Around Durban

I've spent the last week getting my bearings in Durban.  I lost my wallet on the way in, and had to order a new VISA card from Montreal, which should be arriving soon.  I've also bought myself a little car, so I'm almost ready to hit the road.

Yesterday, my Dad and I went for a walk along the Durban beachfront.  Half of Zululand seemed to be down there enjoying the surf, and we were the only two white guys who didn't look like they were trying to score some methamphetamine.  Quite the experience.




Umhlanga Rocks is a popular resort area just north of Durban that has a famous lighthouse, a fantastic beach, and great fishing.

Back to South Africa

I finally made it back to South Africa.  Three back to back plane rides, 36 hours of travelling.  The first thing my family did was throw me a traditional South African barbecue, or "Braai".  It's a huge grill up of sausages, boerwors, ribs, and corn.  I haven't eaten this much meat since the last time I was in South Africa.  I have another one to go to on Saturday at my sister's house.

I haven't been back since 1996, and I've since acquired a sister-in-law and two nephews who I've never met.  I've spent the last few days getting to know everyone, looking to find a cheap car, and cancelling my credit cards, as I managed to lose my wallet on the trip here.  Once everything gets set, I'll be hitting the road.


This guy is the local fruit seller that my Dad buys his avocados from.  Durbanites are particular about the local avo's, which are massive (those raisin like things in the lower left corner are supermarket avocados that you would get in Canada), very tasty, and grow naturally throughout the area.  While there are many large, very modern shopping malls thoughout South Africa, little guys like this still do a thriving trade.

Pharmacist of the Year

These are part of a series of photos I did for Pharmacy Practices Canada magazine.  Carmen is getting an award for her pharmacy, located in Lillooet BC, about 150 km's northeast of Whistler, over a frightening 4200' mountain pass.  Whistler is the closest major centre, so I get dispatched there for all sorts of photo and video jobs.

The clients asked for a simple shot against a feature-less background, which is the first one.  Carmen was really busy because of the H1N1 outbreak, especially acute in Lillooet, the pharmacy itself was small and crammed with merchandise, and the only blank wall I could find was in the small hallway that led to the storeroom, so we were really rushed for both time and space.  Despite that, it turned out okay, but looking too much like a fancy passport photo for my taste.  Next I asked her to pose in front of the pharmacy display, which made it a more interesting photo, and gave us a lot more room to work in.  Being able to use a longer lens makes for a more flattering photo, and the background makes it a lot more interesting.




They also wanted some shots of Carmen working in her pharmacy for a slideshow that's going to be shown at the awards gala in Toronto.  I thought this was a little more interesting, and it's easier to get interesting photos when the subjects are actually doing something, as opposed to just standing there.


I wanted to finish with an exterior shot, just show how beautiful, and isolated Lillooet is.

Tech Stuff:
The first two shots were lit with with a Nikon SB-900 bounced into an umbrella as the key light, and a Nikon SB-800 with a flag on it as a background/kicker light.  With the SU-800 controller, I can set the levels of both flashes from the camera.

The last three shots were shot with the available light and slight fill fill from the camera mounted SB-900 flash.

Camera:  Nikon D700
Lens:  Nikon AF-S 28-70mm f/2.8 (1st), AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 (2nd), AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8 (3rd, 4th, and 5th)

Alanna and Derek's Wedding at the Nita Lake Lodge

This is my last wedding for 2009, and I couldn't have gotten a more pleasant group of people than Alanna and Derek and their guests and family.  It's also the first time I've done a large sized wedding at the Nita Lake Lodge, and I'm really starting to like this spot as a wedding location.


Alanna's Dad, waiting for the girls at the chapel.






Rough weather for the whole day, but we did get a nice rain free hole just after the ceremony.  It was nearly dark by the time we finished the bridal portraits.






We finished all the posed bridal and family portraits early, so I asked if I could try some locations around the lodge.  Most of the venues I work in at Whistler tend to more 'Mountain Rustic' in their decor, while the Nita Lake is quite modern and cool looking, so it was a good opportunity for me to try something a little different.

Tech Stuff:
I used a wide range of techniques for this wedding.  The first two interior shots are lit with just the available available light.

The guys on the dock needed a touch of on-camera fill flash, because of the generally gloomy and miserable conditions were causing heavy shadows on their faces.

With the bride's maids, I asked one of the groomsmen to hold the flash off to camera left, and then under exposed the sky to get a dramatic look out of it.

The interior shots were all done with a flash bounced into a photo umbrella.  The shot at the bar also had another flash positioned behind the bar to act as a 'kicker'.

Camera:  Nikon D700 (all)
Lenses:  AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8 (first, fourth, fifth, sixth), AF-S 28-70mm f/2.8 (second, seventh, eighth), and the AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 (third)

Big Group Shot

This was a seminar group that asked me to do a group shot of the delegates and speakers.  While it's far from the most interesting shot in the world, it did pose some interesting problems.  First up, the client wanted the shot taken on the wooden deck behind the Lil'wat (First Nation) Cultural Centre, with Blackcomb Mountain in the background.  It was a very tight space, I needed almost the whole throw of my 17mm lens to get everyone in, and even more problematic, the site is heavily back lit throughout the day.  Even the most casual of photographers know that the cure to back lighting is to use a flash to fill in the shaded part of the photo, but what about when you have 70 people, and they're 30 to 40 feet from the camera...



You bring in a really huge light source.  The above set up is a 2000WS Norman flash pack (the brick like object under the ladder), which is about as big as they get, and a 48"x36" softbox light bank.  This light is 400 times more powerful than the average add on camera flash, and although the softbox absorbs a lot of that light, it's still plenty to get the job done.  I used my tallest light stand to lift it 10" up, and 25 Lb and 10 Lb sandbags to keep the whole thing from blowing over in the wind.  A ladder is also a good idea, as a higher angle is always good for getting a good view of the whole group.



Here's the same photo, but without the strobe, pretty big difference.

Slightly off topic, if you're ever in Whistler, check out this location, the Lil'wat Cultural Centre, it has a great museum and art gallery, and the cafe serves real native banock bread.  Well worth the stop.

Tech Stuff:
Camera:  Nikon D700
Lens:  Nikon AF-S 17-35 mm  f/2.8
Lighting:  Norman P2000 strobe pack, Norman 2400 strobe head, and Photoflex 48"x36" softbox

The North Arm Farm

The North Arm Farm in Pemberton is one of those places I like to go to unwind.  It's a working farm, but the owner lets people wander around the fields, and this day they had some horse and carriage rides going for Thanksgiving.  I ran into a friend of mine who was there with her Niece and some friends from her church group, and got a couple of nice shots of the fall pumpkin harvest.

That night, my wife and I had fresh veggies and roast garlic soup, along with delicious fresh butter tarts from the farm's bakery.

High Pass Filter

The job I had scheduled for today fell through, so I was sitting around trying out some oddball Photoshop techniques.  This one is a mixture of the highpass filter, along with some de-saturation, to push the contrast and colour saturation through the roof.  That looks pretty crazy, but I don't know where I'd ever use it.