Today Rosa and I went to the 2011 Capital Pride Parade. This was the 25th year for the parade. It was our first time. I’ve attended the post-parade event at City Hall in the past with friends.
We were not sure about the weather as Ottawa was about to feel the effects of distant Hurricane Irene. The clouds were building and rain was in the forecast. We viewed the parade from Bank and Laurier. There was a viewing area blocked off.
Capital Pride
The parade was much longer than I was expecting – it lasted about 45 to 60 minutes. There were floats and vehicles from all over – city, provincial, and federal governments, school board, firefighters, police and ambulance services, the universities, groups and clubs, sports teams and so forth. Mayor Jim Watson started off the parade, following immediately behind Ms. & Mr. Capital Pride.
It was a warm atmosphere (unlike the actual weather) – everyone was clapping, yelling encouragements and shouting, “Happy Pride Day! We are so happy for you!”
The weather held off until the parade finished and it started to rain as soon as the parade finished as we were walking back to the car. The reports about the event indicate that it had record crowds this year – 50,000.
We met a parking lot near the Mackenzie King Estate. There were three models and about ten photographers. We split into groups of two or three photographers and a model. I joined one photographer, Steven, and our model for the morning was Tania. We started with some simple posing in a clearing, and learning to use Steve’s huge reflector/diffuser.
After about 30 minutes, Denis gathered us together and went through some of his own images on his iPad, and talked about the use of social media. Seeing the photos on his iPad made me want to buy an iPad on the way home. After the discussion, we broke into the groups again.
Tania changed into one of her outfits. The three of us went up the nearby steps and on to a forest path and started shooting. Tania is great to work with. She is beautiful and fun to work with.
I noticed a stone bench a short way off the path, so we tried that for a while. Tania changed outfits again. We used Steve’s huge reflector to bounce a sun beam into the scene. It was meant to fill the shadows. Visually it looked great, even on the back of my camera. However when I downloaded all the photos to my computer this evening, I could see that it was too strong – it created upward facing shadows that looked unnatural. We should have used a feathering – bouncing the light so that only the edge of it is reflected at the model. This would reduce the harshness of the light.
For lunch, we walked up to the MacKenzie King Estate. I brought a lunch of cold pizza (my favourite). Others bought hot dogs from the BBQ there.
Model Jennifer
After lunch Steve and I joined Jennifer, our next model. We were working areas along another path, including a huge fallen tree and a stream. As with the morning, we were using Steve’s 6-foot bounce, but this time we also tried to use it as a diffuser panel holding it high in the air above our head to soften the early afternoon sunlight on Jennifer. It was hard to hold it up for very long.
Looking at the photos of Jennifer, we were much better at feathering the light in the afternoon. The light we created was more balanced.
I need to work on my posing the models and visualizing what I want. I had hoped to learn about that during this workshop, but I was actually stressed and unsure what to ask for.
I will take more workshops in the future.
I also felt that my nervousness was being reflected from the models. I’m sure I had a terrified look on my face, even hidden behind the camera. I don’t yet have the confidence I need. And I continue to find my style. Looking at the selects from the day, my favourites were the close-up head shots. If those are the ones that turned out the best and those are the ones I like the most, then I should continue to refine and explore that realm of portraiture.
My photo taken for Les Petits Ballets is now on display around the city on the Capital Events poster. I’m really thrilled about it.
I’m also so happy for Rosa. She’s playing Miss Minchin in A Little Princess. It’s her first named role in a ballet. In the past she’s only been allowed to be corps de ballet as the school preferred to highlight the younger students. The ballet is May 28, 2011 at Centrepointe Theatre.
Two years ago I joined the RA Photo Club. The Nortel Networks Photo Club was decimated from the cuts at Nortel and the company was headed for bankruptcy protection; there were very few people still attending the meetings. I wanted to see what the other clubs were like.
I also joined the Studio group, which allows me to have access to the club’s studio. I took the mandatory training session. I had also taken two studio courses with Lawrence Cook at the School of Photographic Arts Ottawa (SPAO) a few years ago.
