Photographer: Ryland Haggis, Redpilot Media. (I helped too)

Here’s a funny thing… So my multimedia company, Redpilot was hired to do a cover shoot of a physically exhausted runner for the cover of the British Journal of Sports Medicine. We had 2 days to shoot it , and missed the opportunity to grab some shots of tired runners at a big marathon by a few hours on the first day, and it was pouring rain the next day, so the shoot got pushed until late Sunday night.

*Cue panic.* Who are we gonna shoot? How are we gonna get this shot? Do you know any models? Or runners. Pause. Reflect. Oh right you’re a model. Aren’t you? And didn’t you run? You must have run at some point! Let’s just shoot you.

Gah. So at 11pm on Sunday night, I’m running up and down the staircase in my apartment whilst spraying water all over my face and body to get the desired sweaty, red-faced exhausted look. I have no make up on and I’m dead tired and somewhat unimpressed and that’s the picture that ends up on the cover of a major magazine. Yes that one. No not the one where I’m all fabulous. The one were I have a crazy illustrated brain and boney teeth and weird organs and stuff popping out. That’s the one they’ll remember you for.

PS. Don’t even talk to me about the legacy of the BC Transit Bus Guide Girl.

PPS. I have a HUGE & famous brain. I’ll out think all of yous! Seriously, quiz me on anything! I dare you!

PPPS. If you crack a Skeletor joke, I’ll shank you!

(On top of Moscone Centre, San Francisco)

This was my first Holga lomo picture to actually come out. I took it the day after the madness that was WWDC 2008. My first roll, I accidentally exposed to light while taking it out of the camera. My second roll, I shot mostly at night in San Francisco (which looked so so cool) but I forgot to set the camera to “bulb” and all the shots were underexposed. Gah!

Film is intense. After having the immediacy of digital shots, waiting for film developing drives me bananas, but you can’t deny the coolness of the medium format. The graininess, the subtle vignetting, the saturation of colour, the sweet 70s feel it gives photos. I’m really excited about exploring the lomo now!

Check out lomography.com or the flickr Lomo group for inspiration. And if you are experimenting with lomography link me up to your flickr photos.

I love my digital SLR, and I don’t see myself ever using film as my main format, but there is something almost too perfect and unnatural about digital images, especially those that have been photoshopped. You lose all the unexpected surprises in the process of using film cameras that can produce seriously beautiful shots. After seeing my lomo shots, I realize that it is still important for photographers to experiment with film and develop a style that is independent of digital automation.

What do you think? Is there still a place for film in today’s digital photography age?

Happy Birthday Canada. I <3 you a lot!

PS. Check out more shots on Flickr.
PPS. Geese necks are weird.

Every weekend this summer, I am going to try and rent a new lens to expand my portfolio and inspire myself to take more dynamic shots. This week I rented for the Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS zoom lens. What a beautiful piece of glass. Super slick for the entire range, great dof, and simply money at the top end of the zoom. This lens can do a lot and is awesome for capturing sports/action shots, wildlife, candid people picks, and portraits.

Inspired by Scott Bourne’s wildlife photography, I spent hours trekking about in search of wildlife. I did come across a seal, a beaver, and a skunk, but those animals were much to sneaky to get a decent shot of them from a distance. I think I need to invest in some serious gumboots and really get in the muck. The only creatures I could get up close and personal with were some silly seagulls, who for pretty pesky birds were super fun to watch.

Also, I snapped some shots of some little Polish Dancer girls who were waiting to perform at the Kitsilano Showboat.

And then this dude just bike past looking so summertime funky, I just had to take a shot.

I completely fell in love with this lens, I fondly nicknamed this super huge lens, “The Beast”. My arms and back are seriously aching today from lugging him around for 3 days of “magic hours” in a row. I spent so much time waiting for magic hour, I half expected to run into Michael Bay, his sleek power mane glowing in the warm soft light, yelling profanities at his hapless crew. “More debris you a–holes!”

I’ll be uploading my other sweet shots to my 700-200 flickr photoset tomorrow.

Thanks for all your suggestions and keep ‘em comin! I think next week I’ll either go for the 10-22mm f/3.5 or a fixed wide angle. I’d like to do some Vancouver cityscapes.

And I encourage you to rent new lens next weekend with me!

Good lenses are ridiculously expenses, so for most of us, owning a bunch of good glass is just not financially feasible. I own one good lens for my Canon Xti/400D. The 50mm f/1.4. Such a beautiful lens, but limiting. I also have a crappy kit lens 18-55mm f/cr.ap, but i refuse to use it now, because I know the results will be sub-par.

