Technically, about 45 days….but it’s been a crazy busy 45 days.  In addition to a lot of client work in my own city of Yellowknife, this past month or so has seen me travel to Mexico, St. Louis, and Toronto for various clients and speaking/teaching engagements, including as a mentor at the incredible yearly American photo event, After Dark, followed by a speech in Toronto for the Globe & Mail.  Oh, and I photographed perhaps the most important event of the year, too:  my little girl’s one year-old birthday party

In short, haven’t had a lot of blogging time.  Here – in no particular order – is why.

Those who’ve followed my work for a while know that I started off photographing exclusively landscapes before taking the plunge into the world of portraiture. It’s been more of a plunge: it’s been one big series of dives with the occasional belly flop, but bottom line is that it’s safe to say that I’m addicted to photographing people, now, and couldn’t imagine a week of my photography where I didn’t photograph a portrait.

I first went to Maui last year on a family vacation and was immediately struck, like most people who have the opportunity to visit or live on this beautiful island, with the relaxed beauty of the place. Although I photographed numerous landscape images that first trip, I left thinking that it would have been really cool to photograph environmental portraiture while there (I did get a lot of portraits of my little dudes lapping up every moment, however).

"The Ghosts of Time"

When I left Maui that last trip, I had no clue if I would be back.  I often think that when I travel – especially the places I really love.   Although you always hope to get back to great places, you never know where life is going to take you.  More the reason to soak in and appreciate every moment while you’re there, I suppose.

As luck would have it, I managed to get back to Maui way quicker than anticipated. Exactly a year later.  I got hired to photograph the stunning wedding of two clients from Alberta, Jahla and Richie, and as soon as I confirmed this trip I knew I was going to set up a creative shoot while there.

Jahla and Richie

If you want something:   make it happen.  To go completely off-script here, while in Maui I had planned on getting a tattoo.  A friend had recommend an amazing tattoo artist, Yvette Yvelle from Maui Atomic Tattoo.  I had emailed her before going to set up the appointment; now that I had a contact, I hit her up for a little info:  would she know anyone – preferably a male or female dancer – who might be interested in doing a photoshoot with me?  Within 48 hours I had a call to my studio in Yellowknife from Janey Arruda, and a plan was put in place.

Fast forward a month or so and I’m in Maui, wedding completed.  I met up with Janey and her husband Keli’i while the island was still cloaked in darkness and off we went.  I had spent the previous week scouting out possible locations and I had this one tree in mind that screamed unique every time I would drive by it, so we made the 30-minute drive at about 5:15AM to get in place before the sun started to arrive.

The location was great, we beat the sunrise, but the one thing we couldn’t control was wind.  I’m talking blow-your-drawers-off-wind:  Maui was hit by an unusual weather system that week and the wind was incredibly intense.  Thankfully, I suspected we’d be in for a windy morning and I had asked Janey ahead of time if her husband would possibly mind assisting (thank you, Keli’i!!).  There’s no way I would have been able to shoot this solo:  this was going to be shot with speedlites/softboxes and even if I had weighted down my light stand, some random boat in the Pacific would have come across it weeks later.

When shooting anything environmental/creative, I tend to follow the same process over and over:  find the angle/scene/composition I want and focus on that, first.  Get the exposure right.  Feel out the angle.  What is my ambient light doing?  Where will I fit my person into the broader scene?  I find strong environmental portraits are a bit of a fun puzzle to figure out:  there’s way more to consider than simply heading out with your subject and snapping a few images.

My first step, finding my "scene"

My next step is almost always to put the subject into the scene, but not worrying at all, yet, about how I’m going to light them.  I still just want to get a sense of the overall composition and the right exposure for the ambient light before turning on my lights and adding another level of complexity.

An Ambient Exposure without Flash

Finally, it’s “go” time.  For this, I used a Canon 600EX flash, off-camera and modified by a large Lastolite Ezybox soft box.  The soft box was up on a stand but more importantly was held by a death grip by Keli’i preventing it from flying across my scene and knocking Janey out.  Keli’i’s a big dude, and it was still a struggle.

I don’t really have hard rules on the type of lighting and the positioning of lighting I use shoot over shoot.  I just take an exposure, do a gut feel from it, and then make adjustments. This was a simple one-light-gelled-with-a-cut-of-CTO set-up (the light is positioned not quite 45-degrees to my left) but I liked the softness, and the colour that it produced.  The wind was a bugger to work with, but I did love the lift it gave to her hair – it really gave a good sense of motion.

