Wedding Equipment Tour

My standard kit for shooting most weddings. Nikon D700 and D2x cameras. I'll be replacing the D2x in 2011 when Nikon finally comes out with an update for the D700. Three zoom lenses, the 17-35mm, 28-70mm, and 70-200mm. Two flashes, an SB-900 and SB-800, along with the SU-800 infrared controller. I use a ThinkTank belt pack to carry whichever lens isn't mounted on a camera, as well as all the various extra batteries, lens cloths, business cards, and an Expodisk for custom white balances. I always like to have a Moleskin notebook for addresses and notes.

One of my favourite web pages, the Digital Wedding forum, is holding a contest on who can do best "what's in my bag" photo. The prize is a new ThinkTank camera bag, so I thought I'd have a go for it.


Some of the lighting I use. A small sized softbox that has convertible sides is really handy, as well a Honl Speed Snoot. Both lights were controlled by the SU-800 controller.


My main commercial lighting kit. Three Alien Bee B-1600 lights, a Rubbermade container for all of the radio slaves, cords, brackets, stacks of cords, clamps, and various modifiers. For most of my portrait work, I use the 22" Alien Bee 'Beauty Dish' reflector.


Ready to travel. My old Norman lighting kit took two suite case sized aluminium Halliburton cases, as well as the packs and reflectors. This is a big improvement.


A ThinkTank Airport Addicted backpack that I use to carry spare gear, or things I don't need to have on hand. Here I have an 85mm f/1.8, a 28mm PC Nikkor, and an old 300 f/2.8 that I use once in a blue moon, and a Domke pouch full of Honl light modifiers. I have a D200 spare camera, and a 35mm f/2, but I used those for these pictures. When I'm traveling, all this gear goes into this bag.

Stock Photography sales for 2010

A picture of Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg, that sold to a Japanese trade magazine for $55.43
These are a few of the stock photos I've sold this year. Early in my career, I spent two years assisting one of the top stock image photographers in Canada. It was a lot of fun, and times were great. I later went on to do a lot of stock work myself, but I haven't done much in a while, as there's been a flood of semi professional work on the market, sending the price for images to, literally, down to pennies an image. Now, it just doesn't make financial sense to hire a couple of models for the day to earn $.75 a shot. However, I do get around a lot, and I shoot a lot of pictures, so I hooked up with an Agency in the UK called Alamy that handles mostly travel and editorial images, right in my comfort zone. It's not much money, probably about 1/20th of what I made at it back in the glory days, but it's still a lot of fun. I've included the publications and prices they sold for as well.


The Apartheid Museum in Johanesburg, that ran in an American in-flight magazine for $115.00.


The Radium Beer Hall in Johannesburg. Something I snapped as we stopped in for a few beers at lunch. This one ended up in a British in-flight magazine for $63.78


Some nuns in front of the Marrionhill Monastery, near Durban South Africa. Another quick shot that ended up in a British educational magazine for $92.86


Some tasty sweet & sour pork from an editorial story I did down in China Town in Vancouver. I happened to find a bunch of food pictures in a file and uploaded the lot of them. Showing the true state of the stock photo industry, this picture sold twice in 2010, once for $1.00, and again for $0.49.


A shot from an Urban Pie Story this year on Vancouver roller derby teams. It ended up an American text book for $135.00. I wonder what they were studying?


The Lili'wat Cultural Centre in Whistler. I was just driving by one morning, and thought that it looked cool. This ended up in an Australian travel brochure for $87.14

Halloween on Davie Street

Gia and Coco
There's no better place to spend halloween than in Vancouver's Gay Village. People really take it seriously there, and it's a way better vibe than on Granville Street, where you risk getting your head caved in if you pull out a camera. In true Vancouver fashion, it was raining like crazy the Saturday night before Halloween when I shot these.











Tech Stuff
Camera: Nikon D2x
Lens: Nikon AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8

Whistler Heli Wedding - Rainbow Mountain

I love doing helicopter weddings, they really are a lot of fun. Kirsty and Billy came out from the UK for their wedding, and flew their entire family to the top of Rainbow Mountain. It was perfect weather for it, with calm winds, and cool temperatures, unlike the last helicopter wedding I did.

This was a few years ago, but this morning, Billy posted some shots on his Facebook page and tagged me in the gallery. His Dad had a few nice shots of me at work, which is something I don't have a lot of, so I thought I'd put them up on my blog.


A view you just can't beat, with Whistler/Blackcomb in the background.


That's me waving at the helicopter pilot to move in closer for the shot. With the wide angle lens, he really needed to be on top of us for this to work. He was on his way back from dropping off the family members, so we able to set this up before he landed to pick us up.