SVPhotography.ca - Toronto Photographer

City Dance Corps 9th Annual Holiday Party - Studio 54

2012-01-18T14:11:00.003-05:00

The other major Salsa Christmas party in Toronto is the City Dance Corps 9th Annual Holiday Party. This year’s theme is Studio 54. Lise Matthews, City Dance Corps event planner has worked hard to re-create an unforgettable evening of Glitz and Glamour to take us back to NYC’s Studio 54.

Additional images and licenses can be purchased here.

Inside the VIP room:

Sponsor Prizes

Double checking to see if I was on the guest list

Glitz and Glamour

Dancing just like Studio54

Performances if you just wanted to watch

iFreeStyle's 6th Annual Salsa Christmas Gala 2011 "Mambo Mardi Gras"

2012-01-18T13:37:00.004-05:00

Just catching up here on all the Christmas and New Year’s events of 2011.

One of the major Salsa Christmas parties in Toronto is the iFreestyle Christmas Gala – this year marks the 6th anniversary of the event and has moved to the west end of the city to Lithuanian House.

Music was provided by Corporacion Sabor and there were two dance areas this year – a Bachata Room and Salsa in the main hall.

This year’s theme was Mambo Mardi Gras.

Below are some images from the event. Addition images can be seen and licensed here.

City Dance Corps - A City Tale

2012-01-17T01:05:00.006-05:00

I was invited to capture images for City Dance Corps of their annual faculty showcase. This year they have put out a full production called "A City Tale". It is an exhilarating performance with an all star cast of City Dance Corps faculty and students.

'A clash of styles hits the streets when dancers from opposite sides of town find themselves intrigued by an unfamiliar form of expression. From Hip Hop to Argentine Tango, you will be treated a acting-dancing extravaganza."

The venue was the Al Green Theatre (750 Spadina Ave) Toronto

The Script was written by Jane Hailes

Featuring choreography by: Ofilio Coto Portillo, Dianne Montgomery, Estelle Nicol, KJ McKnight, Irvin Washington, Rachel Alix, Kyra Green, Tina Nico, Kurtis Herd, Diana Reyes, Angel Wong, Cornell Mannings, Lindsay Roden. Dancers include the entire faculty of City Dance Corps and student performers from their Performance Classes.

Here are some images from the show.

Addition images can be viewed and licensed here.

2011 Canada Salsa Congress - Sunday night

2011-12-22T12:11:00.003-05:00

Closing night of the Canada Salsa Congress – after dancing till 4AM for 3 nights in a row – can there be any fuel left in the tank? Well, these performers sure show us there was:

Additional images can be viewed and licensed here

Latin Groove Amateur Team from Toronto

Steps Advanced Hustle Student Group from Toronto

Toca Danse from Montreal

Garry & Eleanee from New Jersey

Go Salsa Semi-Pro from Gatineau

Kevin & Carmen from Belgium

Mazouka from Toronto

Alejandro Danse Amateur from Toronto

Steps Amateur Team from Toronto

Sabor Dance Company from Bermuda

Carlos & Rania from Montreal

Mambo Mosaic from Toronto

M.T. Elle from Montreal

San Tropez Semi-pro team from Montreal

Caroline Pare Amateur from Montreal

Raza from Puerto Rico

Carlos & Dora from Toronto

Haute Couture from San Francisco

Fausto & Farrah from New York

Audrey's Angels from Montreal

Hacha y Machete from Boston

Grupo Alafia from Italy

Tito & Tamara from Puerto Rico

Yamulee from New York

2011 Canada Salsa Congress - Saturday night

2011-12-22T12:10:00.004-05:00

Saturday nights at the Canada Salsa Congress is traditionally the busiest night of the congress, all the international dance companies traditionally make an appearance on the main stage on Saturday nights. This year was no different with acts by International performers from Italy, Mexico, USA along with a strong showing by the local performers from Toronto & Montreal.

Additonal images can be viewed and licensed here

Here was the rundown of performances on Sat. Night:

City Dance Corps from Toronto

Evens & Monica from Montreal

Baila Productions from Montreal

Los Salsomanos from Toronto

Steps Dance Company from Toronto

Vera & Mariano from Philadelphia and Boston

Rhythm Divas from New York

Alejandro Danse Elite from Montreal

Vanesa & Sasha from Toronto

Angelo & Kathy

iFreestyle Pro team from Toronto

Roberto Arenas y su Sangre Latina from Montreal

United Salseros Pro Team from Toronto

San Tropez Pro Team from Montreal

Cadence from Toronto

Victor & Katia from Montreal

Hacha y Machete from Boston

Raza from Puerto Rico

David & Paulina from Mexico

Luis & Anya from San Francisco and New York

Billy & Katie from Miami

Grupo Alafia from Italy

Tito & Tamara from Puerto Rico

Yamulee from New York

2011 Canada Salsa Congress - Friday night

2011-12-05T12:51:00.005-05:00

Friday night at the 2011 Canada Salsa Congress. The longest running Salsa event in Canada, its in its 9th edition and still running strong.

Here was the Friday night performance line-up.

Addition images can be seen and licensed here

Comomango Amateur Team from Montreal

Rodolfo & Nawel from Montreal

Blackanese Mambo from Ottawa

Latin Motion Pro from Washington

LSD Project from New York

Salsa Ole from Ottawa

K-Yo & Gabi from Brazil

Latin Lovers from Montreal

Salsa Fanatics from Ottawa

iFreestyle Student Group from Toronto

Latin Energy from Toronto

DZouk Productions from Toronto

Bailamor from Toronto

Rhythmic Fire from Toronto

United Salseros Semi-Pro from Toronto

City Dance Corps Semi-Pro from Toronto

Latin Groove Teens from Toronto

Oscar & Tania from Toronto

San Tropez Amateur from Montreal

Vera & Mariano from Philadephia & Boston

Elvis & Melanie from New York

David & Paulina from Mexico

Grupo Alafia from Italy

Luis & Anya from San Francisco & New York

Dance Feet Canadian Salsa Championships

2011-10-07T02:17:00.007-04:00

Opening night of the Canada Salsa Congress started off with the DanceFeet Canadian Salsa Championships.

3 Divisions:
Amateur Salsa Showcase Division

Bachata Professional Showcase Division

Professional Salsa Showcase Divison

Come on out to see more this weekend. Location is the Sheraton Centre Hotel.

More dance photos from the opening gala are here

2011 Canada Salsa Congress

2011-10-06T00:44:00.003-04:00

The 9th Annual Canada Salsa Congress opens on Thursday night with the Dance Feet Canadian Salsa Championships.

I will be filling in for Kenrick as the official photographer for the event this year. So stay tuned for images from this year's Salsa congress in Toronto @ the Sheraton Centre Hotel.

In the meantime, here are some images from the 2010 Canada Salsa Congress to get you warmed up.

Windfest 2011 - Toronto

2011-09-18T15:34:00.010-04:00

If you remember from my last post - the Toronto Kite festival was relaunched as Windfest last year - Dave has taken the huge task of organizing a kite festival for the Toronto folks.

Yesterday wrapped up the 2nd annual Windfest out at the Toronto beaches. It was a perfect day - nice winds coming off the lake, full sun, blue skies with some clouds for some great photos. I flew my kite as part of the TKF group but there were kite flyers from clubs all over Ontario as well as the Windjammers from the USA.

Running of the Bols

Always a fav with the kids - the Teddy bear drop - although there were some technical difficulties.

The Candy drop became a Candy throw due to issues with the lifter, but the kids still loved it.

The Windjammers put on a great show for the crowds all day long.

Photos were taken with the Olympus E-P3 and the 9-18mm F4-5.6 lens.

Leica S2 spotted in the wild!

2011-09-08T12:01:00.009-04:00

I have never seen a Leica S2 taken outside of a studio environment. Its not that they are not made for it but I am guessing because they are so expensive - no one wants to risk taking them outside.

I caught this image during the Canadian International Air Show over the Labour day weekend in Ontario Place. The gentleman was climbing on some rocks in the Lake to get a better vantage point of the planes. He didn't seem to have much fear. I didn't get to speak to him because he was so far out by the rocks.

It appears that he has the 70mm lenses on the body - which approximately corresponds to a 56mm lens in 35mm format due to the larger sensor used in the S2 compared to 35mm cameras. With 37.5 Mega Pixel files to work with, I am sure there was lots of room to crop his images.

I feel like starting a game like the Punch Buggy game but for Leica cameras...Punch Black Lecia S2 on the right - no punch backs!

2011 Canadian International Air Show - Performance time

2011-09-04T23:47:00.004-04:00

Sat was the first day of shows but unfortunately it was cut short due to a weather warning. Here was what I was able to capture that day.

Erick O'connor's CF-18

Misty Blue Skydiving

The Shawinigan

Mike Wiskus in his Pitts

Heavy Metal Jet Team

Pete McLeod in his Edge 540

CWH Lancaster Fly by

A-10 Thunderbolt

2011 Canadian International Air Show

2011-09-03T06:39:00.005-04:00

Some more images of the planes from the Canadian International Air Show. You can see these planes and more up in the air starting today, Sunday and Monday out by the Toronto waterfront by the CNE and Ontario Place.

Mike Wiskus' Pitts -

Pete McLeod's Edge 540

Rick Volker's Sukhoi SU-26M

All 4 planes together

US Navy/Marine's MV-22

Canadian International Air Show

2011-09-01T23:47:00.002-04:00

September is here and its that time for school to begin and the CNE to close off with its annual airshow.

Here a preview of some of military jets that will be flying this year.
A-10 Warthog

V-22 Osprey

Canadian Forces Snowbirds

CF-18

Skyhawks Jump team

2011 Toronto Scotiabank BuskerFest

2011-08-27T02:30:00.005-04:00

This year marks the 12th year that Buskerfest has been coming to Toronto. I noticed that this year the event footprint has expanded all the way to Yonge Street on Front Street where last year it ended at Church street. It has also grown by an extra day to make it a 4 day festival.

