Kerr Photography - Victoria, BC, Professional Photographer » D3

Olympic Sailing – Victoria, BC

Matthew — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 23:00:43 +0000

This morning I got the opportunity to photograph Canadian Olympic Hopefuls Hannah Meers (skipper) and Erin Flanagan (crew) as they practiced in the cold waters off Oak Bay. We started the morning by getting the boat ready (I drank my latte) at 7:45 and we were on the water by 8:20. The air was frigid, the clouds were dark and the sun wasn’t fully awake yet. It started to rain. Thankfully, the rain did hold off for the most part, but it was still way colder than it needed to be. I think we were on the water for about 2 hours in total while the girls trained (Hannah with bare feet). It’s been a while since I was on the water when it was this cold and photographically speaking, my hands were too numb to fully grab my lens. Not to mention that my knees are bruised from being bounced around the zodiac, I’ll remember to bring knee pads next time.
They sail the international 470 dinghy in the women’s division. The 470 first became an Olympic class in 1976, and is one of nine types of sailboats raced in the Olympics. Both Hannah and Erin grew up in southern Alberta and thus, their team name is Wild Rose Girls. You can find them and follow them on Facebook here or follow them on twitter with @Meers_Flanagan. The two are on their way to Miami in the following weeks to continue their training.

Bloopers and Outtakes – Playing with Video

Matthew — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:19:00 +0000

Purely just bloopers and outtakes. This video was completely shot with my Nikon D3. I blasted away at 8fps and then threw it together for motion. The song you hear is Epic from local band and bro’s, On Call Heroes. They’re about to go record their second album, so go check them out. I hope to do more stuff like this in the future. It’s a really cool way of shooting video in my opinion.

Thanks to my friends for being the subjects, yet again, in one of my little projects. It would’ve been really boring without people in the video. Also, thanks to the band for the music. Again, really boring without it.

New Laforet Movie Posted by Canon, Then Taken Down

Matthew — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:28:34 +0000

Canon needs to get their act together. They just released the Canon 1d MkIV. Or, just 1d4. Seriously how do they expect people to understand which camera is which? I still don’t know the difference between Canon’s 1d2 and 1d3 are.

You may remember when the 5dMkII or 5d2 came out with 1080p video that there was a video posted by director/photographer Vincent Laforet. It was called Reverie. It was quick, to the point and a very expensive short. I liked it. And it was the first video of it’s kind to be shot on an still camera. Now, we have hundreds of great videos out there all shot on SLR cameras. One of my favourite at the moment is by a photographer in Atlanta, USA. Andrew Kornylak did a whole series on bouldering and rock climbing where he shot interviews with the Nikon D5000 and then did still-video with the Nikon D3 by just blasting away and getting a cool, stop motion like feel.

Here is one of the videos from Andrew.

You can’t always tell when it switches from the 720p video of the D5000 to the D3 which tops out at 11fps.

Unfortunately, Laforet’s newest movie Nocturne isn’t available at the moment because there seems to be some strife between Canon Inc. and Canon USA. Hopefully it will be up on the web soon. Of course you can always find it on YouTube. Because everything is on YouTube. Laforet wrote on his blog that he has agreed to take the video down until Canon gets it together. If you missed it, here is Vincent Laforet’s Reverie.

Just so you know, Nikon isn’t sitting by with there video/still cameras and not producing movies. Bill Frakes did an amazing video with the new Nikon D3s. And yes, ballerinas in Austrailia.

Wedding Photography: A Look at Traditions

Matthew — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:48:44 +0000

Not all weddings are equal. Just like not all wedding photographers are equal. You have to choose the right one. They must meet a list of criteria that suit your need. Such as: style, personality, quality, direction, passion, and of course price. Sometimes, however, it is not all about price but how well you and your significant other get along with your photographer.

Just as you should choose your photographer, you should choose your traditions. I’ve seen comedies and TV shows where they mock certain traditions like feeding each other cake and the chicken dance. I personally enjoy the chicken dance. Of course, you could have your own traditions as well. The last wedding I shot they had belly dancers perform at the reception and then after everyone had eaten, we all went out side and performed a dance for the couple in the middle to commemorate their wedding.

Rocks at Thanksgiving

Matthew — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:37:03 +0000

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of the year. There is no pressure to spend lots of money on each other. You don’t have to dress up in a ridiculous outfit. And there is pretty healthy food involved. Don’t forget about the turkey, ham, sausage, mashed potatoes, carrots, and all those other good foods. You can leave the little green balls in the grocery store though. They don’t belong at my table.

