makebright | making stuff in waterloo

MaRS Studio Y visits Communitech

Posted on October 8, 2014 by dw

My very good friend Cathy Brothers, CEO of Capacity Canada, connected me with an opportunity to participate in a speed-dating meetup today. The dates were with a great bunch of social change agents from the MaRS Studio Y Cohort 2. These bright young(er) minds visited from Toronto, touring Communitech and finding out what all the hubbub is about in Waterloo Region. By the time we wrapped up mid-afternoon, I heard more than one participant say they would consider moving to WR. When that comes up, I smile and think we’re doing the right things and we’re effectively communicating what we’re about as a community.

Studio Y is a government-funded 8-month fellowship that provides support for leadership learning. Now when Cathy Brothers calls, my only question is “How can I help?” After I read the participant bios, I was doubly-glad to contribute. We had some short talks from a few local groups followed by 5-minute rounds of participants moving between stations, including my coffee-fueled, speed-talkin’ makebright table.

The TL;DR on this one: the future looks very bright.

Before I turn you loose on the marginally unreasonable number of photos, let me specifically call out Leanne O’Donnell of Social Venture Partners Waterloo Region who organized a good deal of this afternoon and was my primary contact. If all event logistics included the clear, complete, and timely communication plus the on-site delivery of promised setup that Leanne provided, well then a happier world it would be. Merci beaucoup!

On to the pics…

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Posted in event | Tagged Capacity Canada, Communitech, Kitchener, MaRS | Comments Off

Methodical progress–speedlight practice

Posted on October 8, 2014 by dw

Regular readers know that I’m always working to improve my toolset. Ideally, I want the tools to be invisible to you the audience so the story goes right into your head with no friction. For the photography, I’ve helped start a monthly photo review, networked with local photogs, dived into how-to videos, experimented with new delivery channels, and most importantly followed my Pop’s advice: keep shooting.

A couple of months ago, Cory Bluhm (who is one of the hardest working photogs you may not know about), challenged me to achieve a shot featuring a very specific lighting setup. That pushed me forward from my five years of shooting available light to try lit photography. After validating the direction with some borrowed gear, I made a minor investment in some speedlights, c-stands, radio triggers, and umbrellas. Above are the early results of my efforts. Happily, my house is inhabited by two models, Arden (top) and Calder, who support my development and agree to brief photo sessions.

My setup here is one Yongnuo 560 EX III speedlight up high and right with a shoot-through umbrella. I am trying different apertures, flash powers, focal lengths, and distance to subject. My goal is to get very good at this simple setup and then try other setups with additional lights. Photog Zach Arias, who early in his career went broke by binge-buying gear, says get a light and shoot that for a year to figure it out. He also offers some good mantras that I now use: “Eyes to the light” and “Head in a clean spot”.

My “studio” for the photos above is about 24 inches wide, a piece of wall between the piano room window and the door frame to the living room. I like the ambient light from the window, the neutral blue wall, and the fact that this rig is mostly out of the way of household traffic. Picasso and others said there is no art without constraints, so such are my constraints.

GSD, every day.

Posted in photography | Tagged photography | Comments Off

1shot #195-giant happy white people

Posted on October 7, 2014 by dw

I headed out on Charles Street to grab some lunch and was… confronted is the only word that springs to mind, confronted by these giant happy white people on the side of a building. Ok, storage vendor, you have my attention. Now what?

This is Kitchener.

Posted in photography | Tagged 1shot, Kitchener, stock photos | Comments Off

1shot #194-to dream and dream like yonder amber light

Posted on October 6, 2014 by dw

The title is a line from Tennyson’s The Lotos-Eaters:

    How sweet it were, hearing the downward stream,
    With half-shut eyes ever to seem
    Falling asleep in a half-dream!
    To dream and dream, like yonder amber light,
    Which will not leave the myrrh-bush on the height;
    To hear each other's whisper'd speech:
    Eating the Lotos day by day…

I shot this photo on King Street in front of The Princess Café. It seemed that whatever this woman was staring at so intently in the back-lit glow of her screen was manifesting itself as coloured lights streaming above her head. It made me think of our relationship with technology, how we love-hate it and how it sometimes consumes us as we consume it. Like Tennyson’s Lotos-Eaters:

Dark faces pale against that rosy flame

Posted in photography | Tagged 1shot, King Street, sidewalk, waterloo | Comments Off

1shot #193-why hast thou forsaken me?

Posted on October 3, 2014 by dw

This Christ-like figure appeared across the street from Coffee Culture last night as Brohemus and I had a cup of sidewalk dark roast. I’m not seeking out these marquee silhouette shots, but when I see them I must shoot them.

