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In case ya missed our TORONTO 2018 PHOTO INSPIRATION Pecha Kucha Event - or wanna see it again - THIS IS WORLDTOWN tell us about how they work together to share and collaborate to tell their stories. In case you're not familiar - Pecha Kucha is a format where speakers only have 20 slides X 20 secs/ slide to share their story. It's TOUGH. But really, really fun... To find out more about THIS IS WORLDTOWN projects check them out online: thisisworldtown.com #womeninphotography #emergingartists #fineartphotography

Photographer Kerry Shaw is a story teller, who thinks of herself as an illustrator, failed painter, and pack rat — a fascinating combination that has resulted in the rich illusionary images she creates. As a painter Kerry Shaw strived to create surrealist images with a photorealistic quality. She worked by piecing together photographs to form collages that would then serve as prototypes for paintings. Somehow the process never engaged her fully and its results continuously fell short. Shaw's introduction to Photoshop and its endless possibilities instigated a shift in her medium and process. Shaw was captivated by the software that enabled her to cut out a step and go directly to the seamless stitching of images right from the source — the photographs. Now with a camera and new creative tools she creates the surrealist images she always envisioned by altering the source images themselves. This alteration (and its vast potential) has enthralled Shaw; the fact that she can take the real world and manipulate it into something wholly fantastic and still believable. The work itself is a seamless collage made up of the many pieces picked up by Shaw in the spaces she encounters. She describes an internal visual library in which she stores the images, hoping to find the ideal spot to put them someday. The Animal City series is layer upon layer of such images. Most of the background elements and extra lighting, however, has been computer generated. The element of illustration is strikingly evident in this regard and lends the work a cohesive, graphic look. Giving all due respect to purists, Shaw sees her work in a different category. While acknowledging all photography as a sort of alteration or take on reality, she works within the limitless boundaries of her memory and imagination to create something wholly new. What is remarkable is her use of images based in the real to masterfully create the surreal. Shaw herself sums it up best: “At the end of the day, I am a storyteller and alter images in the hopes of producing something that no one has seen rendered in this way before.” To see more of Kerry's work visit: www.kerryshaw.com #KerryShaw #womeninphotography #animals #photomanipulation #experimentation #collage #digitalmanipulation #photoshoptechnique #fineartphotography #photoart #visualstorytelling

Douglas Walker is not your typical travel photographer. In fact, Walker comes to the genre of travel photography by way of his long-time career as an advertising location photographer for such multi-million dollar clients as General Motors and Allegra, among many others. “I am not really a travel photographer. It is more that I travelled to locations to shoot big advertising productions,” Walker says. Walker, who comes from Oxbow, a small town in southern Saskatchewan, studied photography in high school before taking a train to Toronto to continue those studies at Ryerson University. However, in his third year at Ryerson, Walker had the opportunity to be an assistant to Peter Croydon, a photographer who shot large format images for advertising clients. Walker could not pass up the chance to work with a professional and acquire hands-on experience. “I like to say I got kicked out of Ryerson,” Walker says. “My instructor told me that I would learn 10 times the amount assisting Peter than I would learn from being in class. I was 21 years old and that’s what I wanted to do.” After three years as a photographer’s assistant, Walker got his big break: the chance to shoot for the revered Saturday Night magazine. “At the time that I was starting out, Saturday Night was the magazine to be in; there was no question about it,” Walker says. “Art directors usually don’t or won’t see you. They are too busy. But I begged my way in, knowing that if I could just crack the door open a little, I would do okay.” Walker’s strategy worked. His first assignment for Saturday Night was shooting John Neville, then artistic director of the Stratford Festival. Walker’s career took off from there, and he enjoyed solid success as a location photographer for major advertising clients, usually with a crew of eight to ten on shoots with him. After several decades of high-profile on-location shoots, Walker decided he had reached his goals and was taking a break. “I literally put my camera down for three years,” Walker says. “Now I just go out and shoot with my buddies and it’s like a beginner’s mind. For my Mexico series, it was purely personal; it became a state of mind. It was a feeling of, ‘I’m getting out of Dodge and I’m going to Mexico for four months.’ I was energized and just felt like taking photographs. I did a lot of portrait shots and hired locals to meet people I could photograph, like windsurfers. On location shoots, I went back and back until I got the shots I wanted.” Recently Walker’s focus has been on having fun with his photography, working on projects that are personal to him. “And as it turns out, I’m travelling,” he says. Walker’s passion is shooting endless horizons, which he credits to being from the Prairies. “There’s an irony in the expression ‘Prairie boys make great sailors,’ because in fact we are landlocked. But if you put us on a ship we get it, because of the endless horizon. Generally speaking, being deep in the mountains is not something that appeals to me. I love shooting people in the context of the landscape: portraits in the environment. I call it environmental portraiture. I am also comfortable around the ocean as it represents the endless horizon to me.” Walker believes that no matter what you are shooting, it is all about the light. “You have to understand light. It drives everything,” Walker says. “When I was in the advertising business we would use whatever it took — a full truck of lighting if we needed it. What I have found is that pre-planning is key and patience is important. You see a lot of photographers who run out trying to get 10 good shots in a day. I go out, see where the good light is, then go back for days until I capture the light that I am looking for. Five percent of what I shoot happens spontaneously. But then I go back to the location that I want and I just wait; I just keep going back until I get the image that I want. That’s the discipline; that’s how I was taught.” Walker, who has a contract for his travel images with Corbis Images, advises photographers who want to shoot travel to just get out there and shoot. Work as an assistant with as many top pros as you can. Preparation is also crucial. The most important thing is to edit your images. Only show the best of the best of your images. To see more images from Douglas Walkers adventures, check out his website: www.douglaswalker.com This article originally appeared in our Winter Issue in 2013. Get it HERE. #travel #DouglasWalker #travelphotography

Elite sports photography is an action-packed exemplification of energy, stamina, character, courage, and determination. Athletic performance at its highest level is recorded as a visual history, capturing results and defining both the pain and glory of an event. As a genre, sports photography requires skill and a thorough understanding of how to capture speed and action in camera with tack-sharp proficiency. It also helps to know the basics of the sport you are shooting and what the performance expectations are around the athletes competing. “I am naturally drawn to sports, particularly elite amateur sports,” says Dave Holland, photographer for the Canadian Sport Institute in Calgary. “The three key things I look for when I am assessing photo positions are where the best light is, where the best background is, and where the peak action will be. All three go hand in hand. If you have great action and a great background, but the action is terrible, it won’t work. Another key consideration for location is the finish line, if the finish is critical. Often there will be a group of photographers in a certain area. This will give you an idea of where some of the best shots will be, but you will also get the same shots as they do, so I usually go elsewhere.” Holland, who is self-taught, started shooting sports for his high school yearbook, but then didn’t pick up a camera again until 2008, when he was on a five-month trip around the world. In 2009, Holland began shooting at the bobsleigh track in Calgary, eventually expanding to photograph other World Cup events. “The first thing to shooting an event is knowing what kind of credentials or access you need,” Holland says. “For bigger events you will need a media or photographer’s credential to bring your camera in. Once you are in, introduce yourself to the media representative to see where you can and cannot go.” Being completely comfortable with the manual settings in your camera, along with an intuitive know-how of setting shutter speeds, inversions, exposure, and aperture, all within a second’s reaction time, are paramount to capturing winning images. “In most of the elite sports I shoot, faster is better,” Holland says. “A very fast shutter speed for me is 1/4000 to 1/8000 of a second. Speeds in this range will freeze motion. I prefer to shoot almost entirely in manual mode so I can control exposure settings. Some sports photographers shoot in shutterpriority modes (TV for Canon, S for Nikon). I prefer to control my aperture, which controls my depth of field. I usually shoot wide open, (f/2.0, f/2.8, or f/4.0), so that my background blurs the most. My process for setting exposure is to set my aperture (usually wide open) and my desired shutter speed (for indoor fast events, usually at 1/640 or higher). Then I increase my ISO until I get the desired exposure.” While most of us wonder how photographers such as Holland consistently produce such exceptional work, Holland shares some secrets and tips of the trade: “I end up with lots of blurry images, but I never publish them. If 10 percent of the photos I take are keepers, I am usually happy. This 10 percent represents images that are tack sharp, show peak