Beach Digital Did It

Residential Interior Photography - Narrow Bathroom

2012-01-24T21:53:00.000-08:00

Another instalment of a residential architectural photography portfolio. This bathroom is about 6 feet wide. The Canon L series 17-40 mm wide angle lens on a full frame canon 5D Mark II provides good coverage of three walls. Lit by a Canon 580 EX-II flash on the camera, and a Canon 550 EX Speedlight with a shoot through umbrella on the floor to the left pf the camera.

Residential Interior Photography - Tiled Bathroom Shower

2012-01-21T17:38:00.000-08:00

Another part of a residential architectural photography portfolio. Shot with a Canon 5DII, 24-105, with an Elinchrome D-Lite with a shoot through umbrella under the camera and a tiny Opus flash in the sink at right. This bathroom is less than five feet wide, but still gets good coverage from this lens.

Residential Interior Photography - Master Bedroom

2012-01-21T15:03:00.000-08:00

This photo was taken for a residential architectural photography portfolio with 2 Speedlights and then HDR processing to bring out the highlights. Shot with a Canon 5D II, 24-105 lens. Shot in the winter, the exterior trees seen through the windows were composited into the final imagewith Photoshop

Green Screen Shoot for Professional Promo

2012-01-17T20:45:00.000-08:00

Theresa Dietrich, owner of People Talking Market Research, wanted a video promo to introduce herself and her methodology to prospective customers and to rekindle relations with past clients.

I shot her on a green screen to allow a variety of backgrounds to be tested to see what works best. In the end she chose plain white, and the keyed out image of her speaking could easily be composited into the presentation exactly as desired.
The studio was lit entirely with cool lights - daylight balanced fluorescents to light up the background, and LED panels to light the speaker. Much better to work under than hot incandescents.

Pegasus Community Project Christmas / Holiday Party Shoot

2012-01-17T20:21:00.000-08:00

I had the opportunity to photograph a wonderful group of people at the Pegasus Community Project Holiday Lunch in Toronto. They wanted an event photo booth style shoot to let participants keep a memento of the event. I don't ask for testimonials but some people say the nicest things:

"The photos are wonderful. You have captured at least 6 of our participants in the best way I have ever seen and the others are just as brilliant. I am beyond pleased with this work."

Shot with a Canon 5DII, 24-105 lens, white backdrop, 2 Elinchrome D Lites with umbrellas and Skyport wireless trigger.

Residential Interior Photography - Kitchen Sun Room

2012-01-15T10:55:00.000-08:00

Another Canon 17-40 workout of a newly renovated kitchen sun room in a 100 year old home. The window and door mouldings replicate the original gumwood trim in the rest of the home.

Shot with a Canon 5DII with Canon 17-40 lens at 17 mm. Lit by two Elinchrom D-Lites, one behind the camera, one at the right of the camera.

Toronto downtown at night

2011-12-19T15:02:00.000-08:00

Canon 5D Mk2 with Canon 17-40 lens from the second floor of the parking lot of Loblaws downtown. Shows the CN Tower, CIBC, and the new Telus building, Fairmont Royal York and the elevated Gardiner Expressway cutting through it all.
Car light streaks are as a result of the 1 second exposure.

Beauty and the Booth at Graphics Canada

2011-11-12T12:41:00.000-08:00

Beautiful women attract trade show visitors to learn about printing services at the Boss Logo booth at Graphics Canada 2011.

A beautiful 2 level booth attracts visitors to the Fujifilm exhibit at Graphics Canada 2011.

These examples of trade show photography doneout for Graphics Canada and Aplphaform

Trade Show Video for Lumber at Home Hardware Marketplace

2011-10-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

OWL Distribution, wholesale lumber distributor, wanted a high impact video presenting both major product lines and features of the company itself to attract attention at the Home Hardware marketplace, a tradeshow for suppliers to Home hardware, attended by buyers from the Home Hardware stores. The 8 minute video was played on two 55 inch TVs in the booth. A 5 minute shorter version is featured here.

The video was created from footage shot at the OWL yard, clips from suppliers' product installation videos, stills provided by suppliers and HD stock footage from Digital Juice, Artbeats and FootageFirm. On site footage was shot with a Sony NX5 and V1U. The V1U was mounted on a Cobra Crane. Some of the dramatic yard shots were taken with a Canon 5D mounted on a car driving through the yard. All in all, there were 1000 elements composited over 18 layers of video and graphics in Premiere Pro. Many of the supplied still were animated, and enhanced with keyed in stock footage.

The video will be re-edited into versions for YouTube, PowerPoint, and other trade shows.

There is a bridge in Hamiton

2011-10-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Francis Fougere Photography needed a drive by video of a bridge in Hamilton Ontario that the City of Hamilton wanted to document. The objective was to show what the bridge looked like to drivers passing under it on the QEW.

We shot the video in HD while driving down the QEW with the camera on a tripod projection through the sun roof of the camera car. Delivered in HD mp4 and as a windows media file for PowerPoint.

Music from Digital Juice.

Focus Group Becomes Conference Speaker Support Video

2011-10-06T18:29:00.000-07:00

Theresa Dietrich of PeopleTalking Market Research Services wanted to capture the essence of a focus group's deliberations to support a conference presentation. I recorded the a two camera shoot of the focus group, and edited two hours into four minutes. The AV group at the conference were provided with a DVD of the video, as well as an HD mp4.

Downtown Toronto Construction

2011-09-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

Surrounded by glass towers, a new construction site springs up at Bay and Lakeshore.

Shot from the Harbourfront Parkade with a canon 5D 24-105 lens

Halifax Refinery with Canon 2x

2011-09-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

I spent a few nights at the Westin Hotel in Halifax and was amazed at the lights on the refinery stacks at the Esso refinery across the harbour in Dartmouth. It is a pretty wide harbour, and a Canon 2x extender on a 70-200 made it effectively a 400 mm lens. Not as clear as the native 70-200, but nice enough to reach out across the water. These shots were taken from warf at the Halifax Seaport.

More Caribbean Carnival - Junior Carnival

2011-07-06T06:33:00.000-07:00

The Yorkgate Mall preview of 2011 Junior Carnival brought out bright costumes and smiling faces. Kids and adults.

Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival

2011-05-30T05:56:00.000-07:00

Denise Herera-JacksonScotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival CEO	Chris Alexander Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival CFO
Chris Alexander	MPP Mike Colle
Toronto Councillor Joe Mihevic	Caribbean Tourism Roanne Argyle

Beautiful Caribbean Dancer

2011-05-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

The event formerly known as Caribana's new name was announced this week, complete with pan music and girls in costume, what little of it there is. I took photos for pres purposes, including this gorgeous dancer.

Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival is the new name

Canon 5DII, 70-200 with 2x, no flash

Contact @ ROM

2011-05-01T13:43:00.001-07:00

Photographer Ed Burtynsky and admirers at the opening for Scotiabank Contact 2011 of his exhibition at the ROM.

Irony is photographing a photographer.

Toronto City Hall HDR

2011-04-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

Continuing the photographic journey to see how HDR enhances the look of otherwise ordinary scenes, I went back to Toronto City Hall on a bright sunny day. I shot a series of 3 images, bracketed by 2 f stops. Photoshop's HDR Pro merged the three exposures to generate a surrealistic image that emphasized the highlights. To see what the photo looked like on a larger scale, I printed it at 18 by 12 at Pikto in Distillery District. The large image revealed gorgeous smooth tones on the windows, almost like water colors.

Before, top, after, bottom.

Event Headshots

2011-04-19T20:34:00.000-07:00

A client had a dinner event and I shot candid photos of the guests. Including Dawn and Mike.

Canon 5DII, flash, f4.0

Corrosive Tank Cars at the Edge of Town

2011-04-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

1760 is the code for corrosive liquid. The eastern end of downtown Toronto, on both sides of the Don River, was once full of factories, and railway tracks to supply them. Box cars and tank cars. Big chemical users included the Unilever Sunlight Soap plant. But that plant has been closed for several years after a long, fruitless labour strike. Now the only thing left is the Ashbridges Bay Sewage treatment plant. And the tracks themselves are being torn up. What is the point? No industry, no need for trains and the tracks they run on. No tracks, and industry will never come back. Make way for more condos.

