#690 Do-It-Yourself Portraits – Review

Posted on October 4, 2011 by admin

Last week we had a visit from Andrea Tomkins and family – Andrea writes the popular blog – A Peek Inside the Fishbowl.

She brought her whole family, including Piper the dog, to try her hand at the Do-It-Yourself Portraits at our photo studio in central Ottawa.

DIY Portraits?

Yep, pretty easy actually. Bring your people and friendly dogs to our well equipped studio in central Ottawa, plug in your camera (or one of our rentals) to the preset studio lights and start clicking. By the end of the hour session you walk away with a memory card of memories and family portraits.

Book your session in time for Christmas card season – Just contact us. November and December dates will be posted soon.

After their session Andrea sent a note and some photos:

“Thank you! This was a great experience. I’m pleased with how the photos turned out and was really happy with the whole process from start to finish.”

And her DIY portraits? Well judge for yourself. (Ahem, we think she did very well!!):

Andrea Tomkins' DIY Portraits - Photo Studio - Ottawa

#689 Ottawa Farm Photo Safari

Posted on October 2, 2011 by admin

About a week ago we hosted the semi annual photo farm safari.

Ottawa Farm Photo Safari

We had near perfect weather and many smiles as we started with a warm up challenge and proposed tougher tests for those that wanted them. A big thanks to the Canada Agriculture Museum for making this safari possible!

Canada Agriculture Museum

Some photos from the safari are featured on this blog post. A big thanks to all the participants.

On the safari I learned of a very fun website from Debra – ShutterSisters.com is well worth a visit!

“ShutterSisters?”

Yep. They say ‘… the collaborative photo blog that welcomes all women with a passion for photography from experts to amateurs alike. We are so glad to have you here.‘

#688 Reader’s Photo of the Month Contest

Posted on September 29, 2011 by admin

Another month and another challenge to pick the top photo submitted to our monthly photo contest on our blog!

I sometimes feel bad because there are often a few that could run away with top spot. This month there were three that came very close. But there can only be one winner based on photo and supporting text.

And this month’s winner is…

Al Garner with his chrysalis of a Monarch butterfly.

Al Garner - Winner! - Ottawa photo contest

Al says:

“Each year in the late summer my wife, Cathy, likes to collect monarch caterpillars and the milkweed plants they feed on. We then watch as they eat and grow, eventually turn into achrysalis and later finally emerge as butterflies.

This summer we were at my aunt & uncle’s cottage when Cathy did her collecting. She collected 3 caterpillars and we watched them feeding while sitting on the deck. Then one “escaped” and we later discovered that it had moved to the outside wall of the cottage to make its chrysalis. I loved how it had attached itself right on a seam.

The long line of the seam leads your eye right to the amazing sight of the chrysalis hanging in space. I used a telephoto lens and extension tubes to get a close up view. The telephoto lens combined with a large aperture gave a thin slice of focus which helped to isolate the line of the seam and the chrysalis.”

Why did Al’s photo win? It’s a great photo with a good story and there was some significant thought and work that went into developing and capturing this photo. Congratulations Al!

Al wins a year’s subscription to Canadian Geographic Magazine. A big THANK-YOU!! to Canadian Geographic for their donation to the contest.

Canadian Geographic Magazine

Please keep your photos coming! It keeps me on my toes choosing the winner.

This month’s prize is a LowePro Nova 1 photo bag (suitable for an SLR camera and lens), courtesy of a couple of our readers – Andrew and Gwyn.

See all the winners. Keep clicking and submitting. Good luck!

#685 Ottawa photo contest – Honourable Mentions!

Posted on September 22, 2011 by admin

In honour of the last half year of our Reader’s Photo of the Month Photo Contest we would like to celebrate a few photos that deserve some trumpeting and applause. The photos below did not win the contest but came close – there are others that we could not include – sorry! These ‘honourable mentions’ are displayed in no particular order.

This month we have some strong contenders vying for this month’s prize of a Canadian Geographic subscription. There’s still time to enter your photos – sports, gardens, portraits, or dogs launching from your dock – send us your photos! We are looking for fine photos and some text about your inspiration.

Congratulations to the photographers below!

Photo Contest - Honourable Mention - Celso Bressan

Photo Contest - Honourable Mention - Sandra Croft

Photo Contest - Honourable Mention - Stéphanie Beauregard

Photo Contest - Honourable Mention - Joe Davis

Photo Contest - Honourable Mention - Pamela Byrtus

#682 Ottawa Photo Studio featured

Posted on September 15, 2011 by admin

Last week we were contacted about a studio rental for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation for the filming of a 10 second spot to be featured at select movie theatres.

