#204 Hockey Photography Workshop Complete!

Students met to critique their adventures in the world as working photographers after spending the day shooting the Ottawa 67s as they beat the Erie Otters in the OHL – a feeder league to the NHL.

Ottawa 67s hockey photo workshop

Big thank-yous to the Ottawa 67s for hosting us and to Vistek Photo for hosting and teaching our group about pro photo gear and showing off their rental photo equipmet!

Ottawa 67s hockey photo workshop

Students were tired at the end of the shoot. Senses were tingling and camera equipment was on high alert for the afternoon.

Ottawa 67s hockey photo workshop

Students came with varied backgrounds and for different reasons:

  • kids in hockey or figure skating programs
  • interest in shooting ‘field’ sports
  • ‘love’ hockey
  • interested in pursuing photo work

Ottawa 67s hockey photo workshop
We viewed and critiqued student work this evening. I was impressed!

Ottawa 67s hockey photo workshop

Thanks to all the students who participated. Look for the pro hockey photography workshop next year. Stay tuned for other workshops and a summer sport workshop this summer. Receive monthly notices and  photo newsletters by subscribing to Exposed! near the top of this page.

#203 Coming soon

Wednesday evening we will be wrapping up the 2nd Annual Pro Hockey Photography Workshop supported by the Ottawa 67s and Vistek Photo. A full report coming soon.

Check these other photo workshops:

Sessions Photo ChallengeFebruary 5, 12, 19, 26, 2009

$250; $75 per evening

Sessions Photo Challenge

Rubbing elbows with a pro

We meet for three nights of shooting challenges taking advantage of Winterlude events and other wonders of Ottawa – indoors or out. Progress to a new level of photography with four sessions designed to help you gain momentum and confidence in your shooting skills. Develop your photo skills by shooting with a pro at your elbow – not in a classroom!

Fourth night is a critique session used to review and solidify photo techniques.

Night Light Photo Workhop

Photo Challenges!!

Night Light PhotographyMarch 28th, April 1st, 2009

$225

Night Light Photo Workhop

Night Light – Ghostly photo of the instructor

Pump up the light – pump up the fun! In this two part workshop we experience the challenge of taming artificial city lights with natural light from the changing night sky. Discover the photo magic of ‘light painting’.  Guaranteed fun!

Iceland Photo Adventure August 6-14, 2009

More workshops

#202 Basia Bulat at the Black Sheep Inn

On the weekend I visited the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield Quebec. Paul Symes does a fantastic job of bringing in rising talent. Some fun developed:

Friday night we went to watch Polaris Prize nomineeBasia Bulat.Basia Bulat

I was a patron that night, not a working photographer. The venue is small and beautifully lit but does not have the bright lights of large venue. I checked with Paul and Basia and shot for ten minutes with some very simple equipment – camera body and an 85mm f1.8 lens. I shot with available light in a photojournalistic style.

Basia Bulat

If you are shooting in such a venue please beware how your camera works! In low light many point and shoot cameras will emit a red ‘laser’ to assist the camera’s focus. Twice Basia was interrupted by the red laser – not me – Paul was not very happy!

Basia Bulat
‘Twas a fantastic show – and great to watch from the fun that is the Black Sheep Inn.

#201 Passivhaus photos

Remember the work I did for Ottawa Magazine on Malcolm Isaacs’ Passivhaus inspired house near Wakefield Quebec? Malcolm is presenting his innovative work in house design in Chelsea, Quebec this week.

Passivhaus

As a reminder – Malcolm was tired hearing how fantastic current Canadian houses are being built. Compared to developments in Europe we are behind the times!

Passivhaus photo

Malcolm Isaacs is a civil engineer who has worked as a specialist in residential energy analysis and low-energy construction since 1987. He has studied extensively in Europe and in 2005/6 he designed and built the first house in Canada based on PassivHaus ideas. He is now a Certified Passive House Designer, and an advocate and trainer in low energy construction techniques, thermal analysis and energy modeling.

Passivhaus

Malcolm researched, designed and built this attractive three bedroom home. His home uses only 25% the energy of a new and normal Canadian home. That means four of Malcolm’s houses could be heated from the energy of one ‘well designed’ modern, Canadian house. His secret – appropriate and ample use of insulation.

Passivhaus photo

Malcolm is presenting his work at the United Church in Chelsea:

7:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Chelsea United Church, Mill Road, Chelsea, QC

Worth a visit.

Harry

#199 Portraits follow-up

We finished the Natural Light Portrait workshop last week. It was a good group with two students coming from far, far away. Stanley had a 6.5 hour drive for the course.

I was impressed wirh student’s work. On Saturday afternoon they were assigned to create portraits of four groups they had never met – two small families, a couple and a small business owner. By the end of the session student’s faces showed signs of a challenging but rewarding afternoon!

Some students at work:

Portrait photography workshop

Portrait photography workshop

Coming up soon:

#198 Photos – largest construction project in the world

I recently went to a presentation of photographer, Louis Helbig‘s, aerial photo work of, arguably, the largest construction project on earth – the Alberta Tar Sands. Helbig spent part of last summer shooting the vastly changed landscape of northern Alberta in western Canada from his airplane.

He has one of the biggest and finest collections of accessible aerial footage of this mega project. Some photos, posted with permission:

Alberta Tar sands photo

Louis: “The machinery photo shows some of the world’s largest shovels, dump trucks and bulldozers.  Extraction through open pit mining takes place to depth of about 100 metres. From the air, northern Alberta’s tar sands look like a dirty sandbox with children’s toys crawling hither and thither.”

Alberta Tar Sands photo

Louis: “The abstract image details oily tar floating on Suncor’s most recently created tar pond (lake).  Each day, as a byproduct of bitumen extraction, about 1.8 million litres of toxic effluent are produced. This is piped into manmade tar lakes that cover 130 square kms and contain about 5.5 trillion litres. This tar lake is the visual gateway to the tar sands operations in northern Alberta, western Canada.”

See more of Louis’ Alberta Tar Sands photos at egamiimage.ca

#197 Iceland comes to RA Photo Club – Ottawa

This Tuesday Harry Nowell demystifies some of the nordic charm of Iceland as he presents photos and stories from photo travels in Iceland:

  • Inspire your photo travel plans
  • Discover what to bring on a photo tour
  • Learn about Iceland
  • Fall in love with stunning Icelandic sites
  • Learn about Iceland Photo Adventure 2009

All welcome. Prize to be drawn. See you there:

  • RA Photo Club 
  • Tuesday, January 20th, 7:30pm
  • Clark Hall, RA Centre, 2451 Riverside Drive, Ottawa.

Iceland Photo Tour

Iceland’s waterfalls

#195 Cold weather shooting

The temperature has plummeted where we work – just north of Ottawa in Chelsea, Quebec – to depths I haven’t seen in a few years. Without wind chill Environment Canada has projected lows down to -40C this week! Celsius or farenheit does not make much difference at that level.

Cold weather shoooting

At these temperatures it is still possible to be active and comfortable outside shooting. It takes some extra planning and proper use of insulating layers. Read Warm Photos from Winter’s Cold for some cool weather shooting tips.

There is no sign of warm weather coming – take photos, stay warm!

Harry