action and perfect form, and have clean backgrounds.” “One mistake I commonly see is people using the wrong focus mode when shooting sports,” Holland says. “AI Servo AF (Canon) and AF-C (Nikon) are continuous modes for shooting action. One-shot modes are designed for subjects that don’t move. Many cameras will have various, and sometimes customizable, autofocus modes. Some modes are better for tracking subjects (ski or bicycle racers), and some are better for subjects that move erratically (such as in gymnastics or soccer). Another tip is to use a centre focus or a small group of focus points. I aim my focus points on an athlete’s face as I want the eyes in focus. Next, understand how autofocus works. Most autofocus systems look for contrast to help them focus. Sometimes you may need to look for points of higher contrast if your camera has trouble autofocusing. Sometimes the best way to get the shot when the subject is moving fast is to trap focus. Pre-focus on a selected point and then take a few shots when subjects move through this point. You can pre-focus using autofocus mode, but you will need to use the back button to focus, and the shutter button to shoot.” With longer lenses, a monopod is a necessity (tripods are rarely allowed) to stabilize the lens. Holland believes that the key to being successful at whatever genre you want to shoot is to develop your own style and then to get out there and shoot — a lot. Accomplished photographers learn from the best photographers in their field and understand what makes their photos stand out among all the other images. Tack-sharp quality images — especially those shot under extreme or high velocity conditions, invariably without a tripod — tend to be exceptional rather than average. “Look at photos and bookmark the photos you really like,” says Holland. “Then every once in a while go through them and decide what you like and dislike about these images and then try to work that into your photography. Have an awesome website and link it to social media. The final piece of advice is to have fun. If you don’t enjoy what you are doing, don’t do it. It will show in your photos.” See more of Dave Hollands work at: WWW.DAVEHOLLAND.CA #sportsphotography #DaveHolland #hockey #canadianphotographer #wintersportphotography #actionphotography #motionphotography #AlbertaPhotographer

A DIY beanbag for photography is an easy project that can be whipped up with a bit of sewing know-how for under $10. Besides using the beanbag as a ballast in the studio, it can be handy to steady a camera in an endless variety of outdoor situations; a car door, a rock, a fence, a tree branch, etc. You can customize the bag to whatever colour, size and shape you want. All you need is: • Scissors, needle and thread, (or a sewing machine, if you have one) • Some sturdy fabric (e.g., denim or twill) • A zipper to fit along a side of the beanbag • Some filling (e.g., small beans or lentils) • An extra bit of fabric or ribbon to sew a hook at one end of the beanbag, for attaching it to the centre column of a tripod STEP 1 Measure and cut. For the sample shown I used a piece of fabric 40cm x 30cm. The final size of the bag is 20cm x 30cm. To make the loop use a piece of fabric 6cm x12cm folded lengthwise. STEP 2 Sew the zipper so that the two long ends come together. Place the loop on the short side near the top of the zipper. Turn the bag inside-out and sew the top and bottom of the bag. STEP 3 Reverse the bag and add the beans. Test it out for proper support of your camera and lens, adding or taking away beans to suit. *TIPS: Recycle and save $ Grab an old pair of jeans to re-use the denim and the zipper for this project. Cut the legs off, turn inside-out, and sew the three open sides closed to the size required. Turn outside-in and fill with beans — voila! A travel bonus A bonus of the beanbag is that it’s super easy to pack for travel. Simply empty the bag and fill it with beans when you arrive at your destination. #DIY #HowTo #photographygoodpractice

Dominic Boudreault describes himself as a motion photographer. Despite the fact he has no formal photography education he is considered one of the masters of the timelapse photography genre. His monumental work The City Limits is a testament to his skill and vision as a photographer and he has received due recognition. The work went viral, and hundreds upon hundreds of comments on his Vimeo account thank him for the work. Other impressive media mentions of note include appearances on MSNBC’s Today Show and CBC Radio. Boudreault not only utilizes the availability of new technologies for his self-initiated work, but also uses the forum of social media and social sharing sites to further his photographic career. His work gives new direction to what is possible with photography. Boudreault was born and raised in Quebec City. It was in the Quebec landscapes that he discovered his passion for imagery and photography. He was drawn to time-lapse photography because he felt it was the most accurate way for him to present his vision. His work shifts the nature of photography, as he aims to capture the pace, movement, and relationships of a city, rather than freezing the city in a specific moment. What led you to explore motion photography? With time-lapse photography