his creative fun Robert wins one month in our Online Photo Program – this month’s challenge is motion. Stay tuned for some student results.

student photo

© Robert M - Doing something differently

 

#829 Back from away…

We took some R&R last week at a B&B in the Laurentians – no camera (ie no photos), just charging the batteries.

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• We will announce a new seminar in our Creative Business Seminar Series.

• A social with the ProProgram students.

• Our Online Photo Program members get their monthly photo challenge after exploring last week’s exploratory  lesson. See last month’s online photo successes.

• Preparing for the Watershed Exhibit in Chelsea – very close to the watershed itself!

Stay tuned – lots of fun coming!

#828 Friday’s Ottawa Photographer Roundup

Every week at our studio site we research and post interesting assignments, events and photo related news from Ottawa’s working photographers. It’s called Friday’s Photographer Roundup.

This week we feature:

Dwayne Brown‘s social experiment

Blair Gable‘s recent wedding photography award

• and our newsletter urging you to do things differently

See this week’s post.

We feature many different working photographers from Tina Picard to Tony Fouhse. We’re very open to hearing about your recent photo post.

How do you get posted?

• Be a working photographer

• Write a regular blog post

• Include Ottawa/Gatineau related posts

• Make the posts something interesting – more than “hey, look at my pictures!”

Check the fun every Friday on the blog at OttawaStudioWorks.com

Ottawa Studio Works photo studio

Ottawa Studio Works photo studio