Shot, just before noon on a sunny day, with a Canon 5DII, HDR and image merging in Photoshop. Lots of Photoshop.

Inglis, A Sign of Toronto De-industrialization

2011-04-18T05:46:00.000-07:00

Toronto's railway lands west of downtown were once the heart of a major manufacturing centre. One of the companies there was Inglis, makers of machinery and household appliances, and during World War I, Bren machine guns. Employing thousands in the 1950's, high labour costs lead to those jobs moving to Mexico and China. All that remains of Inglis is a stump of a factory building that is the base of a sign. Meaningless philosophical nonsense slogans beckon Gardiner Expressway motorists as cheap ( by Toronto standards ) condos encroach on areas that once provided jobs and a way of life. Factories provided work for 50 years, construction jobs to build the new towers will be gone in a year, leaving work only for a lone building superintendent. And the Fridges and stoves in those apartments probably all say "Made in China" on them. And the condo dwellers will complain that the sign is an eye-sore and finally have that razed as well.

Abandoned Kodak Plant in Toronto Weston

2011-04-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

Looking for more evidence of de-industrialization, i found Building 9 as the only remaining evidence of the once huge Kodak manufacturing facility that once employed over 2000 people. Partly boarded up, the building is now a haven for graffiti artistes, whose work can be seen through the windows. Local kids who would once have found real jobs there. Now closed since 2005, this is the end product of de-industrialization.

Irony is taking a digital photo of a former film manufacturing plant.

Taken with a 70-200 mm lens on a bright morning.

Canada Malting Abandoned Silos in Toronto

2011-04-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

Like bookends, the silos form Canada Malting company on the west end of downtown Toronto are ghostly reminders of a once flourishing waterfront industry, providing thousands of jobs and financing the early development of the city. Now, partly torn down, waiting for an opportunity to be turned into over mortgaged condos, or a government funded cultural space for government approved culture. With the railway gone, highways turned into streetcar tracks and only the Redpath sugar plant still making any use of the waterway, it seems that Ayn Rand was right. Atlas shrugged and went on his way.

Shot with a Canon Powershot while looking for scenes of de-industrialization.

Abandoned Victory Soya Mills Silos in Toronto

2011-04-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

While looking for the remnants of Toronto's industrial age, when the waterfront was a source of wealth and jobs and a means of transportation I came across this view of the old Victory Soya Mills Silos. This shot was taken from the lift bridge over the Keating Channel, itself a remnant of a bygone maritime industry. Plans for the building are all sad statements themselves. More condos. Another display in the "closed all the factories and put them in a factory museum". Toronto's trendy blogs say that marine and rail transport and industrial jobs are dead. But look at Bunge's huge canola processing plant on the waterfront in Hamilton with several hundred jobs.

Taken with a Canon SX120is on a cloudy, rainy evening. I will go back with a better camera and a better lens.

Mayor Hazel McCallion at CLM 2011 tribute to Jack Prazeres

2011-03-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

90 years old and still a great speaker. And at 90, when she talks about the history of Mississauga it comes from having lived it.

I finally got a great shot of Mayor Hazel McCallion at the Community Living Mississauga fund raising tribute to Jack Prazeres. At 90 years old, the mayor is still going strong. But the lines on her face make it a chalenge to get a flattering photo. This one shot with a Canon 5D MkII and a 70-200 2.8 lens and a flash is as nice as I have been able to get.

A stage spotlight provided the ultimate hair light for Portugese singer Hernani performing at th eevent. Had to get down on teh floor to get the right angle. And man, what a wonderful voice.

De-industrialization in Hamilton

2011-03-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

In search of material for a documentary on de-industrialization, I spent an afternoon in Hamilton photographing the remains of de-industrialization, including the Rheem plant on Barton and the Otis Elevator plant on Victoria.

And this unidentified building carcass on Hess North. Further research suggests it was a company called Imtrex, closed in 1986. Now planned, according to "the internet", by the City of Hamilton for residential development. Or maybe not.
Walking the hill by Otis Elevator brought back memories of selling Dickie Dee ice cream to the guys in the plant 40 years ago. They lowered money in a bucket from the second floor windows, I sent ice cream bars back up. Just a s summer job for me. But, according to jobsgraveyard.ca that plant had real jobs for 900 Steelworkers in the 1950's and just 230 when it closed in 1987.

Shot with a Canon 5DII. And then a touch of Photoshop HDR.

WordPress photography website for georgesocka.com

2011-03-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

I had used the built in Flash photo gallery function in Photoshop to create a website for George Socka Photography. At that time Flash was cool. However, Flash has become a pariah on websites, as has the concept of finely hand crafted but hard to change static HTML. My new website to promote George Socka Photography in Toronto is based on WordPress. Easy uploading of new images and easy changes to text makes WordPress an ideal content management system for changing content.

The new website is georgesocka.com

Spoke at Podcamp Toronto about blogspot

2011-02-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

I have set up websites with many technologies, from hard coded HTML, WordPress, Drupal, asp.net, even an IBM AS/400, but blogspot is a hands down choice for a fast, easy, effective web presence. Free without advertising in fact.

I spoke about blogspot at Podcamp Toronto 2011 to share what I have learned with others.

Now, I am a PC / Windows guy. Ever since those AS/400 days. But walking into a room with 21 iMacs sitting dourly on desks, silently ignoring you by facing the back wall and refusing to turn around, THAT is freaky. I had to raise my BlackBerry Torch over my head to ward off the evil spirits.

Marilyn Monroe comes to life at McMichael

2011-02-25T11:01:00.000-08:00

I taped interviews with guests and staff at the Marilyn Monroe exhibition at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. These interviews will appear on the Gallery FaceBook page to celebrate the opening of the exhibition.

Linda Morita took this great photo of one of the interviews. The interview area included a collection of photo flash stands to create a photo studio photo shoot environment.

WordPress Website for Sonya VanVeen

2011-02-14T08:10:00.000-08:00

When Sonya, a Registered Equine Massage Therapist, wanted to be able to upload photos of some of the horses she works with, it became to much programming to add upload capability to the custom static website I had created for her five years ago. Instead, I converted the original website to a WordPress site hosted at goDaddy. The original static pages became WordPress pages at www.sonyavanveen.com. She will use blog posts to create a photo blog.

My original reservations about running WordPress on a goDaddy Windows hosting platform were totally overcome, both with the ease of installing WordPress, and with activating its features.

Ships Frozen In The Ice in Winter inToronto Harbor

2011-02-04T19:12:00.000-08:00

I needed a few seconds of Great Lakes ships in winter for Dave MacAdam's "Echoes in the Wind" and "Great Lakes Ships" music videos. After a pretty cold January, and a recent dumping of half a foot of snow, it seemed that there would be a lot of desolate looking ships tied up in the Toronto Harbour.

These two shorts, and similar video clips almost make you shiver just looking at them. And wondering just how cold the water in the frozen over harbor is.

Shot with a Canon 5D, 70-200mm lens just after the sun went below the horizon.

George McLean Speaks about his Wildlife and Landscape Paintings

2011-02-02T06:59:00.000-08:00

I interviewed George McLean for the McMichael website on the opening of his retrospective exhibition there. He spoke about he walked the countryside in Grey County on the shores of the Georgian Bay looking for unique landscapes and the animals that live there. He described how he painted, starting with sketched studies, how he placed his animals in the landscape and how he transferred the detailed studies to finished paintings 5 feet wide and more. And he added an anecdote about how he and fellow artist Ken Danby watched a hawk attack a snowy owl. He introduced a new book of his art titled "George McLean: The Living Landscape" whose authors include renowned art writer Tom Smart.

The video was shot in HD on a Sony NX5U in gallery space that was not yet hung. Music by Dave MacAdam.

Motorcycle Supershow Leather Fashions

2011-01-30T17:29:00.000-08:00

The International Centre's 5000 parking spaces were overflowing with visitors to the Motorcycle Supershow. It was minus 10 outside but these gorgeous models in the leather fashion show made it easy to think of warm summer days. Start your engines.

