Canon 5dMkII with a 70-200 f/2.8 IS II set to 100mm. My readings were 1/80th @ f/4, 800 ISO.

When I am on a shoot, I like to keep things moving. I love being able to have the person I am photographing move freely; I find the resulting photographs tend to feel much more organic. Of course, there is always a trade-off…

How do you keep even lighting on someone, but also afford them the ability to walk around the location? I could have shot available, but I wanted more control. I could have used a big light source like a 5 foot Octo, but I would have nuked the scene with too much light. I wanted control and versatility. I fell back to my trusty Photoflex Octodome NXT! I love that little thing, and I use it all the time! Roughly the size and shape of a head, it puts out a controlled beam of beautiful light. Thanks to the silver interior, it also has a bit of snap.

Of course, it is a smaller light source, so the placement is critical. Instead of using a stand, I used a VAL. The good old Voice Activated Lightstand to the rescue. In this case, my assistant for the day Chris became my VAL, and it worked perfectly.

As you can see, Chris is holding the light where I want it. If I ask him to move it up, down, left or right it is done in a snap. The other nice thing about using a VAL is that they can hold your second camera body!

Gear used:

- Canon 5dMkII with a 70-200 f/2.8 IS II

- Canon 580exII

- Pocket Wizard Mini TT1 and Flex TT5 as the transmitter/receiver combo with the AC3 Zone Controller

- Photoflex Octodome NXT Extra-Small

- Manfrotto 112B background light stand. It works perfectly as a mini-boom to hold the light kit.

My client was John Abbott College, a CEGEP on the western tip of the Island of Montreal. We are working together to update their library of photographs which they use for publicity, on their website, and for various other needs. It is very important for us to keep the photographs as simple as possible so they look like every day scenes.

Speedlites are perfect in situations like this; they are small and battery powered so we do not have to run cords through the library and possibly trip a student. The library was very much open, and there were a few hundred college kids in there trying to study…we wanted to be as unobtrusive as possible. Using the window just outside of the frame as a backlight worked beautifully, it threw some gorgeous light into Cassandra’s hair and a bit of a rim on her arm adding some depth to the scene.

Using the Pocket Wizard Mini and Flex system is fantastic. I can easily control my flash output directly from the camera which is amazing. It gives me tremendous control over the speedlite allowing me to dial in the precise level of light I want in the scene. Those little things are revolutionary.

I spent 8 hours photographing different parts of the school and it was great. I am actually a past graduate of John Abbott, so it was fun to roam the hallways again. We photographed a ton of locations, and I can’t wait until our next shoot!

New Wind Workshops is very excited to announce TWO new workshops that will be starting up soon!

Here are the details:

Single Source Lighting is a comprehensive course designed to help you take the flash off the top of your camera and to start sculpting with light. We will meet at C2 Studios on Saturday May 5th at 6PM and have an in class session to discuss the different lighting possibilities, different modifiers available to you and different ways of blending your flash with available light. We will reconvene at the studio on Sunday morning at 8AM and we will refresh what we spoke about the previous night, and then spend the day shooting! We will have access to many outdoor locations around the studio, and you will come out of the weekend with some incredible photographs! The cost of the course is $299 and there is a limit of 8 participants, so sign up soon!

Low Light and Night Photography is designed to help you make stunning photographs under challenging light. We will meet up at C2 Studios on May 26th at 4PM to have a 2 hour discussion about the theory of night photography and how to make beautiful photographs. We will then convoy downtown to start photographing the city as a group! The shoot will last until 11PM. On Sunday May 27th, we will again meet at C2 Studios at 5PM to review your photographs. Again, there is a limit of 8 people in the group, and the cost is $299.

Feel free to get in touch for any information! I can be reached at tim@timsnowphotography.com or at 514-238-4529

One of the biggest thrills for me as a photographer is meeting new people, hearing their stories and connecting with them on some level. One common thread that ties most people is that they either have a hobby that they love or a really cool job. My latest project, Interest, focuses on just that…showing people engaged in the activity that they love.

The formula is very simple, make a portrait which is on the left hand side of the diptych, and make an environmental portrait of the person engaging in their work/hobby on the right. Simple, but only on the surface…

As all of the shots are made on location, I do encounter some challenges; cramped quarters, less than appealing light, limited time with the person I am photographing…and that is reason number 2 for the project! As with anything worth doing, you have to put in the hours if you want to get better. Practice makes perfect. At least that is what I have been told since I was a kid…

The above photograph is of Norman Aube. Norm is living the dream, as the owner of a record store in Pointe-Claire, a suburb of Montreal, he is surrounded by the sound of music all day long. It is not a corporate run shop where it was so famously said in High Fidelity “That’s the fun thing about workin’ in a record store – you get to play crappy pap you don’t even wanna listen to”, he calls the shots and spins whatever it is he feels like listening to. The unmistakable pop of the needle dragging along the surface of the record, the warmth and depth of sound that has never been replicated in the digital formats that have followed, stepping into Norm’s store is like stepping into a time capsule filled with some of the greatest music ever recorded, and so many hidden gems that have not been heard since they went out of print!