This event is held at the heart of the St. Lawrence Market Neighborhood and is in support of Epilepsy Toronto.

I managed to catch the Fireshow on Friday night and here are some of the images I got:

Close-Act makes a return to Toronto from the Netherlands, bringing with them - XL Insects. Here they are attacking Elvis.

Mayor Rob Ford showed up to give a speech and to light a fire for Jack Layton

Pancho Libre from Mexico

Pyromancer from Netherlands

The Red Trouser from USA

The Fireguy from Toronto

FlameOz from Australia and UK

The Pogo Dude

Addition images available for licensed use or print purchase here

The festival runs until Sunday night. Hope you catch some of the acts before the show closes.

3rd Annual Waterloo Air Show

2011-08-20T04:11:00.006-04:00

The planes have landed at the Waterloo Regional Airport for the 2 day Waterloo Air Show to be held today (August 20) & tomorrow.

I had a chance to see a preview of some of the performances for the weekend and they were great. Well worth the drive to Waterloo. Tickets were still available when I was there but please check their website.

Featuring the Canadian Forces Snowbirds;

The Canadian Forces SkyHawks Parachute Team;

Canada’s CF-18 Demonstration Team;

U.S. Air Force Viper East F-16 Demonstration Team;

Plus Aerobatic acts and historical aircrafts;

Prints and high resolution files available for licensed use here.

Red Carpet Gala by Cadence Dance Academy - Part II

2011-08-10T18:21:00.008-04:00

This is a part II of my post about the Red Carpet Gala. Part I can be viewed here.

Cadence Dance Academy proudly presented their 2nd Annual Red Carpet Gala @ 99 Sudbury social club in Toronto's trendy King west neighborhood.

This was a semi-formal dress event with lots of extras.

One of a kind fashion show.

Beauty lounge with complimentary makeup & hair services to keep the ladies looking their best.

Charity raffle draw with amazing prizes and Miss Universe Canada

Top DJs spinning Latin, Old Skool, House & more

Live band including "O" from Canadian Idol

Dance performances from salsa to hip-hop

Additional photos can be viewed and purchased here

Over the edge fun fly

2011-08-06T02:04:00.005-04:00

This was at the Toronto Kite flyer's annual Over the edge fun fly out at the Ajax park by Lake Ontario.

Not much else to say. Enjoy the images:

Canada Day - Waterloo

2011-08-05T00:41:00.009-04:00

I haven't been out to the Waterloo Canada Day Kite fly in a couple of years but this year, I convinced my wife to make at outing of it.

The University of Waterloo puts on a huge party every year on Canada Day and everyone is invited - no admission fees. I understand that this was the 27th annual event.

The Wind Climbers Kite Club gets an invitation to put on a flying show in the back field. Carlos the President of the Wind Climbers is always nice enough to invite the Toronto kite club to attend with them.

As you can see the winds were not co-operating with us that day.

Beautiful clouds.

No wind = great ballooning weather.

No sure where the balloon came from - but we could have used their air blower.

Even the traction kite had trouble flying.

Kite buggy was having some power troubles without the wind.

6th Annual Wings & Wheels Hertiage Festival

2011-07-04T22:25:00.005-04:00

The Canadian Air & Space Museum played host to the 6th annual Wings & Wheels Heritage Festival at Downsview Park, Toronto on May 28-29, 2011.

I had heard that the C-130J Super Hercules was going to make an appearance on Sat morning so I arrived early for the fly in.

Here I am waiting for the big Herc to show up but all that showed up were the birds. I heard later that there were maintenance issues with the Herc that weekend and the fly in was canceled.

So I made way over to the Museum and saw this:

The planes were making their way out of the storage hanger.

Full-size replica of the Avro Arrow

The CF-18 made it in later that day.

I never did get any planes flying in that day - it seemed that I left too early and came back too late for the arrivals. Better luck next year.

Toronto Kite Flyers Club returns to the Granite Golf Club

2011-06-27T01:14:00.005-04:00

So I played a little hooky today from the usual Sunday chores and client work I was supposed to be doing and headed out to support my kiting friends at the Toronto Kite Flyers club. I dusted off one of my kites and headed off to the Granite Golf Club to fill the skies with our kites.

The Granite Golf Club is a beautiful private club located in Stouffville, Ontario. Its very close to the Heritage train which runs out of Stouffville.

Last year for their 10th anniversary, the kite club was invited to provide a kiting backdrop in the skies to their event. They liked us enough to ask us back this year. Some images of last year's event can be found here

As the winds were not co-operating with my flying skills, I got out my camera to capture a few moments:

The 3 man Rev team paints the sky blue and green

The Flowforms are large inflatable kites that are frame-less and are great lifters but you have to start them off by filling the cells with air first.

Once air born - their long tails fills the sky.

Mr & Mrs bubbles also made an appearance near the end of the day.

The kids were well entertained

And of course, the winds picked up as the event comes to a close.

If you would like to license any of the photos from this event or if you are in need of an outdoor event photographer in the Toronto or GTA area - please feel free to contact me for rates (photos @ svphotography . ca - please remove the spaces before sending e-mail).

Addition images from this event can be seen here.

7th Annual Talent Defined

2011-06-25T00:27:00.006-04:00

Sat. June 25, 2011 is the date of the 7th annual Talent Defined and I am excited to be invited back as the official photographer to capture images for the dance performance showcase produced by City Dance Corps.

There will be 2 shows this Sat. 2PM and 8PM @ the Al Green Theatre, tickets info is available here

From their website:
"Talent Defined is an annual showcase of emerging and professional dance companies and choreographers.

The event is sponsored by City Dance Corps for the purpose of promoting and supporting local dance companies and choreographers and sharing their art forms with the community. Talent Defined provides an opportunity to present new work to a welcoming audience in a professional venue."

Here are some images from the tech rehearsal tonight.

If you would like to license any of the photos from the show or if you are in need of an theatre or performance photographer - please feel free to contact me for rates (photos @ svphotography . ca - please remove the spaces before sending e-mail).

iFreestyle 6th Anniversary Celebration

2011-06-10T15:31:00.008-04:00

June 11, 2011 is the big party night for iFreestyle's 6th anniversary dance party. This year's theme is "Puerto Rico, Las Isla Del Encanto - “The Island of Enchantment”"

The location is The Estonian House - 958 Broadview Avenue (North of Danforth Road), Toronto, doors open at 5:30, official start at 6PM.

Rumours are that Mo will be cooking once again this year.

Of course, the lovely ladies of iFreestyle will also be there to serve you dinner.

After dinner, take part in the Jack and Jill dance competition

Then sit back, relax and enjoy the performances on the main stage.

Afterwards, don't forget to enjoy some dessert after the performances

All images are from last year's anniversary celebration. So don't miss out on this year's event. Tickets are available here

If you would like to license any of the images presented here or are interested in additional images from the event, or have an event or special occasion you wish to have photographed please contact me at photos @ svphotography . ca (please remove the spaces before sending).

Red Carpet Gala by Cadence Dance Academy

2011-06-08T01:21:00.008-04:00

I don't know what it is about May & June but many of the dance companies I deal with hold their events during these 2 months and I get backed up like the DVP during rush hour. To tie things over till I can caught up - here is a sneak peak of images from this event.

This event occurred on May 21, 2011 @ 99 Sudbury, hosted by Cadence Dance Academy. This was the 2nd anniversary of this event and it promised "a whole new level of fun and sophistication for one night only."

If you didn't make it for this event - you missed a great Saturday night outing, but don't worry there is always next year:-)

There really was a Red Carpet at this event.

Headline sponsor - Chobeauty

Complimentary champagne at the door

Complimentary gift bags

Complimentary beauty lounge with stylists to do your hair & make up sponsored by Moroccan Oil and www.chobeauty.com

Live entertainment

Great people to party the night away - can you spot Miss Universe Canada 2010 - Elena Semikina?

Additional photos to be posted at a later date.

If you would like to license any of the photos or if you are in need of an event photographer - please feel free to contact me for rates (photos @ svphotography . ca - please remove the spaces before sending e-mail).

Chemagne Dance - Open House

2011-06-07T22:48:00.005-04:00

Chemagne Martin runs a dance studio @ 899 Bloor St. West near Ossington subway station. I have had the pleasure of being at her studio opening and this May she had an open house to demo some new class offerings.

Hip Hop w/ Malika

Hip Hop Ballet Mix w/Olga

Disco Dance w/Alyssa

And of course there is Belly Dancing with Chemagne herself.

So come on out and get dancing.

Cadence Ballet - Connect III

2011-06-04T06:14:00.008-04:00

Celebrating Cadence Ballet's third year anniversary, the dance company is putting on a performance showcase at the Winchester Street Theatre @ 80 Winchester Street.

Featuring works by Courtnae Bowman, Kyta Jean Green and Constance Cooke.

I was able to capture some images from their dress rehearsal last night as the company prepared for their opening night - June 4, 2011 and a Sunday matinee show on June 5, 2011.

Tickets can be purchased at www.cadenceballet.com.

License rights to images are available by contracting me at photos @ svphotography . ca (remove spaces before e-mailing). Additional images will become available over the next few weeks.

Toronto Salsa Festival 2011

2011-05-13T12:55:00.012-04:00

For over 86 years, the Palais Royale, overlooking Lake Ontario, has played hosts to great musicians, corporate and social affairs. During March 10-13, 2011 – the premier event venue played host to the 2nd annual Toronto Salsa Festival.

The festival producers were Gary & Maya

That weekend was a crazy weekend for me. I had booked myself for a fashion photography workshop with Joao Carlos - a Hasselblad Master while also committing myself to cover the festival. My original thinking was that the workshop would be during the day and the festival would take place at night. I guess I forgot about time for dinner and a rest between the end of the workshop and beginning of the festival performances. I don’t know how I made it but I got through both events and here are some of the images from the performances over the weekend.

