The Blog has a New Home & A New Look

For those who are subscribed to my blog, this is just a quick update to let you know that the blog has a new home. You’ll find the new blog over at:

http://www.momentsindigital.com/blog

You can subscribe to the RSS feed at http://momentsindigital.com/blog/index.php/feed/

I’m still using WordPress for the blog however instead of using the free WordPress.org site to host the blog I have setup my own WordPress blog on my website. By hosting my own I have more control over the look and feel of the blog and I’m able to include several new features that I’ve wanted on the site for awhile. You’ll find a new contact form along with the ability to quickly share information from the blog with your favourite social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious, and more.

Hope you enjoy the blog and look for me to be blogging a little more regularly than I did in 2008.

Grant MacEwan Blogcamp 2009

Last Friday I was invited by the team over at Fusedlogic to cover the first ever Blogcamp held at the downtown campus of Grant MacEwan college. Blogcamp invited students to participate in a 9 hour marathon session of blogging around a variety of topics with the opportunity to win some fabulous prizes.

Here are a few shots from the event. Thanks again to Walter Schwabe and his team for inviting me out. If you are a business or organization looking to develop your social media strategy, be sure to give Walter a call.

Wedding Workshop with David Ziser

Sarah and I just returned from our trip to Boston and New York. I was in Boston to attend Photoshop World 2009 where I got to meet and listen to some of the top photographers and Photoshop users in the world including Scott Kelby, Dave Cross, RC Concepcion, Matt Kozlowski, and Joe McNally.

Before the conference officially kicked off, I registered for a pre-conference workshop with well known wedding photographer David Ziser. His blog at www.digitalprotalk.com offers great advice and information for photographers with a focus on wedding photography in particular.

Our class began at the Hynes Convention Centre where David went over some of the gear he uses, a brief history of his background as a wedding photographer and and overview of the techniques he was going to show us that day. In total there were 45 participants in the class which wound up being a few too many in my opinion. I would have preferred a smaller class with more opportunities to practice with some of the equipment David had brought for the shoot but we made the best of it and I managed to get a few decent shots without connecting to any of the off camera flash units that David was demonstrating.

Here is a quick shot I took while we stopped to take advantage of the great window light and interesting architecture and lines inside the convention centre.

We headed a few blocks down the street to the beautiful Old South Church. The interior was stunning with amazing stained glass windows and impressive wooden arches and ceilings. Here David had setup a screen and computer at the back and had a wireless transmitter connected to his Canon 5D Mark II so we could view the results on screen as he was shooting. We spent about 3 hours in the church going over a variety of lighting concepts and how to work with minimal lighting equipment to achieve results with impact.

Below is a shot of David working with our groom to demonstrate some off camera lighting techniques using a strobe, umbrella and back lighting on the church alter (out of frame on the left of the image).

After we were done at the church we headed back to the Convention Centre to wrap up the class and shoot a few more images inside the centre. Here is another photo I captured of the bride taking advantage of the late afternoon sunlight streaming in through the windows.

I’ll have more to share on Photoshop World in an upcoming blog post. You can also read some of David’s posts from Photoshop World on his blog at www.digitalprotalk.blogspot.com.

2009 Canadian Birkebeiner

I had the pleasure of volunteering to photograph the 2009 Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Race out at Elk Island Park today. The weather was a bit cold but Mother Nature provided a fantastic backdrop with some of the most amazing hoar frost I’ve ever seen. Here are just a few quick shots from today’s event.

A Moment for Charity

Do you Tweet? Are you all a Twitter? For the uninitiated, Twitter is the latest social messaging service that is sweeping the Interwebs. Originally embraced by web celebs in Silicon Valley, Twitter is quickly finding it’s way into the mainstream with everyone from Barack Obama and Ashton Kutcher to local news organizations and companies jumping on the Twitter bandwagon.

I’ve been using Twitter for just over a year now and find it’s a great way to network with fellow photographers and meet a lot of great people involved in a variety of other professions. The local Twitter community in Edmonton has been quite active organizing Tweetups throughout this past year.

Why am I talking about all this? Well, on February 12th, 2009, the local Edmonton Twitter community will be joining over 160 other cities around the world for a Twestival (get it – Twitter + Festival + Twestival) to raise money for Charity Water. Charity Water is a non-profit organization with a mission to bring clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

Now besides coming out to support a great cause and meet new people, there will also be some great door prizes up for grabs including a framed 8×10 print of my ‘Cigar Man’ photo which was selected as the Best in Show during the 2008 Metro Photography Competition.

WHAT: Edmonton Twestival 2009

WHEN: Thursday, February 12th at 6:30pm

WHERE: Vintage Lounge, 10124 124th Street – map

COST: A $20 donation which will go entirely to charity: water.

