Saturday, September 17, 2011

Talking Shop | Halifax, NS, Photographer

I spend a lot of time blogstalking.  Blogstalking - regularly reading someone's blog - is common among photographers.  There's a number of fabulous photogs out there who are willing to share their knowledge, whether it be about equipment, posing, or how to run your business.  In the beginning, I visited their blogs regularly to gain some knowledge and inspiration, but now I visit the blogs to see how they are.  They've become friends and mentors and I love the glimpses into their lives.

I sometimes share stories from the blogs with Jason.  He humours me, listens, and then we talk about something else.  Does he pay attention?  No, it's not usually something that interests him so he lets me talk then we move on.  Or so I thought...

A few weeks ago, I was blah blah blah'ing about something I wanted to try out.  He questioned me about it and I said, "well that's what Justin and Mary do!  Oh wait, you don't know who Justin and Mary are."  He looked me in the eye and defiantly said, "Yes I do - justinmarantz.com."  

He does pay attention.  I didn't know.

Thus began a change in our conversations.  He has an interest that I didn't know was there.  Now he starts the conversations, he has input into what I do, he reads the blogs.  We bandy about names during dinner conversations as though we're talking about people we see every day:  "Justin and Mary did this..." or "Jasmine did that..."

Not only is it much more fun to talk shop now, it's more interesting.  And who knew, the boy actually has some good ideas.  Now, we'll see if I can teach him to shoot, too...


xoxo

...Kare
email:  karenk{at}eastlink.ca

Friday, September 16, 2011

I Will Eat Cake | Dartmouth, NS, Birthday Photography

It's not a secret... I like cake.  Who doesn't?  That's rhetorical, because it's cake and everyone loves it.  Trust me.  I believe it is my duty as your photographer to try your cake.  So I can gush about it and blog about how good it was.  Really.    

The one thing I promise is that I won't look like this when I'm done...

















































This cake, by the way, was one of the best I've had in a long time.  It was made with love by a family friend, but little Owen didn't really care about that, he was all over it, shared it with his girlfriends and then went into a little cake coma.

I saved my cake coma for after I left the party.  :-)


...Kare
email:  karenk{at}eastlink.ca

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Elton John | Sydney, NS


There he was, up on stage, just him and his piano.  He was so far away, but it was Elton - it didn’t matter how little he appeared, I was thrilled to be there.
He played to a packed house of 6,600; a smaller venue for him, I’m sure.  The crowd at Centre 200 was typically Canadian – polite and appreciative.  Don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of standing ovations and loud applause, but nothing too overt.  Elton was also appreciative – standing between songs and bowing to the different sections of the arena.
He was on stage for over two and half hours.  Just him and his piano.   He doesn’t just play his piano, he plays!!!!!!!  There were lots of long musical intros to songs where we saw his hands dance across the keys on the big screen.  On and on and on – my hands get tired after a couple of hours holding my camera, I can’t imagine his after a night on stage.
And the songs.  He played them all – some new, lots of oldies, and some I hadn’t heard before.   Rocket Man, Daniel, Candle in the Wind, Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me, Bennie and the Jets, Circle of Life, they were all in there.
While there was lots of singing and piano playing, there wasn’t a lot of conversation with the audience.   I expected more witty banter, but while he introduced a few songs with stories, some just a line or two, mostly he sang and played. 
As he introduced The Ballad of the Boy in Red Shoes, he spoke of the AIDS epidemic.  He spoke of his friend, Ryan White, who contracted the disease in the early 1980s through a blood transfusion.  He spoke of the US government’s lack of involvement in the disease up to that point.  “Fuck ‘em,” he said.   He reminded the audience of the local AIDS organization, AIDS Coalition of Cape Breton, and encouraged us to support it.
As he neared the end of the show, Elton talked about forgiveness and being kind to one another, of living together in peace.   Then he closed the show with Circle of Life and Can You Feel the Love Tonight?  We sure could feel the love, Elton – it was fantastic, I hope you could feel it from the audience, we loved it.
















...Kare
email:  karenk{at}eastlink.ca