These were shot with a Canon 5D, 70-200 mm lens, f5.6 at ISO 800 with a flash.

George McLean - Canadian Artist

2011-01-29T20:24:00.000-08:00

I interviewed George McLean at the McMichael on the opening of his exhibit of Canadian Wildlife and Landscape titled The Living Landscape. I also shot a few available light and low light stills, which in the gallery is pretty low to preserve the paintings. This was shot in gallery space that was not yet hung, with two umbrellas on video lights at ISO 2500. 1/125 second f4.5.

Eat your heart out Yousuf Karsh!

Green Power @ 2011 Toronto Motorcycle Supershow

2011-01-12T18:29:00.000-08:00

Snow on the ground in Toronto after a January storm, but the Toronto Motorcycle Supershow was full of summer toys. I am referring of course, the motorcycles, eh? This 1350 cc Kawasaki Ninja ZX14 was in the stunt rider's booth.

The bike was shot with a Canon 5DII, 70-200 f2.8 and a 580EXII speedlight. The motorcycle has been composited onto a photo of power panels in a factory being demolished. The factory was shot with a 24-105 f4 lens. This composition was submitted to a photo contest on "power" at fStoppers.com.

More on flickr.com

Trade show booth video provides great visiblility

2011-01-11T19:00:00.000-08:00

The National Yacht Club trade show booth video for the Toronto International Boat Show went live today. Visibility of the short, large, high contrast titles, designed to draw visitors to the booth proved to be excellent. Even more fortunately, the booth is in an area of open display areas, without walls, improving the ability to notice the video from half way across the Direct Energy Centre show floor.

Green Screen Ultra for Boat Show Trade Show Booth Video

2010-12-07T17:59:00.000-08:00

I have been creating the National Yacht Club of Toronto's trade show booth video for the Toronto International Boat Show every year for the last few years. This year is all HD, made up of footage shot with a Canon 5D Mark II, a Canon Vixia and a Sony V1U. Each camera has slightly different picture characteristics, with the 5D2 having the nicest colour and surprisingly good image stabilization. Many of these shots were taken on the water from a race committee boat with varying degrees of choppiness and stabilization is a must. The tiny Vixia is so light that keeping the camera still on a heaving deck is a real challenge.

The booth video features no voiceover except for an introduction. Karen was shot on a Lastolite pop-up green screen with the V1U in HDV mode several years ago. The original use of her footage was captured in DV mode from the V1U, keyed in Premiere Pro CS2's Ultra which Adobe had just bought and included in CS2. Results were useable but the DV jagged edges were noticeable in the keying of her blonde hair. The same footage recaptured from the V1U HDV tape in HDV mode produced an original image without jaggies, and the Ultra keyer included in Premiere Pro CS5 made keying a one click, 2 slider operation. And even the fine details of her hair were keyed beautifully.

The video will be played from a Western Digital HD Media Player.

The YouTube link will change as new versions are uploaded for approval, so check for the latest link here.

Rescued Race Horse - Another "Small Victory"

2010-11-29T17:51:00.000-08:00

Coincidently, I wrote about Garnet Rogers' performance in Toronto in another post. One of his songs was "Small Victory", about a horse rescued from racing. This photo is one of a series of a horse and owner / rider that I took in a barn outside Hamilton, not even a mile from Flamborough Downs race track, that was indeed rescued from racing and now leads a much more relaxed life. Affectionately known as "Stinky" he has thrived under the care of Sonya Van Veen, Registered Equine Massage Therapist www.svremt.com

This photo was shot with a Canon 5D Mk II with a 70-200 lens at f5, 1/100 and 5000 ISO under evening light coming through the barn widows. And a bit of retouching in Photoshop.

Garnet Rogers in Toronto at Acoustic Harvest

2010-11-28T13:32:00.000-08:00

Went to see Garnet Rogers perform again for an intimate audience in the hall at St. Nicholas Anglican Church in Toronto, organized by Acoustic Harvest. The show included Night Drive, a song about him and brother Stan Rogers on the road in Western Canada. We were treated to a couple of readings from what he called his work in progress, a book about their travels and performances. Funny too. You could almost visualize Port Dover when he read about their Friday 13th encounters with a group of bikers on the beach. Certainly a book worth waiting for for Rogers fans.

This is a pretty low light venue (a couple of LED Par cans would be a great improvement ) and at 200 mm, f2.8 at 1/40 second and ISO 3200, a lot of fine tuning in Adobe Camera Raw was required to create this image.

Factory Demolition on 5D Video

2010-11-19T17:26:00.000-08:00

Another day of shooting progress of the factory remediation project resulted in an opportunity to turn on video capture on the Cannon 5D Mark II. What was particularly unique was that I had the 70-200 mm f2.8 lens and a 2x extender to create effectivly a 400 mm lens. All shot with a tripod mounted camera.

It was as if the Komatsu 600 JAWS and Komatsu 450 CLAWS and the Bobcat 5185 were choreographed by an unseen director.

Music from Digital Juice Fifties Stax.

Dave MacAdam: Echoes Music Video - First Cut

2010-10-24T20:39:00.001-07:00

Dave MacAdam sings about things nautical. "Echoes In The Wind" tells the story of ships that have disappeared from our view, but their echoes live on. This is the first draft edit of a new music video for that song.

This was shot with a Canon 5D Mk II in Goderich: on the beach, on the salt pier, in the Legion; in the Welland Canal; and in the harbour in Toronto.

The video is currently a work in process. More footage will be added and the live singing needs to be synched to the recorded version. Music copyright David MacAdam (socan)

On YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfeONxHMgkk.

More about Dave MacAdam at www.macadamroad.com

Toronto City Hall at Night

2010-10-21T19:41:00.000-07:00

I have never taken a photo of Toronto's clam shell city hall. Walking through downtown after an event shoot I walked by the building, close to midnight. With the lights still on in several offices, and illumination of the outside walls, it made the iconic building stand out in the blackness of the night. Barely visible under the alien ship like council chambers is the Henry Moore statue made famous in Murray McLauchlan's song "Down by the Henry Moore". This photo was taken from the elevated walkway close to Queen Street. The famous skating rink / reflecting pool was closed for repairs, but a recent rainfall left enough water to create a nice reflection of the building anyway.

Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II, with a 24-105 F4 L lens at f4, shutter 30 ISO 3200. On a tripod. The shutter and ISO were still set from previously shooting video with the 5D at that exposure. The video will end up as stock video of in projects planned to publicise Toronto for the 2015 Pan AM Games.

Audio Video Metals Website Reskin

2010-10-19T06:31:00.000-07:00

Technology manufacturer AVM wanted a fresher look to their website while keeping existing product information in tact. The new website has the metallic theme that their catalogue uses and creates the look of a news site with teaser articles about major product lines leading to detailed product specifications. The home page layout makes an immediate statement about the bread of AVM's product line. The home page also leads to YouTube video about products.

The site uses a php based menu system that is easily updated as the 50 product pages are changed to reflect product line changes.

The website is at www.audiovideometals.com.

Drupal Website for Victoria Village Hockey

2010-10-19T05:48:00.000-07:00

Victoria Village Hockey wanted a new web site that would allow selected organizers to update the site themselves. I chose Drupal as an open source content management system because it had many of the features required : photo gallery, contact forms, community updateability. No php code has been modified, but some of the content has utilized extensive HTML and JavaScript within the available content areas to achieve desired functionality. The fckeditor and IMCE file manager makes it easy to include photos and PDF files in articles, including game statistics created in an offline Excel application. On the horizon is integration with FaceBook and twitter.

The website is at www.victoriavillage.org.

Bobak - More Canadian Nudes at McMichael

2010-10-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

Bruno Bobak, East Coast artist paints the human figure in a way that is hard to look away from. And we are not talking airbrushed Playboy fluff. These are real life images of real life people and real life topics such as aging, realtionships and the cycle of life.

In this interview, McMichael Assistant Curator, Collections, Sharona Adamowicz-Clements talks about the artist and the story behind some of the paintings.