Serena Cuevas from San Diego

Serena Cuevas from San Diego

Serena Cuevas from San Diego

Amneris Martenez & Juan Matos

Amneris Martenez & Juan Matos

Amneris Martenez & Juan Matos

Tianne Frias & Ricardo Tellez

Tianne Frias & Ricardo Tellez

Tianne Frias & Ricardo Tellez

Additional images can be viewed and licensed at the follow site

Red Carpet Gala - 2011

2011-04-27T01:28:00.009-04:00

Last year on May 8 - the 1st annual Red Carpet Gala was put on by the Cadence Dance Academy at 99 Sudbury (Liberty Village). This event was a major success and the second annual show is scheduled for May 21, 2011 - the May 2-4 weekend - the Victoria Day long weekend. Tickets can be ordered here.

I had posted some photos up previously but it seems that I had missed some performance photos.

Here were some of the great performances from 2010:

DJ Gio & Paula

Angus & Jennifer

Jose & Caryl

Andrea & Clifton

Patrick

New Skin

OIP

Victor and Katia

And lots of prizes and giveaways

I expect the 2011 event will be bigger and crazier than last year.

Additional photos from the event can be seen at this site. The photos can also be licensed for personal use - starting at just $3 a photo - printing options also available at the site.

If you have photographic needs at your next event - please contact me for a quote - photos @ svphotography . ca (please remove the spaces before e-mailing).

Studing under a Hasselblad Master - Joao Carlos

2011-04-12T17:08:00.005-04:00

And now back to some people photography. I know that my last 3 postings have been about wildlife and not people photography – although some can argue that some people in the dance scene live a wildlife :-). Sometimes I just need a little break from the usual assignments and do some personal stuff to keep my photography skills up to date.

I am a firm believer in education – I believe that even teachers need training and updating - everyone has something to learn – so I signed up for a fashion photography workshop with a Hasselblad Master – Joao Carlos. Joao is a commercial and fashion photographer currently based in New York but who seems to be traveling all over the world these days. The workshop was a 3 day workshop covering all things related to fashion photography. Great creative people were on hand to help create beautiful setups on all 3 days, there were at least 3 different models on hand on each day to photography.

I am still going through all the images but here are some quick picks from the 3 days.

Model: Alayna Kellett
Stylist: Sarah Kates
Make-up: Olivia Ha

Model: Kayla
Stylist: Sarah Kates
Make-up: Irene Sy
Hair: Robert Novello

City slickers go looking for wildlife - Part III

2011-04-12T02:14:00.002-04:00

I just got back from the sunny south - Punta Cana for a destination wedding photoshoot but at the resort where we stayed they had a bunch of wildlife on site.

These animals had become socialized to humans and people were feeding them bread and french fries...so it wasn't too hard to get close to them.

Here are some of the wildlife images I managed to captured between the wedding photos :-)

City slickers go looking for wildlife - Part II

2011-03-28T17:23:00.009-04:00

This is part II of my series on wild life photography by a city slicker. If you read the wild life photography books – you are supposed to hide and observe the animals in their nature habitat for hours on end to get to know their habits and rhythms. But I am a city slicker – so I know next to nothing about building blinds and camping out in nature – so I cheated and headed out to the Muskoka wildlife centre. I prepared myself for this trip by going to the Toronto zoo as described in part I of my City slickers go looking for wildlife entry.

The centre is a interactive wildlife sanctuary open to the public and runs special photography tours on requests. So, I herded up 3 friends and my wife up to the centre for an afternoon of animal photography. Dale from the centre took great care of us and we all had a great time. Below are some images from my camera from this trip.

Montana the Gray Wolf & Akayla the Gray Wolf

Yeti the Canada Lynx

Kokanee the Cougar (or Mountain Lion)

Thorondor the Bald Eagle

Luna the Saw-whet Owl

Renard the Red Fox

City slickers go looking for wildlife

2011-02-28T18:07:00.005-05:00

Most of my dance photography work usually takes me into dark theatre stages or clubs late at night. I rarely see any day light. So on occasion, I take on personal projects to get my creative juices flowing and to improve my skills in other genres of photography.

Every photographer has a dream of becoming a National Geographic photographer at one time or another. Travel the world photographing people and animals from remote regions. I am no different, so for this personal project, I decided I wanted to capture some winter wildlife images.

I was born in a big city and grew up in a big city, I knew next to nothing about wildlife and rural country, so where was a City slicker supposed to go to find some nature and wildlife...then I remember an article I read in the Star about declining attendance numbers at the Toronto Zoo!

According to the article, attendance in 2010 compared to 2009 dropped by 12%, but less people at the Zoo meant better access to the animals – I wouldn't have as many people in the background to worry about and I wouldn't have to fight for parking spots. I called up some photography buddies and scheduled for a day at the zoo.

Here are some of the animals that I captured with my camera:

Arctic Wolf

Polar Bear

Arctic Fox

Siberian Tiger

Snow Leopard

Super car - super model

2011-02-20T00:39:00.007-05:00

I don't usually post videos made by others but I found this one interesting. Its a BTS video of the making an ad for the Lexus LFA super car in the Sports Illustrated 2011 Swim Suit edition. The photographer was Yu Tsai

Its way beyond what I can accomplish with the resources I have at this time. Super car - no, Super model - no, hangar space - no, professional driver - no, lighting crew - no. But I found the final image interesting. You can see it at time scale 1:57 of the video.

I looked at the final ad image and its a great image but clearly its a composite image done in Photoshop, the original photo was taken inside a hangar and the final image has a cloudy sky. So, if you are going to put a composite sky in the final image, why didn't you composite the car or model into the final image? I wonder how much insurance they had to paid to have Rianne ten Haken stand there while the LFA is drifting around her, not to mention renting a Hangar that ultimately didn't get shown. Why go to all that trouble and photoshop the sky in? I know that the Lexus theme for their LFA ads are called "The Hard Way" but it kind of spoils it when you all out to get the shot as real as possible but end up with a photoshopped composite sky...things that make me go hmmmm.

Dances of offering

2011-02-18T01:10:00.003-05:00

Just doing some clean up here on the computer and came across a set of photos from an event I shot this time last year. My clients had wanted some shots of their dance companies that were taking part in a benefit performance at the Betty Oliphant Theatre. I was only supposed to be there for the 2 performances but ended up staying for the whole rehearsal.

I delivered the photos to my clients long ago but never had time to look at the shots from the other performances. I finally had some time to look at some of them this week.

The benefit show is called Dances of offering and is "an annual charity benefit concert hosted by Pegasus Studios of Toronto that brings together a collaboration of the best of Toronto's amateur and professional dancers to raise money for various causes."

In 2010, their charity of choice was Liam's Light, a charity which supports research and care for pediatric transplants.

For 2011, their charity of choice is World Vision. For details of their upcoming February 26, 2011 show - go here

Fitness Star Network Models @ Creative Images Studios

2011-02-13T18:32:00.006-05:00

James Erdt of Fitness Star Network brought over some of his friends to the Creative Images Studio for a Saturaday of photoshoots. I was one of the many photographers who took part in this project.

Below is a sample of what I was able to captured.

Elise & Tyra

Atif & Andrew

Amanda

Moon

Valerie

La Femme Nikita

2011-02-07T22:15:00.006-05:00

In 1990 there was a French film directed by Luc Besson about a teenage junkie who is recruited and trained to become an assassion by the French secret service. I always loved that film, especially Jean Reno who plays Victor-the cleaner. If you haven't seen it, you should go out and look for it. Don't be fooled by the American remake called Point of no return or the Canadian TV series Nikita - old one or the current new TV series on Showcase. You have got to see the original directed by Luc Besson.

This photoshoot was inspired by that movie.

The Corvette Z06 was provded by a fellow photographer Mike Zahra, the Bike was provided by my buddy Dan.

Models:
Taylor
Jesska
Dan

MUA:
Sherry-Ann

Jewelry:
Colleen

Taylor

Dan & Taylor

Jesska

Dan & Jesska

Dance Ontario | DanceWeekend 2011 - Fleck Dance Theatre

2011-01-19T03:04:00.005-05:00

Its January and winter is here but its also time for Dance Ontario's Dance Weekend - their annual showcase of dance companies across the GTA.

The price is right too - a minimum donation of $10 gets you access to a variety of dance styles for the whole day at Harbourfront's Fleck Dance Theatre

Tech rehearsals are going on this week before the show opening this weekend - Jan 21-23, 2011. Here are some of the dance companies that will be featured this weekend.

20+ difference companies performing various pieces over 2.5 days, here are 3 of them:

Cadence Progressive Contemporary Ballet - Tension

Cadence Progressive Contemporary Ballet - Tension

Cadence Progressive Contemporary Ballet - Tension

City Dance Corps - Four Forces to Building Your Soul

City Dance Corps - Four Forces to Building Your Soul

City Dance Corps - Four Forces to Building Your Soul

City Dance Corps - Four Forces to Building Your Soul

City Dance Corps - Four Forces to Building Your Soul

City Dance Corps - Four Forces to Building Your Soul

City Dance Corps - Four Forces to Building Your Soul

Kaeja d'Dance - Ashkelon

Kaeja d'Dance - Ashkelon

Four Journeys

2010-12-14T16:34:00.004-05:00

Four journeys was the annual student / faculty dance showcase for City Dance Corps. The location was Betty Oliphant Theatre at the National Ballet School at 404 Javis St., Toronto.

Images were captured on November 26 & 27, 2010.

Addition images are available for licensed use, please contact me via e-mail if interested.

Bearing Witness

2010-12-09T00:09:00.005-05:00

The official book launch party for Bearing Witness: Childbirth Stories Told by Doulas took place on September 30, 2010 at Parentbooks.

The book "is an anthology of 50 stories about doulas working with birthing families. Stories of joy, awe, miracles. Stories that are gut wrenchingly funny and stories that are sad and difficult to hear."

The book was edited by the two Lisas - Lisa Doran & Lisa Caron, two practicing Doulas from the Toronto area.