The challenge was the piles upon piles of record sleeves surrounding me, and I knew setting my lightstand exactly where I wanted it would not be an option.

Here is the basic breakdown of gear I used on the shoot:

- Canon 5d MkII body

- Canon 135mm f/2 @ f/2 for the portrait

- Canon 24mm f/1.4 @ f/2 for the environmental shot

- Canon 580ex II triggered using a Pocket Wizard Flex and Mini combo

- Photoflex Octodome NXT Extra Small

- Manfrotto 420b Combi Boom Stand

- ThinkTankPhoto Airport International to haul the camera gear

- Custom LeatherCraft 18″ Climate Gear Tool Bag for my Grip gear

For the first portrait, I had Norm squeeze behind the counter. Not much room back there, and I knew placing a traditional light stand was not an option. Manfrotto 420b Combi Boom Stand to the rescue! This stand is a great addition to any lighting kit and it holds the Speedlite/Octodome tandem perfectly! Here is the result and a BTS shot:

As you can see, I could not have easily placed a light in this position without the boom. I liked the shot, but it didn’t really have the snap I wanted it to. Quick change, and we are good to go! I had Norm move behind the cash register and moved the light and finally got what I was looking for!

Much better! As you can see, the shot was made possible by the boom as I was able to float the light source into position.

The beauty of the Octodome NXT is in it’s size…roughly the size and shape of a human head, it lights exactly what I want it to without spilling onto the background. Also, once it is broken down it is incredible portable, fitting into my CLC grip bag perfectly!

We wrapped the shoot after making the photographs of Norm trying to keep up with organizing the bins. I shot them under available light since the store was open and I didn’t want to get in the way of his customers.

I was in and out of the store in under 2 hours, and it was great catching up with Norm. I have been a customer of his for years now, it was great to finally get to photograph him!

Norm’s store is called Musiquest and is at 63 Av Donegani #E in Pointe-Claire, Quebec. I would give you his website, but Norm is old-school and doesn’t have one!

I will be holding a Single Speedlite workshop on May 5th and 6th, please get in touch for more information!

MONTREAL, QUE.: February 25, 2012-- Revelers warm up by the fire at the Quartier Des Spectacles. Montrealers turn out by the thousands to partake in the 9th annual Nuit Blanche on Saturday February 25, 2012. The full night event, which features activities for the whole family such as museum visits, concerts and outdoor events is part of the Montreal En Lumiere festival. (Tim Snow / THE GAZETTE)

A Canadian winter. Just the thought of it can send shivers down your spine…literally! I will be the first to admit that as far as Montreal winters go, we have been extremely lucky this year. It has been, compared to what we are used to, a relatively warm and snow free winter.

I have been asked several times how a photographer prepares himself and his equipment for sustained use in the cold, so I figured I would share my thoughts with you.

MONTREAL, QUE.: February 25, 2012-- Montreal's Bran Van 3000 perform on the RBC stage on the corner of Jeanne-Mance and Ste. Catherine street. Montrealers turn out by the thousands to partake in the 9th annual Nuit Blanche on Saturday February 25, 2012. The full night event, which features activities for the whole family such as museum visits, concerts and outdoor events is part of the Montreal En Lumiere festival. (Tim Snow / THE GAZETTE)

First things first; if you are not dressed properly, you will not be comfortable. If you are not comfortable, you will suffer. If you are suffering, your pictures will as well!

I had to dress for the cold, but take into account that I would also be moving around quite a bit. If I dressed too warm, then I would sweat and be uncomfortable. Also, a good thing to remember when dressing for the cold outdoors is that cotton kills! When cotton becomes wet, it traps the moisture against your skin. No fun. My base layer were some synthetic underwear and a synthetic short sleeve shirt. Over that I wore synthetic North Face long underwear with a long sleeved synthetic shirt. For pants I wore a great pair of Mountain Equipment Co-op quick dry hikers, and I wore an LL Bean Fitness Fleece underneath my Acr’Teryx Beta AR Hardshell. I successfully wore 4 layers on top while minimizing the bulk so I could still haul my camera gear in comfort and not look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man! I wore a pair of LL Bean wool hiking socks under a pair of Keen Delta boots. I was comfortable the whole night and was free to concentrate on my work and not my comfort. Also, I am just as big a nerd when it comes to my choice of clothing as I am when it comes to my camera gear…just sayin’…