Also: it kills me a little to watermark this image, but it’s my best effort to remind the world that I shot this and it took effort and gear and a lot of practice. It has value.

Posted in photography | Tagged 1shot, King Street, sign, waterloo | Comments Off

Kick-ass photog Louie Palu kills it at Ryerson

Posted on October 2, 2014 by dw

World-class photog, Louie Palu, spoke at the Ryerson Image Centre in Toronto last night and frickin’ blew me away. I was positively sizzling with inspiration when I walked out of there two hours later. Louie (above right) gave this talk as part of curator Thierry Gervais’ (left) show DISPATCH: War Photographs in Print, 1854-2008. With something like five tours of combat photography in Afghanistan, a project covering the Mexican drug cartels, a photographic examination of detention at Guantanamo Bay, and many more riveting gigs, Louie is the real deal. Check out his bio.

I had the massive good fortune to sit down for porch beers with Louie this past summer at Tony Reinhart’s house. Tony and Louie are friends from their work at The Globe and Mail years ago. A couple of years back when Tony and I collaborated on our DISCONNECT show, he said I should check out Louie’s work. I did, and the hook was set. Sitting around Tony and Tenille’s kitchen table while Louie walked us through his gripping images from Mexico and Guantanamo reaffirmed my belief that photography does have material impact and can raise issues above the modern info din. It can change the way people think.

The TL;DR: the place was jammed, excellent Q&A, go see this show (through Dec), and I’m lining up early for when (hopefully) Louie decides to teach. Can anyone point me to a video of the talk so I can go over it again?

A reasonable number of pics follow…

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Posted in fieldtrip | Tagged photography, toronto | 2 Comments

kwartzlab turns five–reflecting back and looking ahead

Posted on October 1, 2014 by dw

Meet four of the hardest working meta-makers in Waterloo Region. Four of the seven kwartzlab founding directors, from top right, Ben Brown, Steph Smith, Cedric Puddy, and James Bastow. kwartzlab is WR’s most excellent makerspace, a fully equipped workshop and community for makers of all ilk. I sat down with these old friends this week on the eve of kwartzlab’s fifth birthday to talk about where we came from, where it’s going, and the rise of the maker movement.

The TL;DR: there’s a party at the lab on Friday and all are welcome. You should go. Short of that, you should definitely get down to Charles and Kent Streets for one of their free Tuesday Open Nights to learn more.

Click through for the interview and to see what we all looked like back in 2009…

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Posted in kwartzlab | Tagged birthday, Kitchener, makerspace | 3 Comments

1shot #192-word on the street

Posted on September 30, 2014 by dw

This made me think of all the fantastic little libraries springing up around WR. In DTK, I reckon this is the open-air pop-up version. These book cover designs from the 70’s and 80’s really pluck my nostalgia trigger. That’s one thing that doesn’t seem to translate to e-books. I like the way books smell, the way they get worn, and the weight of a book in my hand. I don’t want to get all Fahrenheit 451 on you, but in light of DRM and the ability of large content aggregators like Amazon to push/pull/delay titles at will, there’s something reassuring about the physical book. It is delightfully independent and plays on a human scale. In this particular case it is a constructive currency of community. And, much like cycling, it is a reason for us to find each other.

For more on little libraries, check out Little Libraries of KW by Tom Nagy and his crew. If you don’t know Tom, then let me also tell you he is one of the hard-working ninjas making The Jazz Room go. Anam Latif wrote in The Record about the LL phenomenon.

At King and Queen, this is Kitchener.

Posted in photography | Tagged 1shot, books, King Street, Kitchener | 1 Comment

Hub Haps #004-Kurt’s charity bike rig

Posted on September 29, 2014 by dw

Last week, Kurt Schwarz was rigging up his bike for a stationary charity ride. He’s using a Raspberry Pi to tap into the resisto-matic flywheel on his back tire to display distance, energy generated, and other telemetry. Christie Digital is loaning some big displays that will be mounted on those black kiosk-looking things behind Kurt. I like the making/cycling/charity combo here.

And the socks really make the photo.

Posted in photography | Tagged Communitech, HubHaps, Kitchener | Comments Off

1shot #191-word on the street

Posted on September 28, 2014 by dw

I’m very interested in dark shots with faces dimly lit by an ambient glow. Things like laptop screens, cigarette lighters, and in this case above the marquee of The Princess Cinema. Brohemus and I were sitting at a sidewalk table having a coffee nearly underneath this ladder. Once again, King Street offers up compelling images.

This is Waterloo.

Posted in photography | Tagged 1shot, King Street, night, waterloo | Comments Off