The book can be found at Parentbooks or other local book retailers. If you must Amazon has it as well.

Canada Salsa Congress - 8th Annual - Part II

2010-11-20T21:22:00.002-05:00

The performances continued on Sat night, here are some more samples from the performances.

Photos can be licensed for your use by request. Please contact me for details.

Latin Energy's Vanesa & Rafael

Jennifer's very own Step's Dance Company

Dance to Live

Swingguy

Tito & Tamara

Descarga Latina

Masacote

Cadence

Raza

Victor & Katia

Canada Salsa Congress - 8th Annual

2010-11-08T23:59:00.007-05:00

Jennifer Aucoin and Steps Dance Studio Inc. presented the 8th annual Canada Salsa Congress at the Harbour Castle Conference Centre by the lake on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend.

Here were some of the performances I captured from Friday night.

iFreestyle

City Dance Corps

Go Dance Mambo

Blackanese Mambo

Chilital

United Salseros

Patrick & Karina

Korikoa

Maricza & Jose

Latin Energy

David & Paulina

Chilital Ladies

Windfest 2010

2010-10-23T09:42:00.005-04:00

Its been a few years since the last kite festival was held in Toronto. The annual festival was hosted in Scarborough at Miliken Park. A few years later, the festival is gone and kites are banned in the park.

So it was great news when Dave Meslin took on the task of bringing back a kite festival to Toronto. Dave went all out and got space on the beach for the kite flyers. Winds off the water are usually the best kind of wind for kiters - smooth and constant - most of the time.

I went to the basement and got out some kites that hadn't seen the light in years. I since haven't perfected the skill of flying a duo line kite when taking pictures at the same time. So no pictures of my kites.

I got the camera out when the wind died down but there are always other methods to get some wind - self powered flight is for little people and big people.

Actually, the big person in this photo is one of the pro flyers from the US and was just taking a break and having some fun.

Joe made an appearance at the event

I also got in a photoshoot with Karen and Allen of Kaeja d'Dance - 2010 marks their 10th anniversary as a dance company.

Art in the background provided by Mairead Lavery of Lavery Design Studios

Chemagne Dance - Open House

2010-10-08T02:32:00.005-04:00

I believe that this is the 1st anniversary of Chemagne's new studio. I remember shooting her grand opening around this time last year.

Chemagne offers Belly Dancing lessons for beginners and advanced students.

This year, she is also offering Hip Hop classes with Malika

Congratulation to Chemagne Dance for a successful year and we hope for many more to come.

Sugar Beach

2010-09-16T22:47:00.007-04:00

Sunrise over the Lake

This session was shot at Toronto's second urban "beach", it opened earlier this summer next to the Redpath Sugar Refinery - called Sugar Beach

One thing great about sunrise shoots is that the light is awesome and there are usually no one else around to clutter your shoots.

Here is Tara lit with just natural light after the sun came out.

Sunrise, lit with SB-800 in a Lastolite Ezybox 24", assisted by Bob

End of Summer

2010-09-09T00:13:00.005-04:00

Labour day weekend and the Canadian International Air Show makes another appearance.

This year the line-up wasn't as great as the 2009 line-up, but how can you top the F-22 and Blue Angels making an appearance in 2009.

F-22 from the 2009 show

US Heritage Fly

Blue Angels

For this year, I wanted to capture something different, I was getting tied of photos of planes captured in empty speed - I wanted to use the city as a backdrop. I remember one year when I was riding the ferry that one of the heritage fly-bys flew across the harbour. I wanted to capture the fly-by with the city as the backdrop. There was only one place I could do this at - it was on the island. Only problem is that the performance space is not over the harbour but over by Ontario Place. But I was willing to forgo the usual plane in empty space for planes with interesting backdrops. This was the low probability shot.

Joining me on my adventures was Bob. I met Bob last year at the air show when JR and I were out at the nude beach with our big lenses shooting the airshow. (I think we scared the nude people away becasue we didn't see any nude people on the beach last year)

I got this shot while waiting for the fly-bys, shot with the Lumiquest Softbox III, I always like to practice some strobists style shooting whenever I can.

So here we were, sitting on the wrong side of the performance area hoping for the fly-bys. We had a great view of the city - we just needed some planes.

I think we got 2 fly-bys - I think the new Airboss didn't want to scare the condo people and restricited the air space to west of the CN tower.

We did manage to get some interesting landing shots

The Corsair on final approach

The Lucas Oil Pitts Pitts on landing

The Office

2010-09-08T01:38:00.006-04:00

Workshops and shooting events are great but there comes a time when you need to create something of your own. Plus I don’t like being in situations like these:

This is a common occurrence at a lot of workshop or events I have been to. They all end up like that at some point as the organizers lose control or just give up and it becomes a free for all.

You can get that type of action at TIFF or any public event with stars around Toronto these days.

That's George Clooney from the 2009 TIFF.

I am debating if I want to chase the stars this year or not but that is another story for another time :-)

But back to my shoot - I set out to create an editorial style shoot in an office environment and asked a couple of models and friends to help out.

This would be the third time that I have worked with Megan and Angela from Absynthetika designs – they make custom corsets for man and woman.

Colleen (MM# 1567052) from ClockworkZero Accessories provided the bling for the shoot and acted as my lighting assistant.

Kayla (MM# 1800849) kindly came out on her birthday to do the make-up.

The models in the shoot were Dan, Inga (MM# 813962) and Natalie (MM# 1786883)

Dan

Dan & Inga

Natalie & Inga showing off the corsets

Natalie cutting Dan’s tie off

Inga relaxing in the office

Natalie & Dan leaving the office

The lighting gear used is something new for me, to get this effect, I usually rely on Monolights with softboxes and grids but following the LightUpandShoot mind set, I ended up using SB lights with the Westcott Apollo 28" softbox and the Lastolite Ezybox 24". These are softboxes designed for small flashes. I can get that thin of depth of field look again.

BBQ & Pool Party

2010-09-08T00:40:00.002-04:00

With some new gear and new found confidence on some theoretical techniques I had in my head – I signed up for the Creative Image Studios BBQ & Pool party. Unlike the Lighten up and shoot workshop, this was a pure shooting event, no theory or teaching going on here – every photographer for themselves, we shot in groups of 3 photographers to 1 model.

I teamed up with Mark and Daniel, guys from Photo-G-raffic who I had met at the Lighten Up and Shoot workshop so we knew each other already. We also had similar gear so we just ended up using his flashes and his 28” Apollo Westcott softbox.

Here are the results from the shoot:

Tara MM# 1121034, MUA – Kayla MM#1800849

Christy MM# 630085, MUA – Kayla MM# 1800849

Kristina MM# 710315, MUA – Kayla MM# 1800849

Andree MM# 870638, MUA – Kayla MM# 1800849

Cadence: City Connect - Toronto

2010-08-28T01:14:00.005-04:00

July 3, 2010

Cadence Progressive Contemporary ballet is headed by Courtnae Bowman and they put on an annual show that features collaboration with award winning acclaimed choreographers.

This year's show included works by Sarah Doucet, Allen Kaeja & Karen Kaeja, Hanna Kiel, Robert Kingsbury and Avinoam Silverman.

Here is a sample of what you missed this year.

Dancers: Sarah Williamson, Patrizia Gianforcaro, Shavar Blackwood, Erin Poole, Allison Gibbons, Shavar Blackwood, Zhenya Cerneacov and Paul Charbonneau.

6th Annual Talent Defined

2010-08-28T00:31:00.004-04:00

June 26, 2010

Back to the regular programming - I have been a little behind in posting new dance stuff. This show was produced by City Dance Corps of Toronto. Every year, they put on a showcase of dance companies and choreographers mainly from Toronto. The location was the Al Green Theatre on 750 Spadina Ave.

Here is a sample of some of the acts you missed if you were not at the show! Mark you calendar for next year's show in June - 2011.

LR Productions: Spiderwoman's Web

Danse Lemieux Dance: Monster

Jeff Wong: The Next Day

Tina Nicolaidis: Power Play

iFreestyle Dancers Pro Team: La Voz

Skindivers Dance Company: Trotzdem

CDC Contemporary Student Performance Group: Bad Body Double

Shavar Blackwood: Water Runs Dry

Gadfly Dance Co: Heard You Say

Day 2 of the Lighten Up and Shoot workshop - Toronto Edition

2010-08-19T01:00:00.014-04:00

This is the final write-up on the Lighten Up and Shoot workshop - Toronto Edition. To see the activities from day 0 go here, for day 1 activities go here.

On the final day - we were back at the Creative Images Studio for some debrief of Day 1 activities and some photoshop tips.

I believe there were issues with the scheduled models again but if you remember Tamara who we found on Day 1 in our get strangers to pose for us exercise - she agreed to be our model for the afternoon.

I switched to the Lastolite Ezybox 24" for the 2 shots below because that is what I have - I remember going to Vistek and asking for a Westcott 28" and being talked into the Lastolite because they didn't have the westcott in stock. The Ezybox 24" is a direct light set up with 2 diffusion panels vs. the indirect light setup with 1 diffusion panel of the Westcott. The Ezybox gives easy access to the controls of the flash while the Westcott has the flash set inside the box and access to the controls is more difficult. The Ezybox is also more efficient than the Westcott but the lighting is not as even as the Westcott.

Here is a comparison of the two products. I found that the Ezybox was harder to avoid hot spots on the model. I went and got a Westcott a week after the workshop...

Here is Tamara - lit with the Ezybox from camera left - single light setup.

Natural light only

We had an opportunity to go around the streets shooting more strangers but I got lured into shooting the pretty model - looking back, I should have used the chance to practice my opening with strangers rather than do the Paparazzi thing. I am sure to get lots of chances to be a Paparazzi when TIFF rolls into town.

So looking back on the 2.5 day workshop from Lighten Up and Shoot what did I learn:
- bare bulb flash sucks, I though I could get away with the flash on the stick trick but it doesn't work too well, maybe if you snooted it like Nick Turpin does it, it may work out.

