Chris gave the opportunity to anyone who wanted to have the chance to shoot alongside him. Some wanted to expand their portfolio, some wanted to learn a few techniques, but mostly, we all wanted the extra time shooting! You know what they say…How do you get to Carnegie Hall…practice, practice, practice. Well the same holds true for photography. It is a craft that is always changing, and practicing new techniques is a constant. So any opportunity us photographers get the chance to get out there and hit that shutter, we jump on it.

On Saturday, we had a great couple, Nikki and Matt, who were an incredible amount of fun. Their session was down at Union Station in downtown Los Angeles. What a great venue for taking pictures. We also stopped off for a little while at the Disney Concert Hall. Chris is going to have a great time shooting their wedding (hopefully I will get the chance to 2nd shoot that wedding with him). It will for sure be a lot of fun, and some amazing pictures no doubt will come from it.

On Sunday, we photographed Michael and Erin out on the rocks and train tracks of Chatsworth. Another great couple (and oddly enough, Michael is Nikki’s brother from the Saturday shoot). They have already been married, but they wanted to have a few more photos taken in their wedding attire. Kind of a trash-the-dress session if you will, but not too much trashing of the dress.

Nikki and Matt-1 Nikki and Matt-2 Nikki and Matt-3 Nikki and Matt-4 Nikki and Matt-5 Nikki and Matt-6 Nikki and Matt-7 Nikki and Matt-8 Nikki and Matt-9 Michael and Erin-1 Michael and Erin-2 Michael and Erin-3 Michael and Erin-4 Michael and Erin-5 Michael and Erin-6 Michael and Erin-7 Michael and Erin-8 Michael and Erin-9

Thanks Chris for opening up your shoots to all of us SMUGGERS! Much appreciated and I know we all had fun. And a big thanks to the two couples who let us all tag along for their sessions.

I was under the impression that this was going to be a session on fusion (the “fusion” of stills and video in a slideshow). I just figured it is the trend these days, so that is what I expected. Well, I was pleasantly surprised.

It wasn’t all about fusion. As a matter of fact, the first thing they talked about really made me think “I really need to do this”. It was about shooting video of yourself, specifically yourself “behind the scenes”. I have seen other photographers do it, and I have always thought it was a great idea. I remember first seeing it on Jasmine Star’s website, (www.jasmine-star.com) short video clips that made you get to know her without ever meeting her. And it worked. Creating transparency as the Bui Brothers called it.

I know, video is a great idea, but I don’t know how to shoot video (even though I own a 5D Mark II with amazing video capability). But hey, shooting video with that camera is NOT like shooting video with your everyday camcorder. I have tried. It looks a bit shaky, is tough to get in focus, and so on (my hat is off to all of you who have successfully mastered the 5D II videography skill set). Thanks to the Bui Brothers advice below, I think I can make better videos now.

They shared some great videos that were inspiring. And I think the main thing they pointed out about these videos was that everything isn’t technically perfect. Their is “drifting focus”, some bad pans, etc. But as they said later in their presentation, they didn’t tell us about the flaws until AFTER we had seen the videos, or we may have ripped apart their work. Would we have noticed them if they had not pointed them out, probably not. Most of us don’t know enough about video to even recognize the technical flaws. From this I learned, don’t let the perfectionist in you get in the way of creating a perfect emotional moment for you or your client.Lan and Vu also showed us some options we could use to help us physically shoot better. They showed us Z-finder (http://www.zacuto.com/z-finder-dslr-viewfinder) which was kind of like a loupe on steroids, an LCD monitor and even wireless “tethered” shooting (I know, that is an oxymoron). And they showed us how we can do it on somewhat of a budget.

One of the best things they taught us was the way to setup our cameras to shoot videos, most importantly, the proper settings. There were a few settings I had right, but I had a lot wrong. The Bui Brothers had borrowed my camera during the live shoot part of their presentation, and I think Lan saw that my settings were way off and decided we all may need a crash course in setting this up right.  But one setting that I though was most important was putting it into Movie Mode which forces the camera to shoot video at the correct shutter speed (frame rate). Very important, as it makes sure your video does not record in the wrong speed, which makes it look a bit off, similar to that of an old Charlie Chaplin clip. And yes, I have had that happen.