Visit http://edmonton.twestival.com/ for more details and to register for the event. Thanks to Mack Male and Sharon Yeo for organizing the event. You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bruceclarke

Christie & Roger – Engagement Moment

Enjoyed a super fun session with Christie & Roger and their two kids Leanne and Michael this afternoon. Their wedding is next Saturday so we took a few hours this afternoon to scout out some locations at the U of A for next weekend’s formals and get them comfortable in front of the camera. It was also the first opportunity to try out my new Canon 5D Mark II.

Needless to say, the whole family seems at home in front of the camera so it didn’t take very long for everyone to warm up the camera and get comfortable.

Leanne and Michael are naturals in front of the camera and Leanne even offered up some excellent suggestions for poses. We’ve got a couple shots lined up for the wedding that she’s going to help me with.

                                      

5D Mark II Un-Boxing

Today was almost like Christmas at the Clarke homestead. I got the call this afternoon that my Canon 5D Mark II had arrived. I hadn’t pre-ordered the camera as I wanted to wait a few months to see what everyone else had to say about the camera before running out and buying one. At just over $3000 this was an investment that I wanted to make sure was going to be worth it before plunking down my hard earned cash. Several calls to various camera stores around the city over the past few weeks revealed that the camera was on back-order and likely wouldn’t be available until the end of February or early March.

Much to my surprise I received a phone call today from Gord the manager of Don’s Photo to let me know that he had one available so I rushed over before the store closed and picked it up. Here is the official un-boxing video shot with my Flip video camera. Keep an eye on the blog for the first test shots once I’ve charged up the batteries and had some time to get out shooting.

del.icio.us Tags: Canon 5D Mark II,Gear,Camera,Photography Equipment

Cousins

Sarah and I flew out to Montreal last weekend to attend Sarah’s cousin’s wedding. It was a Greek wedding and the reception was a blast. I managed to get some great candid shots throughout the day. Here is a quick shot from the reception this past weekend in Pointe Claire, Quebec.

Canon 40D, 24-70mm f2.8 at 35mm. f2.8 at 1/60 sec at ISO 800

Firmware Update for the Canon 40D

Just noticed today on Canon’s website that they have released a firmware  update for the 40D which happens to be the camera I currently shoot with (although I’m hoping a 5D Mark II will be in my future soon). Here are the details on the update from Canon’s site:

Firmware update Version 1.1.1 incorporates the following fixes and improvements.

1. Fixes a malfunction that in rare occurrence causes a low battery indication to be displayed when using the EF 85mm F1.2L II USM lens. Depending on the battery check timing of the camera, the battery level displayed on the camera’s LCD data panel may shows Battery will be exhausted soon or Battery must be recharged, even though the battery capacity is sufficient.
2. Fixes a malfunction that in rare occurrence causes an Err 06 Self Cleaning Sensor malfunction to appear on the camera’s LCD monitor and LCD data panel, even when the Self Cleaning Sensor Unit is operating normally. This message may appear depending on the timing of when the camera is switch to the ON position.
3. Fixes a malfunction that prevents correct colors from being printed when direct printing. RAW images captured using the camera’s custom Picture Styles (Emerald, etc.), which have been downloaded from Canon’s Web site and registered under User Def. 2 or User Def. 3.
4. Modifies the level of subject brightness that causes the AF-assist beam to fire when using an external Speedlite.
5. Enables an external flash connected to the camera’s synchro terminal to fire even when the camera’s built-in flash is popped up.

For those wondering what a firmware update it, basically it’s an update to the software that runs on the camera. Sometimes these updates can provide new functionality to the camera while in most cases they are released to fix bugs that were discovered after the camera was released. Updating the firmware is actually quite straightforward for anyone with a little bit of computer knowledge.

Updating your camera consists of downloading the update to your computer, transferring the file to your camera’s memory card, and then inserting the card into your camera and selecting to update the firmware in the Camera’s menu. In the case of Canon you can also upgrade the firmware by connecting the camera to your computer and using the EOS Utility that shipped with your camera to install the update.

If you haven’t upgraded the firmware in your camera since you bought it, I would recommend checking the version of your firmware and upgrading if you are on an older version to ensure that you are getting the most out of your camera and not compromising your images as a result of any software bugs.

del.icio.us Tags: Canon 40D Firmware,Camera Update

Celebrating 50 Years

On Saturday I was invited to photograph an event for the Jasper Place Curling Club. 2009 marks the 50th Anniversary of the club and to celebrate the club held a Past Presidents’ Dinner to recognize the contributions of these individuals. Here are a few quick shots from the evenings’ activities.

                         

                      

del.icio.us Tags: events,Edmonton,Curling