- I need to practice my opening and approach to photographing people on the streets

- I need to lug that softbox with me more often

- I need to look at the histogram more closely and ignore the image on the LCD screen, too often I trusted the LCD more than the histogram.

- I need to make some business cards

I would highly recommend this workshop to anyone interested in photographing human subjects with small lights. This is not a workshop on the big pack and head systems that can overpower the sun at high noon. You will not be using Beauty dishes, large Octa boxes, large strip lights, etc - you get to use what you can fit into a backpack.

I recommend it not because of the lighting technical knowledge, because that can be obtained from their website or other web sites like strobists for free - just use google but what Andy and Mikey bring to the workshop is humour and practical approaches on how to get strangers on the street to model for you. It's also the feedback they give to you when they see your work. I recommend that students bring in their work or bring the past day's photos for Andy and Mikey to review - their teaching style is very interactive.

There were issues with models not showing up for the workshop but to me a good workshop is not about shooting hot models (which I sometimes forget), its about learning new techniques or finding out what you are currently doing wrong. The models are there for you to practice your techniques. Which is why their lessons on getting strangers to be models comes in handy.

Compare to the big names who have come to Toronto to give workshops - Lighten Up and Shoot rates very high on the value scale. Plus they have a money back guarantee, if after day 1, you are not happy - they give your money back.

Some of the big names who had come to Toronto before:
Martin Prihoda in 2008 - Big Lights Far Away - $699 CAD (I believe) - capped at 20 students
Don Giannatti in 2009 - Lighting Essentials - $450 USD - capped at 10 or 15
Andy and Mikey in 2010 - Lightenupandshoot - $200 USD - capped at 10

You get 2 instructors instead of 1 and they may have problems with the TF models but I guess you can always request to pay extra to guarantee the models, make-up artists, hair stylists, and clothing designers you want. I rather pay for that stuff after I perfect my lighting techniques first.

I had a fun time and learn some new tricks along the way.

Thanks Andy and Mikey for coming to TO and Mark for bringing them here.

Here are their next scheduled dates and locations - check their website to confirm as things may change!
Tampa, Florida - September 18th, 2010 - Westcott Top Pro Tour!
Seattle, Washington - September 25th and 26th, 2010 !
San Francisco, California - October 2nd and 3rd, 2010 !
Los Angeles, California - October 9th and 10th, 2010 !
San Diego, California - October 16th and 17th, 2010 !
Phoenix, Arizona - October 23rd and 24th, 2010 !
Las Vegas, Nevada - October 30th and 31st !

Day 1 of the Lighten Up and Shoot Toronto Workshop

2010-08-18T14:10:00.017-04:00

Part 2 or Day 1 of the Lighten Up and Shoot Toronto workshop. For part 1 of my write-up, go here.

Saturday morning found 8 photographers at 3 Oaks Photography, a studio in the west end of town. Morning program consisted of some in-class lectures which for me was nothing new. If you watched all of the Lighten Up and Shoot videos you would have gotten the same information. This was the good and bad thing about Andy and Mikey – they teach you what is on their web site – no secrets or addition materials for attending the workshop. What you see on their website is what you get in their workshop. I guess Andy will say he has the Genius Square table he showed us which is not on his website – but it’s really just a nice way to show the relationship between ambient exposure and subject exposure when you change the various camera settings (ISO, shutter speed, aperture, and flash power). A different way to show how to adjust the balance between ambient with flash lighting.

I believe that we had issues with scheduled models who didn’t show up so Andy and Mikey had to talk longer than expected. The lectures are not too structured – they like to have discussions / feedback from the audience – unfortunately for them – I think it was too early in the morning for us to question them on anything.

Afternoon rolls around and 1 model and her boyfriend shows up to help us out. The boyfriend is commissioned as a model and off we go to get some shots.

Here is Rebecca - single SB-800 in Apollo 28" softbox on camera right

Here is Cameron - single SB-800 in Apollo 28" softbox on camera right

This was the time where we get to put the theory to use. The signature style of Lightenupandshoot is their use an Apollo Westcott 28” softbox with an SB light inside. The Westcott softbox is designed for small strobes and folds up like an umbrella – it’s a reflective design so light is soft but like any reflective design – what you gain in diffusion, you lose in power. Andy and Mikey were very helpful in giving advice or ideas to try out with the lighting and models.

Here is Andy playing model

However, rain moved in and our shooting session ended. The group heads off for a late 3PM lunch.

The next stop was the Creative Images Studio – formerly Spectrum studios near Queen and DVP. We had a little debrief on the morning session and tried our hand at some indoor studio setups. Our models from the morning shoot had to leave and we ended up shooting each other.

I pulled Mikey aside and got him to pose with his equipment. I believe that Mikey and Andy wanted us to go outside and shoot strangers but it was still raining.

When the rain stopped, we headed out to the Distillery district – as it was the Jazz festival weekend – the district wasn’t too busy. For this assignment, Andy and Mikey had us split into roving packs of 2-3 photographers each and to approach strangers offering them a 5 min. photoshoot.

They helped us get started by showing us how to get strangers to pose for us.

Here is Felix from Germany: single SB-800 in Apollo, another SB gelled blue in cab of truck

Here is Dave from TO: single SB-800 in Apollo, bare flash rimmed on rear right

Here is Tamara who was going to work when we ran into her. Natural light.

The fun ended when we were kicked out of the district because we didn’t have a permit. The Distillery district is private property with public access – similar to a mall so we had to leave.

You can see the security guard in the back telling us we had to leave because they were receiving complaints about us...I suspect it was from a wedding photographer who was afraid of our softboxes :-)

Outside on public property, one of our roving groups got asked to assist another wedding photographer

Ana and I tried out our opening line on Dave - who was out walking his 2 dogs. He kindly agreed to give us a few minutes - single SB-800 in Apollo on right

Here is Ana, my partner in the our little assignment. Single SB-800 in Apollo.

Mikey and Andy Single SB-800 in Apollo.

The fun continued on the side walk until about 9:30 – 10PM.

At this point, I needed to charge my batteries again and headed home. I believe that Andy and Mikey headed out to a bar in the Annex area for more fun but I was all funned out.

Sunday’s adventures here

Lighten Up and Shoot's Canadian Stop - Day 0

2010-08-17T12:16:00.014-04:00

I have been reading the Strobists blog on and off for a while now but I have been too lazy to do all the assignments or I have rented studio space and used the more powerful mono-lights or the pack and head systems. I have gotten some great results with that stuff but it’s hard to do location shoots with that equipment without a team of assistants to help carry it around.

I have never really gotten consistent results with the little SB lights for the darker and higher contrast images that I like. They work great for those high key images where you blast all the shadows out of the picture but I was getting bored with doing those kinds of images.

So, I decided to spend some money on my upgrading my skills instead of upgrading my gear. Here is my experience at the Lighten Up and Shoot workshop - Toronto stop.

Last month, 2 American photographers currently living in Colombia, South America made their way to Toronto as part of their road show tour. Lightenupandshoot specialize in street photography where they will approach strangers on the street and shoot their picture usually using small SB lights. Their shots remind me a lot of Dustin Diaz shots and style – which I admire a lot.

Mikey and Andy arrived on Friday and had a free meet and greet drink-up at Sneaky Dees on College Street.

That’s Mikey showing Ana some stuff about her camera.

After drinks – it was off to the street for some shooting.

Here is Hanna, my first volunteer; Mikey got her with his opening – I was just observing. You have got to see Mikey do his opening – I have never seen someone get out so much information is so little time. Here I was just using my strobe on a stick technique – looks like my usually shoots – I was not really happy with the way I lit her. Too hard of a light.

Walking west along College, we run across Louie and his friend. This shot was lit by a SB-900 in a Lastolite 24" softbox. Much softer light and more controlled than bare bulb.

It turns out that Louie owns Southside Louie’s at 583 College Street. Here he is with one of his regulars and one of his staff.

The party continued on but I had to get my batteries charged for the Sat morning class, so it was off to bed for me.

Great way to start the class off and it hadn’t even really started yet!

For day 1's adventures, click here

Toronto Kite Flyers Club @ Granite Golf Club - 10th Anniversary Party

2010-07-13T00:22:00.009-04:00

I am not the most active member of the TKF but when I was exchanging e-mails with Don, past president of the club, he mentioned that there was a call to arms for the membership on Sunday - July 11, 2010 at a golf course.

Its been a while since I have been out kiting but I managed to dig up some of my collection and headed up north and east to Stouffville to join TKF for the 10th anniversary party for the Granite Golf Club.

Golfing is another activity I haven't had a chance to do this year. I only ever get out once a year and I guess this was my 2010 outing. Private course, in a beautiful area if a little far out there for me. There is a train track that the York Durham Heritage railway runs on.

The Heritage train on its run out of Stouffville.

Great day for kiting or golfing

We had to be careful of the club members who were still golfing while we flew our kites

Showing off his new toy

Next outing for the club is the annual Ajax Over The Edge gathering.

Parade of Sail - Happy 4th of July

2010-07-07T13:58:00.007-04:00

Parade of sail

The Redpath Waterfront Festival is in its 3rd year and the featured event for 2010 was the Great Lakes United TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® 2010. This was a 5 day event from June 30 to July 4, 2010.

The grand final show was the Parade of Sail on July 4, 2010 where all the Tall ships sailed around the Toronto Harbour on its way to its next port of call on their Great Lakes tour.

9 Ships from out of town with the addition of the 5 Toronto home port ships.

Parade of sail – chaos on water out there with all the little private boats

Roald Amundsen

Pride of Baltimore II

HMS BOUNTY

Europa

Camera used was the classic Nikon D2x.

Happy Canada Day

2010-07-02T01:17:00.004-04:00

July 1, 2010 - Its Canada Day again and I was out at the National Ballet School visiting some friends from Cadance - Progressive Contemporary Dance Ballet.

They and their friends will be putting on 4 performances over the weekend starting on Friday night.