And here is a very important tip they gave us regarding ISO settings. They said shooting at the following ISO settings would improve picture quality considerably (use the others, and you are going to get noise and be disappointed). Here they are, and they are not what you would have thought…160, 320, 640,1250 and 2500. Just this information alone was worth the price of admission (admittedly it is free to go to the SMUG, but if I had paid, this info would have made me very, very happy). They also brought along a guest speaker, Aaron. He had created a video blog. A post a day for a year – made with video. (Need to expand)

The presentation went long, and was a little rushed at the end. But that was due to the fact that the Bui Brothers were trying to give us as much information that they could in such a short time. They could have easily kept going for a few more hours.

A huge thanks to the Bui brothers for schooling us on video and how we can use it to improve our businesses.

To find out more about the Bui Brothers, visit their website at www.thebuibrothers.com.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are a LOT of people talking about taking the flash off the camera, but Scott Roberts did it in such a way, that it made me feel like I could do a good job at it. Honestly, I have been a little weary and not sure exactly how to go about it. But he helped put me at ease.

His main caveat was… put it in Manual mode. As he said, we use our cameras in manual mode, why not our flashes. And he is right, lets take some control over these battery sucking devices. By putting it into Manual mode, he showed us that we could conserve battery life and increase recycle time than when shooting with ETTL. And still have enough output to make the shot work. And who doesn’t want that?

The other thing to take the fear out of off camera flash was his creation of the flash guide. Laid out on a business card, he gave us the starting points for the flash-to-subject distances depending on your ISO, Aperture and Shutter settings, taking some guesswork out of the mix. He also had some great tips that he peppered into his presentation throughout the night.

Another great point he made was “Do something video can’t”. As he stated, with the advent of technology and video intertwined into our still cameras, videographers were eventually going to shoot the entire wedding with video, and pull stills out to make wedding albums. And I thought, wow, that is brilliant. But then he pointed out it would make us still photographers obsolete. While still brilliant, I didn’t like the “drop in my stomach” feeling after that comment.  He then followed that comment with the fact that off-camera lighted images would set us photographers apart from the mediocre still frames pulled from video camera footage. OK, feeling better now.

I asked him if he ever uses his flash on camera in ETTL mode, and he said of course, such as having to do a quick shot of grandma at the reception or something like that. However, to really make his style of photos come out, and make him stand out, it was off-camera flash that was going to make it happen.

And now for the plugs. I was excited at the fact that I was able to sit in a great venue and watch an amazing speaker for free. That doesn’t just happen, people made this happen. So a big thanks to the following people:

Scott Robert Lim (Our Presenter)
Thanks for taking time out of your schedule to educate us all on off-camera flash. Not only does Scott practice what he preaches, he also has his own line of wireless triggers and flashes; great equipment to have in your photographic “quiver”.

A Photo Learning Center
The event was held at the Beverly Garland Hotel’s private screening room. It was an excellent location to have this SMUG, and hopefully we will meet there again. A huge thanks to Rafael Jorge of “A Photo Learning Center” in North Hollywood for sponsoring the evening and the venue. Check out their great rates for studio rentals.

Chris Schmitt and SMUG

And lastly, big thanks to Chris Schmitt, the new SMUG leader for Los Angeles. He really pulled it off with securing such an incredible speaker at an amazing venue. I know he has some other tremendous speakers lined up for the months to come, so get excited!

And it was a good thing we took the pictures when we did,  as she went into labor that night and gave birth. In less than 24 hours from our shoot, the baby was no longer in “the belly”.

Here are a handful of images that we captured that day. I thought the music was fitting, but you have to think “son”, not “sun” (oh, they had a boy.)

The slideshow continually loops (this way if you like the song and want to hear it all the way through, it doesn’t cut off on you! Don’t you just hate when that happens).

IMG_2185 IMG_2188 IMG_2190 IMG_2203 IMG_2209 IMG_2246 IMG_2263 IMG_2266 IMG_2276 IMG_2278 IMG_2292 IMG_2294 IMG_2300 IMG_2331 IMG_2341 IMG_2357 IMG_2359 IMG_2360 IMG_2361 IMG_2363 IMG_2366 IMG_2368 IMG_2185 IMG_2361 IMG_2366 IMG_2368 IMG_2360 IMG_2188 IMG_2359 IMG_2209 IMG_2363 IMG_2341 IMG_2294 IMG_2263 IMG_2266 IMG_2276 IMG_2278 IMG_2292 IMG_2300 IMG_2331 IMG_2357 IMG_2246 IMG_2190 IMG_2203

I have to say, I was expecting “SuperBowl” quality advertising around the city, but I think the efforts all fell a little short.  Many took the same approach: advertising on bus stops, sides of buses, in the subway, etc. However, there was some good advertising going on. Below are some of my favorites:

LiveCity Yaletown. Brilliant advertising, as four of the official Olympic sponsors (Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Samsung and Acer) had pavilions here at LiveCity. What was LiveCity? It was a venue that had free entertainment, highlights of the days Olympic events on huge TV screens, and of course, the four sponsors pavillions. LiveCity was opened from 11:00am-11:00pm the entire length of the Olympics. Each night would culminate with a concert of a headlining band followed by a spectacular fireworks show. Oh, and it was ALL FREE.

