gj: photography

D700

1 comments February 25, 2009

Today I brought my new baby home
I was running around downtown collecting a lens from here and a body from there. I'll admit that after I made the purchase it felt like there was a target on my ass. I was getting paranoid that someone was going to snatch my purchase.
All in all i'm SUUUUPER stoked!!!! It was a big purchase but SO worth the investment and I can't wait to see where this camera will take me. I'm so thankful to God for putting me in a situation where I can even make the purchase. It's such a blessing!

Muhahahaha I'm just playing around with the camera right now and it's AWESOME! It's late so I'm going to sleep soon but I'm itching to take it out for a test run!

created bygj

at9:40 p.m.

Hilary Swank

1 comments February 7, 2009

photo by Norman Jean Roy

I was waiting for a friend at Indigo today and so I visited the photography section. I opened up the Vanity Fair photobook and i came across the photo above. Amazing photo but more than the photo AMAZING BODY! OMG!!!!! I feel so ashamed right now at the state of my fitness and this photo is inspiring me to really take care of my body.
The image looks so fresh I can almost feel the cool breeze coming from the ocean, the wet sand on my feet and just begining to feel warm from the sprint...

i miss jogging

created bygj

at11:01 p.m.

d700??

2 comments January 25, 2009

ok, i'm about to head out the door to church but I wanted to write a quick line about what I did yesterday. I went to visit some camera stores downtown and I got to talk with lots of people there about my on going battle between d700 and 5D mkII.... I only got to play with the D700 as stores are still taking care of preorders for the 5D. I love the D700! I want the D700! Prices are steadily going to go up on these beauties because the canadian dollar is so bad so I want to jump on it NOW! But I keep telling myself that I should wait to test out the 5D first so I'm going to have to be a little more patient.
:)
overall the D700 felt comfortable in my hands and that's the most important thing, everything was at my fingertips with dedicated buttons and I liked how I didn't have to go into the menus to change stuff.
OK! GOTTA GO!!!

created bygj

at12:06 p.m.

My brother's married!

4 comments January 14, 2009

I can't believe my brother's married! I can but at the same time I can't...
I absolutely LOVE my new sister, I am so blessed to have her and I thank God for giving me the kind of sister I've always wanted. It's great having an older brother and all but nothing beats a sister :)

While I was in Korea I did a quick engagement shoot for them because the Korean style of wedding photography is very different and it didn't suite my brothers taste, so to soften the disappointment I did a shoot for them. The shoot was taken place in the most charming old traditional korean home. The story behind this home deserves a separate blog but in a nutshell the house is a guest house for people who want to visit korea but want to experience it the REAL way. People come from all over the world and stay at this small house and are truly able to feel comfortable and welcomed by the family who runs it. My sister in law taught the owners kids piano and so we were warmly welcomed. Next time I go to korea I'm definitly going to stay there cause it's in a great location too. But again, this place deserves a seperate blog ;)

Back to my brothers wedding...
Korean weddings are so different I don't know where to begin. It's all about the extended family, everyone's invited! My youngest uncles wives relatives were there too...crazy huh? I realized how important it is to keep an open mind and not be easily offended when you're thrown into a culture that you're not that familiar with because what's considered offensive in one culture is not offensive in another.

The wedding was so hectic it went by in a flash! I had to greet relatives that I hadn't seen in years! As I'm going through my photos I'm kinda sad because I didn't have time to take photos :( I didn't even take any with my parents...booooo...I guess i'll have to wait for the photographer.

created bygj

at8:57 a.m.

4 comments

Korea 2: week twooo

3 comments December 22, 2008

...Went to help my sister in law pic her wedding dress and I saw THIS as I was flipping through one of the magazines!!!

...it's not impossible :) I have my scuba diving license so that's a start!!! Who wants to do this shoot with me!??!? I grew up wanting to be little mermaid and that's what these women in wedding dresses look like. Such an AWESOME shoot!!!

aA Cafe Design Museum

I went to aA Cafe and I felt right at home. This cafe was put together (forgive me if my facts are wrong) by a man, who after acquiring lots of money working at some restaurant, got this location and started a cafe. All the furniture and little lamps and unique looking shelves were collected from all over the world. For example, a mail organizing desk used in post offices in France from 1850, a fence from a Cadbury factory in England from 1933, their front door is a French door from 1850...and the list goes on...what a COOL job! so the last image i posted is an image of the basement floor where he will be setting up the space as a real museum. I wanted to meet the owner but my Korean is lacking and I didn't want to seem like a fumbling fool...

