Business Excellence Awards: Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows

For a long month, we’ve been sitting on some fabulous photos and waiting patiently for them to be unveiled by the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Chamber of Commerce.

Last month,  Marion Cox (renowned local equestrian photographer and creator of Unboring grad photos) and myself wrapped up a fabulous project of photographing all the local Chamber Business Excellence Award nominees.  This past Friday night, the photos were unveiled in a red carpet video as the awards were given out to deserving local business.

We want to wish all the nominees and the award winners a big congratulations! It was an honor for us to get a glimpse into your business and to create images to reflect your hard work.

Here are a few of my favorite captures.  Please visit the proofing gallery to view all the images from this project.

Andrea

The Nifty Fifty

It’s a DSLR camera users absolute must have. It’s bargain basement price gives you the best return on investment of any camera lens out there. For around 130$ for either Canon or Nikon, the nifty fifty, or 50 mm 1.8 lens, should be in your bag. Well, no, it’s should be on your camera- a lot.

Firstly, the nifty fifty is lightweight and makes for a comfy  lens to carry around. Heck a nifty fifty on a Canon Rebel is easy to toss into your purse and take with.  Sure, you’ll have to get close to your subjects- but you won’t get a sore neck, and  you’ll have the cheapest flexibility when it comes to what kind of light your shooting in.

That Great Business Headshot

People do business with people they know and trust. Heard that before?

I’m a fan. I do business with people I know and like.  I’m into organic networking and referrals.  But nowadays I’m using Twitter, Facebook and Google +, leaving impressions of myself everywhere I turn online- not just with the content I’m sharing- but with my photo as well.

So yes, your headshot is not just for making  you look pretty, it’s going to create an impression. And you want to leave an impression of “know” and “trust”.

For most people, even myself,  how we emotionally interpret a photo is deeply personal and very intuitive. It’s hard to put into words.  I can’t predict how someone is going to react to your image, or what kind of first impression they are going to take away from it, but I can give you a insight into what I think gives me the “know and trust impression”.

Casual an approachable:  A relaxed and natural casual pose

Welcoming:  A warmth to the face, a laugh or an easy smile. Smiling with the eyes.

Authentic: Not overly retouched or overdone

Have a good look at your headshot. What subtle impressions is it creating?

Help Portrait

I just finished designing a website for Help Portrait Ridge Meadows- a really cool initiative taking place on Dec 10, 2011. Spearheaded locally by photographer Matt Brennan, Help Portrait is a unique way for photographers to give back to the community. The premise is basic- find someone in need, take their portrait, print it and give it to them.

On Dec 10, 2011, Matt- along with other volunteer photographers, make up artists, organizers and contributors will gather at two locations: one in Pitt Meadows and one in Maple Ridge, and take pictures for people in need. It’s truly the gift of a memory for all involved.

Help Portrait Ridge Meadows is still looking for photographers, make up artists and contributors. Sponsorship is key to this initiative: we need to raise almost $4000 dollars to cover the costs of gear rental, printers, ink, paper and frames.

Help us do Help Portrait. If your interested in contributing please contact Matt at matt@matt-brennan.com.

Kevin Knebl Vancouver: Learning with Camera In Hand

Boy, am I spoiled.  I just photographed speaker and author  Kevin Knebl ‘s book signing and speaking event, part of a series/workshop by We Make Stuff Happen at the Sheraton in Guildford this week.   Between setting up my shots (which I shot like the last social media event, my 55-250, and 17-40 , using bounce flash and Neil Van Neikerk’s concept of the  “Black Foamie Thingy”), I learned some seriously valuable Linked IN info.  I use Linked In (connect with me here), but- I must admit that it’s kinda, well, last on my list of SM tools and I don’t really have that much time left over after all this photo editing and website building.  But because of Kevin and his natural ability to make you feel like you know him on a first name basis, his (funny) NJ style, and his SERIOUS SMARTS about Linked In (and any other way you connect with people) I’ve seen the light, so to speak.

Anyway, here’s some teasers- and a link to the Flickr Set. Oh, and Kevin starts the real training  session tomorrow as part of this really cool event- and there are still spaces available.

Furniture Living Happily Ever After

My client Tonya operates a really cool vintage furniture refinishing business, Happily Ever After Hand Painted Furniture.  This week, I was over at her place taking photos of her new in house showroom, which is a currently stocked with vintage French Provincial and Colonial style furniture done in black and white Shabby Chic style.

Tonya markets a lot of her work on Craigslist, and usually takes photos of stuff by herself, but right now was a perfect time to get some shots of her showroom, and some new photographs to update the main visual features of her website.

Now, this is the first time in a long time I’ve shot in jpeg format, rather than in RAW. Tonya wanted the photos immediately on her computer for marketing use, rather than me take them home, edit and bring her a disk.   These photos are all shot with bounce flash from a 430 EX Speedlight, and then edited in iPhoto on location (actually, on my client’s computer!). The walls were green- and the resulting photos were tinged but I was able to correct the White Balance in iPhoto pretty well.   iPhoto really is a neat program, and so user friendly that when I got home, I just had to take these photos a little further and play around with the fun  and fast ways you can alter images in the program.

PS.  I really love iPhoto’s “Fade” feature, but I do find the sepia tone to be a little yellow. But- photography is always in the eye of the beholder!

Gallery: The Cascade Loop

For me, Vacation = photography.   Here’s a gallery of  this year’s trip around the Cascade Loop in northern Washington.

Mel, Rob and All The Girls

I’ve known Melanie since high school, and was so thrilled when she asked me to come out and photograph her fiance Rob and all the girls! What a flamboyant and gorgeous bunch they are! We had a great time strolling the streets of Fort Langley, BC.

At the end of the shoot…. well, this pretty much sums it up! I’m a mom, I can totally relate!

Bokeh

Bokeh. All that hazy, beautiful  blury stuff  turned up in these photos, where i was desperately trying to catch the bee who was buzzing in and out of these flowers.

I never did catch that bee.  All these shots taken on the 55-250 Canon EFS Lens, a lens that suprises me on a regular basis.

Chamber Of Commerce Social Media Event

I had the pleasure of photographing the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Chamber of Commerce Social Media Seminar featuring Kemp Edmonds of Hootsuite University, Guy Steeves of Constant Contact and Brenda Garcia of Thrive Solutions. It was a great chance for me to use “The Black Foamie Thing” on my 430 EX Speedlight.  This DIY flash accessory was  pioneered by New York Photographer Neil van Neikerk ,who writes a fabulous blog called Tangents.  Neils blog is full great information on flash photography including information on how he uses a piece of black foam wrapped on his flash with hair elastics to direct and minimize intrusion when using his on-camera flash as bounce flash at events.

Here are some shots from the evening,  and you can view the entire set on Flickr