Details and ticket information here

About the show:
"City Connect: Toronto, is a collaboration of six Toronto-based award winning acclaimed choreographers paired with Cadence's thirteen fiery emerging dance performers, to create new works for an evening of burning physicality and theatrical vision."

Great Lakes United Tall Ships Challenge Series 2010

2010-06-30T17:50:00.003-04:00

The Tall Ships makes its only Canadian stop in Toronto this weekend.

Some of the 15 ships are already here. I was out last night to get a preview of the ships.

Tooks out the classic Nikon D2x camera out with the Sigma 10-20mm lens out to the Harbourfront to get some pics.

Bark EUROPA, homeport - Amsterdam, The Netherlands

PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II, homeport - Baltimore, Maryland, USA

HMS BOUNTY, homeport - Greenport, NY

EMPIRE SANDY, homeport - Toronto (Photo captured in Jan of 2010)

KAJAMA, homeport - Toronto (Photo captured in Jan of 2010) foreground ship, Empire Sandy in background

6th Annual Talent Defined

2010-06-27T23:49:00.004-04:00

It was the G20 weekend, but not everything was closed down. City Dance Corps had their 6th Annual Talent Defined showcase of Toronto's finest Dance Companies & Choreographers at the Al Green Theatre at 750 Spadina Ave.

Here are some photos from the dress rehearsal.

Gadfly Performance Project - Ninja

Kindred of Dynamic Expression - Passion Prom

LR Productions - Spiderwoman's Web

Calm before the storm

2010-06-24T12:08:00.004-04:00

I was thinking about selling the Nikon D200 and decided to take it out for a spin to see what condition the camera was in as I had not used it for about a year and half.

The camera is working great. Now I am not sure I want to sell it...

Went out to see Fortress Toronto - it was like the calm before the storm.

Security fencing around Union Station

It sure was clean - there was no one out.

Someone needs to be fired for having the bright idea of having the G20 in Toronto. Oh - its only the weekend, and its all quiet during the weekend in the downtown core - right...Biggest bone headed move of the decade.

Waterloo Aviation Expo & Air Show

2010-06-22T13:43:00.010-04:00

I haven't been posting any updates lately because I have been busy with some personal projects. I will tell you about it soon but for now it is not ready.

Now for something completely different from my usual photos...

Father's day weekend - forecast called for thunderstorms and rain. I headed out anyways - ran into some rain on the way but when I got there - it was sunny and hot.

I have never been to an airshow other than the annual one in Toronto during the closing weekend of the CNE. Will be on the look out for more shows around my area this year. It seemed I missed out on the CFB Borden show and I was out in the Barrie area on the Friday too!

Just a preview of more to come later.

B-17

Mig-15

Aerial silk workshop with Jamie Holmes

2010-03-22T12:23:00.004-04:00

Lindsay Ritter presented an Aerial Silks workshop with Jamie Holmes on March 7, 2010.

Here are some images from that workshop:

Photoshoot at the Hershey Centre

2010-02-25T14:15:00.003-05:00

My buddy Daniel invited me into his Gymnastics class at the Hershey centre. He had them doing flips and front rolls, back rolls, all over the place. Too many moves for me to remember and describe, let me just show you.

VAVOOM Valentine's Ball

2010-02-25T13:52:00.003-05:00

Feb 13, 2010 @ Dovercourt House

A little fun before Valentine's day. Event hosted by Go Dance Mambo

The Holy Grail of cameras

2010-01-26T01:52:00.005-05:00

Some people get invited to weddings in Mexico during the winter, while others get invited to weddings to Baltimore. Guess which group I belong to?

Since this was supposed to be a non-working vacation, there was a big debate about bringing the full body DSLR with the F2.8 zooms and F1.4 primes vs the smaller DSLR with the single 18-200mm lens or just bringing a compact camera. Then I remembered that I recently got my hands on an E-P1 with the 14-42 kit lens and the flash but have not really had a chance to put it through its paces. Added was the fact that carry-on luggage restrictions to the US are in a flux for foreigners right now, the Olympus E-P1 got the call of duty. I substituted the Olympus mini-flash for an old SB-24 I have from my film days – it gives me the option of bouncing the light.

The holy grail of cameras – the smallest possible size for the greatest amount of image quality and the most flexible framing options. Is the Olympus E-P1 up to the challenge?

Here are my experiences over the 4 days and 3 nights of use with the E-P1.

Size:
Smaller than a Nikon D50 but larger than the Panasonic LX3. Not really pocketable in a pant pocket – but doable in a winter jacket.
Verdict – I can carry a LX3 in a belt pouch but I need a small should bag or big coat pocket to carry the E-P1 with 14-42 kit lens in the collapse mode. E-P1 wins but not a big win over the D50 or the newer smaller DSLR bodies because it is still bigger than most pant pockets.

Focus:
The E-P1 can be smaller in size because it uses a contrast detection system instead of phase detection focusing system. No need for a large reflex mirror for the viewfinder. There are 11 point AF zones to choose from. Choosing them is very difficult and must be done via the menu system. I don’t think it was designed for manual focus selection like a DSLR, seems you are supposed to let the system chose for you automatically – like a compact camera. Focus speed is slow – just like a compact camera. It caused me delays in image captures – press the shutter and wait for the camera to acquire focus before the image is captured. There is a continuous focus mode on the E-P1 – in a DSLR, continuous focus is used for tracking moving subjects, the continuous focus model on the E-P1 just causes the lenses to hunt full time and just wastes battery power. Not recommended, the continuous focus model is next to useless.

Verdict – Focus system performance is same as a compact camera focus system, no match for even an entry level DSLR focus system.

Battery life:
The E-P1 uses a 1150ma battery, in my 4 days of shooting – the battery never lasted the full day. With no viewfinder, the LCD is on full time draining the battery.
Verdict – Battery life performance for me was about the same as the LX3 (and the LX3 was no Fuji F30). No match for an entry level DSLR battery life.

Frame rate:
The E-P1 has a 3 fps sequential shooting mode. However, there were 2 problems I encountered.
1) Blackout time between frames is so long that I cannot see what I am photographing after the first shutter release. The LCD cannot refresh fast enough to show the image after each shot in the sequential shooting mode.
2) Continuous AF mode cannot be used with sequential shooting mode.

Verdict: Slow focus acquisition and lack of reliable continuous focus mode makes the sequential shooting mode fairly useless. No match for an entry level DSLR.

Image quality:
The E-P1 has a 12 MP 4/3 sized sensor – a lot bigger size than the compacts but a little smaller than the AP-C sized sensors of most entry level DSLRs. All things being equal, a larger sensor generally gives you larger dynamic range, and better quality as you ramp up the ISO setting. At base ISO, I think you would be hard pressed to notice differences between a compact, the E-P1 or the D50 in image quality. The jpg output from the E-P1 is very nice and you can get by without any post processing out of the camera. As you move the up the ISO scale – 800 to 1000 is the highest I would go on it, unless I had no choice. The meter on the E-P1 is biased to the right, great if you are shooting RAW, blown highlights if you are shooting jpg.

Verdict: E-P1 is great at base ISO and the jpg engine gives please colours straight out of the camera. Greater usable ISO range than a compact camera – all things being equal and not far behind the entry level DSLRs.

Len options:
The E-P1 is an interchange lens camera so you are not stuck with just the kit lens, for indoor work – there is the Panasonic pancake 20mm F1.7 lens. Its about 2 to 4 stops faster than the kit lens and a little shorter but there is no zoom. There is also the Panasonic wide angle 7-14mm F4 lens which sells for approx. $1600 CAD. Ironic that the lenses I want are all made by Panasonic and not Olympus. Both of the Panasonic lenses are not stabilized but that is alright since the E-P1 is sensor stabilized. I think these are the only lenses that Panasonic makes that do not have built in stabilization.

Verdict: Some great opinions for lenses but they come at a premium price. One of the claimed benefits of the m4/3 format was the smaller size of camera and lenses but this savings in materials has not translated to savings in price. Still limited in lens choices but better than a compact.

Overall impression:
From reading other people’s impression of the E-P1 and the other M4/3 format cameras, I wanted to be like them and free myself of the chains of the big body DSLR. People were saying that M4/3 cameras allowed them to sell all their DSLR gear and moved totally into the M4/3 camp.

For me, the E-P1 will be kept as a second system or third system. There are too many limitations with the focus system for me to leave the DSLR camp. If all I even shot was static subjects than I guess I could sell all my other gear and move into the M4/3 camp but at this point, I like to shoot moving subjects and E-P1 is not suited for that type of photography.

The size of the cameras are just a little too big to fit in a belt pouch, which means I need a small camera bag, once I move into the bag department, I may as well bring my small body DSLR (in my case a D50, but the newer D3000/D5000 bodies are even smaller). Yes, the E-P1 lenses are smaller but they are also more expensive for the similar focal ranges and apertures. If the prices of the M4/3 system were similar to the entry level DSLR – I would invest more in the lens range.

As the E-P1 gives similar image quality to the entry DSLR without matching focus performance, it is really disappointing that it is currently priced in the mid-level DSLR range.

Overall, the E-P1 has good image quality, especially in jpgs but with a hot meter. Size is small but not as small as the large compacts (Canon G11, S90, Panasonic LX3) but the real disappointment is the focus system. It really is only a compact level focus system, which limits the kind of photography you can do. For the money, I could not recommend this camera as a primary system – maybe as a secondary system. The E-P1 is not the Holy Grain of cameras and my quest continues.

Dance Ontario - Dance Weekend

2010-01-21T23:37:00.003-05:00

It's that time of year again when Dance Ontario puts on their annual showcase at Habour Front's Fleck Theatre.

The show starts on Jan 22, 2010 - Friday night @ 7:OOPM and continues on Sat and Sun. 27 dance companies in total. Something for everyone's taste.

I had the pleasure of catching City Dance Corps in rehearsal for their Sunday performance.

