Mando Mercs - Kal Runi - Photo Phriday

These photos all came from a Photo Shoot I did back in August (geez, is it almost November already?) and I thought I would finally post some of the b+w's I shot at the time. The locale for the shoot was a place I had discovered quite by accident about a month and a half prior to shooting there: Wascana Trails. It's about a 20 km drive from Regina City Centre and is a great walking/biking/horse riding trail for those interested, nevermind a great photo spot. We're now entering the winter months so I doubt any photos I'll be posting over the next couple months will be there but, that being said, you can likely expect it being used as a locale for some photos in the future.

Photo Phriday!

It's a month later, you know what that means... Photo Phriday!! So I do have a few legitimate excuses for missing the last month of Photo Phridays (and general photo posting) - I was moving, I was on vacation, my work hours shifted dramatically - but ultimately they are just excuses. In any case, I've got a tonne more similar to the above to post in the near future, plus photos from my vacation, plus photos from other events.. but when they go up is still yet to be determined. In any case, I'll post what I can, when I can. Until then, my apologies for the delay, I am still here and I'll try to get back onto the Photo Phriday schedule if nothing else. Cheers!

August 5 Photos

Missed another Photo Phriday and do you know why that's so horrible? I had photos ready to go I just didn't get home in time to post. Gah! Well, here ARE the photos that were going to go up. My wife and I went for a walk on a beautiful day here in Regina and I decided to take a few quick photos of her.



That isn't my wife, btw. I did take a couple photos that weren't of her.





The above photo is a good example of not preparing for the photo properly. The day was extremely bright out, what with the sun being out an' all, and the result was some extremely high contrast. Now high contrast in and of itself isn't bad as you can get some awesome photos with high contrast. However, if you aren't preparing for it (like I wasn't) you can get some heavy, distracting shadows that you probably don't want. How do you get rid of high contrast you ask? Turn on the flash function on your camera (this will help light up areas the sun is missing), just an evenly lit area (during sunny days, try completely shaded spots) or by a reflector! There's your quick photography tips for the day!







So, yeah, that's it for today. We'll see you later this week!

Photo Phriday!

Also, Belladonna's Soccer photos!



















As mentioned previously I've been sitting on a few different weeks of Belladonna's Soccer Photos for a while and part of the reason I've been sitting on 'em is I haven't been taking a heck of a lot of 'em. I'm fairly disappointed in myself for this though I will argue aloud that this largely has to do with the majority of Belladonna's games starting at 5:45 and my work going until 6. That 15 minute overlap is generally enough to keep me from going home to get my camera and well, before you know it, the season is well over half over and I have very few photos to show for it. Eep!

In any case, the above photos should at least temporarily make up for the lack of major soccer photo production on here. On a slightly, non-photographic note, the team has come leaps and bounds in terms of performance since I started photographing them back in the 2010/11 indoor season. What started as a fairly average team with more losses then wins and ties has morphed into a competitive force in their division. Likely at the end of this season I'll post the team evolution in photos just to give you an idea of how the team has grown through the years.

Group and team photos, particularly at a regular annual or semi-annual interval, can be some of the most rewarding to take and to look at (IMHO). Nothing says awesome like seeing the people you are close to, either through work, play or sport (some weird hybrid of the two), and how they've changed and grown through the years. YMMV of course, but I love 'em.

Photo Phriday!

Gah!!! I've been sitting on a set of photos for far too long and, I fear, given my schedule that time the photos will remain sat on will grow only longer. Blegh, oh well, here's one for Photo Phriday anyweather.

Stacey & Joe's Wedding

General Disclaimer: I was not the Official Photographer for the Wedding, I just happened to be present with my camera. ALSO: There're going to be a number of similar photos in this set so I included the image file number for those who are interested.


B2842bw


B2718


B2730


B2725


B2734


B2712


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Now, as one might have guessed, being a guest and being polite by staying in my seat meant I only had one real camera angle to be shooting from. This also has a lot to do with the general repetition of image. Still, I imagine having more then one of the same image is preferable to having only one. Especially when its your wedding.


B2758


B2759


B2763


B2766


B2775


B2795


B2806


B2808




B2835


B2835


B2849

It was a Rider themed wedding in case you didn't catch on for some reason...


B2842

Of course, some photos look just as awesome in colour as they do in black and white...

As a quick aside, I think I do owe another minor explanation about these photos. So... As a general rule I don't shoot weddings. I really don't want to deal with any potential "Bridezillas" out there and the market has a glut of wedding photographers (some good, some bad) as it is already. Combine that with me not having access to all the equipment I would want for shooting a wedding and, yeah, I'll stick to sports, (other) event, portrait and landscape/macro photography.

With that being said though I couldn't help but feel extremely frustrated for the bride and groom at this wedding. When we were going through the receiving line Stacey told us how their Photographer cancelled on them the day before the wedding. They were able to get someone else, thankfully, but how bad a form is that? I wasn't given the details but I honestly don't see any excuse besides "I found out I'm dying from the disease of death and will be dead tomorrow... but don't worry I booked another better photographer for you in my absence" as being valid. There are few things which could be more frustrating on a wedding day. Even a bad photographer is better then none. POOR, poor form.

Anyweather, once I heard this even though I knew they already had another photographer I wanted to make certain they had access to as many photos out there as possible, even if some of them are not exactly c'est magnifique. Plus, y'know, posting and taking photos is fun!

But that's that for now, so we'll see you next time!

June 24 Photo Excursion

Two weekends ago a friend and I went on another photo excursion though, unlike previous excursions this one actually had something of a purpose. Mostly of excursions are purely for the fun of photography and while this one was still with the same intent it was also to get photos of his local neighbourhood. And to get photos of powerlines. Yes, powerlines. So, invariably, we had some very inspiring shots emerge!





Anyweather, with the powerline photos out of the way, we moved onto the more standard RixelStudios fare... Flowers, landscapes and the (different) stuctures indicative of civilization!







A few photos I fiddled with to make them more pleasing (in my minds eye) and the above bench is one of the more glaring examples of this. Believe it or not I didn't initially take that photo in black and white. Though I'm sure I could have if I actually wanted to go get a film camera, black and white film, develop it manually, then scan the resulting image. Fortunately things like Photoshop exist today which eliminates a lot of those steps for me!

Now, simplistically, the photographers job always remains the same: to take amazing images. In the current digital age this goal is still the same. The difference is that now we have the ability to take an average image, remove the ugly aspects easily, and make it a good, great or amazing image through digital processing. However, everyone and their dog knows you can do this (even if they don't know how) so the trick then becomes to do so in such a subtle way that, for the average layman, they either don't question the authenticity of the photo or don't do so openly. Or, alternatively, if they do they are completely wrong and it wasn't manipulated to get that result. The latter is what we all aim for but only the fool doesn't take advantage of the tools he has in his arsenal.













And that's that for now, so we'll see you next time!