MONTREAL, QUE.: February 25, 2012-- People braved long lines and cold weather to ride the giant Ferris Wheel on the corner of De Maisonneuve and Bleury. Montrealers turn out by the thousands to partake in the 9th annual Nuit Blanche on Saturday February 25, 2012. The full night event, which features activities for the whole family such as museum visits, concerts and outdoor events is part of the Montreal En Lumiere festival. (Tim Snow / THE GAZETTE)

As for camera gear, I had my trusty 5dMkII and 1dMkIII. I wanted to cut down on weight so I brought my 16-35 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8 zoomers. I also brought my 24mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.4 and 135mm f/2. I brought a flash just in case, but as I had expected it didn’t come out, and I brought the usual mix of CF cards and spare batteries. All of the above traveled comfortably in my Think Tank Photo Skin system. A rarity for me was that I brought my tripod for the first part of the night knowing that I wanted to make some photographs of the Ferris Wheel using a long exposure. Once that shot was done, I put the tripod back in the trunk of my car.

MONTREAL, QUE.: February 25, 2012-- Montrealers turn out by the thousands to partake in the 9th annual Nuit Blanche on Saturday February 25, 2012. The full night event, which features activities for the whole family such as museum visits, concerts and outdoor events is part of the Montreal En Lumiere festival. (Tim Snow / THE GAZETTE)

The cold weather can do a few nasty things to your gear, so you have to be prepared. For instance, your batteries will die much quicker. Always have backup batteries on you…and keep them in an inside pocket close to your body to keep them warm. Don’t fret if your battery dies quicker than expected, you can put it back inside your jacket to warm it up and it will be good to go in a half-hour or so depending on just how cold it got.

MONTREAL, QUE.: February 25, 2012-- Skaters circle the ice under the stars in Old Montreal at the Quays Skating Rink. Montrealers turn out by the thousands to partake in the 9th annual Nuit Blanche on Saturday February 25, 2012. The full night event, which features activities for the whole family such as museum visits, concerts and outdoor events is part of the Montreal En Lumiere festival. (Tim Snow / THE GAZETTE)

If you know you will be going from the cold outdoors into a heated building, be very careful of condensation. Your lens, viewfinder and LCD will fog up almost instantly, especially if the warm area is also very humid. 99% of the time, your camera will slowly warm up and everything will return to normal, no harm done. That 1% of the time though…your camera could be damaged by the condensation that forms on the internal components and electronics. Fair warning! Also, over time you could develop fungus on the internal elements of your lens. This is not just a winter problem…the same thing can happen during the summer when going from an air conditioned building outside on a sweltering summer day. To avoid this, bring a few jumbo ziplocks and put your camera in them before entering the warmer climate, this way any condensation will form on the bag and not on your camera. Of course, this is all well and good, but when you have a job to do and have to move quickly you have to take some risks.

MONTREAL, QUE.: February 25, 2012-- Though not an official attraction of the Nuit Blanche, the maple syrup stand on Place Jacques Cartier was a popular spot for those searching a sweet snack. Montrealers turn out by the thousands to partake in the 9th annual Nuit Blanche on Saturday February 25, 2012. The full night event, which features activities for the whole family such as museum visits, concerts and outdoor events is part of the Montreal En Lumiere festival. (Tim Snow / THE GAZETTE)

Making photographs in the winter can be a bit challenging, but the results can be breathtaking! Sometimes putting up with a bit of adverse weather will pay off enormously when you get home, drink a nice cup of tea and look at the photographs you made!  Get out there and make some pictures!

MONTREAL, QUE.: February 25, 2012-- Skaters circle the ice under the stars in Old Montreal at the Quays Skating Rink. Montrealers turn out by the thousands to partake in the 9th annual Nuit Blanche on Saturday February 25, 2012. The full night event, which features activities for the whole family such as museum visits, concerts and outdoor events is part of the Montreal En Lumiere festival. (Tim Snow / THE GAZETTE)

PS: All of the above photographs were made for the Montreal Gazette. The full gallery can be seen by clicking here.

MONTREAL, QUE.: February 25, 2012-- Crowds line Bonsecours street in Old Montreal waiting to enter the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel for the Gospel Heat show. Montrealers turn out by the thousands to partake in the 9th annual Nuit Blanche on Saturday February 25, 2012. The full night event, which features activities for the whole family such as museum visits, concerts and outdoor events is part of the Montreal En Lumiere festival. (Tim Snow / THE GAZETTE)

The Canon system is one that you have to spend a lot of time with and get to know (I personally use Pocket Wizards, but that’s a discussion for another day…), and thanks to this video it is a bit easier to understand.

Don’t forget that the workshops are coming up! We will be hosting a small flash workshop in the coming months!

Montreal Photography Workshops by New Wind Workshops

Ateliers Photo Montreal

Alright kids, here are the details. I have teamed up with C2 Studios to launch a full line of courses and workshops. Cassandra from c2 will be teaching the Beginners class which is open to anyone from point-and-shooters to DSLR owners as well as the Photoshop courses.

