Last shoot of the season

I was called out for a multi family photography session on Sunday, as a result of a referral from another photographer friend of mine. It's kind of a funny story. I was talking to Joe on the phone about doing the photography for his family, as I was driving home on Friday, so then when he got back to me that evening to confirm the time and place, he said "do you have a white van that says Trident Photography on it?" I do , so I said yes. Then he tells me that right after I talked to him on the phone, he saw me driving around his parent's neighborhood. Well, when he gives me the address of his parent's place (which is where the photos are to be taken), and it turns out it is only about 2 blocks from my house. What are the odds? Anyway, it was my pleasure to meet his father Habib, and the rest of his family. Super nice people, who coincidentally run the Parkallen Restaurant on 109st. If you have never been there, it is a nice Lebanese cuisine, and they are well known for their selection of high end wines. Here are some of the images I made for them.

Nice cars

Here are a couple of swank cars I grabbed some shots of while shooting a chairity event this year. I was looking at some old files and came accross these, & I felt like showing them to you. I have never seen a Mazerati like this before. I remember when he drove up, I heard this crazy high pitched fomula one kind of engine noise, so I looked over, and sure enough, this thing looks like it's straight off the track. If my memory serve me correctly, a chance to drive the car to Jasper and back was auctioned off for about $4000-$5000.

Jessica

Jessica was feeling a bit sporty yesterday, and wanted me to take her picture so she can give copies to her friends at school. So not wanting to let her down, I quickly went to the studio and set up (I only had a few minutes before we had to head out to dinner). We shot for about 4 minutes, then had to take off for supper. Afterwards when we got home I had a look at the images and we selected this one for her to dish out at school. She is really starting to have a grown-up look about her. *sigh*

Jeff

George & Rita

I had George and Rita come by recently for a few portraits. Appearently George's mom told him she doesn't have any recent photos of him. I certainly hope that this new batch of images is to her liking. It was cool to have someone from the military in their uniform at the studio. I liked the chance to make a really nice portrait of George in his uniform.

Theme Party

I client of mine was having a year end awards dinner and party last weekend. The cool thing about this was that it was a gangster theme, and they had a casino as well. I brought some props for the photo shoot so we could make some really cool images. My assistant Tamara had an old violin case, and a great black hat that totally followed the theme. With his pin stripe suit, this fellow fit the bill perfectly, and looked like he should be riding on the running boards of some old 20's sedan. As a result, this was my favorite image of the night.

Jeff

Shelley and Carlos family

So this past weekend I was fortunate enough to see Carlos and Shelley again. I shot a wedding for these two several years ago, and now they have two lovely children, and were ready to get some family portraits done. Jeremy is such a handsome young lad, however, like most boys his age, he does not like to get his photo taken. You would never know it from this family shot, but this is the only frame where he didn't have his head down. I came up with a few tricks to get his attention and as a result, I was able to get him looking up finally. Here are a few more from their family session. I really like the image where Chloe is discovering the 'mystic luggage'. (If you were this cute you would want your photo taken all the time, wouldn't you?)

Engagements

As I was printing an order for Stephanie and Landon, I realized that I didn't blog the session yet, which also led up to the discovery of another session for Lauren and Jason that I shot a few weeks back which never saw the blog page. So this is a double dose of lovers pics for the blog.

Stephanie and Landon braved the cold to do their session outside before the snow came. But even though the weather was cold, the passion was hot, and was all these two needed to stay warm.

We managed to set up for this cool image of the geese taking off from the lake in just a few seconds. There were hundreds on the water and when they all started up the engines it made quite the commotion.

Next up we have Jason and Lauren, two of Edmontons finest. When we were doing the session, I was (as I normally do) joking with Jason that I would give him the taser if he didn't give me a good smile. So Lauren tells me that she just had to go through that, and the pepper spray for her training. Yikes!! Supposedly the taser is better than the pepper spray, because when it is over, it's over. Not like the lingering burn of the spray. These guys are so cute together, hard to believe that they "fight" & Lauren claims she can take Jason. (I think he lets her win sometimes) ; )

Jeff http://www.tridentphotography.com/wed/weddings.htm

Variety variety

I love being a photographer. I get all kinds of different jobs, some are more seasonal than others, like weddings for instance, but even the seasonal variety is great. This past week, I did some photographs for a Nigerian brother and sister who are visiting Canada, she is applying for some US work visas, and needed some images that were very specific for the application process. While they were here, we also got some images of her brother so she could take them home with her.

