OUTTAKES

So, here’s a picture ( thanks to Clint McLean ) of me dressed as a Military Sergeant. Yeah, I’m now a talent! Clint needed someone to act as a Military man for a picture of a computer bootcamp for TQ Magazine. So, he called me. Under freezing rain, the Sanchez Brothers ( two awesome fine art Montreal’s photographers - check out www.thesanchezbrothers.com ) told me to yell at that poor gentleman. Good thing for him that all the dirty-stuff-out-of-my-mouth was in a pure Quebec French Slang! Good thing for me also since he was a black belt. He would have kick my ass big time!

I’ll keep you posted when the official shot gonna be published.

So, I don’t have a car, but I’m renting one everytime I work. I LOVE TO DRIVE, but owning is just not for me I think. I used to have that massive blue GMC van/camper and I don’t feel that any car will get close to this one. Having say that, I had hell of a time shooting a top of the line Subaru Impreza and an old Pontiac Beaumont. Both pimp out and shiny, for a tv ad for BF Goodridge Canada.

Here are the rough edited ( by Renaud Stanton for Films Traffik ) version:

I shot some kind of a famous Quebec actor for the promotion of his new cd ( he also a singer - check him out at www.brunomarcil.com ). The challenge here was to make him look natural, far away from the Bruno that everyone in Quebec know: either as a cable tech for Videotron tv ads or as a dirty cook for President Choice ads - both character are really funny/creepy.

The guy is a pro and also, super nice, which made my work easier. He also made my day, by calling is cat in for a shot:

( they made a huge light box with that picture in Montreal Berri-Uquam subway station )

After a long 6 hours shoots, with music and expresso, we finally wrap-up. The thing that I’m really happy with that shoot, is that I gave them many good AND different option. Like that, they’ll be able to use those pict into a fairly small market ( Quebec ), without over using a single good picture/setup. Client - magazine, commercial or record label - loves to have plenty of choice.

As a photographer, giving a lot of choice is not always easy. Sometime you have a lot of good ideas and the subject is totally into it and have plenty of time to give. But sometime, you don’t have time, an open minded subject or an interesting environment; you have to think ten time more in order to find or see different shots.

Check out that video from the New York Time magazine about Bjork’s latest video Wanderlust ! It’s pretty amazing what you can do with such a creative artist ( and a budget over 100 000$ ! ).

And here is the video:

Thanks to debbiemillman.blogspot.com - a graphic designer, I found that amazing tv ad that you have to see:

My wife’s mom used to work for Polaroid, here in Toronto. They have all these wicked pictures of them when they were young. I used to have that 4×5 camera who could shoot Polaroid - they were soooo nice.

Polaroid announced last month that they’ll stop their production. You can do something here: www.savepolaroid.com

( on the picture, the defunt Montreal weirdos rock band Les Georges Leningrad )

Is 3 minutes* enough to get a feel of such a character? I’m not quite sure. But I do think that I had quite an experience that day.

First,on my way up I received a call of my photo editor telling me that I’ll have 15 minutes, no more, no less. Then, I showed up and his secretary told me that I can’t bring my assistant or even a tripod - but I did manage to shoot in Schulich’s office and not in that so generic meeting room.

The man was awesome! Totally knowledgeful and interesting. Plus, he was a spaghetti western movies aficionado. Which was great since I always loved western movies. I ended up taking the pictureholding my camera in my right hand and my flash and softbox in the other one, while sitting on his table.

* My camera metadata actully told me that I shot for 2min 47sec.

Well, it’s been a while since I wrote something here - I’m for sure not born a writer - specially in English. So, since my last post:

1. I found a rep in the US: Wonderful Machine! Great and exiting news. An honour to be there with so many talented and kick ass photographers. Sneak a peak: www.wonderfulmachine.com
2. I’ve got to know Daniel Shipp, an awesome photographer and an overall great guy. He used to shot for Urbania Magazine in Montreal, just after I moved to Toronto. He is now her in here too, adding even more talent to that city. Well, if you have a minute, it will worth it 10 times: www.danielshipp.com
3. Polaroid decided to stop producing polaroids. So sad - my old SX70 brown leather camera will sit on a shelf for the rest of my life.
4. I discovered an awesome blog called A Photo Editor. Seriously, if you are interested in photography, magazine and art, it’s the place to go: www.aphotoeditor.com
5. Still working on my beardman essay.
6. Been driving Montreal-Toronto and Toronto-Montreal like 10 times. If you guys know the highway 401, it’s quite boring but still way prettier in winter than in summer.
7. I have been working along with Toronto highly talented Rock Plaza Central for a personal shoot. The result here soon!
8. Clint made fun at my way to say Noon Thirty instead of Twelve Thirty.

Voilà!

Here is the cd cover for Montreal’s Martin Léon next release:

The graphic artist used an old picture I’ve done of him. I really like the result.

And here is one of my favorite from last week shot for his promo pictures - click on it to see it big:

I spent almost 3 months altogether working on those stop-motion sequences. But it paid off, since the result is looking damn cool and also since I was able to see some unknown part of Montreal. It’s all been done for the website of at tv show on France/Quebec channel TV5. Here some screeshots of the website:

More to come when they’ll be unlocked in 2 weeks. Check out that website at www.MTL12.com . Not the more user friendly since it’s so, so big. But well design and loaded with information. You’ll need at least 20-25 minutes to appreciate it a bit!

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Voici quelques screenshots ( désolé, je ne connais pas l’équivalent en français! ) du site gigantesque www.MTL12.com . Vous avez peut-être pu voir le show télé sur TV5? Chanceux, ici, ça ne rentre pas à Toronto et je n’ai pas de télé! Mais bon, le site est rempli d’info et j’ai moi-même visiter tout les endroits de l’émission. Pas si mal.