f/action collaborates with the ArtStrong Ensemble at the University of Manitoba

Music and art filled St. John’s Chapel at the University of Manitoba on December 4th & 5th with my art collective’s latest show: INTERVALS. The ArtStrong Ensemble collaborated with f/action to create a beautiful experience of sight and sound based on the theme of time and space. After months of planning, rehearsing and preparing artwork, the show came together quite delightfully. We were honoured to have our artwork on display amidst a very talented duo of harpist Olivia Ritchey and flutist Sara Hahn. Here are a few photos from the event. Thank you to everyone who came out and enjoyed the music and artwork. We got some great feedback and are excited to have come together to make it happen! Thanks also to Olivia and Sara of ArtStrong – we had an amazing two evenings of beautiful music.

Duncan McNairnay’s photographic series titled Zoom.

Ailsa Dyson’s photographic series titled 2:30 AM.

Gabrielle Touchette's photographic series titled Suspended Expectations.

Dallas Ludwick’s photographic series titled Lacunar Amnesia (Gaps in the Record of Memory).

Dallas, Ailsa and Duncan – f/action members.

View of Olivia’s harp from behind Dallas’ artwork.

View from the balcony during the art viewing.

Audience members reading the program notes.

Sara and Olivia introduces us to the music.

Inspired conversations during the intermission.

Sara and Olivia of the ArtStrong Ensemble – playing a Sonata by Marjan Mozetich.

The performers and artists of INTERVALS: Ailsa Dyson, Dallas Ludwick, Sara Hahn, Olivia Ritchey, Gabrielle Touchette and Duncan McNairnay. Photo credit: Liane Bergen.

Olivia explaining how she plays her harp.

Cherry

Lighting info:

posted by Duncan Mcnairnay

Editing photos in Lightroom

The other day I packed two cameras, picked my favourite two lenses, jumped in the car, picked up my friend Natasha (who’s always up for shooting if I lend her a camera), and headed north on Highway 8. We wound up not where we were hoping to be (in Petersfield), but that’s another story… On the way to getting “lost”, we stopped on Highway 8 to get a few shots of some hay bales. I remember the first time I learned about focal length. The Photo 1 teacher was showing us examples of photos shot with wide angle lenses, compared to photos shot with longer lenses. I distinctly remember one shot – it was a hay bale, sitting in a field, with long, yellow textured grass all around it. The grass seemed to stretch out towards the bale, like if it was trying to claw at it. It was that one picture that was burned in my mind, and I’ll never forget that feeling of excitement over the magic of photography and its creative opportunities. Of course, right after that class, I ran out and took a million shots with my wide lens, trying to capture that magic.

As we were approaching this field yesterday, I remembered that hay bale shot and got inspired to get some good old hay bale shootin’ done, like a good Manitoban photographer. Once in the field, I wasn’t feeling it, but I still shot about 10 frames. It wasn’t until I got home and started making some virtual copies in Lightroom that I started having fun. Now, although your hay bale shoot may not avail to much (or you might feel uninspired), just throw Lightroom in the mix and have some fun. This is why I love Lightroom.

Original Shot:

My first Edit:

My alternate edit:



Posted by f/action member, Gabrielle Touchette.

THANK YOU!

Well, now that the dust (or snow in this case) has cleared, and the f/action launch party is now over... we at f/action would like to thank those of you who made the effort to come out and support our group! It's no fun navigating the first blizzard of the year, but some of you were real troupers... and we even had one guest drive all the way from Kenora for the show!

Thank you to all of you who came out. We can't say it enough. We really appreciate your presence and your support!

For those of you who are wondering - we did achieve our goals with the show! Despite the weather we still more than met our attendance goal and with a slight profit after expenses, we were able to fund our new website (http://www.fslashaction.com/) including set-up and hosting for one year, postage to send art to Calgary for the fundraising benefit for a Canadian journalist & photographer being held hostage in Somalia for a $1 million ransom, and finally the deposit for the rental of our next gallery exhibition in June 2010!

That's all we were hoping for - and so we thank you!

HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN SOON!
f/action

PS. You made us feel this great...

f/action launch party photos

f/action has been an art collective for over a year now, and last Friday was finally our first official art exhibit as a group. Despite Winnipeg getting hit by the first blizzard of the year, we still had a decent turn out! (That’s Winnipeg for you… snow dumping in early October doesn’t stop anyone from going out!)

Along with artwork on the walls, we also had a silent art auction and projection art. Musical performances were also graciously donated by Oak Tree (Chad Kroeker) and That Damn Cash Band. We were absolutely delighted to see everyone who came out (and, at that, in steady streams throughout the night). Thank you to everyone who came out to support local art! We are planning for more art exhibits in the coming year, so stay tuned for details on that. If you missed Friday’s exhibit, our work will be exhibited at Photo Central’s gallery until the end of the month. (499 Notre Dame Ave., 2nd floor)

f/action is Ailsa Dyson, Dallas Ludwick, Duncan McNairnay and Gabrielle Touchette. Our group portfolio can be viewed at: www.fslashaction.com.

Here are a few photos from Friday night:

Posted by f/action member, Gabrielle Touchette.

launch party!

Tonight is a pretty big deal - we, as f/action, are finally launching our website and putting on a great show and art exhibit to celebrate! Art will be up on display (some for sale) and there will be a silent art auction of work donated by all 4 f/action members. Can't wait to see everyone there, and looking forward to many more art exhibits as a group!

information about the show can be found here

My First Poster!

I don't know why writing that reminded me of "My Pet Monster", but it did. Maybe because I was a kid in the 80's... or maybe because when you are supposed to design a poster from scratch and you're looking at the big white photoshop canvas... it really does feel like a monster of a job!

Well, having no (and I mean zero) design experience, this was a daunting task. How do you make something eye-catching, interesting and informative... from scratch?! We knew that we wanted to include one image per artist - and that was it. So this is what I came up with:

I would LOVE get get some feedback (good, bad, super bad...!) on this, my first poster. Anyone with any design experience - lay it on me... I can take it! Even if you don't have a hot clue about design, let me know what you think! This won't be the last f/action poster... so we might as well get some pointers now!

Posted by f/action member, Dallas Ludwick

Rock'n Roll Heart

Photographing live music is what I personally get the most enjoyment out of shooting. Living in Winnipeg has given me the opportunity to experience this genre to its fullest.

posted by Ailsa Dyson