This was a Nike billboard that was actually a projection screen on the side of the Sear’s building in downtown Vancouver. This billboard was a CITY BLOCK LONG! I lent a camera to a friend of mine for a job he had, and it turns out the job was to take a picture of this billboard! So I found out some info on it. It is actually SIX projectors that are lined up perfectly along the block up on a rooftop from across the street projecting this image on the side of the building. I thought this was a great idea, because the ads could be changed EASILY whenever they wanted.

Olympic Mittens. Hands down the best marketing strategy of the Vancouver Olympic Commitee (VANOC). Everybody at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games had a pair (or at least it seemed like it). It was part of the “Own the Podium” campaign, and it worked, Canada owned the podium at this years winter Olympics. They sold 3.5 million pairs, and at $10/pair, well, you do the math. The good news is that all of the proceeds go to supporting Canada’s Olympic athletes.

The crowd stopping knee-high white leather olympic boots with red maple leafs. I know they were a crowd-stopper because my wife owned a pair, and was stopped constantly by people asking her where she got them or just to say that they thought they were great. Rockport shoes, in hopes of landing the official Olympic footwear bid, made a numbered, limited edition of these boots (2010 of them). But after they lost the bid to another supplier, VANOC said they could not have a numbered edition since they weren’t OFFICIAL Olympic gear. So only 1500 of them were numbered. These boots sold out quickly (they were sold at Ronson’s Shoes), and are now selling on Craigslist for $1000 a pair.

Ads on Feet. Just a clever way of getting your advertising out there on the streets. This particular person was walking around broadcasting the Olympic coverage on CTV, the official Olympic network.

Vitamin Water had a fun game of Curling with a bottle of Vitamin Water. I was hoping to see more “Street Team” marketing out there, but didn’t see anything else like this. Oh, and you got to keep the bottle after your turn at Curling.

Visa. Bigger than life. Huge billboard on the side of the building.

Coca-Cola Billboard. Every time Canada scored a medal, it went up on the billboard. I don’t think they were expecting to be putting so many up!

Samsung and official Olympic Mascots. This at the Vancouver Airport.

The thing is, I am American, very much the minority at the Hockey House filled with the newly found patriotic Canadians. But I thought if I am going to go there, I have to go all out and do it in style. So I got my USA sweater, some red, white and blue beads, and of course, a somewhat obnoxious USA paper hat, complete with the stars and stripes (I would have had more, but it isn’t easy finding American fan gear here in Canada). I have to admit, I was a little nervous heading in to the hockey house dressed the way I was, especially from the looks I got on the way there, but like I said, if you are going to go, you have to go all out.

We got stopped along the way to the Hockey House and a few people took our photos, because as I have not mentioned until now, my wife Nicola was decked out in all Canadian gear, right down to the knee-high white leather boots with huge red maple leafs on them. We were both representing our countries as best we could, and I think people were finding it interesting that the USA and CANADA could be getting along so nicely during the Olympics. We were even interviewed by a Seattle NPR station about it.

Back to the Hockey house. We enter. It was as if all colors no longer existed, but not in a black and white kind of way, but more of a RED and WHITE way. No other colors existed until…I walked in, with that one extra color, BLUE.

Hmmm, a lot of people looking at us all of a sudden, many with their eyes on me. For a moment I though, should I take the hat off? No way. I am here to represent. So in I went. I got a few comments such as” you have the wrong colors on” to a few “boo’s”, bust most of all, I think people respected the fact that I was there to represent the USA. Hey, how else are they going to have some competitiveness if it was all just fellow Canadians?

I wasn’t alone, there was another American that had made himself noticed, wearing a USA flag as a cape, but that was about it. I have the say, even with the Red, White and Blue, I felt welcome. I made a lot of friends that day, especially when Canada was winning. They were a very happy crowd until, with just a few seconds left in the game, Team USA scored the tying goal. I got excited and yelled and hollered, then again, all eyes were on me. Then I thought, I may have an angry crowd here if the USA does pull this off in overtime. So I tied my shoes up good, looked for the exits, and was prepared to bolt should the US score the first goal in sudden death overtime. Canada scored first, and won the game, so I never found out what COULD have happened.

