Posts Tagged ‘Photography’
I’m really excited about an event I’m planning with the Durham Photography Group called “Help-Portrait”. In fact, I’m so excited that I can’t contain my urge to blog about it any longer.
So, what exactly is Help-Portrait?
Help-Portrait is, in essence, a way for us photographers and volunteers alike to donate their time and give back to those less fortunate in our community by doing what we do best: making people feel beautiful, and capturing that moment on film. As photographers, we usually take photos; but this event is all about giving them. Giving them to orphans, single moms and dads, underprivileged families, the elderly, and anyone else who might not otherwise be able to have a professional portrait taken.
Help-Portrait is a worldwide event, and, on December 10th a huge number of communities will be taking part. And, thanks to a wonderful group of volunteers, I’m proud to say for the first time, Durham Region is on that list.
I’m thrilled to be involved as the group’s marketing and sponsorship lead; meaning I have the daunting task of raising the money we need to go ahead (approximately $2,000) and getting the word out to the community.
We have a solid core group of volunteers, but of course – can always use more hands.
If you’re local to the GTA, and are interested in getting involved (or you work for, or know, a company who may be interested in sponsoring us) please get in touch with me or join up with our local group.
And, for those of you who are visiting from other communities – consider checking the global list on the Help-Portrait site to see if there is an event running near you. We can always use more helping hands on these sort of events.
In the past, the portraits have strictly been given to participants – never shared online, in portfolios, or anywhere – but they’re looking at changing that this year (with photo releases, of course) and additionally allowing participants to, if they choose, become the photographer. The folk over at Help-Portrait did a mini event this past weekend, and the stories and photos shared on their blog are truly touching.
We’re still ironing out the final details of the Durham event (and which, if any, new aspects we’ll adopt in our virgin year) but so far I’m so impressed with the diverse group of people in Durham who have pulled together to make this happen: a number of photographers, a project manager, a few technical people, folk from the Salvation Army (who are graciously donating the most important thing – our space/location for this event), a graphic designer, and volunteer coordinator.
Together, we’re making this a reality and I’m so excited.
“Dreaming of Summer”
52 Weeks: Week Fourteen
“Bring me then the plant that points to those bright Lucidites swirling up from the earth, And life itself exhaling that central breath! Bring me the sunflower crazed with the love of light” –Eugenio Montale
Anyone who knows me well, knows I have a thing about sunflowers. I also have a thing about bright, natural light – my dream house would have tall, long, wall-to-wall windows for maximum sunlight potential. Much like my dogs (ha!) I love laying in the sun, and my favourite time to take a nap is in the afternoon when the sun is high in the sky and slipping through the blinds across my room.
So, when I read the prompt for this week’s Focus52, I instantly knew that my photo would involve sunflowers, and natural light. I absolutly LOVE sunflowers, and have a number of fauxflowers decorating my room (which I pulled out of their arrangement to use for this shoot :).
Useless but interesting tidbit of info: sunflowers turn their heads to face the sun, hence the name “sun” flowers. And I mean, they’ve got it right – there’s nothing better than laying out, face turned to the sun on a gorgeous, warm, bright day. Except maybe doing so in a field of sunflowers (one day).
I choose this photo out of my favourites because it had a day dreamy, summery look to it with the flowers and the yellow – and heck yes am I day dreaming about summer; and even Spring (although it seems the latter is FINALLY arriving in my neck of the woods! Hope I didn’t jinx it ;)
Outtakes:
- #1: It was a tough choice between this one, and my main photo. I think I liked the other a tad better because I wasn’t paying attention to the camera, whereas this one… was all about the camera.
- #2: This was the original angle that #4 was taken at before I rotated it. Notable about this shot, I only cropped the sides and top – I accidently was lying too close to the camera and cut off my face. I meant to be fully in the shot, but ended up really liking it cut off.
- #3: This picture, believe it or ot, was SO dark I could barely make out the fact it was me – there was terrible backlighting in the room I tried. There were only 3 shots from this room before I gave up and move on. All I gotta say is I LOVE Lightroom and Noise Ninja ;)
- #4: My original idea was to take a photo at an upside down angle, and flip it. Although I really like this photo, it’s not quite what I envisioned – and I just LOVED the one I picked for my actual photo so much. This isn’t the end of this shot yet, though – I plan to try this angle again another time.
About 52 Weeks: I’ve decided I’m doing the 52 Week Photography Challenge this year. 52 weeks, one picture a week – each a self portrait.
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My Dad and I went to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum‘s FlyFest 2009 on Father’s Day, which took place at the Hamilton International Airport. Originally, we were going to go on the Saturday, but thunderstorms and heavy rain meant the planes would be grounded. I opted to stay home (rain + recovering from a cold = bad news bears). My sister and Dad still went – and although no planes were flying, they got to board a number of aircraft, including one of my favourites – the Lancaster.
The Lancaster went up while we were there on Saturday – and promptly came back down, meeting two fire trucks on the runway. Much to my disappointment, it never went up again. According to the MC, “The pilot saw something he didn’t like”. According to a Lancaster Ground Crew member I was chatting with in the food line, that “something” was a serious problem with the hydraulics. Hopefully they get it fixed before the next airshow it’s due to be at!
PHOTOS BY LAUREN SOUCH