Once we wrapped up the early morning shoot, it was time for a change of outfit and location, and we were shooting again.  Janey’s an experienced performer, having done traditional, modern, and cultural hula dances across the island of Maui.  One of the dances she’s done focuses on her Polynesian neighbours, the Maori of New Zealand.  A very dramatic look, and one that as soon as I saw it, knew needed a green background:  nothing specifically Hawaii (as it’s not native to Hawaii), but something more generic….but still beautiful.

We found a great place with the bonus of being, finally, out of the wind.  Another 30 minutes of shooting and the shoot was in the bag.

A behind-the-scenes behind-the-scenes as I capture Keli'i snapping an iPhone pic of Janey while on light duty.

My all-star team: Keli'i and Janey Arruda.

PS – Here’s the finished tattoo…which ultimately helped to make this photoshoot happen by bringing us all together.

A wedding that truly had everything going for it. First, how can you go wrong getting married in Maui (the place where the couple got engaged a year earlier, see this blog post) at one of the nicest hotel properties in the world, the Grand Wailea, a Waldorf-Astoria resort that has no problem taking your breath away, with one of Alberta’s best rock bands, Shelbi, flown in for the occasion?

Every detail was thought of, planned, and executed perfectly. Details aside, the couple did what they were supposed to do: be ridiculously happy, in love, and enjoy and take in every moment. And the moments were many.

Some of my favourite destination wedding photography. But with shooting conditions like this, my job was easy.

Click to purchase/download

About a year ago friends of mine, the dynamic photography duo of Darwin Wiggett and Samantha Chrysanthou (brainchilds of oopoomoo) asked of me a question: “Would you ever be interested in writing a book?”.

Well, um, sure. I had thought about it many times. In fact, my dream when I left university many eons ago was to become a writer. My heroes were writers like Irvine Welsh and John Steinbeck. I wanted to write quirky, impressive pieces of fiction. Or, at the very least, articles for adventure or travel magazines. But life happened, and the first three or four pieces I pitched to people fell completely flat. It wasn’t a tale of complete hopelessness – but I just sort of forgot about the writing dream.

But then the photography “thing” happened; I was living high up in the Canadian Arctic and without really trying, I had an image published. And then another. Without submitting then – publications just found them (I had created a small personal website detailing my time in the Arctic and illustrated it with a few snapshots). Wow. This was a pretty cool thing for me, and it really piqued my interest in photography….an interest that would very quickly take over my life. In a good way.

It’s been about 10 years since I first moved to the Arctic with my dreams of being a writer, so when Sam and Darwin asked the question, my first thought was “of course I want to write a book…but it will never happen”. My mind flooded with thoughts, for a short minute, of why it couldn’t happen. I’m too busy. We’re expecting our third child. Who would want to read me? But I’ve long ago managed to let negative thoughts swim their way out of my little brain, and quickly replaced these thoughts with all the reasons why I should write a book. A book on photography. This, I feel.

I won’t say it was an easy process. Time did get in the way. An initial plan of a couple of months stretched into a year. Edits. Re-edits. Back and forth. All part of the process. But when you have a cracker-jack team of people working on your book with you – in this case the eagle eyes of Sam and Darwin, along with the design mastery of Stephen Desroches – the going was still fun.

And here we are.

Yesterday we hit the big shiny “PUBLISH” button and I now officially have my first book, “The Soul’s Window: Insights Into Natural Light Portraiture” released. All about the world of taking portraits of people using the light that’s there, naturally, this book was a natural starting point for me in what promises to be a series of titles. I have shoot literally hundreds of thousands of natural light images across countless client portrait sessions, weddings, events, and creative photoshoots. In short, I felt like I actually had something to say that might prove valuable to people looking to take stronger portraits.

It’s out, and I’m proud.

For the cost of only 3 or 4 cups of coffee, I’ll take you through the world of my particular process when deciding how to approach a portrait, taking into consideration everything from location to subject matter to lighting to lens choice to camera modes to the interaction with your subject. Whether you’re fairly new to your camera or someone more experienced, I truly think you’ll find something in this book for you. For only $10, it can be downloaded directly from http://oopoomoo.com/ebook/the-souls-window/

I hope you enjoy.  For now, here’s a few of the example images used in the book:

Whenever I’m home in Yellowknife my weeks are full with a whole variety of assignments, both in the studio and on location. And when I’m in studio, it’s a whole range of different sessions: everything from family to commercial to boudoir to maternity to seniors to headshots to product to newborns.

Newborns. The cutest of them all. And quite possibly the most challenging genre of photography out there. Seriously. I shoot across 10-15 different genres and I always say newborn photography is the most effort. Adults, for the most part, listen to you. If you say “move there….pose like THIS”, they generally do it. I’ve (very poorly) acted out a huge range of poses to clients with blank stares, wondering if I’m serious. But when they realize that I am serious, and not auditioning for the circus, they generally listen.

