Matt Andersen Strikes Again!

Matt Andersen hit the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield BIG TIME. What a night! He played solid for two hours and had the crowd whispering his words, clapping and finger snapping the beat, belly-laughing at his self-deprecating wit, and at the end howling for more.

He is a huge talent in an extra large shirt.



His interpretation of Bruce Springsteen's song, "I'm on Fire" was soulful and as one fan piped, "...better than original!"

Matt is on a cross Canada journey in his van. He has a very ambitious schedule and you can see it here along with his Tour Diary.

Neil McDaniel started the night. He is a fellow New Brunswick'er. Nice performance. Later he accompanied Matt on the keyboard. Check out his site here.


If you've never heard of Matt, track him down. Check out his site at www.stubbyfingers.ca . He's coming to Blues Fest in Ottawa this summer. A MUST see.

More photos of the night, some friends, and Lucy-the-bar-dog here.

A View from Civilization

Click image for larger view...
...just finished watching the climatic end of Battlestar Galatica. I've watched this from it's beginning in my dorm in the 1980's with a packed crowd of RMC cadets (mostly Engineers and artsie types) hanging on every word. I've watched it with grown kids in my home in the 2000's. I've watched as 'Everything that has happened will happen again." :-)

On a walk-about downtown, I slipped across the bridge to the Museum of Civilization. Saw this panorama while looking across the river and thought of the cycle of things; how power & pride revolve around fall & ruin and sweep back into building & growth. Not a desperately sad thought if you realize we always find a way to pick up and carry on. Quite an amazing thing... this cycle we as individuals follow, as families, as nations.

It struck me that our nation's captial buildings are framed on one side by buildings filled with a history of civilization and on the other a bridge between two cultural nations. One side of this bridge is rooted in a city forest of buildings, the other extends to trees and nature. Kinda artsy but in context of this theme of cycles it resonated.

Here's a few others in a slideshow. Hope you enjoy.

Blacksheep Inn, 12 March 2009

Another great experience at the Blacksheep Inn in Wakefield Quebec.

Fairly often, a group of our friends get together at local events to enjoy various Canadian Blues talent. One of our favs is Steven Fearing who appeared last Thursday at the Blacksheep Inn.



Accompanying him this time was fellow maritimer Catherine MacLennan. A great evening!


For more pictures of these two, jump to the slides.

Woman have shoe stores...

Ya I know, it does sound sexually biased but I speak from experience. Some woman can spend hours going in and out of shops looking for the perfect shoe or dress or whatever. That just doesn't happen for me. In fact, large sections of my brain go inert when dragged along on such an adventure.

But then there's equipment crack!

No surprise that men have stuff too. This is usually related to either high-tech gear that makes noise and pictures (stereos, HD screens, etc.) or more noise and gears (power tools, cars, etc.). Some guys (like myself) are slaves to camera sh%@. It's like crack. Don't do well without a hit every week or so. Can't really afford to indulge but love to dream.


Yesterday was my day to go walkabout and chill. Like a free-electron following a random path, there's always a capture potential out there. In fact, there's such a highly positive-charged gravity well located inside places like The Camera Trading Company (368 Bank St, Ottawa, Ontario). There's an event boundary close to the front door. Once past that, there's no escape... nothing comes back out.

Inside is a dazzling assortment of camera gear that baffoozel's the camera geek mind. Just look at this stuff!




There to help you in your journey of equipment addiction is Tom Steiner. He's an enthusiastic curator of this museum-like collection. There's a story and education behind every piece. He explained the history and practice of each piece I showed interest in and some I didn't. One in particular was an old large-format camera he had in the window. With painting your own emulsion onto the glass plate you could achieve an equivalent ISO of 3 to 5! Can't imagine the exposure levels you'd need to get a decent picture.

It was hard to leave but what an enjoyable hour.

Feeling moody lately. I'm hungry for new work and to work in a new way. Really want to expand. Then I came across this recently released short film by Zack Arias on transforming yourself and your art.

Check it out here.

It's absolutely brilliant. A must see for all those pro photogs and wannaBe's. Even if you're not in the business, it's applicable to all those who go thru funk-times and feel the cycle of things daunting. He nails so many feelings and comes up with advice that's fairly universal.

I'm actually in a very good place... great family, interesting work, nice home, 25-year-old Chevette that's still running smooth, and the chance to photograph for people. Why is it we want more when we have so much? Hmmm.

New Events slides

Here's some images of Blues singers/bands I've enjoyed over the last year. Great artists and great performances.

Follow the links and enjoy...

Fun nite with the DownChild Blues Band:

Great perfor mer at a friends house party, Steven Fearing...






My all time blues fav singer/songwriter, Matt Anderson:








DJW

Favorite Wedding Moments

Now, the moments most people most love in their weddings are central to their day... first kiss, first dance, garter, etc. My most loved moments are with the couple in quiet moments. Second to that are the fringe things going on... the sly looks, the kids reactions, Dad's proud look, the groom's sparkling look, etc.

Here's a shot I love because of the reflected glory of the moment. This little guy had been (im)patiently waiting of the bride (his aunt, I think) to arrive. The look of wonder and awe shows clearly that this is the most beautiful princess he has ever seen. I love it. The secondary story going on is the passing of the flowers by the dad and the hurried postures. Loves it!

Family Feet

Here's a fun thing to do... pictures of family feet. It's cute and has a lasting impact. For some reason, a picture of the foot of a baby has emotional impact when viewed even years later. It's hard to believe they were that small.

This is something I've done with two families and now offer everytime. It's such a fun thing to do.

The 'fun' part is getting junior to be still long enough to snap the shutter button. The twists and turns were a little frustrating until I realized that they were part of the magic. I snapped this contortion and loved the moment. The parents did too.

Okay, it's time to crank out some posts to track some of the things going on. First of all, there's the portraits of seniors at my favourite retirement residence, Orchard View Estates in Greely, Ontario.
This wonderful place offers so much for it's residents that if I could, I'd sign up now.
Femmie Wright is the activities director there and has been an amazing support to me. I've done two portrait sessions with her residents after being inspired by Steve Bedell's work as covered in January 2008 issue of Rangefinder. His insight was that elderly people in retirement homes haven't had a portrait done in decades. Many of them never at all. By recording them in a tasteful and expressive way, he is able to offer them and their families a lasting and dignified memory. Some of these residents have since passed on and the families' only picture of them has been what Steve has captured.

That was my movitiation and so every 6 months I go to a retirement home and offer free portait sessions. It takes several days for the shooting and I don't get anything from it (monitarily) but the rewards have been rich. As David Hobby pointed out in his blog article, Friday, December 05, 2008 Four Reasons to Consider Working for Free, "I want to grow by photographing extremely interesting people."

So here's some of those 'interesting people' shown above and below.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.