I will be teaching the Starter DSLR course, the Intermediate and the Advanced. Through in class presentations, assignments and a lot of discussion we will promote a highly interactive and creative environment where you will be encouraged to learn and to further explore your passion. I will show you how to combine your passion, your eye and your camera to discover, develop and refine your photographic vision. I will teach you how to make beautiful and meaningful photographs straight out of the camera without relying too heavily on  post-production. Also, you will have fun, lots of it!

Here is how the classes break down:

Starter DSLR is aimed at people who have started taking photographs and once in a while get a good one, they take snapshots and have definitely felt the bite of photography but really do not know where to go with it. They are intimidated by all of the buttons on the camera, all of the lenses available to them, all of the accessories. If this sounds like you, then you have come to the right place!

I will walk you through the myriad of settings and help you figure out which ones you should know. We will talk about the basics of exposure, composition understanding and reading light. We will go slow, let it all sink in. I will give you weekly assignments to go out and practice what we have discussed and review your photographs the following week. We will have fun!

The first Starter DSLR session will begin on the 30th of January 2012 and run for 8 consecutive Monday nights.

Intermediate is for you folks who can once in a while take a good picture but you aren’t too sure how it happened. You have been taking photographs for a while, you are starting to go online and read and interact on forums. You want to buy more gear (no, you don’t have to…), you may own a book or two. At the end of the day though, after going out for 6 hours to take pictures you still feel frustrated at the results.

In this class we will talk about advanced exposure settings. We will discuss composition in depth, how to effectively use color, how to make beautiful black and whites. How you can pre-visualize your final photograph. I will encourage you to start thinking about your personal vision, to start exploring it and discussing it. You will begin to Make pictures, not Take them! We will have FUN!

The first Intermediate session will begin on the 31st of January 2012 and will run for 8 consecutive Tuesday nights.

Advanced is the culmination of the experience. This is where we begin to discuss specific shooting situations. This is where you come if you have a photographic vision you really want to explore and expand upon. You may have a specialty you really enjoy, such as landscape, street, travel etc…

In this course we will explore the idea behind evoking emotion in your photographs, how to conceptualize, how to visually tell a story. We will also discuss how to make your final edit of your work. How do you conquer obstacles you will face as you evolve into a more rounded and experienced photographer.We will have LOTS OF FUN!

The first session of Advanced courses will begin shortly, I will follow up with the dates as they become available.

I will also be offering some specialized one day workshops exploring topics such as using just one flash to create beautiful portraits, environmental portraiture, night and low light photography, Photowalks, Adobe Lightroom an so on.

The workshops will take place at C2 Studios in Pointe-Claire, Quebec. We are easily accessible by car and public transit. For further information you can contact me directly at tim@timsnowphotography.com or at 514-238-4529. Cassandra will be handling the booking s at info@c2studios.ca or 514-674-1874.

Please share the information with your friends, family or anyone you know who loves photography!

Finally, we will have lots of great prizes from our friends at Think Tank Photo, PeachPit Press, Canon Canada and many more to be announced!

In 2011 I made a lot of photographs. Lots. Probably too many.

This list is not necessarily my best photographs from 2011, but the ones that stand out as my favorites.

So in no particular order, here they are! I have included technical details for all of you nerds out there who love that stuff as much as I do. I have also included my thoughts on why these particular shots made the list.

Richelieu Valley Flooding. PHOTO BY TIM SNOW

Southern Quebec was hit with some terrible floods in the spring, and it is not until you see the destruction first hand that you realize the impact that events like this have on people’s lives. This photograph came about because of a bit of luck. I was assigned to make some photographs, and the reporter and I headed down to an area we knew was particularly badly hit. Access was pretty sketchy, you couldn’t see the roads you were driving on, therefore didn’t know what was under your tires. We parked my car and started to walk through the water, trying to figure out where we were going, when we were offered a lift into the devastated area by a woman passing in her SUV. Sure! We ended up at her house, talking with her father, who then offered us a ride on his boat across the river to a section of town that had been completely cut off from all road access. I made some great photographs there, and met some incredibly resilient people. They let us in their houses, they shared their stories with us. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, these floods were minor next to what we have witnessed globally in the past few years, but the people directly affected by these floods will tell you that they were devastated none the less.

This photograph was made on a Canon 5dMkII with a 16-35mm f/2.8 at 70mm, the settings were 1/250th @ f/4, 320 ISO. The subjects posture, framed against the door frame as the river flowed through his house is what makes this shot for me. He has a mix of defiance, strength but also an air of vulnerability which I feel adds to the photograph.