Shot on an NX5U with gallery stills from a Canon 5D.

Canadian (Erotic Eh?) Sculpture at McMichael

2010-10-12T18:40:00.000-07:00

The press announcement by the McMichael of a series of sculptures by Ivan Eyer had the usual excitement of such gatherings. But the sculptures themselves are another matter. Even taken through the glass cases that the sculptures were in, the stills included in this video presentation show a raw sensuality that I have rarely seen in the works at that Gallery. Bare bosoms. Splayed legs. Supine female bodies. But you need top watch all the way through. How are they going to explain these works to the grade 7 boys?

Show with a Sony NX5U with stills of the sculptures from a Canon 5D. The shot of the mock-up of on of the sculptures on the grounds was shot on a Canon 5D from a moving car.

Ross King, Book and Art Gallery Installation

2010-10-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

Ross King, UK writer and curator, curated the Defiant Spirits exhibition at the McMichael. Here he talks about the book and the exhibition. Shot in the gallery with a Sony NX5U, lit by 2 Lowell Pro lights with umbrellas. Music by David MacAdam.

9 minutes long, but Ross presents such a compelling European look at the Group of Seven it was hard to cut anything he said.

In Store Fashion Show - 50 mm of Softness

2010-10-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

And I am not just talking about the softness of the fashions. I shot these at an in-store fashion show at Titika with a Canon 5D and the Canon 50 mm f1.4. The reason for that lens's existence is to shoot in available light wide open, but then it is way too soft. Sure, it becomes sharp at f2.0 but then what is the point? Maybe it has got to go to avoid the temptation of using it wide open and being disappointed with the results.

Trade Show Promo Video Source Mashup

2010-10-12T17:40:00.000-07:00

This promo for a promo for the Society of Manufacturing Engineer's WMTS trade show was created from Digital Juice HD stock footage, and my own footage shot with a range of cameras, including, the airplane takeoff and farm fields aerial sequences on a Canon HF200, the trade show people shot on a Sony V1U, and the grinder and robot sequences shot on a Canon 5D MkII. All intercut nicely in Premiere Pro with a few animated stills, also shot on the 5D. Music from Smart Sound.

Motorcycle Supershow Leather Fashion Show

2010-10-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

I took the then new Canon 5D MkII to the Toronto Supershow motorcycle show earlier this year to see how it performed in low light. These shots were taken of the Terez Leather fashion show using a 24-105 mm f4 lens. With a flash, which of course proved nothing about low light.

Other shots, of bikes, are at flickr

New Canon 2x Extender II Improves Telephoto Reach

2010-10-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

I added a Canon 2x Extender II to my Canon 70 - 200 2.8 lens and it makes a huge difference in bringing subjects up close, making it a 140 - 400 mm lens. While it turns it into an f5,6 lens, that is not a factor in outdoors daytime photography. And a heck of a lot less costly than a full time 400 mm lens. The football player was shot at 1/400 f7.1 ISO 1250 from about 200 feet away. He is an 1800 x 2500 crop from a Canon 5D MkII full frame 5616 x 3744 pixel image. Maybe a bit softer than that lens alone but pretty good. Less useful indoors, but the Fall Home Show photos were shot at 1/100 at f5 ISO 2500 so the extended lens would have been quite useable at f5.6. And in trade show and event photography, sometimes the best action shots are taken from further away. And on the factory photography project it will let me get right into that action as well while keeping stuff from falling on the hard hat.

Have to try that combination with video, but only on the big heavy Sachtler tripod to keep vibration down.

Trade Show Photography @ Fall Home Show Toronto

2010-10-05T06:26:00.000-07:00

The Fall Home Show at the Better Living Centre at Toronto's CNE Exhibition Place was jam packed with people looking for new home furnishing and renovating ideas, and bargains.
These shots capture the essence of exhibitors promoting their products and services, and visitors looking at what is new in the marketplace. The images may be destined for promotional material.

Shot with a Canon 5D, 70-200, no flash. Thanks to Tina from Marketplace Events.

Factory Photography with Canon 5D and 2 Speedlites

2010-09-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

A client wanted to document the condition of an empty factory building. I spent a day, with Joe, my assistant, walking though 2 levels of a city block size building and on its roof with a Canon 5D MkII and 2 Canon flashes. A Canon 580exII Speedlite was mounted on the camera, and Joe took a Canon 550ex Speedlite mounted on a Manfroto monopod. The second light was set up as a slave, and was held about 20 feet away from the camera to light up the vast expanse of the building. Both set at manual. Together they provided good coverage, but sometimes a third light would have been helpful in really large rooms.

Getting focus in a dark room with drab walls was sometimes a trick. We had brought a small flashlight, and shining that on the far wall provided a well enough lit target for the camera to focus on. We used a 24-70 4.0 L lens inside and a 70-200 2.8 L lens on the roof. We shot about 800 images in an 8 hour period. There is an interesting waterfall and river bank adjacent to the property, and for that we also shot several video clips with the 5D with both lenses.

Bermuda Stock Video Shoot

2010-09-28T20:02:00.000-07:00

Bermuda is beautiful at the end of the summer before hurricane season. I took the Canon 5D Mark II and a small Canon HF200 HD camcorder with me to shoot an assortment of beach and marine stock video for summery projects when there was ice and snow in the Great White North. The color and clarity of the 5D exceeds that of the HF200, but the tiny HF200 is less conspicuous on a beach. In a foreign country. This is a sampler of the video from that trip.

Also on vimeo

All clips are 6 to 20 seconds long. See georgesocka.com for licensing contact info.

Toronto Aerial Photography

2010-09-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

I went flying out of the Toronto City Centre Airport ( AKA Billy Bishop Airport) to take photos of the Toronto waterfront. It was a nice, sunny, bright but windy day, but what size people did they make Cessna 172 Skyhawk SP 4 seaters for? Tiny, cramped banged head on wing many many many times.

This shot was taken with a Canon 5D Mark II with a 70-200 lens at 1/1000 f10 ISO 500.

More at flickr

Piano Talking to Itself @ Guelph Jazz Festival Nuit Blanche

2010-09-04T06:01:00.000-07:00

Gordon Monahan is a renowned sound artist whose installation for the Guelph Jazz Festival is in the former WC Wood refrigerator factory. The solitary piano is the large open, empty industrial space creates a stark mental image contrast to what the area would have looked like when still a factory.

I recorded this as part of a project to document the factory interior.

This clip was taken during the setup of the installation. Live performance video will b e added after the event on September 11.

Taste of Greek Food and Music on the Danforth in Toronto

2010-08-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

I wandered along Danforth Avenue in Toronto, the heart of Greek Town, during the Taste of Danforth Greek Festival, capturing video of the music, the crowds and the food. The objective was to develop a series of demos for promoting Toronto events for the Pan Am Games in Toronto in 2015. This is the first.

This was shot with a Canon Vixia during daylight, and a Canon 5D Mark II after dark.

The clip is also on Vimeo

Extended Vision - Photographer Thaddeus Holownia

2010-08-17T05:23:00.000-07:00

Canadian Photographer Thaddeus Holownia creates unique images using a 7 by 17 inch Banquet camera. He exhibited at the McMichael in 2001 and I interviewed him in the gallery at that time.

Originally shot in SD with a Canon XL1, this was probably one of my first videos produced for the McMichael. Now I have reedited in 720p HD using a variety of elements to fit the 4x3 images into a widescreen format. Composited in Adobe Premiere with Digital Juice backgrounds and Smart Sound audio.

Toronto Beaches Jazz Festival The Night Time Show

2010-08-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

The annual Toronto Beaches Jazz Festival runs into the late night along a mile of Queen Street East. In the Beach of course. This year's weather was as hot as the music. These shots were taken with a Canon 5DMkII DSLR under just the available light of the street lights. In other years acts had brought a variety of their own lights. Usually Par 64's on a stand, borrowing power from whatever storefront was behind them. This year, probably because of the heat and to be environmentally sensitive, most acts went au natural. Still at ISO 6400 with a 24-105 f4 lens, these videos captured the night time feel. A bit of color correcting in Premiere Pro brought the darkest acts to life. The intro and extro driving sequences where shot at another time from the 5D mounted on the dash of the truck. The main backing track is a Digital Juice jazz track, with actual street sounds blended in. Also on Vimeo. Vimeo HD looks better full screen than YouTube.