you often see things that you don’t usually see with the naked eye — for example, the stars moving and the speed in which we live. From the top of buildings, as you see the numerous streets and heavy circulation, it can look a lot like a maze of ants. The first time I realized that, I was completely blown away. Since that first moment when I finished editing a clip, I was hooked. I needed to see more. Do you see motion photography as a relatively new genre? Yes, certainly. It has become a lot more popular in the last few years, first and foremost because of the lower cost of camera and computer equipment. Time lapse has existed for a long time but was not accessible to most hobbyists. But now, everybody with a digital camera and basic computer knowledge can attempt to make a time-lapse sequence. Also, I think that there is masterful work in time-lapse photography that has been done in recent years, like parts of the movie Baraka for example. I think it has inspired a lot of people, myself included. What is the background to City Limits? With The City Limits time-lapse video, I was trying to show the duality between city and nature. Time lapse was the perfect medium for this project. It allowed me to show cities like never before. I originally planned to visit one or two cities in Canada and in the northeast of the USA, but it quickly snowballed and I was finding myself completely obsessed by the project. I spent a lot of time doing research for this project and I think it helped me achieve my vision. I shot a lot at night because I find that cities become more alive, more magical at night. There are also a lot of bridges and water in the video. Bridges connect people to the big cities. Water shows that nature is a part of the big man-made cities. Everything is connected. That’s a part of what I wanted to express with this time-lapse piece, duality of nature and man. Were you astounded by the online response? I was really surprised about the reaction of people. The City Limits quickly went viral and I am very happy that my work touched so many people around the world. I think that people were intrigued because it shows ourselves in a way we don’t see every day. Any particular shots in City Limits that stand out? My favourite shot in The City Limits is at 2:38. It’s the shot of the oil tanker at sunset stumbling below the bridge. I say “stumbling” because you can notice the huge boat drifting from side to side. In real time you cannot see this happening but with time lapse you can observe little fascinating unknown details like this one. It was a very pleasant surprise. Any advice you can share with people starting out in photography? Not to sound cheesy, but the journey is the reward. You learn so much every time you go out and shoot. You also learn a lot in post-production every time you process a clip. I truly consider this an art form and, like every art form, you need to practice a lot to master it. The interest in Boudreault’s style of time-lapse photography is proof that photography is evolving, but there is just as much passion and interest surrounding the medium itself. Photography still has the ability to show us the world in a new way and this is very apparent in The City Limits. There may not be as many traditional photography jobs as there used to be, but Dominic Boudreault is an example of just how successful you can be if you are dedicated and involved in photography because you have something to share with the world. Check out more of Dominic's work at: dominicboudreault.com #cityscape #DominicBoudreault #aerialphotography #timelapse #cityphotography #motion #canadianphotographer #urbanphotography

What goes on inside a camera, and why does it have to be hidden from sunlight? These two questions motivated award-winning photographer Natasha V to begin exploring photography. Only when her experiments led to the destruction of several rolls of black and white film did Natasha begin to think of what was going on in front of the lens. She very much admired the photography of Diane Arbus and Irving Penn, so her first forays into photography were oriented toward portraits and photojournalism. At an early point in her career, she developed a series of photographs of well-worn shoes belonging to her family and neighbours. Each pair revealed so intimately the person who wore the shoes that she then realized the storytelling potential of still life photography. While she was studying Roman literature at a university in Sarajevo, Natasha completed a course in black and white photography with one of the best photojournalists in Bosnia. The course made her reflect on what she wanted from life, and when she moved to Canada in 1994, she entered and subsequently graduated from the photography program at Algonquin College in Ottawa. For Natasha, the primary criterion for choosing a project, either commercial or personal, is the team of people involved. With the assistance of a great passionate team, Natasha can make any ordinary project into an extraordinary art piece. Natasha has an extensive list of clients: Hudson’s Bay Company, TD Bank, Joe Fresh, Holt Renfrew, Murale, Bayview Village, Fashion, enRoute, Red UK, and InStyle. The majority of Natasha’s clients hire her because of her style and the quality of her