Jacquie and Andrew's Wedding (First Wedding as a Primary)

I was at work one day and Jacquie called out from her producers office for me to speak with her. I was assuming I'd be quoting a job, or getting in trouble, but instead she asked me to shoot her wedding. At first I was a little hesitant because I had never shot a wedding before.. but she assured me there was no pressure, and that she just wanted some "simple quick candid snaps here and there" because she really liked my candid photos I'd post from other events.

Fair enough I guess, but not good enough if I wanted to take Photography more seriously. So after buying more equipment with the push from my fiance (yes.. a fiance that pushed me to get a 5D Mk2, and shes all mine) I headed over to the Rustic but lovely Toronto Distillery District to shoot the wedding with my Fiance as a secondary. The ceremony went a little off schedule, but once things started rolling, there was no time to even think.

Clouds rolled in just at the right time to get rid of some nasty hard light, but once the night came, I realized there was nowhere to bounce my flash off of, and I had no pocketwizards.

So I jacked my ISO to 3200, got the shutter speeds I needed and prayed the 135 2.0 could work its magic. ll the inside shots at the reception where pretty much lit with candle light. I've rented a few lenses now, and I must say the 135mm 2.0 is magical.

I'd like to thank Jacquie and Andrew for taking a chance on something they liked, My Fiance for supporting and getting some lovely shots. Heres a few samples. When I get the Flash gallery online, I'll post it.

Directors Mugshot with 2 Hours to spare!

So I dropped by the studio, even though I said I'd be taking the day off, and I found Matt panicking to get out a directors Bio for a short film we just spent 2 months polishing up (would post it, but it's currently doing its festival rounds). Part of the package was to include a photo of the director so they could use in press kits etc. Unfortunately Matt didn't have a very "director" looking mugshot.. and I happened to have my camera. So with 3 hours left till fedex dropped by, Matt and I went for a walk around the Spadina / Adelaide area to take some shots.

It was 12 noon, and all I had was my 20D and a 24-105. We started taking snap shots around the block, and found this nifty little yellow hardware store. The walls were a very strong primary yellow, which gave some nice yellow bounced light around his face. I've included some other shots that we rejected to show how quickly you can find a shooting location when you live in the city :)

Below are some other shots we ended up not using for one reason or another:

New Medium?

So I have been taking a lot of photos over the last 6-7 years as a hobby, and spent a ridiculous amounts of money with no plan of ever getting it back.

Photography is something that was made available to me when cameras went digital, and I still remember spending 1.5k (CAD) on my first Canon G1 4 megapixel camera. For those who follow cameras, there have been probably 6-7 versions of this camera since (Currently on the G10).

I'll be posting clumps of photo journals as I go along.

Go Lakers

Gasol is needs a haircut badly.. but thats what makes him look so awesome

NBA Caricatures

People occasionally ask me about some Caricatures I used to do. I didn't think many people cared outside of Realgm.com, but I've had all sorts of people point out to me stories about friends who have seen them etc.

I took them down with my website a while ago, so I decided I'd put them back up and draw some new ones. The catch? It's a facebook group... and with a little luck it might get some exposure..

Jamario? you readin?

Heres the group address:
NBA Caricatures Facebook Group

Here are my latest

Crazy work schedule

Work has been mentally draining. So I haven't had the desire to draw lately. Here are some old ones, plus a recent one I did yesterday.

Thursday Night update

Here are a few recent ones. Sorry for the quality, my scanner is picking up the image on the other side of the page.

Lighter Side of Portraiture (Caricature?)

Sometimes while drawing, I'll spend too much time on minuet details. This usually means I'm having a bad drawing day and struggling to make good of something that isn't good to begin with.

To break out of a bad drawing day, I force myself into a half portrait / half caricature mode. I find my best work comes when I find a strong character on the bus or subway... and push it slightly. I'm not a big fan of exaggerated proportions, so I tend to keep my experiments reserved.

Boardsmag Sponsor Reel

Recently I got the chance to work on a project for Boards Magazine. It's a online/print magazine that looks into whats new in the AD world. They approached us to do a sponsor reel for their upcoming conference. Problem was, we had to pull it off in two and a half weeks. With no brief, or clue as to what we would do, my co-workers Tim, Zane and I started brainstorming ways to get something done in such a short time.

Drawing upon their previous 8bit themed works, Zane and Tim got the ball rolling on an old school video game themed journey. Because we were able to draw upon such games as Rad Racer, Space Harrier, Buck Rogers etc, we had a lot of fun working on it, allowing us to work many long days and nights.

The end result can be found here:



Boardsmag Spot

Subway Sketch Sets

I've uploaded all the best sketches from my most recent sketchbook. The goal of this blog is to update it with sketches I've done on the subway or bus, and occasionally update you with my experiences inside a commercial production studio. Enjoy

Subway Sketch Set #7

Subway Sketch Set #6