Babies, not so much. They pee, they poop, they smile when you want them sleeping and cry when you want them awake. Still…I love photographing them. I love the challenge. I love trying to capture a whole range of “feels” from a bay over the course of a session. It’s not always easy, but it’s almost always rewarding.

Here’s a few images from a recent session with a great small family here in Yellowknife.

Any wedding shot on New Year’s Eve is bound to be an avalanche of moments. Any wedding shot in my home city with a fun-lovin’ bride and groom that featured a trip onto the ice road, shooters at the Gold Range, cold, snow, ice, free-flowing champagne, Japanese tourists, Pilot’s Monument, sweet tunes, wild dancing, fireworks, and the Fire Department is, well, my end to 2012.

Highlights of the day, in 57 photos.

It’s only early into the start of 2013 but I have to say I feel more energized and inspired in my little photographic corner of the world than I’ve ever been. Part of it might be due to the usual “get healthy” resolution that’s seen me drop 10 pounds in the first 10 days of this month, but I think it’s more of a general feeling – an excitement – that’s been buzzing through my veins about what the next year will bring.

I posted on my Facebook page earlier today that I was looking over my calendar and realized that I was already booked for close to 20 travel assignments this year, a 2013 that will bring me across North America and beyond for a variety of commercial assignments, workshop instruction, and weddings. And then this afternoon another email came which will effectively increase that number of trips to about 28 between now and October. Needless to say, this year is going to bring a lot of diversity to my work if only because of the ever-changing backdrop.

But what if you don’t have a changing backdrop?

I lived and worked (first part-time, and then full-time) as a photographer for a number of years before I got my first travel assignment. What if you don’t have the opportunity to continually “shake up” your background? How do you stay inspired, especially when you live in a small town or city, and don’t have a lot diversity in what you can shoot?

Well, a secret. The diversity is there. You just have to seek it out, and not be afraid to let your creative mind run wild.

I live in a beautiful place. I love living here, in Yellowknife. But that’s not to say that I haven’t heard (and been guilty of myself) mumblings along the line of “if only we had the variety of scenery of a place like Nova Scotia….or a city like Vancouver”.

To stay inspired in your photography, you have to let yourself “see” through different eyes. You don’t always need dramatic backdrops to photograph dramatic images. Repeat.

One of the most commonly used backdrops in Yellowknife is our famous Ice Road that carves a path across The Lake (Great Slave Lake) in the winter months from Yellowknife to the tiny Dene community of Dettah. Over the years, I would estimate I’ve shot about 15 photoshoots on this same stretch of the road. Which sounds like it could get boring. But I really find it doesn’t: the light is different every time you photograph….and if you’re photographing people, so is your canvas. You just can’t be afraid to keep trying. And keep working your backdrops. A single location can give you hundreds of different possibilities depending on time of day, time of year, weather, and the angle from which you approach it.

Today I spend an absolutely beautiful afternoon photographing a beautiful Dene woman – an elder by the name of Mary Louise Drygeese. Starting in the studio before progressing outside in chilly -29C winter conditions, we spent a 90 minute session driving around and trying a few different “backdrops”, including the famous Ice Road. I’ve always had a profound respect for northern Dene elders – especially the women (and yes, Mary Louise’s clothing is typical of what you would see on many Dene elders throughout the north: a skirt and bonnet, even on the coldest of winter days).

I’ve always wanted to photograph a Dene elder – not on commission for a client (I’ve done that numerous times), or at an event – but simply for me. To photograph their beauty the way that I want to photograph it. Today I had that chance. Thank you, Mary Louise.

Here’s a few highlights from the day:

Photo by Jordan Veasey

I’m sitting with a cup of coffee this morning, getting caught up on emails.  Email:  the love/hate part of any profession, I suppose. I love it way more than I hate it – I would hate it if the emails stopped coming.  I get all kinds of email, but a lot of my email is from aspiring photographers looking for tips/advice on how to progress their craft or their photography business, and since I find myself writing the following to many people anyways, I figured I would take the time to share with all:

I honestly think that anyone can “make it” as a photographer, but not for reasons you may suspect.  First, it’s not necessarily because of talent.  You might be the most talented photographer out there and never, ever be “discovered” or make a viable business out of your art.  Having talent is important, don’t get me wrong. But know that a lot of talent can be learned through practice.  It’s the practice, and the work ethic that’s much more important than natural-born talent.

There’s up-and-coming photographers that I see, or hear of, and I feel like I can almost always predict how far they’ll take their photography.  How?  You can almost always sense a person’s work ethic and how badly they “want it”.  Those who are willing to work their asses off, and eat/sleep/breath it….will make it.  Plain and simple.