I always go out to my cabin on the Sooke River for thanksgiving and have dinner with my extended family. I like to go about the festivities and take some pictures. We have a cousin who always makes inuksuit in the river during the summer. Sometimes they are only one rock high (as seen above), she does get some 4 or 5 rocks up and they sit in the rapids waiting for the winter to wash them away.

Another common find at my cabin. Well, at any cabin are spiders. This spider has made a web in the skylight over our kitchen. Interesting creatures, and somehow, always photogenic.

An Idea to Improve Flash Photography

Matthew — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:01:31 +0000

This idea is not mine. I want to make that clear. I’m just re-posting this idea that David Hobby of Strobist.com came up with and posted to his blog.

Say you walk in to a room that you’re going to photograph for editorial, architecture, food. Whatever. The light sucks. Plain and simple, you need to add flash but you need the ambient for fill or maybe you can’t turn it off. Matching the colour of your flash to the ambient can be a pain. Especially, if you have no idea what the colour is!

Both Nikon and Canon do a very good job of the custom white balance, based on the ambient environment. If you are shooting available light, you just shoot a white (or grey) card and set a new white balance to match your mystery ambient light. With a little in-camera calculation, the camera manufacturers out there (Nikon, Canon, Sony, Pentax, Fuji, etc.) can correct to any CC-pack (colour correct) out there. You do your white balance, it tells you what colour gel to put on your flashes and you have a colour balanced flash! Wouldn’t that be nice?

Alright, here’s the tricky part. Nikon, (or Canon, Sony, etc.) you already have the ambient offset color information available in the camera, and it works great. How about you just give us a menu option to know how to CC our flashes so we can match the ambient without buying an expensive flash color meter?

Now all that has to happen is we have to get the companies listening. So if you like the idea (I do, and I know David Hobby does) go out and re-post this blog or strobist.com, or tweet it, facebook, delicious, digg, reddit, or any thing else you can think of. Let’s see if we can get someone to see us.

Moving Wood

Matthew — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:46:51 +0000

Just something I did the other day to try and inspire myself. It’s not fancy or finished. It’s only about a minute long and there is no message or meaning for it. The only reason for it is that it inspired me to pick up my camera (well, put it on a tripod at least). During the last year at school, I felt like I had so much creative juice (I was a ripe fruit?). Recently, however, I feel like that lemon in your ice tea at the restaurant, all the juice has been squeezed out and now it just haphazardly floats just below the ice. Click here if you are using a reader to view this post, so you can view the video.
So, in forcing myself to pick up my camera and take these 1400 pictures of yours truly stacking wood, I have also put my camera on my desk so that I see it everyday. Otherwise, it might just sit in my camera bag in the corner of the room waiting to be played with. Just after finishing up all the work seen in the video, I went out climbing at the local climbing gym. Then I finished the work in the yard. Suffice it to say, I was a little sore. Then I went sailing.
This little project also progressed me towards taking my camera to the coffee shop and taking pictures there. You’ve seen some in the previous post, but here are a couple more. Don’t forget to vote in 2009 Photoblog Awards!

Video

Matthew — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 02:51:45 +0000

This has been out for a while but it’s a video that Wired.com did about photography. Specifically, street photography using a natural light. I found on the strobist blog about a week ago and I feel that if you don’t read that blog, and you’re a photographer, you should. If you haven’t seen it here it is.

Click here if you are using a reader to view this post, so you can view the video. I hope you enjoyed that video, I’m going to have to get out the scrim and head downtown to try a little of this out.

Scottish Country Dancing

Matthew — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:00:48 +0000

I recently did an advertising shoot with the Vancouver Island Scottish Country Dancing Society (VISCDS) to promote their program and their upcoming Open House. This was a group of people of an assortment of age, skill and ethnicity. We had the pleasure of having some guest instructors from Japan come over to show off their talent. Who knew that Scottish dancing is popular in Japan?

Some information about the group can be found on their website. And if you’re interested in attending their open house, it’s being held on Tuesday September 8th, 2009 Church of St. Martin in the field. Just on a side note, this is not Highland dancing, nor do you need a kilt or a partner for the open house.

Chris and Shalome

Matthew — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 05:58:41 +0000

I swear, that’s all I’m posting here. For now. A beautiful wedding that took place at Zanatta Vineyard in the Cowichan Valley. I was lucky enough to have a bit of creative freedom with the pictures when it came to location, editing and post-processing. While I was there, I was approached by the belly-dancing group that came for the reception (friends of Shalome, the bride) to take some pictures for promotion. I gladly agreed and got a few shots off but I can’t show them here just yet. I didn’t take too many pictures during the reception, but what I did get was a very journalistic approach. It opened my eyes to weddings and I hope this isn’t my last one ever. I just don’t want to make a habit of it.