Artists in Action

A few weeks ago (when the ground was still covered in snow), I had the pleasure of doing a shoot with emerging singer-songwriter Nichole Amundsen.

She didn't have a specific outcome in mind, so it was up to me to think on my feet given my model and the surrounds we had to work with.

It didn't take long for me to notice the funky staircase in Nichole's pad (that seemingly went nowhere) and the awesome scruffy porch with vintage red chair! We shot for a solid hour before even leaving the house! With a lovely and creative performer on your hands, it is amazing how many great shots you can get... and how quickly time can fly! When I got back into my car at the end of the shoot, I could hardly believe that 3 hours has passed. But when I got home and started going through the images, I was amazed at the fact that it looked like we had done 4 or 5 completely different shoots in those three hours! The diversity of images was awesome!

I thought I would share some of my favourite images from the shoot. And show just how different a single person can look on any given day!

And of course, if any of you are interested in checking out Nichole's music, here is a link to her website: http://www.myspace.com/nicholeamundsen !

Posted by f/action member,

Dallas Ludwick

My advice.... seek professional help.

I collaborated with photographer April Plett a while ago to photograph the talented impov comedy troupe Crumbs. It soon became obvious that this was going to be one of the easiest shoots I'd ever do for two reasons. The first is because there were two photographers there to bounce ideas, cover the talents that the other is lacking and, not least of all, distract the client while the shooter is thinking about equivalent exposures and composition.
The second is because photographing comedians is hilarious. The big fear of doing portraits is that your subject will be dry and bored and hard to pull interesting expressions from. Usually, as the photographer, you have to do the performing. With these guys it was just a matter of keeping your framing and exposure and letting the artist do his thing. It really made me respect the talent that performers can have and the ease that it brings to my job. As a beginning photographer, I am usually not picky about getting free models for the projects I shoot - don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for their help - but when you have someone in front of your lens that is born to be on stage, a master of characters that knows what kind of presence you need before you do, it becomes a joint effort.
I've learned that there is nothing like working with professionals.

Looking Into Eyes

There's a whole world that opens up to me every time I use my macro lens. And that's exactly why I use it. Not only to see, but to capture and share what this lens sees. It serves to amplify what we can't see just by "normal" seeing. And what better subject to photograph than the very organ we as photographers treasure the most: our eyes!









Posted by Gabrielle Touchette, f/action member