work; they trust her to be involved in the creative process of the shoots. At the end of the day, it is important that everybody feels positive about the photograph that has been produced. After getting an assignment, Natasha spends time analyzing the technical and visual elements she might need and deciding on her approach to lighting and composition. Visualizing shoots is an important part of her preparation process, so that once she’s on set, she can start immediately. She acknowledges that she can plan up to a point, but so much can change at the shoot. Therefore, flexibility and quick thinking are crucial to the process. Some projects require extensive preparations, and Natasha will test the lighting or technical approach beforehand. However, creative projects are less planned. Natasha states, “There is an inspiration, an idea, and once I’m on set, things move and progress into a full story.” Natasha always starts with a vision of the photograph. She likens this mental picture to an internal mood board. She knows which light and angles she wants, and the feel of the shot. It’s a loose guideline, the framework of the idea. Then, when the team is on set, they all work together on perfecting the shot. As the photographer, Natasha has to know what the final image will look like and how to guide the shoot in that direction. Her process requires having a strong pre-conceived idea and an open mind that allows changes to happen on set. According to Natasha, there are no rules for creating a beautiful image. Composition must be instinctive even as one focuses on its various components. Colour is the introduction that sets the mood for the image and the story, either in a full blast or in subtle ways. Light has to be precise and occupies most of Natasha’s attention when she creates an image. Although light is important, it must also disappear from the image and never be perceived as the most significant element. When the light is clean, but not perfect, a still life image feels alive and credible. With more experience, Natasha finds that she tries less to shock with her images. Her style is evolving, and is now more sophisticated and maturely unique. If someone viewing one of her images has been moved to stop, look and think, then Natasha knows that she has succeeded in creating something special. Her work is about creating a meaningful and visually different story every time, not about mimicking current trends. For her, a truthful approach gets people’s attention. Some artists, new and experienced, have difficulty marketing themselves. Natasha admits that she is no exception. Although she may still feel self-conscious when showing her work, she really believes in what she is doing, which gives her the confidence to show her work and pursue her goals. Natasha partnered with her current agent when she was just starting out on her own. At that time, her different approach to still life photography, her attitude, and her passion got the agent’s attention. Besides having an agent, Natasha markets herself by using social media and other types of online promotions, and by maintaining a large network of personal contacts. Natasha’s approaches and images are not static. Natasha loves a good challenge and often steps outside the type of work that she is expected to produce. Fortunately, still life photography encompasses a broad spectrum of possibilities. There is no limit to the types of objects to photograph, so Natasha continually feels refreshed and engaged. Early questions that Natasha had about what makes a camera work have evolved into questions that guide any good storyteller. Natasha now asks, “Why am I telling this story?” and “Where does the story take place?” See more of Natasha's work at: www.natashav.com #NatashaV #womeninphotography #studiophotography #stilllifephotography #canadianphotographer

The street is the average person’s daily runway. It offers a unique setting for photographers to document the unfettered fashion of style enthusiasts. Photographer and creative designer Paul Melo seeks to capture individuality and authentic senses of style for his highly acclaimed street style blog, StyleQuotient. Melo launched StyleQuotient in the summer of 2009 to document and promote what he says was Vancouver’s lacking fashion scene: “I created this site to highlight and uncover the most stylish personalities gracing the streets, the most stylish places to see and experience, and the details that make it all worthwhile.” Melo decided to focus on style over trends, fashion, or celebrity, describing himself as a true street style photographer who captures people wearing real fashion in everyday life. While many photographers have jumped on the street fashion blog bandwagon, few have adhered to the quintessence of the genre. Melo says that, until recently, photographers would attend fashion shows to capture the loudest outfit on the street in the lead up to the show. He says, “That is not street style. Most of the high level ‘street fashion’ photographers have finally realized this and [this approach] is now becoming passé.” Melo is pleased that the street style bandwagon has lost a wheel. Melo finds inspiration on the street from real people in real life scenarios. He looks for that intangible element that catches his