A full gallery can be seen at http://timsnowphotography.com/flood/

Mountain Biking on Mont Rigaud. PHOTO BY TIM SNOW

2011 was a year I set some goals for myself professionally. I wanted to improve my portrait work, and I also wanted to start a long term personal project. I had an idea a few months ago of combining the two of them into one, and started a series of diptychs. I love hobbies and interesting jobs, so I decided to use that as my inspiration to hunt out people who were up to something cool and photograph them. The above photograph is one of the first pieces from the series, which I hope to grow to over 35 pieces once the series is complete.

The portrait was lit with a Photoflex Octodome NXT (which has become one of my favorite modifiers) and triggered with Pocket Wizards. It was made with a Canon 5dMkII with a 135mm f/2, the settings were 1/160th @ f/2, 100 ISO. The mountain biking shot was made with an unmodified Canon 580exII on top of a Manfrotto 420b light stand fully expanded, so the flash was a good 15 feet up there. I used the new Pocket Wizard Mini/Flex system and the awesome AC3 to be able to control the flash output from my camera so I didn’t have to keep climbing down and up my embankment to change my settings. This shot was made again with a Canon 5dMkII with a 16-35mm f/2.8, the settings were 1/200th @ f/8, 400 ISO. I wanted the harsh flash to spotlight my subject, so I zoomed it to 70mm. I also left the shutter speed at 1/200th to incorporate a bit of blur.

MONTREAL, QUE.: November 11, 2011-- Musician Jace Lasek of The Besnard Lakes in his Montreal recording studio. PHOTO BY TIM SNOW

I was commissioned by Exclaim! Magazine to make a portrait of musician Jace Lasek of the Besnard Lakes. Photographing musicians is always a bit of a challenge because you never know who you are walking in on. You may only be given 3 minutes to work, you may have a big ego or a lot of attitude. Jace was incredible! He welcomed me into his studio and made me feel at home, gave me all the time I needed and was super enthusiastic as we spent our time together talking about music of all kinds. It made the shoot fly by!

I made this photograph with a Canon 5dMkII with a 135mm f/2, the settings were 1/125th @ f/2, 400 ISO. I lit Jace with a Canon 580exII which was to my left, his right. There was a huge window there, so I really only wanted to supplement the light in the room and highlight him a bit. I modified the flash with a Lastolite EzyBox 32″ which deploys extremely quickly and is another incredible location portrait tool.

Montreal, Qc. Seattle rockers Pearl Jam perform at Montreal's Bell Center on September 7th, 2011. PHOTO BY TIM SNOW

I started listening to Pearl Jam back in the early ’90′s and have kind of come full circle with them. Loved ‘em, lost complete interest and now I am back on the bandwagon. They are a great band who put on an energetic live show, check ‘em out if you ever have the chance!

This photograph was made with a Canon 5dMkII with a 70-200mm f/2.8 V2 at 145mm, the settings were 1/640th @ f/2.8, 1600 ISO. The look on Eddie’s face and the jump are what make this shot stand out.I love the energy!

A full gallery can be seen at http://www.timsnowphotography.com/PearlJam/

A cranberry farmer in Ottawa in his field. PHOTO BY TIM SNOW

I was asked by one of my corporate clients to head out to Ottawa to photograph a cranberry farmer for an article they were publishing in their trade magazine. I was given a window of two days to make the photograph. Wouldn’t you know it, it rained the first day. As I knew I wanted to photograph him in his field, I knew that wouldn’t do! The second day seemed as if it was going to co-operate a bit more, so my assistant and I hopped into my car and made the trip to Ottawa in near record time! Lyle, the farmer, was one of those guys you get into this business for…a total pleasure to work with! Meeting interesting people is one of the reasons I love my job! Of course, as it always happens, the nice sky we had turned an ugly grey. I asked Lyle to drop to a knee so I could place him against the line of trees in the background and eliminate as much of the sky as possible. The main light was a Canon 580exII triggered with a Pocket Wizard through my trusty Photoflex Octodome NXT and I used a very subtle flash behind him on his left to give a little kiss of light on his cheek which was a Holn Speed Grid. We spent the day repeating Larry The Cable Guy jokes to each other to help make Lyle comfortable in front of the camera.

This photograph was made with a Canon 5dMkII with a 70-200mm f/2.8 V2 at 100mm, the settings were 1/160th @ f/4, 50 ISO.

Jerry McCarthy drives his Pontiac Firebird Z28 in rural Port Dover, Ontario. PHOTO BY TIM SNOW

Blown highlights on the car hood, pretty unremarkable background, boring sky…I had to include this on the list. Like I said, it is my favorite photographs from 2011, not my best! The car is my cousins Pontiac Firebird z28, the driver is my cousin Jerry. He is an incredible car guy…he manages an auto body shop in a small town in Ontario and has an incredible amount of knowledge. How much? Well, he bought this car. It was basically a frame and a shell. He worked on it himself, and the result is this beauty you see here! Can you do that? I can’t!

