My First Time Shooting Kids

I have never had much of an interest in portrait photography until this past summer.  A local portrait photographer Irvine James whose work I had been admiring for awhile invited me to come along on a shoot with him.  The images Irvine captures are absolutely incredible and inspired me to want to learn the basics of portrait photography.

My sister-in-law had been asking me since springtime to take family photos of my niece and nephew.  I was actually hoping that someone like Irvine would offer me their assistance shooting the kids and not leave me to tackle this all on my own.  I am not properly equipped with lighting, reflectors, etc.  I do not even know exactly how and where to place the subject in order to achieve the best results.  It’s all completely foreign to me.

One Is Such A Lonely Number. Or Is it?

When I began taking photos, it was done predominately with my iPhone 4S and when I was alone.  Occasionally I would lug about my Leica when I believed I would encounter something  so phenomenal that my iPhone would not be capable of capturing the reality of the image.  I was residing in Paris and would be walking around and desire to stop recurrently to capture something that caught my eye. It became so infectious that when I was out with friends I would pause mid-conversation, stop and snap a photo.  My friends would tend to get annoyed that my picture taking would interfere with our conversation and take away our precious time together.  Photography gradually began to become somewhat of an obsession.

Instead of annoying whomever I was with at the time, I would venture off unaccompanied to explore the city and be able to take photos without hearing any complaints.  I wanted to upgrade from my iPhone, to improve the quality of my photos, so I had my ancient Canon shipped from back home in Toronto to Paris. 

Photographing Paris

A year has now past since I was fortunate enough to be able to call Paris my home. I am now living in Toronto again where I spent most of my life growing up.

When I said farewell to Paris, I left feeling completely heartbroken that my journey had come to an end.  I lived in a quintessential Parisian flat in the 8th arrondissement of Paris just a short walk to Avenue des Champs-Élysées.  I would glance in one direction and be able to lay eyes on the stunning Arc de Triomphe and turn my head the other way and catch a glimpse of Place de la Concorde.

Needless to say, I was not looking forward to moving back to Toronto after living so many years abroad (8 years in the US before France).  I was frightened I would not be able to search deep enough to find any creative inspiration and truthfully, just be bored.  How could one possibly compare the two cities?  Paris is bursting with fascinating history,  extreme elegance and utter romance everywhere your eyes wonder.  As for Toronto, everything appears to be common, newly built and rather uninspiring.

View from top of Sacre Coeur | 1/40 sec f / 11, ISO 160 |

Playing with Fire: An Introduction to Light Painting

When I began submerging myself in photography on a regular basis, I joined numerous social media sites to gain inspiration and for an outlet to share my work. Through these social media sites, I noticed images incorporating various types of light painting.  At first glance, it didn’t quite strike me as something I would be interested in or want to attempt.  However, as I began to see it more and more I thought it could potentially add a different yet harmonious element to my photos.

Steel wool test shot to see how long the flames would burn and to figure out the camera settings | 20 sec at f / 8.0, ISO 100 |