Setting my sights

My Photography

2009-06-10T12:38:00.000-07:00

I have always been fascinated by people, the way they live, what the like to do and their personality’s and quirks. Needless to say that as a photographer I love bringing these things out in people when I take their picture. My photography style is a mixture of documentary and fine art that captures that spark in a person and tells a story.

My Portfolio

oh Winnipeg...

2009-03-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

I am so ready for the wamth of summer to arrive. As much as I love a good snowstorm I think we've endured more than enough cold for one winter in this city. Can you believe that it was -22C yesterday?! I thought it was supposed to be March already? Well, I don't like the cold, thats a given but I do love snow. So winter and I have a kind of love hate relationship. So, cozy up by a fire, cause here are some photos from this winter that I've taken

From Landscapes

2009-03-08T20:12:00.000-07:00

Packed to the brim with eager fans ready to raise their fist and scream along to their favorite bands the show friday night at the Albert couldn’t possibly have been any better. The party lasted from the first band to the last and would have kept going if only the bar didn’t close at 2am. A few of us loitered till about 3 not wanting to go home quite yet, cleaning up the stage, wiping the beer from our faces and scraping the gum off our shoes and finally leaving with big smiles. Put on by Sidelined Productions the night started with Talk City, Making Waves, No More Heroes and finishing with Asado. How could you not go when the line up is this good?!

From The Albert 09/03/06

P is for Portrait

2009-03-05T20:01:00.000-08:00

I am so lucky to know some really awesome people that would let me practice my portrait skills on them :) They are such good sports! Brad and I ended up hanging out on three separate days taking environmental portraits in two different kitchens and one beautiful dining area in the restaurant that he works at. He is clearly a masterful chef and was a blast to work with. (I will be posting some of those photos later on as they were taken with film and are not quite ready yet.) We took some head shots as well on his sisters wonderfully rustic stairwell (with the digi).

Next Paul, Liz and I had some fun in the studio at PrairieVeiw. It was my first time trying out the space on my own and it went pretty well I think. I usually like to work outside or use natural lighting but I wanted to test the studio waters. Amanda helped me set up my lights and Paul brought his ipod and we were off. I think we laughed (and sang) pretty much the whole time. good times...

Fish Eye Fun!

2009-02-27T09:03:00.001-08:00

So for christmas I got a Lomo fish eye camera and I've had so much fun playing around with it! It's a very simple point and shoot film camera with a fixed fish eye lens. No focus, no fancy buttons just press down the shutter when you see something cool! :) I laugh a lot when I’m shooting with this camera ‘cause I know that something funny will turn out on my film. Anyway, I thought that I should share with you some of my favorite’s from the last couple of rolls.

Movie Reviews...

2009-02-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

We'll it took me a little while to get the popcorn out of my teeth but I think I got it all now. So I guess it's time for the reviews...Let's start with the last one that I saw which was "Born into Brothels”. I was really looking forward to see this movie, I had heard a lot about it and had been told that it was intense and amazing. It did not disappoint! Zana Briski, a photographer and Ross Kauffman, videographer, document the lives of a group of children living in a brothel in the red light district of Calcutta, India. Zana teaches the children photography and gives them each a camera to have. I love that you can see the kids taking pictures on the street in the video and then see the photo right after that scene. This was shot to give the viewer perspective on their lives, it gives them a voice. These kids are natural artists! I really love Avijit’s photo at the beach with the sand pale of water being dumped out. You can see the other children playing in the water in the background. This movie is heart breaking and so inspiring. Zana’s photo class was a success and she now has and organization called ‘Kids with Camera’s’. No one should have to live in such despair. Everyone has to see this movie! You should also check out the kid’s gallery , their work is pretty amazing! Two huge thumbs up!

Ok so that was on wednesday morning. My tuesday movie experience wasn’t quite as serious. My morning began by watching “O Brother, where art thou” a comedy based on Homers “The Odyssey”, where three escaped convicts embark on an adventure to find hidden treasure in the 1930’s. The three (George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson) of course find many twists and turns (and hair gel) along the way. The sepia toned picture really added to this movie. The digital process used created a very dusty, dirty south that is unique to other films set in this time. I give this one two thumbs up!

Last, but not lease, the tuesday afternoon movie, “Pecker” with Edward Furlong and Christina Ricci. I have to say my favorite line in this movie was when Pecker (Furlong) was running down the street after his true love Shelley (Ricci) and he yells out “Shelly! I love you more than Kodak!” Haha, it still makes me laugh. This movie is about a young artist who sees art in everyday life, thus making his family, friends, and neighbours the subject of his photos. A New York art dealer falls head over heels for his photography and offers him a show in a gallery in New York. This turns his and his families lives up-side-down! He tries to rectify the problem while trying to come up with more art! Will there be a happy ending?...I’ll let you find out :) This one gets one and a half thumbs up and one LOL.