I hung out of the back tailgate of a Toyota Venza traveling at around 45 km/h and shot this using a Canon 5dMkII with a 70-200mm f/2.8 V2 at 70mm, the settings were 1/30th @ f/13, 160 ISO. I made around 200 photographs, and between the bouncing of my car and his car, only around 4 were sharp. While the photograph is not “technically” perfect, I love it because of what it represents to me.

Craveyard handbags. PHOTO BY TIM SNOW

One thing I love doing is challenging myself photographically, breaking out of my comfort zone. I haven’t photographed fashion in years, I leave that to the people who know what they are doing! An old friend of mine called me up and said she had started a handbag company and asked if I would make some photographs for her, I jumped at the opportunity! She said she had a really cool location picked out for me, so when I showed up at a mix of a packrat’s den and thrift store, I knew I was going to have fun! It was Hoarder Heaven!

We had a lot of fun, and shot a few different looks. This particular shot was made with a Canon 5dMkII using a 70-200mm f/2.8 V2 at 70mm, the settings were 1/160th @ f/4.5, 400 ISO. I used my trusty Photoflex Octodome NXT at camera right as my main, and I put a second flash in the room behind our model with a half-cut CTO to add a splash of texture and warmth.

Wanna see the gallery? Here is it! http://www.timsnowphotography.com/craveyard/

MONTREAL, QUE.: July 31, 2011–Joy Formidable performs during the third day of the Osheaga Music and Arts festival in Montreal, Quebec. PHOTO BY TIM SNOW

Osheaga is becoming my favorite event of the year. Over 3 days of music, I photographed around 60 bands and heard a lot of great music! I was stationed at the two smaller stages this year having done the main stages last year, and actually preferred it as there were more bands I wanted to check out on the smaller stages anyways! Viva Brother, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Ellie Goulding, Fucked Up, The Mountain Goats and of course The Joy Formidable, it was one heck of a weekend! Of all of the photographs made during the festival, this one stands out as my favorite. The Joy Formidable put on the kind of show I love, with frenetic energy and a healthy disregard for personal safety! Fantastic!

The trusty Canon 1dMkIII made this shot using a 16-35mm f/2.8 at 30mm, the settings were 1/250th @ f/2.8, 400 ISO.

A full gallery of my photographs from Osheaga 2011 can be seen at http://www.timsnowphotography.com/Osheaga2011

Boxing is a very tough sport to photograph. There are really only 2 shots; either a glove on a distorted face or a knockdown. That’s pretty much it. This shot doesn’t show the contact of the glove and face. There is no sweat spray. Nothing. Except Mikael Zewski beating the tar out of a human punching bag and loving every minute of it. I don’t think Zewski stopped smiling one during the fight, it was quite a sight to see!

I used my workhorse Canon 1dMkIII to make this shot using the 24-70mm f/2.8 at 48mm, the settings were 1/1000th @ f/2.8, 2500 ISO. If I am to be picky, the fight took place on December 18th, 2010. But I’ll sneak it into the 2011 list because I made the photograph after I compiled my best of 2010! Here’s the full gallery of the nights fights: http://www.timsnowphotography.com/PasHop/

Conception Bay South, Newfoundland, Canada. PHOTO BY TIM SNOW

I was asked by one of my corporate clients to go to St. John’s Newfoundland to make some portraits for an upcoming magazine they were putting out. I of course jumped at the opportunity, Newfoundland is a place I have long wanted to visit. Tough I only had a couple of days, I wanted to make sure I drove around as much as I could to take in the beauty of the city and its surroundings.

Newfoundland boasts perhaps the friendliest people you will ever meet which says a lot as Canadians for the most part are known to be extremely polite. It also has one of the most breathtaking coasts, ruggedly formed by the crashing waves of the Atlantic. In the few hours I had to myself, this is one of the photographs I made. Here are the rest, in color: http://www.timsnowphotography.com/nfld/ and black and white: http://www.timsnowphotography.com/nfldbw/

I realize that the majority of these are snapshots, nothing too incredible, but I do feel they are worth sharing. One thing I feel full-time photographers do not do enough is to make photographs for themselves. I am not a morning person, but the morning of my flight home I made sure to be up and out of my hotel by 4am to take advantage of my day on The Rock, and I went out and, like a wide eyed kid, made photographs and hiked for more than 12 hours before heading to the airport. I was so pumped that the second I sat on the plane, I started uploading, making selects and worked on the photographs for my whole flight home. It allowed me to fall in love with photography again, and that is something we all have to do from time to time!

Have a great 2012, I hope it is full of health, happiness, love and of course, great photographs!