eye. “I never look for labels or costumes,” says Melo. “I walk through a neighbourhood and photograph that person who stands out amongst the crowd, usually because they shine in comparison to everyone else.” Having a fashion sense is something that’s personal and distinct says Melo, who believes that fashion is just one element of style: “Most people think style is about clothes, but it’s not. It’s not what you wear but how you wear it, how you accent it, how you present yourself.” He describes style as a subtle but clear distinction in quality and appreciates a well put together outfit as a mark of authentic individuality. Melo grew up in a stylish Portuguese-Canadian family; his parents instilled in him a sense of pride in appearance from a young age. Melo explains, “Dressing up was a show of respect and self-awareness. My father always wore a suit in his spare time, and my mom loved to take my sister and me shopping. I guess I developed a sense of style from very early on.” Melo believes style is in the details, which can be all it takes to transform an uninteresting outfit into something truly outstanding: “It is a thoughtful sign of consideration about oneself. It is simple but impactful.” Melo claims that details such as the addition of a bold pocket square or the right watch with a simple suit can augment a look, while the wrong accessories can sabotage an outfit — for example, bad sneakers paired with a beautiful dress. Though Melo chooses to focus on the street style of Vancouver, he has travelled to other countries to seek out unique street fashions for his blog. He claims some of the most styleconscious people can be found in Frankfurt, Germany; although he admits that he tends to gravitate towards more stylish neighbourhoods: “It’s tough to find a lot of style in the parking lots of the world’s rest stops, but you might. Every city has a place or neighbourhood where stylish people congregate.” Melo says these fashionable areas are considered the hip neighbourhoods today, but this was not always the case, as evidenced by the early street photographers. Although his images are mainly viewed today for inspiration on the latest fashions, Melo hopes they will one day be appreciated as a social document, like those of founding street photographers Fred Herzog and Vivian Maier. Though street fashion photography may seem a relatively new form of photography because of the many new photographers who have flocked to fashion blogs, the genre has been around since the end of the nineteenth century and is widely considered a kind of social documentary. Celebrated street photographers such as Herzog and Maier, who shot during the 1950s and 1960s, are known for their images of ordinary people and streetscapes mainly in the working class neighbourhoods or gritty downtown cores of cities like Vancouver and Chicago. Unlike his predecessors, who photographed with various film cameras on slide or negative film, Melo uses a Nikon D800 digital single-lens reflex camera with an 85mm f1.8 or 50mm f1.8 fixed lens to capture his street subjects. He prefers the former for its shallow depth of field, which allows him to blur the background and focus the attention on his subject. While Melo appreciates the convenience that shooting digital affords him, he takes the time to edit his images before posting them to his blog. “There is always something to distract on the street, be it a cigarette butt or oil stains on the asphalt or lint on a jacket,” says Melo. “I’m documenting and photographing style, not forensics.” He will remove any distractions in the image and apply a subtle softness to flatter his subjects and give the photographs a filmlike quality. While equipment and post-processing are an important part of the process, the method of shooting street style photography is equally as important in achieving the desired results. Melo uses gentle confidence to approach his subjects and gain their trust. He dresses well, is friendly and professional, and always initiates a photograph with a compliment. Melo’s photography went through a stylistic shift. He slowed down the shooting process, bringing some of his street subjects into the studio in order to capture their personalities in a more intimate setting. “I’m shooting more stripped down, simple portraits. Street style photography is very fast. Some interactions happen in a matter of seconds. You only have a moment to pick the perspective, frame them, relax them, and snap,” says Melo. “There is something special about photographing them again in a completely different setting with time to interact, get to know them, and see them in a new way.” StyleQuotient is a creative outlet that allows Melo to showcase style — something that is near and dear to his heart. Although he does not believe the world needs another fashion blog, his advice to would-be street style photographers is to pursue the genre if style is something they are truly passionate about. He says, “You have to have your own sense of style and have the eye for what is stylish and what is not. Also, approach it as a professional, not a hobbyist. The niche is already saturated.” Melo’s secret ingredient is a sense of style that he honours in everything he sets his sights on, be it photography or design, for every market. See more of Paul Melo's work at: www.paulmelo.com #PaulMelo #streetphotography #fashionphotography #portraitphotography #canadianphotographer #peoplephotography #urbanphotography #documentaryphotography

