My favourite email ever year comes in August. It's the first email I get gauging my availability for the Flames and Hitmen preseason games. Hockey is back! Here is a piece I shot and edited for the Flames and their fan event, Red Rally. Thousands of Flames fans filled the Dome to watch practice, meet players and have fun prior to the start of the regular season.
Beakerhead 2016
The fourth year of Beakerhead, Calgary's smash up of art, science and engineering filled our streets once again with wonder, color and fire. After 3 years of covering this event, I was finally making the type of content I always wanted to for it. I was able to shoot and edit a number of pieces and have them online the same or next day. Immediacy is something that videos can sometimes lack. The process of editing while trying to shoot the next event was always a challenge. What changed? Just pulling back and focusing on the real iconic events of Beakerhead...
Beakerhead Launch. Beakernight. Four-to-Six, and SO MANY MORE.
I really wanted to tell a story this year. From the launch of the 2016 program through promoting the school program and showing people the events as they happened. I thought I was able to do this better than ever.
As always an amazing opportunity to capture amazing images. Can't wait for 2017.
Sarah and Colin's Wedding.
I recently had the pleasure of photographing my first wedding. My old friend from college, Sarah and her now husband Colin, decided to get hitched and were brave enough to have me shoot it for them. It all happened at the Lux Steakhouse in Edmonton. We started at the Delta hotel, where everyone was staying, mere blocks from the venue. After everyone was ready, we slowly made our way to the restaurant via the pedways (Uh, Edmontonians, they're called +15s.). This was convenient seeing as how it was a rainy day.
The wedding was a nerdy affair. Guests were encouraged to cosplay. Colin himself went for a 10th Doctor (Doctor Who) look, hence the 'Sonic Screwdriver'. The tables all had different pop culture names.
It was a terrific first experience shooting a wedding and generally a great time. Thanks to Sarah and Colin. It made me happy to know that I was able to deliver them with so many great shots they can have for the years to com. I learned A LOT about what's needed to shoot a full day wedding. Mainly I'm hiring an assistant for the next one.
Nice Horse - Beer Baby Banjo
Wild 95.3 Performance Project entry for Nice Horse - Beer Baby Banjo.
Music by Nice Horse: Kaley Debra, Katie Marie, Brandi Caroline and Krista Lee nicehorsemusic.com
Sound recording by: Tobias Kalden (Sir Touby) sirtouby.com
Flames Warm Up
I was able to take my recently aquired Atomos Blade recorder for a test drive behind the scenes at the March 26th Flames game vs. the Blackhawks. Really happy with the results. I'll be using this to put together a sports reel at the beginning of the next season.
Stampeder Easter Egg Hunt
Piece I shot for the Calgary Stampeders. Edited by Spencer Fortier. Stamps players Spencer Wilson and Brandon Boudreaux went Easter egg hunting at Butterfield Acres.
Calgary Roughnecks Ladycrosse
The Calgary Roughnecks host an annual workshop where 100 women get coached by the team. There's skill training on the floor, video coaching and exercises. Attendees range from women who play looking to get some tips and women who are picking up a stick for the first time.
In Part 2 of our Calgary Roughnecks Ladycrosse piece. We focus attention on Kathleen and her old school, field lacrosse stick. Roughnecks Curtis Dickson gets a chance to try it out, with mixed results.
Big Rock Takeover with Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
Back from the new year with a bunch of projects. Brett Hopper from Good Ole' Fridge and I went to X92.9 to shoot this performance from Nathaniel Rateliff and the Nightsweats, last week. It's the second single from their self titled album.
Doors Open YYC
Doors Open YYC is an annual event where the people of Calgary get the chance to see behind the scenes of many of the city's organizations and businesses. Over 2 days I visited STARS, CJSW, the City of Calgary fleet services building amongst many others. Here are some of the highlights.
Beakerhead 2015
I was once again able to be one of the people tasked with documenting Beakerhead, Calgary's own festival of Science, Art and Engineering. While my focus every year has been on the video side, I'm always able to grab the occasional picture. This year one of the pics I took was of the Wu-Tang Clan's, the GZA during his performance, which he ended up using as his Facebook page banner pic. Hugely honoured. Here are a few more pics.
Pride 2015
I had the joyful privilege of marching in Calgary's pride parade this year. It was my first time even attending the event, with a laundry list of excuses as to why (most of them involve work or sleeping in.). There were over 60,000 spectators and I couldn't be more proud of how far this city has come in the 17 years since I moved here. It's an amazing event and I was happy to be able to photograph it.
Vancouver Vacation
It had been 4 long years since I had visited the West coast. Having the week before switched over from Canon DSLR's to a Sony mirrorless system (a6000), I was eager to take it for a walk. On top of focus peaking and a beautiful sensor I was most excited to be able to beam the photos to my phone and use Lightroom Mobile to do the processing and be able to post on the go. My friends and I spent an afternoon and evening doing an improvised pub crawl. Vancouver is enjoying a craft beer revolution so I got to take a whirlwind tour of the dozens of micro breweries in Vancouver.
Engagement Shoot With Asha and Cale
These are my good friends Asha and Cale. They're getting married in January and this is the first engagement shoot I've done. Jackie Ho of Life Unscripted Photography and I had talked about going out to scout a couple locations West of Calgary. We shot at two spots, this old, burnt out gas station off Highway 1 on the way to Banff. The second was overlooking Tunnel Mountain.
Holy Paintjob, Batman!
I had a great, last-minute opportunity to shoot the latest creation from make-up artist, Lianne Moseley. She specializes in body paint creations of comic book heroes. You've seen her work in Where Magazine and on her rapidly growing Instagram account. She was in need of a shooter and I was lucky enough to get a referral (thanks Neil).
I've always wanted to do a shoot at SAIT. Their architecturally unique parking garage felt Batcave-like as well as the old school facade of Heritage Hall, plus one of my favorite views of downtown. Her exceptionally patient model, Ken, was up for action and had no problem nailing some iconic poses. Ken went through 10 hours of make up leading up to the shoot.
The Winding Road
It's just occurred to me, assembling the content for this website...I've been accomplishing things? You set out to do something because you love it and before long you're mildly successful at it. Strange, but I'll take it. So many people have been so instrumental in getting me here, I should probably thank them:
Pete, Carlo and the amazing crew at the Calgary Flames. Neil Zeller, Brett Hopper, Trevor Alberts, Ryan HK, Jackie Ho-Lycklama, Adam Hunter, Kelly Phelan and Alberta Theatre Projects, Michelle Htun-Kay and Beakerhead and the list goes on and on. It's so great to live and work in a community of collaborators and awesomeness.
My only goal at this point is to keep improving, keep shooting, just keep going. It's too much fun to not to.
Nick