Tag Archives: kitchener

Kitchener-Waterloo Fujifilm X100 Club Meets

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As it turns out, two of my friends also own X100 bodies (Tibra with the original X100 and Carolyn with a brand spankin new X100t). We decided to get together this past weekend for some small body fixed 35mm rangefinder shooting in downtown Kitchener, and so began the Kitchener-Waterloo Fujifilm X100 Club. Here are my highlights from the day, all shot with the X100s except for the first (which was taken with my phone). For the most part these are straight out of camera, with just a few tweaks for brightness and colour.

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Andrew and Erin’s Wedding – Waterloo Park Grist Mill and Victoria Park Pavillion

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It’s hard not to gush about Andrew and Erin. Andrew and Erin are great people with great friends and great family. Andrew and Erin are two of the kindest and most considerate people I have ever met. Andrew and Erin threw a fantastic wedding last month and I (and Mike) had the privilege of being their photographer. Andrew and Erin pretty much ARE Waterloo and it will be sad to see them move on to other places after their extended honeymoon.

Here are a few highlights from the wedding, keeping in mind that they will be seeing these for the first time (internet access is spotty in the nooks and crannies that they’re visiting). So, enjoy! And Andrew and Erin, there will be plenty more to see when you get back 🙂

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The Tragically Hip at the Aud – More Photos

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This post is a follow-up to last week’s about my impromptu shoot at a Tragically Hip show at the Kitchener Auditorium. I thought I’d show a bunch more photos but also give a few tips and tricks.

Let’s start with packing gear. Because I hadn’t ever shot at an indoor stadium show and had no idea what kind of vantage point I’d have, I brought nearly everything (11-16, 17-55, 50-135, 35, 50, 85 and both the D300s and D7000… oh, and some strobes and light modifiers too). I really didn’t know if I would even have the chance to change lenses during the shoot but I wanted to be safe. At the time I also didn’t know the extent of the shoot…. would I be covering just the show? or maybe shooting the band afterwords? would the writer need some details to support an interview? In the end, when I found that I would just be shooting the first three songs, I opted for a simple and versatile setup that would need no lens swapping. I put the AF-S 17-55 f/2.8 on the D300s and the Tokina 50-135 f/2.8 on the D7000 and left the rest in the car.

Concert photography presents a few technical challenges due to the extreme contrast and colour of light and fast-moving performers. In the concerts I’m used to shooting, there is barely enough light to shoot 1/60s with a wide open lens at ISO 1600; however during this show there was ample light. I chose to shoot at ISO 1600 with the lenses wide open or near-wide open but was able to get very fast shutter speeds like 1/250s. Freezing the subjects was a breeze.

When shooting a concert the hall is usually quite dark and the subjects quite bright. Imagine trying to properly expose a backlit penguin in the snow and then invert the light and dark. The camera will want to expose for the shadows and completely blow out the subjects. When shooting wide angle with the D300s I dealt with this extreme contrast by setting the exposure compensation to -1EV and crossing my fingers. For the most part it worked and I got a lot of keepers. With the D7000 and 50-135 I used the spot meter instead of the matrix meter. I actually have the function button programmed to quickly switch to spot meter while pressed. Occasionally I would combine the spot meter with the AE-L (exposure lock) when I needed to recompose.

In all I got 20-25 shots that I consider keepers (not bad for three songs). Here is a selection.Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-18Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-2 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-17 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-16 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-14 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-13 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-11 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-10 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-9 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-7 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-6 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-5 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-4 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-3 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-20 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-21 Tragically Hip - Feb 5 2013-22

Tragically Hip at the Aud – Impromptu Shoot

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Last night while cooking dinner I got notification from my friend Nathan that a Vancouver blog, http://www.unnomdeguerre.com/, was looking for a photographer. The Tragically Hip were playing at the Aud in Kitchener (with The Arkells) opening. Not being a huge fan of the Hip (and really keen for a relaxing night in) I reluctantly agreed to do the shoot. I had less than an hour notice and hadn’t even eaten yet but I did make it to the venue in time for the Hip to start (sadly missing The Arkells’ opening slot).

I was also only allowed to shoot the first three songs so I had to pack strategically. There wouldn’t be much time to change lenses, so i settled on using the 17-55mm f/2.8 on the D300s and the Tokina 50-135mm f/2.8 on the D7000.

I’ll put some more shots up in the future, along with some technical pointers, once I’ve made my way through the 350+ shots I took within my 20 minute window. Here’s a standout from my initial glean through the set:Tragically Hip