In a nondescript brick building off a quiet, tree-lined street in Toronto’s eclectic Leslieville is Sugino Studios. Inside, white walls and wood shelving frame the entryway into the bright, airy space where a photographer’s dream in camera equipment waits to create magic. Sugino Studios specializes in creating advertising motion and still images that used in ad campaigns. Day to day, the team quietly engineer images for companies such as Fido, Bell, Fisherman’s Friend, and Listerine. One of the artists behind the magic is Todd McLellan. He is an unassuming man with a casual air and an easy smile. In talking to him, it is not difficult to see how his passion defines his work. However, McLellan’s creative curiosity extends well beyond the advertising world. Born in Saskatoon, McLellan moved to Calgary to study design at the Alberta College of Art + Design. “My interest stemmed from a graphic arts program in high school. I was always drawing, creating logos, and airbrushing different designs.” It was in Calgary that he made the move from design into photography, and in his final year he accepted an internship at Sugino Studios in Toronto. When he graduated in 2002, McLellan returned to the studio for an assisting gig and was intent on gaining real-world experience. In 2006 he used that experience to open his own company, through which he created his evocative collection of stills titled Things Come Apart. This photo-based series uses the latest in Broncolor and Hasselblad equipment to capture the impossible moment between one breath and the next. With a flash duration of up to 1/14 000 of a second, the stills give the impression that time has stopped. The result is surreal, challenging us to puzzle through exactly how the image was photographed. While in some of the images mechanical objects such as typewriters, clocks and rotary-dial telephones have been meticulously taken apart and laid out in a fashion so orderly it borders on obsessive, other stills show those same objects floating in midair, each piece opposing another like a set of repellent magnets kept close for too long. The number of components is mind-blowing, and the viewer feels like a forensic scientist. Sitting across the table from McLellan, I couldn’t help but ask, “What’s the secret? How did you do it?” He considers for a moment, a visual artist trying to simplify his world into words: “We start by taking it all apart. Then we set up a platform above and a mesh below. The mesh is for catching the objects we drop. Midway through the drop I take the shot. Usually it takes more than once to get it right, so it’s really important to keep hold of all the pieces. We once lost a screw and an hour later we were still looking for it.” McLellan’s series isn’t limited to stills. In fact, his Things Come Apart collection includes a video called Apart Piano, which shows an old stand-up piano meeting an impressive end. “It was a donation from a church in west Toronto. They had decided it was too old and an electronic keyboard sounded better. I’m not sure if they knew what we were going to do with it.” What they did with it was catastrophic (for the piano). “We could have spent thousands of dollars and dozens of hours with rigs and trial runs, but the simplest thing to do was to grab a bunch of guys and hoist it up by hand, and then let it go off the ropes. It worked great. A little scary, but great.” Because they didn’t get the shot they wanted the first time, they dropped the piano onto the dusty wooden stage again. And again. They dropped it five times in total, the pieces themselves eventually shattering but not before the team was satisfied. “Working in motion is a bit of a learning curve from still photography. When you rely on post-production you can run into a lot of problems in motion. You can’t pop in the little ‘we’ll fix it in post’ phrase at the last minute.” McLellan spends a large amount of his time working on projects that involve motion. “I came into the industry at a time when digital was really taking off. Currently about half of my work is done using video, and there’s definitely a demand for more from our clients.” Interestingly, while there isn’t necessarily a different mindset associated with motion over still shots, the process is entirely different. “You can be working alone on stills, and there’s always the opportunity to edit the shot later. With motion, editing isn’t as much of an option. You can be shooting a thousand frames a second. Editing can easily add $100 000 to the project budget.” The timelines are also different. “I could shoot a still on Monday and see it on a billboard by Wednesday. The timelines are much faster.” This is because motion often involves a greater degree of post-production work that takes time. “Because of the cost and time implications, it really is important to ensure the team is working under one vision.” It had been over 12 years since McLellan made the move to Toronto and into photography. Originally only intending a short-term experience-driven residency, today he’s settled with a wife and two children. What’s