As it’s such a good cause we asked if we could feature the session on the blog to get a little more awareness out there. No problem.

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation

Katie, the star of the video, showed up with her support team. Honey and Dear were brought in for the video. Everything went smoothly for Emily, Katie and the CBCF.

Thanks to everyone for allowing us to sit in on your session at Ottawa Studio Works.

CBCF @ Ottawa Studio Works

CBCF - Ottawa Studio Works

CBCF @ Ottawa Studio Works

#677 Student Success – photo class graduate Scott Martin

Posted on September 4, 2011 by admin

A couple of years ago I got a call from Scott Martin – he was interested in photography in a big way. After much hard work Scott graduated from our ProProgram and many of our photo classes.

His interests were in sports & music. After networking, shooting and putting in some time, Scott is starting to see his work pay off.

The Balconies - Scott Martin photo

He’s been following the local music scene for a few years now – posting news and photos to SpotlightOttawa.com – including coverage of Live 88.5‘s “Big Money Shot“. Scott’s photography caught the music station’s attention and his work is gracing their annual album cover for the Big Money Shot.

Read about Scott’s successes.

Big Money Shot cd cover

It always makes me smile to see our students succeed – Not bad for someone who started shooting in the last few years!

Interested in cranking up your photo learning curve like Scott?

See our fall line-up of photo workshops.

#673 Where’s Harry been?!

Posted on August 25, 2011 by admin

I usually post on the blog three times a week and, this week, we’re behind!!

I’d like to say that I’ve been on paddling a gorgeous stretch of whitewater or photographing an assignment in northwest Iceland or quietly relaxing.

New Web Host

But life has been quite normal – except that we’ve switched web hosts that meant we had no access to blog or email for a short time.

WHY?

We switched hosts because we were frustrated with our previous host. Support was poor and performance was lack-lustre.

We called locally based Mountain Mamma and asked if they could provide a better web hosting solution for our sites. They did.

So far…

… it’s been a smooth transition with Tanya and her crew keeping us up to date on the transfer. They answer the phone with people who know what’s going on. That’s been a nice change.

Thanks Mountain Mamma!

We’ll be back to regular blog programming next week…

#671 Photo Exhibition Success

Posted on August 19, 2011 by admin

Tonight at the photo studio we hosted a photo exhibition by Ottawa photographer Blair Gable after a visit to the World Press Photo of the Year Exhibit at the War Museum.

Blair Gable photojournalism presentation and photo exhibition

We had a packed house with people in the back hall and lobby craning necks to see Blair present recent photojournalism work including photos of Stephen Harper, the Queen, Obama, Ferraris and other excitement.

Blair Gable photojournalism presentation and photo exhibition

Approximately 60 people passed through the studio over the evening. Many questions and smiles ensued.

Guests included other photographers, past workshop students, hobby photographers and one very cute dog. Some of the guests included:

Ashley Fraser – news photographer
David Kawai – news photographer
Dave Andrews – printer. Not to be confused with…
J David Andrews – stock & landscape photographer
Steven Darby – staff photographer at the Museum of Civilization
Younes Bounhar – travel and landscape photographer

… and many others.

Ashley Fraser - News Photographer

The show & presentation was one night only however the show remains hanging in the studio for at least a couple of weeks – if you missed it a viewing can be arranged – just let us know.

Blair Gable - photojournalism presentation

photojournalism presentation and exhibition

A big thanks to Blair and everyone that made the event a success!

photojournalism presentation and exhibition

photojournalism presentation and photo exhibition

#659 Photojournalism Presentation in Ottawa

Posted on August 14, 2011 by admin

We’ve been mentioning this on our photo blog recently but it’s coming up fast…

Ottawa photojournalist, Blair Gable, is presenting work from the last ten years – from chasing Ferraris to following royalty.

Details

This Thursday, August 18th, he’ll be at our photo studio at 160 Preston St. – OttawaStudioWorks.com from 8pm till we’re done. Before his show we’ll be visiting the World Press Photo of the Year Exhibit at the Canadian War Museum at 6:30pm.

The exhibit at the War Museum is free. For Blair’s presentation we’re suggesting a $10 donation.

What he’s talking about

Blair will be showing some of his work and discussing different facets of photojournalism – from what you see at the World Press Exhibition to the kinds of work that are done locally. He’ll be showing and discussing stories from his career including a recent shoot where he photographed $100 million worth of Ferraris in a day.

Join us this Thursday at 160 Preston St – 8pm for Blair’s presentation and if you can make the group visit to the World Press Exhibition we meet at the main entrance of the War Museum at 6:30pm.

More info…

RSVP appreciated

Blair Gable - Ottawa photojournalist - with Chief of Defense Staff