As a quick example, in my own neck of the woods up here in the Northwest Territories there’s a lot of talented photographers but I’m going to mention two photographers that a year ago I never heard of:  Adam Hill and  Jared Monkman.  Despite the fact that I had never heard their names only a year ago, I know that both of them will be very successful with their photography.  Why?  Yes, they’re talented – very talented, in fact.  One’s a landscape man, the other a portrait guy.  But more so than their natural talent I see both of them working like crazy to make it work, if that makes sense.  They shoot and shoot and shoot.  I get the sense from both of them that they’re living photography and getting themselves out there, and known, rather than waiting for the world to come find them.  They’re beyond passionate about what they do – for this reason alone, I think they’ll both be very successful.

Behind-the-scenes on an advertising assignment for Canadian North airlines. Pangniurtung, Nunavut.

This is one of the funnest professions in the world.  I go into “work” each and everyday with a smile on my face.  And I leave my studio at the end of the day with a smile on my face (although that would probably be creepy to the people randomly walking by as I’m locking up… “who’s the weirdo with the big grin?”).  But in between the start and finish is often long, long hours to stay on top of emails, inquiries, phone calls, post-processing, administrative duties, marketing, learning, and….oh yeah, shooting.  All of these are incredibly important.  The photographer’s who make it, I think, are those that are willing to dedicate themselves to all of the above, and not just focus on their talent.  There’s no doubt a few photographers that are discovered and explode on the basis of their shining talent alone….but I would suspect that the rest of us achieve some level of success through good, old-fashioned hard work.

I can’t count how many times I’ve sat on a Friday night reading a photo blog instead of watching a movie, or quite willingly not watched the big game on a Sunday because I saw a burst of magic light out my backyard and would sooner be outside, photographing and practicing and having fun with my camera, rather than doing traditional “fun” things.  Don’t get me wrong:  my family always comes first, and my time with them is way more important than my photography.  My wife and I are partners in my passion…but I knew from almost the instance that I really picked up a camera for the first time that I wanted to do this full-time.  To do it full-time means sacrificing certain elements of your life, and working harder than you ever though possible to make it a reality.

Bottom line is that you can make it…if you want it badly enough.  And if you do want it badly enough, work your ass off to make it happen.  Those images won’t take themselves.  Shoot, and shoot some more.  And then when you’ve reached that point where you’ve hit a creative wall, pick a totally different genre of photography and shoot some more.  Discover and rediscover your love of photography.  If the love isn’t there, that tells you something.  If the love is there, you’ll put in the effort to keep that love strong.

A couple of years back I went to a Joel Grimes workshop (Joel is one of my heroes) and he said something to the effect that “hard work will out perform talent, always”.   Advice that I have taken to heart, and advice that I will continue to give.  Always.

PS – As a footnote, I will never, ever stop working my ass off in the pursuit of this passion.  No matter what level of success (whatever that means) you may reach in photography, there’s always more to learn and ways to continually better yourself.

It’s a funny thing being a photographer: you just shoot. You’re not thinking about the shoot you are lined up to shoot the following week, or the shoot that you did last week – when you’re in the moment, camera in hand, subject in front of you (whether it be human, animal, still, or a wisp of passing light), you just think about making the shot at hand. You’re thinking about how a slight shift in angle, or a change of lens, can give you that image that unleashes the butterflies in your gut and causes a reaction in you. Because you know if an image excites you somehow, it’s bound to resonate with others.

I spent the last few days slowly going through my very large 2012 archive trying to pick out some of those images that gave me that feeling. It wasn’t easy as I shot a lot. By a lot I mean approximately 400 photoshoots. There were a lot of images that I liked, and many more that I didn’t. Not every image is a keeper. That’s okay….some of the best images come out of learning from the bad ones.

I’m sure I’m missing some of my favourites. I’m also sure that a couple of these may have been taken in 2011. It’s a hard thing to keep a handle on such a large library. But here is 100 images (and by 100, I really mean 113) from 2012 – or thereabouts – that resonated with me, across the many different forms of photography that I’m fortunate enough to shoot. I hope a few resonate with you.

Dave

PS – This is my final contest of 2012, too.  To enter?  Leave a comment below saying you were here and took a glance.  The winner gets a $250 gift certificate to be applied towards the print of your choosing.

Every week in my career is different, and this week – by chance – I ended up shooting two of my favourite maternity portrait sessions. They couldn’t have been more different.

One week, two expectant mothers. One, in light. One, in silver. Kudos to all my subjects – you all did great. And a special thank you to one of my favourite make-up artists, Nicole Garbutt, for her amazing full body “silver” work on the second shoot.

Hope you enjoy.