Guggenheim - YouTube Play Entry Internet Time

2010-07-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

The Guggenheim has a competition to display videos that stretch the video envelope. My entry, Internet Time, displays three streams of video from different points in time simultaneously. Three disaster - the Hindenburg crash, the Hiroshima atomic bomb, and the Challenger disaster. The same video concept can be applied to many other situations, either in one video stream, in three streams playing at the same time projected on three screens or three monitors.

Multilingual Video Tutorial Series for Social Services Agency

2010-07-14T18:44:00.000-07:00

Support and Trustee Advisory Services is an agency that assists parents of children with an intellectual disability plan for their child's future. A part of their services is a workbook and seminars to assist parents with planning. This series of video tutorials makes the seminar material available to those who would like to review the material at their own pace. The tutorials are made up of 10 approximately 3 minute segments, in 9 languages, including English, French, Polish, Punjabi and others. Each language's presentation is based on the workbook in that language. The final production will comprise about 5 hours of video. It will be available from the STAS website and on DVD.

One segment is available on YouTube here.

Shot in HD with Sony V1U and Sony NX5U cameras to get two camera angles at once, with B-roll shot with a Canon 5D and a Canon Vixia. Other B-roll is stock footage from Digital Juice, Artbeats and FootageFirm. Edited in Adobe Premiere CS5 on a Dell quad core i7 PC which natively handles the 5D, NX5 and Vixia AVCHD footage amazingly well. Assisted by Stephen Weir shown running the teleprompter in the background.

Petition website for Victoria Village Hockey

2010-06-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

Victoria Village Hockey League wanted to get support for a move to roll back a grab for house league ice time by another league. We created a petition site that collects names, and unlike public petition sites, provides customized background information about the issue. The website is at http://www.victoriavillagehockey.net/
A facebook group with a more public opportunity to show support is at
Programmed in asp using a mySQL database at goDaddy

Book Video for Ocean Racer Brian Hancock

2010-06-04T06:53:00.000-07:00

I finished a book promo for Brian Hancock, South African born, American ocean racer. His latest book is a memoir ( his words ) describing the intrigue in running an around the world ocean race. He is self publishing this, and marketing it on the internet. He talks about the people in and close to the sailing community, dropping names like: Ted Kennedy, Simon Lebon, Princess Dianna, Jimmy Buffet. The best line in the Book " I always figured that making money needed to be fun. I knew that fortunes could be easily lost and it would be a damn shame if the lost money had been earned the hard way."

The video was shot in HD during a visit by Mr. Hancock to The National Yacht Club in Toronto. B-roll footage was supplied by Mr. Hancock of events and sailing ventures he has participated in. Interesting challenges in integration SD, 25p, Mac based footage into an Adobe Premiere HD workflow. Then export to 720p h264 for YouTube. The SD B-roll works at 720p.

The video will become apart of the book's marketing campaign.

Inside Toronto Portlands Power

2010-05-29T21:14:00.000-07:00

Doors Open Toronto provides an opportunity to see and photograph things normally hidden from view. The inside and even the outside of the Portlands gas fired power plant is a facinating maze of beams and pipes. BIG pipes. BIG beams. Guages and dials. Valves and taps. And yellow sodium vapor light everywhere. 500 megawatts worth.

Canon 5D MkII 24-105 More at flickr

New website for Foam5.com

2010-05-17T05:18:00.000-07:00

Foam 5 Fabricators has a new website designed by us. Big bold product images replace the former thumbnail size pictures. Welcoming pastel colors replace former more industrial looking dark green and burgundy. A form allows the customer to design their placemats and tray liners on line. And careful attention to HTML coding and text will lead to search engine optimization (SEO).

The website is at http://www.foam5.com.

Product photography for Foam 5

2010-04-28T07:17:00.000-07:00

How do you bring out 3D detail in a flat 2D object? These photos for Foam 5 tray liners and doilies do that by showing the product made for hotels and restaurants by attention to lighting. Props consisting of glasses and bottles, and my lunch ham sandwich place the products in their intended setting.

The Avatar inspired drink is really blue Kool Aid.

Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II, 70 - 200 f2.8 lens and 2 Elinchrome D lights.

10 years of video from Canon XL1 to Canon 5D

2010-04-19T20:10:00.000-07:00

An more or less complete list of video productions done from 2000 to 2010

Client	Subject
Word on the Street	Gale Garnett - Author interview - Savage Adoration
McMichael	Gu Xiong - Artist interview
McMichael	Sharyn Udall - Curator interview - Carr O'Keefe Kahlo exhibition
McMichael	Curator interview - Emily Carr Totem Forest exhibition
McMichael	Thaddeus Holownia - Artist / photographer interview
McMichael	Private Eye - 15 Art collector interviews - Projection and DVD
McMichael	Andrew Hunter - Curator interview - Other Landscapes exhibition
McMichael	Curator interview - Homage to Jean Paul Lemieux exhibition
McMichael	Website promo - 100 % Canadian
McMichael	Tom Forrestall - Artist interview
McMichael	Anna Stanisz - Curator interview - Inuit Art exhibition
McMichael	Ed Bartram - Artist interview
McMichael	Don Yeomans - Artist interview - Totem Pole raising
McMichael	Dianna Thorneycroft - Artist interview
McMichael	Ian Thom - Curator interview - Challenging Traditions exhibition
McMichael	Charlie Pachter and Margaret Atwood - Art gallery installation
McMichael	Sharon MaKay - Artist interview
McMichael	Chris Finn - Curator interview - Karsh
McMichael	Cassandra Getty - Curator interview - Karsh
McMichael	Laura Brandon - Curator interview - Brush With War
McMichael	Daphne Odjig - Artist interview
McMichael	Joe Fafard - Artist interview
McMichael	Tom Smart - Curator interview - Tom Forrestall Exhibition
McMichael	Terrence Heath - Curator interview - Group of Seven exhibition
McMichael	Shelley Falconer and Shawna White - Author interview - Stones, Bones and Stitches
McMichael	Robert Bateman - Artist interview
McMichael	David Staines - Author interview - Letters of Stephen Leacock
McMichael	Mary Pratt - Artist interview
McMichael	Jeff Thomas - Artist / Photographer interview
McMichael	Myron Zobol - Artist / Photographer interview
McMichael	Takeo Tenabe - Artist interview
McMichael	News clip - Michael Wilson - Art collection promo
McMichael	Tom Smart - Author interview - Miller Brittain
McMichael	Chris Finn - Curator interview - Maria Chapdelaine exhibition
McMichael	Documentary - Robert McMichael Funeral
McMichael	Documentary - Signe McMichael Funeral
McMichael	Lee Petrie - Curator interview - Masks ExhibitionÂ
McMichael	Vince Varga - Curator interview - Jackson exhibition
McMichael	Art Therapy promo
McMichael	Dave Hannan - Artist interview
McMichael	Megan Bice - Curator interview - Franklin Carmichael exhibition
McMichael	Curator interview - Perspectives Canadian Women Artists exhibition
McMichael	Chris Jackson Curator interview - Joe Norris exhibition
McMichael	Chris Jackson Curator interview - Traces of Colour exhibition
McMichael	Curator interview - Qu'Appelle: Tales of Two Valleys exhibition
McMichael	Shelley Falconer -Curator interview - Call of The Wild exhibition
McMichael	Andrew Hunter - Curator interview - Overland exhibition
McMichael	Documentary - Norval Morriseau event
McMichael	Shawna White - Curator interview - Max Stern
McMichael	Curator interview - EJ Hughes exhibition
McMichael	Curator interview - Identities exhibition
McMichael	Curator Interview - Drawing Conclusions exhibition
National Yacht Club	Join Us - at Port Credit
National Yacht Club	Join Us - Victor
National Yacht Club	Join Us - Don
National Yacht Club	Peter C Newman - Author interview
National Yacht Club	Join US - Boat show booth video
National Yacht Club	Join US - Stage projection video
National Yacht Club	Join US - Boat show booth video
Cameo Fine Cabinets	Digital Sign animation
VFI	Tradeshow products animation
VFI / AVM	Tradeshow products animation
VFI	Product animation - RDY2GO
VFI	Product animation - RDY2GO EDU
VFI	Company promo animation
insync/Cable and Wireless	Training video
insync / Scotia Bank	4 Economist interview
Insync / Visa	Shopping in Yorkville promotion
Insync	Telus
Angela Kennedy	Political campaign video
Art of Fashion	Stage projection
CTG / Reed	Trade show products promo
CTG / Tourisme Quebec	Event video
CTG / Colonial	Auto dealer opening stage projection
Reed	Golf Fashion show
Reed / CTIA / Expocomm	Conference stage projection
Reed / OPGA	Conference stage projection
Reed	Canadian Machine Tool Show tradeshow promos
Reed	Jewellery World Expo tradeshow promos
Reed	Woodworking Machinery Show tradeshow promos
Reed	Canadian Fabricating Stamping Machinery show promos
Reed	Montreal Fabricating Show tradeshow promos
Reed	Expocomm tradeshow promo
Reed	BookExpo tradeshow promo
Reed	Southwestern Ontario Industrial Show tradeshow promos
Reed	Golf Merchandising Show tradeshow promos
Reed	Atlantic Industrial Exposition tradeshow promos
SV REMT	Services offered animation
Twin Tooling	4 product videos
Dave MacAdam	Music video - Great Lakes Ships
Charles Taylor Prize	Anna Siljak - Author interview
Charles Taylor Prize	Tim Cook - Author interview
Charles Taylor Prize	Elizabeth - Author interview - Sugar
Charles Taylor Prize	Tim Cook reading documentary
Beyond the beat	Musical performance video
Graphics Canada	Trade show promo
Graphics Canada	Trade show promo
Graphics Canada	Trade show promo
Sescapes / Police Chiefs	4 interviews on Crime
Kathleen Redmond	Training video
Change Coach / Peggy Grall	Business promo
Change Coach / Peggy Grall	Book launch video
Art Of Fashion	Fashion Show Stage Projection - Graffiti
Art Of Fashion	Fashion Show Stage Projection - Hollywood
Art Of Fashion	Fashion Show Highlights - Hollywood
Change Coach / Peggy Grall	Speaker promo
ASN TV / Indy Bikini contest	Fashion show / Bikini show at CNE
Reed / Book Expo / Tanner	Mike Tanner Book video
Pente	Green screen test
Private	Real estate walkthrough
Pacific Star	Horse promo
Community Living Mississauga	Conference stage projection - 50 years
Community Living Mississauga	Conference stage projection - 25 years tributes
Community Living Mississauga	Conference animation - sponsors
Community Living Mississauga	Conference projection - Chair Affair
beachdigital	Film festival entry - interview With God
CLM / STAS	Planning tutorial 10 segments
DMG / Farm Show	Tradeshow promotion
Caroline Alleslev	Political campaign video
Don Duvall	Political campaign video
Angela Kennedy	Political campaign video
Pamela Courtot	Political campaign video
Peter C Newman	Speaker promo
Mobility Cup	Queens Quay Disabled Sailing Sailors Speak
Mobility Cup	Martin 16 Sip and Puff Sailing
Mobility Cup	Regatta promo
Mobility Cup	Dave MacAdam Music Video -