Korea has some really cool places...but you gotta go with someone that knows all the best places that aren't listed in tour guides....

created bygj

at8:32 p.m.

3 comments

stop motion love story

0 comments December 13, 2008

When I get inquiries about wedding photography I get so excited! *sigh* love....
I watched this video off of nickonkens blog and had to add it to mine. My favorite scene is when they're an old couple looking at a picture of themselves when they were young. Not just any picture but a picture that captured the love they felt for each other. How precious that photo must be to them! It's priceless!

A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

ok I really should finish packing. I'm off to Korea tomorrow morning!!! My brother's getting married and I'm excited to see the family :)

created bygj

at6:35 p.m.

Reactions

0 comments November 30, 2008

It's the last day of november.
That means it'll be december tomorrow...wow

The images above are from today. I thought their reactions were pretty funny. LOL! Everyone has different reactions towards having a big ass lens shoved in front of their faces, what's yours?

created bygj

at11:38 p.m.

cousins

0 comments November 29, 2008

I finally got a day to relax. My weeks have been jam packed with events because of my OTHER side business doing Arbonne but I must say they have been filled with blessings. I'm loving the activity in my life and i'm seeing growth. No one said life is easy and I'm really experiencing how much hard work is involved when we want to see our dreams come into fruition. Each challenge I'm faced with I turn to the only one who can give me peace and rest and the only one who never fails me. Thanks God.

This shot is from today, I was testing out my friend Rudys 5D and i love it :) full frame rocks!
My cousins are quirky but such good girls...thanks for living with me!

created bygj

at5:19 p.m.

First wedding booked!

2 comments November 11, 2008

So yesterday I had a meeting with my friend Jenn that's getting married next year. I showed her my package because she was still looking for a photographer and later that night I got a call from her saying that she would like to have me as their photographer. I was sooo extremely happy! It was my first time presenting my package and I was nervous, even more so cause she is a friend. But she's an amazing woman and I'm glad I experienced this with her! I am so happy for Jenn and Kevin. I will be continuously building my equipment from here on and I'm soooo excited, especially about upgrading my body :p

Still debating....canon 5d mkII or nikon d700???

created bygj

at8:27 p.m.

weekends are too short

2 comments November 9, 2008

why are weekends so short?

growl

well this weekend was a good weekend because I got to go to my friend Claudia's place to talk about photography... wedding photography to be precise. I love going there because her dogs are SOOOOOOOOOOO cute! I never knew dogs with more personality than hers but then again, i'm not well acquainted with that many dogs.

After some serious talk we did a quick shoot. The photo above was shot with a 2omm lens and let me tell you, the camera was really close to my face. I could smell Claudia's onion breath. It was kinda uncomfortable being on the other side of the camera, I'm usually the one taking the pictures and when that scenario is flipped I suddenly don't know what to do with my hands. However, when I got back home and I was flipping through the images I felt tremendous joy at having them. I had a kind of epiphany. I know photos are important because it seals a memory permanently into a file (can't say 4x6 anymore in this digital world) and it remains even after we've grown old and fat! lol! But to be reminded of how it feels to receive photos was GOOD! If that simple shoot was that special to me then weddings are that much more important. That one ceremony held on one day where all your family members and friends come to celebrate, to send you off on your new journey. I would want to remember that day. I would want to remember the faces of those who came and the colours of the flowers in my hands. So, I truely believe that the wedding photographer is the best investment when it comes to wedding planning.

created bygj

at9:47 p.m.

St Lawrence Market

0 comments November 2, 2008

Yesterday I went to go shoot for fun at st Lawrence market with a friend. It was a saturday morning and the hustle and bustle of the place was so contagious. There were families there doing their shopping and grabbing their brunch. The long line at the diner inside made me curious to try it out. There were fresh fruits, meat, fish, candy, bread and other random appliances and nick nacks. I was there to shoot but i'll admit it was an excuse to go and eat some yummy food :p

I keep hearing "keep shooting, keep shooting" and I'm putting it into practice. Its so true that practice makes perfect. The same wisdom when realized once is so often re-realized with new experiences and takes on greater meaning and depth.

Looking forward to shoot more...

on a side note: what is it with musicians and performing next to garbage bins? Is that were the traffic is?

created bygj

at11:35 a.m.

Inspiration is fuel

0 comments October 25, 2008

without inspiration it's difficult to be motivated to even pick up your camera and shoot. but once inspired there's sometimes a sense of panic like it might run out so shoot while you can. I feel inspired, i've been refueled...

created bygj

at2:01 p.m.