You can catch their performance live on Sunday at 2PM at the Fleck Theatre.

Another company I managed to capture was Cadence Progressive Contemporary Ballet.

Their live performance is also on Sunday but will start at a later time - 6PM

Canada Salsa Congress Sat

2009-11-26T13:30:00.004-05:00

Some more shots from the Canada Salsa Congress Sat shows.

Friday night performances

2009-10-25T19:09:00.004-04:00

Here are some of the dance performances from the opening night of the 2009 Canada Salsa Congress @ the Toronto Sheraton Hotel Ballroom.

7th Annual Canada Salsa Congress

2009-10-13T00:53:00.005-04:00

The Canadian Thanksgiving Long weekend marks the annual Canada Salsa Congress event. This year is the 7th anniversary of the event and it is always packed with great dancing and shows. Usually takes me about 2-3 weeks to fully process all the photos from the event.

Thursday night is the Pre-party and this year it has been moved into the main event location (Sheraton Centre Hotel) from the clubs of Toronto.

The first batch of photos are from the Canadian Salsa Championships (Amateur division).

1st place - Jena & Steven of Toronto

2nd place - Irene & Jacques of Montreal

3rd place - Michelle & Gil of Toronto

TIFF - Toronto International Film Festival

2009-09-13T09:41:00.003-04:00

I know that TIFF is in town when I cannot get into my building. This is specially true when a big name star is around. I am always of 2 minds, when the stars show up, go into stalker mode and join the mob for the photo op or just sit back and enjoy the show on TV or web. I did some of the stalker mode last year at Roy Thomson Hall and may go again this year but yesterday it was just sit back and watched from afar.

Yesterday the big star was George Clooney, he was really acclaiming to the fans, walking around signing autographs.

You can see the mob better from this photo

Images by SVPhotography.ca

All White Party

2009-09-03T22:54:00.004-04:00

Aug 25, 2009

Tuesday night @ Six Degrees is Salsa night. But on this night it was a special All White Salsa party.

Images by SVPhotography.ca

LR Productions

2009-09-03T21:52:00.005-04:00

Aug. 25, 2009

Tuesday night before the big Brazzar show at the Opera House, Lindsay of LR Productions called me in for a last minute photoshoot.

Here are some photos from the shoot. Images by SVPhotography.ca

Their routine, 'Fire & Nice' was a big hit at the show. Choreographed by Lindsay Ritter. Check out their video. Video by LR Productions.

Oscar Narango Web Launch

2009-08-30T23:46:00.008-04:00

Aug 23, 2009

Six Degrees night club played host to a special one time event to launch two new web sites for Oscar Narango last Sunday.

1) Oscar Narango and;
2) Latin Groove Productions

Dance performance from Tania, Oscar & Linda. As you can see I wasn't the only one there with a camera :-)

Latin Groove Productions - Kids dance group

Enamorarse dance - Student group

Paul Pilicita's Tumbao Tropic Dance company

Oscar & Linda Marsella

Latin Groove Productions Student Group

Bryant & Faye Lopez, Tango Soul

iFreestyle Pro-Performance Group

Latin Groove Productions - Teen Group

Oscar & Tania

Images captured by SVPhotography.ca

Strobist Bootcamp II: Assignment 3

2009-08-18T23:58:00.002-04:00

Aug 12, 2009

Surfing the Stobist website for new photography ideas and noticed Bootcamp II: Assignment 3. Noticed that the submission due date is Friday Aug 14, 2009 - call my friendly real estate agent for help and she hooks me up with a buddy of hers.

This is the result:

If you are interested in a house near Lawrence Ave W & Weston Rd in Toronto - check out the listing.

2009-08-09T23:20:00.006-04:00

Jorge Maza & Tipica Toronto @ 6 Degrees.

July 28, 2009
Tuesdays are Salsa in the city night @ 6 Degrees - I had the pleasure to be invited to provide photography services to capture some moments from their Mix CD give away event.

The night starts with a free Salsa lesson for everyone

The band takes to the stage to provide some live music for the dancers

Here is the place fully packed with dancers

For a more relaxed setting - there is the 2nd floor to cool down

Toronto Strobists Meetup #12 Video

2009-08-09T14:40:00.009-04:00

July 25, 2009

You have seen the photos - now see the video

Just wanted to said thanks again to Steve of Absolute Support Services for the use of his location and his vehicles. JR, thanks for making the arrangements possible.

Thank you to the models and MUAs who came out to our casting call and the contribution of all the photographers for use of their lights and sharing of their knowledge.

Thank you Dan for coming out with his bike and doubling as a last minute replacement model as well.

For anyone else I forgot to acknowledge - sorry.

Toronto Strobists Group Challenge 12

2009-07-29T22:07:00.008-04:00

July 25, 2009

15 photographers, 3 models, 2 makeup artists, 2 bikes inside, 1 car, a warehouse plus lots of strobists gear and what do you get? A Toronto Strobists Group Meetup.

Model: Dan
Makeup Artists: Christina & Karolina

Model: Avrel
Makeup Artists: Christina & Karolina

Model: Shaifa
Makeup Artists: Christina & Karolina

Sujeeone gets married

2009-07-21T01:29:00.005-04:00

A fellow photographer Sujee got married this past weekend. I was not the TOG but was inspired by Jeff Ascough to try shooting with a prime all night long.

Sunday Salsa @ Six Degrees

2009-07-21T01:19:00.005-04:00

July 20, 2009

Sunday night was the opening night for Salsa Sunday @ Six Degrees.

Salsa lessons to start the night by Oscar and Tania

Then it was dance the night away with music by DJ Kruz

Waste of a street closure

2009-07-17T23:48:00.008-04:00

July 17, 2009

Just for Laughs makes it way to Toronto for its 3rd year. I believe that last year's show started after Montreal's ended. So the same crew and events from Montreal performs in Toronto for the free street festival.

Yonge street - one of the busiest streets in Toronto was closed for the festival. Last year - it was worth it.

The green bug - from 2008

The dueling drummers - from 2008

Fireworks - from 2008

This year we get:

2009 - Guys with Balloons...

Don't know if the lack of the big parade is because of the Toronto City Workers Strike or because the crew is still in Montreal due to the concurrent festival dates...

But what a waste of a street closure - why close down Yonge Street if there is not going to be a big parade. Big disappointment for me this year - especially after the great shows from last year.

Cadence Showing and Official Launch Party, City Connect: Vancouver/Toronto

2009-07-17T10:26:00.011-04:00

July 15-16, 2009

I had wonderfully time taking part in a self produced show from a Toronto based dance company – Cadence. They specialize in progressive contemporary ballet.

The show included dancers and choreographers from Vancouver and Toronto. The performance was staged at The Winchester Street Theatre – a converted church with beautiful stain glass windows. Too bad they had to be covered for the show.

Choreography by Courtnae Bowman and Donald Sales.

Since I failed the dance auditions – I got to take the pictures :-) Below are some photos from the rehearsal and performance.

Salsa on St. Clair street festival

2009-07-12T14:36:00.004-04:00

July 11, 2009

I missed out on the festival last year, this year, I decided to catch the Sat. events. I wanted to test out the newly repaired D2x - the sensor was replaced by Nikon just last week. Everything seems to be working. Also trying out a new workflow on the back end.

Results can be seen below:

Performance by Dance to Live Student Group

Talent Defined 2009

2009-07-08T12:21:00.005-04:00

June 27, 2009

Show time for the annual Talend Defined showcase and I was invited to take part in the show as the offical photographer. If you didn't get to go, you missed a great show but there is always next year and you can see a brief slice of the show below.

From the Talent Defined website:
"Talent Defined is an annual showcase of emerging and professional dance companies and choreographers.

The event is sponsored by City Dance Corps for the purpose of promoting and supporting local dance companies and choreographers and sharing their art forms with the community. Talent Defined provides an opportunity to present new work to a welcoming audience in a professional venue.

Since 2004, Talent Defined has been showcasing cutting edge dance works in all styles of dance including Hip Hop, Contemporary, Ballet, Salsa, Tango, Break Dance, Belly Dance, African Dance and Aerial Dance to name a few."

Vacation in England

2009-06-30T00:49:00.004-04:00

I took a week off and flew to England to see my better half.

Here are some pics from that trip.

London is a big place and I often need to look for directions...

Trafalgar Square but I was too early to catch the Plinth art project‎

Top of St. Paul's Cathedral

Weekend at the Circus

2009-06-17T01:22:00.005-04:00

June 12-14, 2009

This past weekend was the Circus weekend for me. Cirque du Soleil was in town for Luminato - there was major confusion on what type of performances they were going to be doing and when. Little detail was released until Thursday - day before the start of the shows and still there were confusions.

They could have learn a thing or two from Pi-Leau about street theatre, who were in town for the Wintercity festival.

Cirque du Soleil is 25 years old and I think they have moved away from street theatre - they specialize in the sit down big shows - not the interactive street theatre anymore. This is what they are known for today and this was what was expected - by providing little details on what they were going to be doing they set expectations too high and there were alot of disappointed people.

The final show was on Sunday and I don't know who picked the place to put the stage on but the HTO park was a bad choice - trees that blocked prime viewing areas were all over the place. Performance seemed to be shorten due to the rain delay - maybe their permit ran out - I am not sure.

Here are some pics from the show.

The other Circus I was at was the iFreestyle 4th Anniversary party. Well planned and attended, fun was had by all. Hope they have many more anniversary parties in the future.

Here they were having a strong man competitation.

Cannibal Girls

2009-06-17T01:08:00.004-04:00

When I saw this picture - I just though of an old 70s Canadian low budget film (yes -Canadian low budget not US low budget, so you can image how low budget it really was) called Cannibal Girls. Its about three woman who lure men to their homes using their charms and then has a big feast out of them.

From the original movie trailer
"They are young, beautiful, and very very sexy..."

Angus may think he is going to have the time of his life but really he is going to be Angus burger for the girls.