Rack PODs to the Rescue - NAB Tradeshow Video

2010-04-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

AVM, Audio Video Metals, created the Rack POD to facilitate preloading an IEEE communications rack with equipment for easy shipment to a final installation site. Rack PODs made it easy to assemble and test the broadcast equipment for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics in Toronto, home of the major partners in the Media Consortium, and then ship it to International Broadcast Center in Vancouver. This presentation, to be projected at NAB in the AVM booth, was created from photos and video provided by the client, along with stock footage and music from Digital Juice. One of the primary video production design criteria was to not look like PowerPoint. Mission accomplished. Client loved it. Especially the layering of Olympic themed music with a bit of Country for the segment showing a convoy of trucks deliving the equipment across the Trans Canada Highway

Tradeshow Video for National Yacht Club

2010-03-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

The National Yacht Club's Toronto Boat Show booth featured a video with highlights of on the water and shore side activities. Designed to catch the eye of visitors walking by the booth, the video features fast paced sail racing clips shot in HD throughout the previous summer, over-laid by green screen keyed comments from Club members. Edited in Adobe Premiere and keyed in After Effects. Because the video was shot in HD but final delivery was in widescreen SD, there was plenty of room to hand stabilize several of the shots that were taken from the deck of a race committee boat in rough water. The video includes a few clips shot in low light on a Canon 5D. The video was displayed in the booth on an LCD monitor and later projected on a 20 ft screen at events.

Trade Show Video Presentation for Video Furniture International

2010-03-28T15:51:00.000-07:00

Created from high resolution photos of VFI's products - video conferencing and multimedia presentation furniture, this slightly short of 3 minuet video features the furniture on a background of Digital Juice animations and Digital Juice music. The images of television monitors have keyed over them live video from DJ and from BeachDigital archives. These SD clips nevertheless fit nicely into the HD production because they take up only a small percentage of the screen. The theatre images used as backgrounds over the DJ animations are from Stock.xchng, the free stock photo site subsidiary of iStockphoto.

The production was created and animated in Adobe Premiere using 12 layers of stills and video. VO is by Rory O'Shea.

The video will be shown in .h264 HD, played from a Sony Vaio notebook through one of VFI's products, the RDY2GO Presentation Centre, shown at 2:07 in the video

Victor Oh and Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion

2010-03-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

Community Living Mississauga is a favourite client and I shot photos of their fund raiser Tribute to Victor Oh at the Mississauga Convention Centre. The event honoured a Chinese Canadian who has contributed much to the Mississauga community, with sumptuous decorations of red and gold. The Mayor, at 89 years of age, looked gorgeous in her red, Chinese style tunic and her chain of office. Shot with a Canon 5D, 70-200 lens, flash, at 1/160, f3.2 ISO 1000.

Ten Part Tutorial Video Series

2010-03-25T22:25:00.000-07:00

The Support and Trustee Advisory Services organization wanted video tutorials to explain how to do planning for the future for a person with a disability. The videos support a hard copy planning workbook developed by the organization. Shot with 2 cameras to provide a variety of view points without the need to have the speaker repeat herself, this project was shot in HD, and converted to standard definition Flash video for the organization's website and planned DVD and computer DVD ROM release. Additional versions will be posted on YouTube. Stock video from Digital Juice and Canon 5D video provide B roll. Lighting in the daylight filled room was provided by 2 SLS flourescent panels and one Litepanel LED light as a hair light.

The website is www.mystas.ca. The website uses Javascript to play the series of videos in an open source Flash player in a layout that is similar to YouTube.

CIRA Promo contest entry for McMichael

2010-03-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

This clip, which is rush entry to a Canadian Internet Registry contest, mixes footage shot on a 5D with stock HD video ( from Artbeats, Digital Juice and Footage Firm ) with video shot on a 5D with a 24-105 lens. The 5D footage segments are the garage sequence, the daytime expressway, the night-time expressway and the trees overlaying the boy at 0:26. Niagara Falls and the McMichael driveway at the end are old DV footage shot on the original XL1 10 years ago.

The CIRA prize includes a Macbook pro. What the heck am I going to do an Apple computer?

Garnet Rogers at Hughes Room in Toronto

2010-02-19T18:21:00.000-08:00

Saw Garnet Rogers at Hughes Room last night. What a powerful voice and haunting guitar work. That room has such a nice warm sound, and his subtle use of effects filled the space perfectly. He sang mainly his own songs, but also an excellent rendition of Stan Rogers' Make and Break Harbour ( which I think I still have on a 1/4 inch cassette ). And Night Drive. Picked up his Get a Witness Live CD and played that this evening on the 427 with the sunroof open and the radio cranked. At 11 minutes it get you most of the way from the airport into the Beach. Makes you never want to stop. A version from years ago is on Youtube

This photo was shot on a Canon 5D with 2.8 70-200 at 1/60 at ISO 1600. All while he was talking about that great musical accessory, the Sears Craftsman deep socket.