Evrium

grrrr...

i'm having a piss ass time with uploading my images to my evrium website.

for some reason it turns up pixelated and i know it's not my image because i shoot in raw!

So, if i shoot in raw then its the export settings from Lightroom...what am i doing wrong?

anyone wanna help?

I've tried some different settings. e.g. 72dpi, 1000x1000, quality at 100

created bygj

at11:11 a.m.

Hello!

2 comments July 7, 2008

So it's been ages and ages since my last post.

I guess because I was so back logged I lost the motivation to start.

But today I went home early because i wasn't feeling well and I'm sitting here at night working on a project because I have a friggin deadline on wed! It's our biggest project. Yea, perfect timing to be sick.

I guess I'll start by posting a shoot I did for a friend of a friend. The friend is Adrianna and her friends (my subjects) are Cait + Tom. It was a lot of fun meeting them for the first time. Tom left for England the day after the shoot so I really wanted to give them some photos they can cry over as they'll be in a long distance relationship for a while. To prep for the shoot Adrianna used her skills as a makeup artist to produce even awesomer pictures.

created bygj

at9:12 p.m.

One intense day...

0 comments April 30, 2008

I've had an awesome past week and so much as happened. I feel so behind in my blogging that it's preventing me from posting.

This past saturday I went to a one day intensive...you can read about it on her blog.

The morning comprised of the teaching portion where she went though the basics of photography and used her awesome Samsung flat screen as her powerpoint screen. As she taught her choco lab Haelee was busy licking everyone moisturizing their arms with slob.

The afternoon was the shooting portion of the day. We shot an amazing couple who were great sports in the windy weather did well under the demands of the 10 photographers there.

here are some shots...

created bygj

at2:10 p.m.

Jogging

0 comments April 18, 2008

So, i've started jogging this past week and it's been awesome!

I wake up at 5:30am and start running at around 6:00am and get home a little past 6:30am. It's a good 30min jog to start off the day. I purposely set out at 6:00am so I can watch Toronto wake up. I'm a really picky runner because I only like to run in the early hours of the day or at night in the dark. I like solitude when i'm running so don't ask me to run with you :P

Some things I've noticed.

- There are a lot more cars out at 6:00am than i thought.

- Toronto (at least my area) kinda smells.

- Lack of nature: I was talking to my friend in Germany and she says she jogs in the forest. How romantic and awesome does that sound? Jogging in suburbia doesn't quite match up to that.

on another note, I may have a new lens this weekend if negotiations go well!!!! eek! i'm so excited!!!!!!!

no yet ANOTHER note, I'm a true fan of Nick Onken, i absolutely love his style... . He also has a lot of good links and good advice on the whole photography business.

created bygj

at10:06 a.m.

My Backyard

1 comments April 10, 2008

Behind my apartment is a large park but i like calling it my backyard.
It's beautiful and quiet. Not that many people know about it. I can't begin to express the joy of discovering this new land. When i'm there it feels like i'm on holiday....i go walking around and 1.5hrs goes by but it feels like only 15mins has gone by to me. It's exactly what i need to destress from the days work sitting in front of the computer all day. I go there with my cousins and they have a blast...filming documentaries with their digital camera...it's really quite cute.

Going into my backyard I've realized how much I miss nature. Being in the city for so long and being a full-time worker really turns you into a zombie sometimes. My love of nature was really instilled in me through my dad who LOVES bird watching, taking ridiculous amounts of photos of trees and landscapes (all film...it used to drive my mum insane) and CAMPING! oh i miss camping! If i had a car I would go all the time.

That said, I'm looking forward to see how my backyard will look when it grows its leaves.
Here are some pictures I took on one of our journeys...

created bygj

at12:33 p.m.

Random_02

0 comments March 31, 2008

Foggy day...
...31 days until I go to korea

created bygj

at9:41 p.m.

Random_01

0 comments March 27, 2008

Here begins the series which I will call Random.
Random will consist of photos that I dig out from my archive.

"mum"
This is one of my eeeearrrly photos. Taken with my Dads old Minolta using black and white film. I developed the film and negative at my high school darkroom. No one seemed to enjoy photography like I did so usually it was just me in the darkroom by myself. I would remain in the thick and utter black and slowly roll my film to prep for development. At first it was kind of scary but after developing my own photo...seeing the faint outlines of what I saw through a lens appear and take permanence in this world...I vowed that if i were ever to get a house I would install a dark room.
Sadly I lost the negative for this photo so I only have one original print and that's it!
i miss my mum...i haven't seen my mum in 2 years!

created bygj

at11:51 p.m.