2009-02-17T15:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of working with Chloe, Matt and Laura shooting portraits for one of my assignments. I had such a great time working with them! Laura was my assistant for most of the time, holding my fill for me (yay Laura!) and did a great job doing so. I really love working with natural light and background as much as possible, so we found some nice light in the Klassen’s house and went to town. We had some wardrobe changes and tried out different locations in the house. One thing I do wish for though is to grow a few more inches or maybe a foot, so that I don’t need to carry a bench around with me everywhere I go...or maybe I should just wear some really big heels?...na, I’ll carry the bench. You’d think I’d be used to being short already but I tend to surprise myself often. Anyway...here are my pick’s of the bunch...

Thanks guys, it was so much fun working with you!!

Oh the cuteness...

2009-02-16T13:29:00.000-08:00

Yestarday we celebrated my nieces 2nd birthday and I have to say that she is the cutest two year old ever!! I love using my 50mm to get the speeds that I need to capture her actions and gestures. Two year olds move pretty fast! so adorable...
Happy Birthday Annika :)

2009-02-12T15:59:00.000-08:00

So this week I’ve been working on shots that I could practice my edgy editing on in Lr. While I was in my back lane looking for something interesting to take pictures of I noticed a small little puddle under my car port and water was dripping into it from the eaves trough above. This little puddle captivated me for two hours! I couldn’t stop taking pictures of it!! I think this one is my favorite.

From water puddle

I edited them all, some more than others. I like the natural looking water but of course boosting the colour and contrast is fun to play with.

From water puddle

It's all about the people...

2009-01-24T22:42:00.001-08:00

Well, school's been so much fun and I feel like I've learned a lot and it's only January. It's funny how time seems to move fast and slow at the same time. On Friday we (Sarah B. and I) were working on our portrait assignment for Monday and were having way too much fun doing it. After trying different backgrounds and poses, expressions and focal lengths I think we got the one we were looking for. It was lots of fun and I've decided to make a slideshow of our fun. Then, once I got started choosing photos for the slideshow, I decided to include other people pictures that I really like that I've taken over the last little while. So here it is...

My first series...

2008-11-27T08:10:00.000-08:00

Hello! So last week we presented our first series in class. I decided to do mine on musicians that I know. I love photographing people and concerts but for this series I wanted to show a side of musicians that is a little softer. Music is a way to connect with people and it can be big and loud and fun but it's also meditative and healing. These artists are loving music for so many reasons and I wanted to present that time where they're just doing it for themselves, when it's all about them and their instrument.

Some Sites to check out...

2008-09-29T05:59:00.000-07:00

One of my goals of being a photographer is to capture the spirit and character of the people and places in the photos I take. It's something that I would love to master. I recently saw pictures that Sam Jones had taken and had to look him up to see more of his work. I love his style and ability to bring out the personality of his client.

I really love people pictures of any kind so this next site is a bit different than the last. The photographer, Rob Gardiner has more of a street style. He creates images with a story and emotion, a talent that I hope to work towards. I also really love the fact that he has some images taken with a pinhole camera.

Some of the photo's that I think exemplifies this quality that I admire are...
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3 (photo taken with pinhole camera)

2008-09-21T21:28:00.000-07:00

This is my assignment for Industry Studies on "Lines". I think the hardest part of this assignment is writing this blog. Blogging is really new to me so please bear with me, it'll get better soon, I promise!

I took most of these pictures in the Exchange area just because I love walking around down there so kinda I had an idea of what I was looking for. I didn't find it too difficult to find "lines", although I did walk around a while before I started shooting. Once I got started I developed a roll (no pun intended). But really, I think at first I was looking at everything and questioning whether it was a line or not before taking a picture of it. Then I realized that thinking this way was really annoying me and not helping. So I stopped over-analyzing everything and tried to keep an open mind for the rest of my journey, which helped.

Day Four

2008-09-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is our first day using our digital cameras which is something I've been wanting to know more of. The whole digital world is very new to me so I can't wait to see what it offers! This whole year is going to be full of possibilities. By the end of this course I hope to be skilled in the darkroom and in using photoshop programs. I also hope to discover who I am as a photographer and find my photographic eye.

I've been so lucky in my life to have a family full of photographers and creative minds. They inspire me and encourage my love of photography and desire to learn more! YAY family! Without support life is much harder.

Second day of school

2008-09-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm Heidi. I've been taking pictures for about 15 years. I love photography as a way of capturing a moment in time and documenting life. I'm interested in so many types of photography... portraiture, black and white, preforming arts, fine arts and landscape...just to name a few. I'm so excited to learn more and put it into practice!

Photo by Duncan McNairnay