The other option is to rent lenses, which is actually a lot more affordable than you think. Plus, you get to take the lens for a test spin, keep the photos, and not have to sell stolen girl guides cookies out of your garage. Come to think of it, that’s not such a bad idea… No not a good idea… A very bad idea…

You can rent pretty much any lens, even the elite L-series, for approx. $30 a day. And with most camera rental places, if you rent a lens on a Friday, you can keep it for the weekend. If you live in Vancouver check out Beau Photo or Leo’s Cameras.

So I wanted to ask all the photogs out there:

What is your favourite lens?
What awesome lenses do you think I should try?

PS. Thanks to my twitter peeps, I had a nice list going on twitter, but then the tweety bird freaked out again. So I’d like to compile a list on my blog, because I’m fairly certain WP won’t try to lift a giant whale with tiny songbirds.

I love Flickr. Everyday on Flickr, I see photographs that truly blow my face off. I am literally blown away by the quality and quantity of inspiring photos on Flickr. I love the fact that I can share my photos and get feed back and meet cool people who are also sharing their photos.

Lately, I’ve wanted to push myself to take more creative shots and explore new lenses and formats including, lomography. I’ve been thinking of joining the 365 challenge on flickr for a while, but when i went and looked at the lengthy “group rules” for 365 days, I was like “uh, it has to be a self portrait”, then “if I miss a bunch of days they’ll boot me! Uh the pressure”, then “only one photo a day”, then I was like “lame, I should do my own thing”.

I don’t think expressing yourself should have rules or limits. Plus, if I had to take a self-portrait everyday, I’d go mental. Seriously, there are enough pictures of me on teh internets.
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I have never really considered what my rights are as a video blogger, as I have only filmed myself and used all Redpilot music (or GBs) and photos in my videos. But yesterday, I posted a video that I took at private party whilst I was in San Francisco and a bunch of people were unhappy.

The party hosts were angry that I didn’t ask permission before posting the video, as it was their home and they were visible in the video. What made matters worse is that the video went viral on Valleywag (basically Silicon Valley’s US Weekly).

I honestly didn’t think of any of these issues before posting the video. I was more concerned with Feist suing me for using her song. I was genuinely surprised that anyone at this high-tech, twitter/blog centric gathering would mind me posting this video, let alone think it was a violation of privacy. But it was private property and I did not ask explicit permission before posting the video which was my fault entirely.
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I had a blast recording TWiP (This Week in Photography) with Pixel Corps’ Alex Lindsay, Podango’s Scott Bourne, Adobe’s Fred Johnson and photojournalist Steve Simon.
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Illustration by Pasquale.

Thanks for all the comment and email l0v3 and movie/tv/book suggestions. My neck feels less like a giant yarn ball of pulsating fire, and more like a golf ball of subtle flames. In my time away from the internet, I was unfortunate enough to catch “Resident Evil: Extinction” and Mila’s clunky, lack-luster wire stunts and sweet Gaussian-blurred face. Why can’t every zombie movie be like “Shaun of the Dead”.

Then, I learned some sweet breakdancing moves from Jonah Takalua and watched my new favourite show, the Australian mockumentary series, “Summer Heights High”. It’s kinda like if Christopher Guest, Ricky Gervais, Mitchell and Webb and “a dingo ate my baby” met, went to a bottlo, and threw so many shrimps on the barbie and wrote this. Either that or Chris Lilley is serious comedic genius.

Other than that I’ve got BSG: Razor on board for tonight, along with the Aliens Quadrilogy for back to back slimy, chest-bursting awesomeness and Ridley — Cameron — Fincher — Jeunet! That’s my kind of quadrilogy. Plus, one of these films has my favourite line of dialogue ever. 10 points and a place in my heart for guessing the correct phrase!

In addition, to watching movies I got some totally swedish IKEA furniture and sorta helped put it together.

And practiced my juggling techniques, one ball at a time.

And put my lomo film in the fridge for safe keeping.

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I didn’t listen to the doctor when she said, “stop using your computer for 14 hours a day, take breaks every 15 mins, and find a more ergonomic work space. You are going to severely injure yourself!”

I didn’t listen one bit, and now i have a neck spasm the size of the polar caps before humans polluted the earth and made icebergs melt into the ocean… like way before Leonardo died in the icy waters of doom after the Titanic totally snapped in two.

I guess I seriously need to find some other ways of amusing myself for the next couple of days while I heal. What am I gonna do?? I’m already bored.

What can I do without a computer or internet? Any suggestions? Movie/tv show recommendations are most welcome. I would say “books” but let’s face it, unless it says, “Harry Potter” or “XYZ gear manual” on the cover, I won’t read it.

Uhh I shouldn’t even be typing this. cramp. ouch. Stop! Step away from the MB air. Away! Expecto Patronum!