I believe strongly in self-education though, and though other mediums exist (online or not) I love the tactility of a book. There is just something about a good book, the weight, the ink, the discovery!

The majority of my reading is about photography, either technique, history or biographical. It’s what I enjoy, and if I can learn something to help make me a better photographer then why not!

Just in time for the holidays, here are a few of the page-turners that helped keep me from getting enough sleep in the past while. Some I have read and re-read, some are new and will be getting a second look sometime soon!

If you would like more information on a specific book, simply click the link to the listing at Chapters (Canada) or Amazon (US)…Oh yeah, these are listed in no particular order.

Happy Holidays!

Athlete by Walter Iooss Jr.

Walter is one of those living legends in photography, he’s been everywhere and seen almost everything. Lucky us! Iooss started shooing for Sports Illustrated at 16 and has not slowed down. The photographs in this book are simply stunning, among the best sports photographs ever made. Name a top pro athlete and they are in this book! Jordan? Check! Armstrong? Yup! Mays, Rice, Ali, Gretzky, they’re all there! And not only action shots either, Iooss has made some incredible portraits and has traveled extensively shooting photo essays which he also shares in this book. Need more proof? Remember The Catch? Joe Montana’s pass caught by Dwight Clark to win the NFC Championships for the 49ers? They would go on to win the Super Bowl that year…and the famous photo of The Catch…guess who shot it?

Chapters – Amazon

The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally

This is the first in a series of books released by photojournalist Joe McNally. While the awesome The Hot Shoe Diaries and the soon to be released but undoubtedly awesome Sketching Light both concentrate on flash photography, The Moment It Clicks is accessible to a much wider audience. The book is presented mostly in a left-right style, the left being a very candid and hilarious look at what it took to make a photograph which is then presented on the right. The thing I love about Joe’s work is that he operates in much the same way as I do, he kinds fly’s by the seat of his pants and goes for it. Sure, you sketch out what you hope to accomplish, but it doesn’t always work out how you had hoped, sometimes for the better! Do you want to find out how to dangle someone from a flying helicopter above the Hollywood sign? This book will show you how! How can you not love someone who has nicknamed himself Numnuts?

Chapters – Amazon

The Passionate Photographer by Steve Simon

If you are having a heated discussion about Passion, Steve is the guy you want in your corner. First, he is from Montreal. That counts for a lot. Why? It just does…

I first met Steve while he was leading a workshop sponsored by Leica. As he spoke, he came alive. His eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning, and he really inspired me with the way he spoke. During the workshop, we were sent out on a couple of assignments and we received crits on our work, and I took in every word. This was real, this was what I wanted to do. We were asked to go and make some photos, street shots and the like, I managed to talk my way into a tattoo shop and photograph a friend of mine working there and then made some photographs of a homeless man in Old Montreal. Nothing groundbreaking or earth shattering…but to me it was a revelation. Something inside of me opened up. I had been published at that point, but I was still very green. Steve’s encouragement helped me tremendously. I have since run into him a couple of times, but not often enough. This man breathes and lives through his camera, and this book will encourage you to do the same. It is not a manual, a set the camera to f/8 kind of book, it is a show you how to dig deeper with your photography, to look into yourself and shoot what you want to shoot and you will become all the better for it kind of book.

Chapters – Amazon

Better Business Practices For Photographers by John Harrington

The biggest failing of photography schools is that they teach you about camera settings, lighting and stuff like that then release you into the wild to fend for yourself. There is nowhere near enough instruction about business, about how to find, serve and keep clients, about the nuts and bolts of how to make a living as a photographer. You can make one of the best photographs ever recorded to a CMOS chip, but if you can’t operate your business successfully you will be out of luck. If you have decided to make a go at this, to make your living as a photographer, you owe it to yourself to get this book. I wish we had studied it in school!

Chapters – Amazon

Lighting Notebook by Kevin Kubota

Boring light can kill a potentially stunning photograph. You can have the most famous of famous people in front of your lens, and still make a very boring portrait. In this handy little book Kubota shows over 100 photographs including behind the scenes shots showing where he put his lighting gear, what modifiers were used and why he did it that way. It is a pretty interesting look into the life of a working photographer and what goes into making a shoot happen. He lists the shoots in terms of difficulty and also in terms of budget, can this particular look be pulled off with a reflector or do you need 4 Profoto packs? The Gear section is a great resource as to what is currently on the market and available to photographers. My one gripe with the book is that Kubota also sells Lightroom plug-ins which he uses to process almost every photo in the book giving every photograph a very heavy-handed manipulated look. Some will lov it, I prefer many of the photographs before they get the treatment. Still, if you can look past that then it is a great resource for all you lighting nerds out there.