Maybe it is a good thing that Canada did win the game.

Seconds after Team Canada Scored the winning goal.

My wife Nicola, very excited that Canada won the gold (and showing no signs of sympathy for me or Team USA – where’s the love?)

What it looks like from my point of view in front of me.

What it looks like from my point of view behind me (you gotta love the huge hockey jersey – only in Canada).

My friend Kelly who I ran into at the Molson Hockey House. If you ever read the blog about the Jump! Gymnastics shoot I did for charity, she is the one that got me on board with the event.

And lastly, me. A little speck of blue added into the sea of red and white.

I befriended one of the moms there as her son and my son have become friends. She was doing a fundraiser for West Side Family Place and brought JUMP! on board to donate a free birthday party for the silent auction.  She asked me to “sweeten” the deal by adding in an hour of photography. I said sure, why not, it’s for the kids.

So I got the call a few weeks ago from the highest bidder of the party. She was very sweet, and she said she was going to have a party. But it wasn’t for a birthday,  just a party to ring in the New Year. How cool is that? When it comes to kids, parents never think to have a party unless its a birthday. I love the idea. Why wait…have some fun when you can.

It was such a great group of kids. They were loads of fun and high in energy. They tore the place up. I had a lot of fun with them, and got some great shots too!

Check out the slideshow below of the kids in action.

UPDATE: According to Sue (the aunt in disguise), her brother and sister-in-law absolutely loved the photos (she said there were some tears shed as well – the happy kind of course). She had a great idea on how to present the images to them as well – by showing them a slideshow of all of the images. Then did the big unveiling – a 24×36 inch canvas! The canvas looked great. Below is the image she used for the canvas. I am so glad they loved their images!

For almost a year, I have been the leader for Vancouver’s Pictage Users Group (PUG). It has been great meeting with the many different photographers, sharing ideas and discussing photography and the business of photography. We usually meet on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. I thought I would give a shout out to some of the photographers that I have come to know. They are all great photographers, and you should check out their work. Here are the links to their sites:

Angelo Cikes Photography
Doug and Rosie Batchelor of Doug Batchelor Photography
Jason and Lena of  Jaylena Photography
Josan Pinon Photography
Jan and Roseanne of Orange Passion Photography

One of the owners of Redfish Clothing, Kristy Brinkley, does a tremendous amount of giving back to the community and is constantly holding fundraisers to raise money for charities. My family was invited to come and be a part of a seal release fundraising event that Kristy held at her house, located on a beautiful rocky beach in West Vancouver, with the proceeds going to support the Vancouver Aquarium.

The Vancouver Aquarium brought along five rescued and rehabilitated seals to release from Kristy’s backyard. What an amazing experience. My kids were in awe and were so thrilled to see the seals. One thing I love about Kristy is that she invited me and said “You don’t need to take pictures if you do not want to, just come and enjoy the experience. I know I miss a lot when I am always looking through the camera”. I have to say, I was so happy to hear that. Being a photographer, you are always expected to photograph every event you go to. I always hear “It is great you are coming to my birthday party, can you bring your camera”. Of course I always do since I enjoy taking photos, but I am glad that Kristy made the connection and didn’t expect anything from me. But how could I not take pictures of these cute little rehabilitated seals going back home. Many thanks to the Staff and Volunteers of the Vancouver Aquarium for all of the hard work they do to rescue and rehabilitate the seals.

The five seals lined up, ready to be released back into the wild.

This little seal is in his cage ready to be released. The seals were all scared as they didn’t know what was going on. Little did they know that in just a few minutes, they were going to be back out in the ocean where they belonged!

Kristy and her son taking a peek at the seal in the cage, a few minutes before they were moved down to the beach to be released.

This little cutie is my daughter, Pepper. Talk about excited, she was standing next to two seals AND she had a cookie!

Another little guy ready to be released.

Ahh, the promise land. This is the view they had as they were looking out towards the ocean. This is where home will be (at least until they swim out of there to wherever area they will decide to make their home).

One of the staff at the Vancouver Aquarium. She and the other staff member in charge of releasing the seals were awesome. Full of knowledge, and happy to answer any questions we had.

The big moment.  The release of the seals. They were released one at a time. They would actually turn around and wait for the others to be released.

Out in the ocean. Luckily, as I had mentioned, they looked back a lot, so I was able to get some shots of them in the water.

This seal is just about to enter the water. Luckily he looked up at me just before he jumped in.

Another seal, happy to be in the water again.