next? McLellan continued to work on his collection of Things Come Apart and has recently been tempted by the donation of a Japanese-to-English translation typewriter. Photos from his series have also been published as a fine art book by Thames & Hudson. The book, titled Things Come Apart: A Tear Down Manual for Modern Living, has garnered worldwide recognition with releases in several different languages. Prints of the series are available through his website. Ironically, for the master of taking things apart, it certainly seems like things are all coming together. See more of Todd's work, including Apart Piano, at: www.toddmclellan.com #canadianphotography #stilllifephotography #ToddMcLellan #smashedstuff #studiophotography #fineartphotography #experimentation #OntarioPhotographer

The creative process for West Coast artist Margaretha Bootsma began primarily with clay and drawing. While photography was always a part of Bootsma’s artistic path, it significantly emerged as an integral partner in her emergence as a multi-faceted artist. In fact, photography is the conjunctive “and” of her artist’s statement: “Painting and photography; earthy, evocative transformative elements, such as metal, sand, wax, and photography.” “I consider the combined expression of painting and photography inseparable to my creative expression,” Bootsma states. “I use photography to introduce narrative into my work that can have multiple interpretations. The paint plays a supportive role in this. I like the tension between the photograph’s ‘realist’ version of a place and the organic application of paint that blurs or challenges this account.” The process of painting versus taking photographs entails two different approaches and philosophies for Bootsma, processes that evoke singular ways of thinking and feeling. Whereas photography involves more strategy, more attention to semantics such as detail around lighting, depth of field, framing, and time values, thus “referencing the intellect,” painting is more spontaneous, less calculated, and more adventurous, denoting for Bootsma “the emotional, intuitive body.” “Paint is handled in a spontaneous manner that engages the quality of accident or chance and evokes organic matter and earth phenomenon,” Bootsma states. She explains that this engagement of accident involves “not thinking about what one is doing … letting go of control and immersing oneself in the act of painting. Pouring paint onto a surface has infinite unexpected possibilities that allows for little control and for happy ‘accidents’ to occur. Scraping away or sanding a surface is similar in that one has to let go of the existing surface to reveal another. This way of working is an adventure. I am never sure what the outcome will be.” Bootsma cultivated her creative process by melding the crafts of photography and painting by utilizing experimentation, integration, and intuitive artistic vision. Through a series of steps, some specific and some intuitive in expression, she built her works on wood panels. “Prior to painting, the photographs are placed on various surfaces, and then, as another way to engage the element of chance, the surface is sanded randomly,” Bootsma says. “The marks left through the sanding process are emphasized with paint. The photographs are arranged in a constructed sequence to create a narrative that in reality does not exist. This construction questions notions of photography as an accurate record of reality. Painting on [the photograph’s] surface further blurs this distinction and permits the addition or elimination of elements depicted in the photo. In so doing, one reflects on the effect of photography on realist painting traditions and on the influence of painting on the tradition of photography.” The staccato marks as white noise remind Bootsma of an out-of-tune radio or a TV with poor reception, which in turn leads to the incessant electromagnetic noises inherent in our ubiquitous cell-phone, laptop, GPS world. Bootsma is interested in capturing groups of people or solitary individuals in the ocean or by the shores who are viewed at a distance. The people remain anonymous, and viewers are readily able to identify with their own experiences of water. Bootsma studied ceramics and drawing at Instituto Allende Mexico for a year, followed by the study of painting at Emily Carr College of Art and Design. She is inspired by colour field painters such as Helen Frankenthaler and Mark Rothko, as well as abstract expressionist painters Robert Rauschenberg and Jackson Pollock because of “their expressive use of ‘action painting’ and the utilization of accident in painting.” Rauschenberg’s use of found objects and photography also had a major effect on Bootsma’s work. “I think that my early affinity for the texture of clay also informed how I worked with textured surfaces in these early paintings,” Bootsma said. More of Margaretha Bootsma’s work can be found online on her website: www.margarethabootsma.com This article originally appeared in the Winter Issue in 2010. Bootsma passed in 2011 and was remembered by her friends and family in Vancouver, British Columbia at the Bau-Xi Gallery in 2011. #MargarethaBootsma #canadianphotography #fineartphotography #imagemanipulation #womeninphotography #experimentation