Toronto Auto Show 2010

2010-02-15T09:30:00.000-08:00

Went to the Auto Show at the Metro Toronto Convention Center for Valentines. The show is much smaller this year without the Skydome ( apologies to Rogers ) remote site. No Saturn exhibit. No Saab. Last year the Saturn guys PROMISED that the brand had a future. Fool, I believed him. LOL. The lone Fiat next to the Dodge Challenger in the Chrysler booth showed just how ugly those things are. The exhibits this year are a lot lower tech than last year as well. Especially GM. Probably not unexpected for a company that was pretty well bankrupt a few months ago. In 2006 GM had a huge electronic display showing the Olympics hockey. With the CBC logo on it. This year just cars. Ford's display looked a lot like the Olympics opening show though. More on flickr

Tom Forrestall Artist interview at the McMichael

2010-02-07T14:15:00.000-08:00

It is always a pleasure and satisfying to have the opportunity to interview a Canadian artist. Tom Forrestall's 2010 exhibition at the McMichael provided the setting for a micro documentary on the Nova Scotian and his work. Shot in HD, this was the first opportunity to put a new Ikan on-camera HD monitor to use. Stills of the art were shot with a Canon 5D. The 5D with a camera mounted Litepanels LED light provided enough illumination to allow natural looking photos to be taken at 1250 ISO without a flash. DSLR stills provide a much greater range of options to pan and zoom over the images than video camera still clips have on other projects.

Stephen Weir arranged the shoot. More information is on his site www.stephenweir.com and at www.mcmichael.com

Tom Smart, CEO of the McMichael had written a book about Tom Smart. My interview with Tom Smart 2 years ago about the book is on Youtube as well.

Motorcycle Supershow In Toronto

2010-01-20T21:20:00.000-08:00

The Supershow fills the whole of the International Centre in Toronto, and 50,000 attendees ( estimated ) fill several parking lots. The attractions include stock, custom and vintage motorcyle displays and a vast variety of parts and accessories and clothing vendors. The hottest displays or course, are the custom bikes graced by some of the most gorgeous ladies seen at a trade show. This model on a Custom Stud bike was shot with a Canon 5D. More at flickr.

Rapid fire shots of Toronto Boatshow wakeboard aerials

2010-01-10T19:35:00.000-08:00

I took the Canon 5D down to the Toronto Boatshow to photograph a wakeboard ( the athletes referred to it as wake skate ) demonstration on the indoor lake in the Ricoh center. The lights were not turned up fully, so this was shot at 160th at f2.8 and ISO 1600 with a 70-200 lens. The 5D shoots 3.9 frames per second, capturing the whole flight of the wake boarder nicely. Probably could have gone at a higher ISO and a faster shutter and still gotten useable images.

Stephen Weir has a write-up of this event at StephenWeir.com with more photos and information about the athletes.

Merry Christmas Toronto with a Canon 5D

2009-12-26T13:50:00.000-08:00

Shooting with a Canon 5D in the cold of downtown Toronto in the nights before Christmas resulted in more amazing night time video. This was shot with the 24-105 and a 50 mm 1.4 lens, some from a monopod, some from a tripod. ISO 1250 and 1600 shutter 1/30. The street sounds were recorded with the built in microphone. The music is from Digital Juice. Composited in Adobe Premiere with the Blend effect. Premiere had no problem ingesting the QuickTime encapsulated h.264 video although I cheated and dropped the 30 frame per second file into a 29.07 fps XD-CAM project. On YouTube and better quality on Vimeo

Graphics Canada 2009 HD Tradeshow Promo

2009-12-16T09:34:00.000-08:00

We have worked with Graphics Canada again to produce a promo video of exhibitor testimonials. Shot in HD, the video will use YouTube for distribution to a wide audience, and individual clips of each exhibitor will also be distributed by email.

The video is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGQ6HIXWZWo

We also did show photography featuring people seeing the latest in printing and graphics technology at the show.

Canon 5D Music Video

2009-12-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

Actually more a performance video than a highly edit Music Video, but this clip recorded live at Hughes Room in Toronto shows some of the low light video capabilities of the Canon 5D Mark II. The Room was modestly lit, but not bright or even office light level by any stretch of the imagination. This video was shot about 15 feet from the stage, with the Camera mounted on a tripod. AF off, IS on.

A Canon 24-105 f4 L IS lens was wide enough to cover the stage, and long enough to get reasonable close-ups of individual performers. The lens image stabilization helped smooth out minor tripod vibration. The video was shot at 1/30 shutter, ISO 1000, f4 aperture. No video gain noise is visible in this YouTube version, nor in the full HD original. The 5:00 original file was 1.6 gb, for an average data rate of about 50 mb per second. HDV is only 25 mb per second. And h.264 is a nicer codec than HDV. Nice

Audio was provided by a Sennheiser ME66 shotgun feeding the mic jack. The microphone was mounted to the flash hot shoe with a Rycote suspension mount and a few bits of grip hardware. Rock is pretty loud, even at small room levels, and that was more than the camera AGC could handle. Much of the audio waveform was clipped. Processing through Adobe Premiere Pro restored a some of the peaks. Distorted guitars don't sound much worse with a bit more distortion applied.

The camera makes nice video, but it is not a video camera per se. No zoom rocker, no audio control or meters, no way easily to change iris (aperture) on the fly, no full time auto focus, mono audio only, no remote zoom, nothing that can approach the 20x zoom of my Sony V1U, the list is long. But in the end, the objective is nice HD video, and the 5D and this lens can't be beat for $5500.00

On Youtube now.

TTC streetcar using new Canon 5D MkII for low light conference and trade show shooting

2009-11-29T20:30:00.001-08:00

I just added a Canon 5D Mark II camera with 24-105 mm lens to my equipment list. The full frame image, with noise free high ISO shooting will make it possible to deliver high quality available light photos at conferences and trade shows. The 24-105 lens has a maximum aperture of 1:4, but image stabilization makes it compete well with 1:4 lenses. And the 24-105 lens is sharper than my old 50 mm f1.4 lens. When this camera will be used with my 70-200 mm 1:2.8 lens it will absolutely rock.

This photo of a Toronto TTC streetcar at Danforth and Main at night was taken at f4 1/30 second at ISO 1600. Amazing clarity, even through the car windshield. More at flickr

Low light shooting was one reason to add this camera. Amazing low-light 1080p HD video capture is the second reason. Look for a demo here, soon.

Ed Bartram Landscape Artist in the Shadow of the Group of Seven

2009-11-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

Ed Bartram, Toronto area landscape painter and print maker, exhibits his work at the McMichael. His work features the shores of the Georgian Bay, often extreme, abstract close-ups of rock formations. He talks about his studio and describes some of his techniques used in making the prints.

Ed Bartram also reminisces about the Gallery in earlier times, when A. Y. Jackson sat in front of the fire there. The video is encoded for YouTube

Inuit Art anniversary at McMichael

2009-11-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

The 50th anniversary of the founding of Cape Dorset's West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative brings a new exhibition of Inuit art to the McMichael. Based on the theme of mapping, the exhibition examines mapping of the past, the spirit and the present over three rooms. I interviewed Anna Stanisz at the Gallery as she speaks about the work, and how her own interest in mapping finds parallels in the art.

This video presentation features a thumbnail slide show of the work on display to highlight that Inuit art takes many expressions to entice viewers to come to the Gallery.

The video is encoded for YouTube

Charles Taylor Prize Winner Tim Cook @ IFOA

2009-11-02T05:18:00.000-08:00

Tim Cook, author of Shock Troops, part of a two volume set on Canadians fighting in World War I, spoke about his work and read from his book at the International Festival of Authors in Toronto. Tim was the Charles Taylor Prize winner for this non fiction work in 2009. I taped Tim's reading for posting on The Charles Taylor Prise YouTube channel

Low ambient light and low sound board volumes made this a bit of a challenging shoot.