Dirty Dancing Salsa Edition

2009-06-07T23:48:00.003-04:00

May 23, 2009 Franco Dance Studio

Franco & Olga

Lucky Spin & Johanna

Lucky Spin & Kaylyn

Winners of the Dirty Dancing Competition

Victoria Day Long Weekend

2009-05-20T00:32:00.004-04:00

Busy weekend of shooting during the Victoria Day holiday for me.

Friday night was Salsa night at Acrobat with the Franco Dance Studio Performers.

Saturday, I was off to York University to capture some Floorball action.

Sunday, it was back to the studio with the strobes for the Cadence photo-shoot.

They seemed happy with the photos...

Cadence

2009-05-12T03:04:00.004-04:00

Not much to say about these photos - they speak for themselves.

Dancers were from Cadence - progressive contemporary ballet company.

I have to learn the names of these ballet moves next time...

Dance in Dundas Square

2009-04-29T01:03:00.004-04:00

Today, April 29, 2009 is International Dance Day (World Dance Day) - this date was picked to commemorate the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre. In honour that date, Dance Umbrella of Ontario put on a free show to the public on the Sunday, April 26, 2009.

From their website:
"Dance Umbrella of Ontario (DUO) is proud to present an afternoon of FREE dance activities at Yonge-Dundas Square, featuring a variety of dance forms and Toronto-based performers. On stage and off the stage, the square will be alive with assorted performances, interactive dance presentations, open classes and information on an array of dance styles & traditions. We are excited to share the news that Natalli Reznik and Lisa Auguste of the inaugural season of So You Think You Can Dance Canada will be joining us on Sunday afternoon."

I didn't stay for the whole show but here are some pics from that day.

Natalli Reznik and Lisa Auguste

Gadfly

Jennifer Hicks - NIA

Vivace Studios

Cadence

Inspired by Nick Turpin

2009-04-15T20:50:00.004-04:00

April 11, 2009

The Holy Grail of cameras is one that has a F1.2 lens, zooms from 18-300mm, shoots from iso 100-64000 without noise and can fit inside a shirt pocket. I know - physically impossible. However, I have found that the Panasonic LX3 gets me a step closer on my quest for the perfect camera.

I have been swapping back and fore between my trusty DSLR and P&S cameras for clubs because I want to get back dancing again. The latest experiment is the LX3, small enought to just fit in my pant pockets and has a fast lens but it doesn't have a long lens or great high ISO performance. However, it does have a flash hot shoe and watching Nick's video gave me an idea I tried out on Sat.

Nick Turpin street portraits for Menshealth from Nick Turpin on Vimeo.

DJ Geronimo hosted a Mambo Dance Wear April Party at Dovercourt house on Sat. night. For this event, I got the LX3 with my old SB-24 flash mounted on a monopod, flash was trigger by radio signal via the camera hot shoe. I of course couldn't afford 2 assistants holding 2 lights as Nick does in his video and I didn't have a snoot on my flash so I used the zoom setting on the SB-24. Below are some samples from the experiment.

DJ Geronimo

It's hard to aim the camera and the flash on a monopod at the same time - sometimes the aim is off on one of them...

Easter Long Weekend

2009-04-15T17:49:00.003-04:00

April 9, 2009

Thursday night before the long weekend. No work on Good Friday!

DJ Gio, has a Thursday Salsa night out at Zio Supper Club - I haven't had a chance to check it out till that night. It turns out I have been there before but under a different name. Zio was the Carnaval Brazilian Grill - layout has been changed but that mall sure gets busy on Thursday nights.

Trying out the new camera here - I think the Fuji F30 is about to be retired. The Panasonic LX3 seems more responsive than the older F30. Plus I don't have to push the iso as much with an F2 lens.

DJ Gio playing with the band

Here is the birthday dance for Deniz

Birthday dance for Tyrone

Shelley & Andrew's Wedding

2009-04-15T17:10:00.006-04:00

March 28, 2009

I was a guest at the wedding party of Shelley & Andrew. A great party and performance was put on by the happy couple. With the number of Salsa dancers at the party - there had to be a dance circle - in fact there were 2 dance circles - one for Shelley and one for Andrew.

Last May, I did an engagement shoot for Shelley & Andrew which looked liked a wedding shoot because they wanted to be in formal wear instead of their street clothes. I had great fun and wish them well in their future together.

Winter Salsa Carnival

2009-04-10T15:28:00.003-04:00

March 12-15, 2009

The 4th annual Winter Salsa Carnival - 2 days of workshops and 4 nights of performances and partying. This year marked the return to a theatre venue. Some of you may remember that the 1st Carnival was held at the Capital Event Theatre. This year the theatre selected was the Betty Oliphant Theatre.

Shooting with theatre lighting is great - if you can get the colour balance correct and ignore your camera metering. I have found once the shows start - going full manual exposure is the way to go for me. If you can afford the time to post process - go RAW as well.

Lots of cameras at the Pre-party!

Friday's Tech Rehearsal - Saltimambo

In the dressing room - Deniz and Anya from Los Salsomanos Dance Team

From Friday's show - Leon & Noemie from UK and Paris

From Sat's show - Vanessa & Francis

From Sunday's show & party - Victor & Katia.

6th Annual Valentine's Social

2009-03-22T19:06:00.005-04:00

Feb. 15, 2009

The place to be post Valentine's day was the 6th Annual Valentine's Social hosted by GoDanceMambo's SalsaSteph. Special performances included Rafael's Cuban Caberet Ladies, Mike & Sharon, and Sophie Luxton jazz/burlesque routine.

Dance Ontario Weekend 2009

2009-03-16T09:57:00.005-04:00

Jan 25, 2009

Dance Ontario Weekend @ Harbourfront Centre.

It was a sunny cold afternoon outside but nice and warm inside at the Fleck Dance Theatre (formerly Premiere Dance Theatre). City Dance Corps presented a Tango piece titled "Fade to Black" for the annual Dance Ontario event.

Choreography by:
Tina Nicolaidis, Estelle Nicolaidis, Courtnae Bowman, Zhenya Cerneacov
Dancers: Courtnae Bowman, Patrizia Gianforcaro, Siona Jackson, Shavar Blackwood, Zhenya Cerneacov, Derek Sangster.
Photos by me :-)

Winter City 2009

2009-02-22T19:28:00.004-05:00

Jan 31, 2009

Every year in Jan, the city of Toronto kicks off their WinterCity Festival - it also marks the start of the Winterlicious restaurant event.

To launch the festival, there is always a big Spectacle show at Nathan Philips Square on Fri. & Sat nights. This year it was Pi-Leau by Close-Act a Dutch street theatre troupe.

From the Toronto web site:
"Pi-Leau is a story of forbidden love that combines theatre, music, fire, dance and incredible props.

Dazzling mermaids frolic and swim, unaware of the imminent danger of melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and the flooding of all land. Hearty fishermen struggle to survive on the sea and often resort to hostile acts. The story’s hero, the last of the peaceful fishermen, discovers the mermaid’s secret world and falls in love with the beautiful Sirene. He must decide whether to stay close to his new love, or return to the surface in order to save Sirene and the sea, never to see the mermaids again."

Impulse Dance Show - Part III

2009-02-19T22:00:00.004-05:00

Here are some photos from Impulse on November 12 show.

20 years in the Toronto Salsa Scene

2009-02-13T00:17:00.006-05:00

The Sunday Salsa Social became an anniversary party on Jan 18, 2009 for Stephanie “SalsaSteph” Gurnon's 20 years in the Salsa scene.

Weldon & Stephanie head south

2009-02-13T00:03:00.002-05:00

Jan 16, 2009

Weldon & Stephanie's last party @ Acrobat - guess the Toronto cold was too much for them because they settled in sunny Bermuda!

Best of luck and send some of that hot air our way.

Stephanie with Angus

Which camera would I buy today

2009-02-06T12:17:00.003-05:00

People often come up to me and ask me for advice on camera choices – they often say they are not interested in an DSLR but just want a Point and Shoot (P&S) camera. Which one should they buy?

This is a hard question for me to answer because I am using a P&S camera that is 3 years old and no longer being made (Fujifilm F30), plus P&S cameras usually have a shelve life of one year. After one year, a new model is released to replace it – usually with just more MP crammed into the new model. I just cannot keep up with them all. However, more importantly, I don't know what you intended use for the camera is. What I find important may not be important to you.

My general advice would be narrow down when and what you want to shoot. For me, I need something to fit in my pocket or belt pouch that I can dance with, so DSLRs or the big superzooms are out of the question. I also need something for low light clubs – this means I need the biggest sensors and fastest lens that I can get in a P&S.

Lucky for you, I have been looking for a replacement to my F30. In late 2008, Panasonic released the LX3 with a 1/1.63” – 10MP sensor with a F2-F2.8 lens with a hot shoe slot. What this means is that this camera can take a full size DSLR flash for more light power.

Another excellent choice is the Canon G10 with a 1/1.7” – 14MP sensor with a F2.8-F4.5 lens with a hot shoe. You will notice that the G10 has a similar sized sensor (most P&S cameras have a 1/1.23” size sensor) with MP on it. This usually means more noise at high ISO but Canon has historically been able to combat this by in-camera processing. They seem to have better processing programs than other manufacturers.

So if you ask me which cameras I would buy in today’s market for my needs – it would either be the G10 or LX3. G10 would be better outdoor use because of the longer zoom while the LX3 would be better for indoor use because of wider and faster lens.

Vacation in Cancun

2009-02-05T22:22:00.003-05:00

I was lucky enough to get away for a few days to head down to Cancun. Here are some pics from the resort I stayed at.

Sunrise at the Beach

Winter Salsa Carnival Launch

2009-02-01T19:05:00.003-05:00

Friday, Jan. 2, 2009 @ Acrobat

Second day of the new year and its the official launch for the Winter Salsa Carnival - presented this year by Mark-Anthony & MAS Mambo. Stay tuned for the main event at March 12-15, 2009.

Performances this night included MAS Mambo

JP and Michelle