Brohemus and I took a walk on Brother Night last week, toting the camera gear. Shot some long exposures while suffering from exposure. Here’s the hope-to-god-they-finish-this-hotel construction site at Erb and Father David Bauer. Et la lune.
On location with Huckleberry Film Studios
I had an opportunity to do a ride-along with my pals from Huckleberry Film Studios last week on a shoot they were doing in Stratford. This is the kick-ass crew that delivered the Steel Rails video we loved so much from June. The 06:15 location meet time made for a very early morning and lent a dream-like quality to my shoot of their shoot…
The Talent Next Door launched and the people responded
Brohemus and I hit up the launch of The Talent Next Door, a book compiled by Craig Musselman and comprised of work from 142 local artists. Silicon W hosted the reception in the old Boehmer Box building on Duke. You can read the reporter-type deets in The Record.
There was a broad mix of work and talent. I’m not sure if the work is juried in, or if the book/show is curated in a classic sense, so I’ve been thinking about this for a few days and here’s where I come out:
- Craig and the Silicon W peeps did something. They made it happen. That counts miles with me.
- They are developing an audience on a shoestring budget. And the joint was jammed.
- This event was accessible. It brought art to the people. I saw visitors ranging from high school age to high school + 60 years. It provided visibility for artists that I suspect have never shown before.
- These efforts are a huge amount of work that require personal investment and pay off mostly with high-fives and a general feeling that you’re doing the right thing for the creative ecosystem. Respect.
- The future of this this type of event is endangered by gentrification of old factory spaces and a lack of coordinated municipal will to ensure affordable studio space in the $5/sqft/year (util included) range. It’s awesome for the economy that large high tech companies are locating here and former industrial sites are transformed into cool commercial working spaces and condos. It’s worrisome for artists making $8k/yr who need space to work. Studio space in The Tannery, for example, is beautiful, but it will cost you 5x as much as in Boehmer Box. No beefs with developers: that’s just the free market in action. I’ll give you 6 months max before we hear that Boehmer has been sold to be converted to a mix of commercial and residential space that will open to line up with the Region’s transit hub across the train tracks. Displacing creative grassroots groups. Concerned? Talk to your city councillor.
End of opinions, beginning of photos…
Sean Puckett captures the many faces of the city
Headed out to Kitchener City Hall’s Rotunda Gallery last night to check out Sean Puckett’s Portrait of Kitchener. 1024 portraits on the wall. Last shoot wraps up Sunday.
Sean is that awesome intersection in a photographer between the creative and the technical.
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Tagged Kitchener, Rotunda, Sean Puckett
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BOX11 Roundup 1/2–behind the BOX
Now that we’ve all caught our breath from the fantastic BOX11 Art Show & Sale last month, it’s time for a little recap. A look back. It’s a two-parter that will really just scratch the surface of the amount of work and reward of that event.
1300 visitors to BOX11, 58 works sold, 3 days of awesome.
Artist Christina Preece (above) in silhouette in front of her painting.
If you came to the show, here’s some behind the scenes stuff you probably didn’t see…
Movember Ball 2011 at THEMoSEUM == super-fun
Last Thursday, my brohemus Dave White, and I headed on down to THEMUSEUM (rebranded THEMoSEUM for the night) to chill out at the end of Movember celebration: KW Movember Ball. And by “chill out” I mean “get our party freak on and shoot photos”.
Many thanks to Mr. Karl Allen-Muncey, the CuteGecko and a local instigator of good Movember mischief aimed at raising money for and visibility on men’s health. Karl put out the invite and we picked it up with gusto. And had a blast!
Many many photographs follow. Several of them are in focus. Our real focus was the fun. Dave was shooting a 17-50mm f2.8 for wide shots and I was on the 70-200mm f2.8 for deets. Ambient light only: no flash. Very Francis Bacon-esque. Click through and enjoy. And comment. Please.
Quadcopter talk by Kareem Shehata of Aeryon Labs
So… now I know what I want for Christmas. Had a chance to drop by the old stomping grounds of kwartzlab for their Tuesday Open Night. James Bastow, the maker’s maker and a director of the lab, invited Kareem Shehata from Aeryon Labs to bring in and talk about Aeryon’s Scout quadcopter.
Click through for more quadcopter goodness…
Got my jazz injection Saturday…
at THE JAZZ ROOM, of course. (Mike Malone on horn here)
A 3-hour photo-shooting-orgy ensued because
1. we got there at doors open 6pm for a front row seat,
2. instruments and musicians are interesting subject matter,
3. I had my 70-200mm f2.8 and Bastow’s 17-55mm f2.8,
4. I love that live music
Click through for lots more pics…
Nothing says thank you like wine and amazing flamenco
On Wednesday, Cathy and Roger Farwell hosted an amazing thank you event for the BOX11 volunteers. We all assembled at the fabulous Registry Theatre in Kitchener, drank wine, ate some really great hors d’oeuvres, and then Ishra Blanco danced…
The Felt Lab–a different model, same maker spirit
My friend, Mark Connolly, invited me up to St. Jacobs tonight (thanks Mark!) to UW’s new Felt Lab, which is hosted in the very kick-ass Quarry building on the river. Mark and the uxWaterloo posse were connecting with REAP students to do fast brainstorming of applications of interactive technologies. You can get deets on the lab from the recent Record article; I’ll just give a maker’s perspective.
Now the last time…