Gale Zoe Garnett "Savage Adoration" Word On The Street Bookvideo

2009-10-04T18:41:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to interview Gale Zoe Garnett, author of "Savage Adoration" about her book during the Word On The Street book festival in Toronto. She talked about the book and read a few paragraphs. Garnett is also a well known Canadian actress, starring recently in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and a long, long series of television shows.

Shot live in HD with only ambient light, and an Azden hand held wireless microphone. A bit more background noise than I wwould have liked.

The video is on Youtube

Totem Pole with iPod Raised at McMichael in HD

2009-09-14T06:39:00.000-07:00

Don Yeomans is one of the most respected and renowned Northwest Coast Native artists. This latest thought-provoking artwork challenges many traditional native values by interweaving traditional iconography and totemic animals with today's different modern modes of technological communication: an iPod, a cell phone and a computer. We interviewed the artist on location in HD, and added Digital Juice royalty free music. Edited in Premiere Pro and exported to HD Youtube.

Diana Thorneycroft Discusses Group of Seven in Art Video

2009-07-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to meet and interview Diana Thorneycroft at the McMichael last week. She talks about her work as being elaborately stages like producing a movie of just one frame. She talks about creating new stories using Group of Seven art as background and theme. A story that blends Tim Horton's Double Double, the seal hunt, GI Joe, Tom Thompson making love in a tent, a mysterious German watching, Bobby Orr, Hockey on the Don River, the Avro Arrow, Snow White and Bob and Doug with the Group of Seven just has to be a truly Canadian story. We added just a bit of DigitalJuice to the HD footage of Diana speaking. The video is destined for YouTube and http://www.mcmichael.com/

Pachter Atwood McMichael Video Installation Opens

2009-07-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

The beachdigital video to support the Charlie Pachter "The Journals of Susanna Moodie" exhibition was unveiled at the gala opening of the exhibition. Thanks to curator Chris Finn and McMichael gallery and tech staff for the wondeful setup among Margaret Atwood's words and Charlie Pachter's illustrations.

The video is available on YouTube.

Curator in McMichael Art Video Named Order of Canada

2009-07-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

We just finished and posted a 5 minute video promoting the Challenging Traditions exhibit of Contemporary West Coast First Nations art at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection featuring curator Ian Thom when we learned that Ian has been named to the Order of Canada. Definitely an honour to have worked with him.

The video was shot in HD, edited in standard definition wide screen and then up-converted to HD again for YouTube upload. Backgrounds and music from Digital Juice. Some of the shots were keyed in Adobe Ultra, without any advance planning for keying, just working with enough of a difference between the walls behind the art and the art itself to pull a key. More planning might have produced cleaner edges, but the effect achieved works well for the intended medium. Probably would not have gotten permission to stick a green screen behind the art anyway.

It is listed on Open Book Toronto.

Horizontal and Vertical Plasma Digital Signs

2009-06-25T19:51:00.000-07:00

We produced 2 matching clips for playback on a horizontal and a vertical plasma display for a conference reception. The videos were played back on two DVD players. One clip was shorter than the other to create a bit of randomness to the viewer once they started looping. The clips were composed entirely of stock footage, stock photos, logos and text. Play reformatted version.

We add Juice to conference presentations

2009-06-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

We have just added thousands of Digital Juice's motion backgrounds, motion design elements, sound effects and royalty free music to our library. These lush visual and audio elements make presentations more eye-catching and engaging. They can be used to build complete presentations and stage backgrounds visuals to be played back on BluRay, DVD, solid state media players and even in a PowerPoint presentation. And because there are so many elements in so many styles, it is a relatively inexpensive production process to raise the graphics at your next conference, tradeshow, AGM, celebration event to the next level.
See YouTube HD demo.

Lets talk.

beachdigital photos on Flickr

2009-06-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

We are again posting random photos on Flickr Some of our previously posted images are starting to show up on other websites. They are more than welcome. These were uploaded under a Creative Commons licence, and are free to be used with attribution. Hi res jpegs are always avialable at stock photo prices. And custom photography of course.

Some of these photos were taken from public helicopter trips out of the Toronto City Centre Airport (Island Airport) That service is an economical way to get general downtown waterfront still and video aerial shots. Even more economical are shots from the CN Tower.

Charles Taylor Prize video clips on Bravo TV

2009-06-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

The Charles Taylor Prize 2009 finalists video clips were featured on Bravo Television in February, 2009, and now on the Bravo website. Thanks to Stephen Weir who had a big hand in arranging for that distribution.

The original HDV video, edited in wide screen SD, was dubbed to DigiBeta at International Multimedia Corp on Queen's Quay, Toronto. The resulting video quality looks amazing.

Graphics Canada trade show testimonials video

2009-06-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

5 minutes of exhibitor testimonial video will help convey to Graphics Canada exhibitors some of the benefits of participating in Canada's largest graphics, printing and converting trade show. The video was shot during the previous show at the International Centre in HD and published in Flash.

Open BookToronto website features Pachter Atwood video

2009-06-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

Open Book Toronto features our video about Charles Pachter's illustrations for Margaret Atwood's The Journals of Susanna Moodie.

Open Book Toronto is a great source of news and commentary on Toronto's vibrant literary scene, with author blogs, book release updates and the latest on book related events, such as the Pachter Atwood exhibition at the McMichael Canadian Collection in Kleinburg in July 2009.

We are also on the McMichael website for this exhibit.

Artist Charles Pachter and Poet Margaret Atwood Art Gallery video installation

2009-05-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

Artist Charlie Pachter's bold illustrations for poet Margaret Atwood's collection of poems "The Journals of Susanna Moodie" are the focus of an exhibition at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in July 2009. We shot the YouTube and McMichael.com promotional video in the artist's downtown Toronto studio with 2 Sony HD cameras and the fluorescent light system blogged about earlier. To bring the written poetry to life, we keyed the footage of Atwood reading live into images of the book pages. Beautifully typeset words became beautifully spoken words. A longer version of the program will become part of the McMichael exhibition to provide visitors with background on the production of the art.

The project was edited in Adobe Premiere and After Effects. Backgrounds and music from Digital Juice.

Book Videos for Canadian Authors and Publishers

2009-05-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

We have created a special focus on consulting, producing and managing book and author promo videos to help publisher stake advantage of the OMDC Book Fund Digital Enhancements program. http://www.omdc.on.ca/ This program would see the Ontario Government pick up 75% of the cost of digital initiatives by publishers.

We can help realize that by creating podcasts, video cats for YouTube and publisher websites, blogs, micro sites and interactive website top support publisher sand authors. Read more at the bookvideocanada.com website.

Live switching Leonard Cohen at Copps Coliseum

2009-05-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

When I grow up ;-) I want to live switch a concert like this.

We saw the Leonard Cohen show in Hamilton earlier this week. He still has an amazing voice, and his songs and poems resonate as much today as in the 70's. Hamilton, the city, is like a small town in many ways. Even the misaligned imag projector and the echo from the mid house speakers felt good. And Copps is a much cosier venue than the ACC or Skydome. Somehow we beat the Ticketmaster system and sat close enough to feel like we had the ensemble on our back deck. The sound, echo and all, was wonderful.

The switcher operator had wiped Cohen and Sharon Robertson, singing at opposite sides of the stage, together on screen at the same time. Breathtaking. As if they were singing only to each other, not to the audience. Only other time I felt this way about imag was at a Bruce Springsteen show at the Skydome on a warm summer night in 2003. The dome was open and there was a full moon. The moon must have been visible from the camera area in front of the stage. The switcher operator had Bruce and the full moon on the screen at the same time. Absolutely, breathtakingly, beautiful.

Web site graphic for VE Group

2009-05-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

We created a new website graphics to revitalize a tired corporate brochure website. Centered around a client supplied photo of a new factory and showroom building, logos and text, the new graphic is an eye-catching focal point of the website. Multiple Adobe After Effects generated lens flares hint at the high tech video conferencing, audio and television production furniture that VE Group manufactures. Wide angle photo by Mike Skinner.

The website is at http://www.vegroup.net/