In addition to that, I shot a very young lad of only a few weeks of age, as a surprise gift for the mother.(I will not be posting those here yet just in case, here is the setup location for it though).



Then there was the enterpenuer, who needed promotional ad, and head shots for his business. A former Police officer turned realtor, and land developer, who still does private security consulting too. Nice.There was also the most insanely flexible girl, who while doing this, was able to balance in a heel, and hold a smile. Remarkable!

And that is why I love this profession. Where else can you get to meet such interesting people, and provide them with a service you enjoy so much?

Jeff

Good day. I know I have been kind of quiet for a while. I have been shooting, though the company I have been working for has informed me they don't want me to write about them on my web log. So that's a shame. In non photographic news, the 2 community parties went really well, both the kids party and the adults party were a success. I will be trying to boost up the calendar of events for the coming year as well. I will be getting together with the other social directors from the surrounding community leagues soon and we will try to coordinate some programs and events. But so nobody goes away feeling empty handed, here is an image I made this past week for a new competition jazz dance group of lovely young ladies called Lady Royale.

This was a good shoot, and required a bit of planning with the size of the group. In order to get a nice clean white background, and keep the girls properly lit required a bunch of light. Then I was able to extract them and redo the gradient fill in PS for the final effect.

Edmonton Commercial Photographer

As the construction year rolls to a close, I took these shots of the people behind the scenes at Kiewit. We did a few photos, but my favorite is the tossing of the hats.

Jeff

Patrick Family Photography

I have been known to support certain charity events, and donate sessions for silent auction. Amanda was able to secure a bid on a family portrait session and help out the Childrens Miracle Network at the same time. We set out on this slightly brisk day to make some images near the lake. Here are some of my favorites from the shoot.

More families and lovers

I always enjoy making images for families. As a photographer, you must always be aware of the grand importance the images you make may hold. You never know just how meaningful that image may be to the family. I have seen first hand instances where circumstance has taken a family member shortly after a session. And that image you created is all that is left for the loved ones. It is very touching to be able to give something that important and invaluable a client. Wow, that's a bit heavy. Here are some images to lighten the mood.
Try as I might, Tristan would not give me a smile on camera, that is until we got back to my place and he was full of them. What a cutie pants though with his big blue eyes.

The Wilsons were an absolute pleasure to work with. An exceptionally nice family. These were shot in the Wilson's condo apartment, which has a great staircase for this sort of thing. I was very impressed with the common area there as well.

I also fought a tiny bit of rain this weekend with these two lovebirds while photographing some engagement shots, but we found some shelter under the trees and made some great images in spite of the misty rain. Marianna's sunny disposition was more than enough to make up for the clouds.
Jeff

New Trident Photography website

My new website is finally complete! Check out the link, assuming you didn't just come from there. http://www.tridentphotography.com

Busy Bee, no wait, that's me!

Hello hello, I trust that October has been treating you all well. I know I have certainly been active over the last few days. Here is a bit of a recap of the week. I did a photo shoot for Royal Bank of Canada, where they were having a promotion. (I also learned from the fireman who was giving away smoke detectors that they actually expire, so something to think about people! Get those things replaced.) I did a corporate headshot for one of the new managers there as well.

I shot Ken Newby the Traffic Safety Advisor for the community along with one of the city officials near Keheewin school, where Ken was having a press release. He has been working on making the streets in Yellowbird a safer place. I converted this one to black and white for reproduction on newsprint.
Also at Keheewin School, I photographed Bill Cowen, as he read to the kids there for part of the literacy program. Always nice to have Bill come out, he is very entertaining. Thank you.

Then I was hard hatted, yellow vested, steel toed, and safety goggled, on the site of one of the city's largest expenditures, the interchange at 23rd avenue and Gateway Blvd. While in the air I shot the Century Park site as well, so if you were curious as to what's happening there, now you know.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I also had to grab a quick self portrait for a tutorial on strong contrast with soft light.

Jeff