Chapters – Amazon

Moments In Time – Dirck Halstead

Many biographies, auto or not, can be kind of boring, self serving and one dimensional. Not this one! I didn’t put it down, devouring it in a couple of nights…

Halstead is one of those lucky-enough-to-be-there photojournalists who happens to witness a lot of history. He photographed many of the key people and moments in US history since the 1950′s. While still in high school, he photographed Rita Hayworth leaving a courthouse in White Plains, NY which was published on the front of the Daily Mirror. He never looked back. One story I loved is how in 1996 he was covering a campaign fundraiser for the US election when he made a photo of President Clinton hugging a staffer. You see where this is going? The other 2 shoots, who were both shooting digitally (digital was in its infancy then) wrote off the photographs and deleted them, but Halstead, who was still a film shooter, had THE photograph. Halstead’s photograph of President Clinton hugging Monica Lewinsky was subsequently seen around the world.

Thoroughly engaging, Moments In Time will appeal to anyone who loves history and photography and wants to have a behind the scenes glimpse into the workings of a photojournalist. I mean, c’mon, he shot 47 covers for Time. How many have you shot?

Chapters – Amazon

South Southeast by Steve McCurry

McCurry’s photographs are on a level of their own. If I ever become half as good as him I will consider my career a success. This is a huge book, definitely not a curl up in bed kind of reader, but the size of the book allows McCurry’s stunning photographs made in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other locales in Southeast Asia. Each photograph is presented on a page of it’s own with nothing else except for the location to vie for attention, you simply stare at amazement as you turn each page. The photographs in this book show you why Steve is truly a legend.

Chapters – Amazon

Speedliter’s Handbook by Syl Arena

Joe McNally started a phenomenon. Strobism has been around for a while (Thanks David Hobby) but McNally put out a book about flash photography, mainly small camera mounted flashes and how to take advantage of them. Sure, books on lighting existed, but after McNally released The Moment It Clicks and The Hot Shoe Diaries (which is a great book, but speaks in depth of the Nikon CLS which is something that doesn’t really apply to us Canon shooters), it seems there was an explosion of books on the topic, some great some terrible. Now it seems there is a new one every few weeks. Syl Arena’s book is the Canon answer to Joe’s Nikon fare, and is actually very good. It is an expanded instruction manual about Canon’s Speedlites and their capabilities. Syl also talks about various triggering options and methods of modifying the photons that pop out of your flash when you trigger them. Nikon guys and gals may not be too interested though the stuff about lighting stuff about lighting theory and the gadgets is pretty universal, Canon shooters who are even semi-serious about making better flash photographs should own this.

Chapters – Amazon

11 Ways To Improve Your Photography – Craft & Vision

This last one exists, but only on a monitor. It is also free! Not a bad price for a very entertaining guide of how you can improve your photography.

Here’s the deal: Craft & Vision is a book publisher who publishes e-books which are available for purchase through an iPad , or if you don’t have an iPad, you can download PDF’s of the books and read them on whatever device you choose (laptop, desktop, windows tablet etc…) You can’t really cuddle in bed to read it unless you like the glow of an iPad at night…I’m not there yet but I suppose one day I’ll get used to it.

The books are great, and this free e-book is a great introduction to them. It is not a rehashing of already published tomes, it’s all original writing for this edition, but it gives you an idea of the writing styles of the authors. The thing I love about this e-book is that it is written in many voices. Some speak of improving your craft through a new technique, some encourage you to simply look within yourself for the needed boost in creativity.

Download it here: http://craftandvision.com/books/craft-and-vision/

We will be offering the following: an 8-week 101 course, a 10-week 201 and an 8-week 301. We will also be offering one day workshops covering topics from Lighting to Night Photography!

We are fortunate enough to welcome a few sponsors aboard who will be donating products for us to give away, but much more on that later!

Be patient, we will be live in the New Year!

Lights are another essential piece of gear I use all of the time.

Picture this, you are running backstage at a concert on your way to file your photos. You only have 20 minutes until your deadline! RUN! Next thing you know you are on your back. Your cameras and lenses are broken. You have no idea what happened.

This actually happened to me while covering a concert. I scrapped my 70-200 f/2.8, my 1dMkIII’s top cap was caved in (my flash shoe was a full inch lower than it should have been…) and it cost a lot to repair…

It was also a night I left my flashlight at home.

Flashlights are great for finding stuff in your bag on a dark shoot, for lighting your path, and for light painting. Also, when shooting dark landscapes or macros you can use it to help your camera lock focus by illuminating your subject.

Headlamps are great for any time you need to be able to use both hands. Hiking early in the morning or late at night to your location, reading a map so you don’t get lost, so many uses! I bought one that has the red shield over the lamp, it helps with not blinding people when looking at them or blinding yourself when looking at a map. When I don’t need it I flip it down.

I use both Maglite and Petzl, both are incredible reliable, built to last and offer a bit of weatherproofness.