But I never followed these opportunities up with my own studio sessions to practice.
I often fell into the mental trap of being afraid of not being successful.
Rosa and I talked about this and she, being more adventurous than I, pushed to have a studio session this weekend. So I booked a 6-hour session at the studio and we went in.
We treated it like a simple fashion shoot. Rosa brought about 10 complete outfits, including shoes.
For the high-key photos, I set up a large soft box at camera right, and raised it as high as I could – the ceiling was quite low. Put another, smaller soft box with a grid at camera left. Rosa stood on the seamless white backdrop (or cyclorama).
High-key setupRosa - high-key lighting example
For the low-key, I used a thin vertical softbox at camera left. Because of the height, I was not able to raise it very high, so it was just above eye-height. Rosa stood on a black seamless backdrop. I learned from an earlier course that you can introduce colour into the background if I use a gel on a spotlight pointed at the background. This is what I was attempting to do for the Les Petits Ballets photos. So in this case, I used red and blue gels on a strobe that was fitted with a grid. This is used also to separate the model from the background.
Low-key with coloured backdropRosa portrait - low-key lighting example
For a few shots, I turned the grid strobe around to point at Rosa from behind. I was intending to use it to outline her, like a rim light. I also lowered the output level, as I only wanted enough to light her shoulder and hair. I wasn’t satisfied with the results, so I will need to try again in our next session next month.
Today I continued my monthly museum visits with my first visit to the new Canadian War Museum.
I had been to the older museum about a decade ago. The new building, which opened in 2005, is much nicer with more room for exhibits.
LeBreton Gallery
First, I took the ramp down to the LeBreton Gallery (the main display floor). The ramp is lined with huge paintings, but they are mounted so high up on the wall it distances the viewer from the works. I think the paintings should be lower and closer to the viewer so that they may be more engaged.
The LeBreton Gallery contains a large collection of military vehicles and other large hardware. It was focused more on the army; there was only a single plane and a few naval guns. There were dozens of vehicles. The main museum for aviation would be the Canadian Aviation and Science Museum, and the Navy is well represented by the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax.
Of interest to me was the 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft naval guns. They were ubiquitous during the later stages of war in the Pacific. They were mounted en-mass on every naval ship. They were complemented by the smaller, close range 20mm singles. They were key to dealing with the ship protection until the introduction of the kamikaze threat in the later stages of the war required the new 3″ anti-aircraft gun.
A CF-101 Voodoo was mounted high in the ceiling, as if flying over the battlefield.
Also on display in the LeBreton Gallery were a jumble of smaller vehicles, including motorcycles, snowmobiles, ambulances, artillery and so forth.
Next, I went upstairs to the exhibits. The layout was a little confusing; I had to use a map to find out where I should go.
The history of military in Canada starts long before Canada was a country. Before the Europeans arrived, tribes of First Nations would wage war against each other. Forts were built using wood an other available natural resources.
Canadian troops participated, as part of the British Empire, in some of the African campaigns of the British at the turn of the 20th century.
Medals of Billy Bishop, Canadian WWI Ace
Canada was first forged as a nation on the battlefields and trenches of World War I. Though a country with a small population, Canada contributed to the eventual success in the Western Front through gallantry and the use of new tactics.
The Second Battles of Ypres, where the Canadian troops were gassed by the Germans), was the first time a former colonial force pushed back a major European power, in this case the Germans. The Third Battle of Ypres ended when Canadian Troops captured Passchendaele. In the Battle of Sommes, the 1st Newfoundland Regiment was almost entirely wiped out in a single attempt to advance to the next line of Allied trenches. This was indicative of the murderous attrition rate of trench warfare.
At the Battle of Vimy Ridge, where “all four four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force participated in a battle together, and thus became a Canadian nationalistic symbol of achievement and sacrifice”. Tactically, it was a brilliant victory for the Canadians. Using a rolling artillery barrage to keep the Germans undercover in their trenches, the Canadians were able to advance to their objectives without coming under attack from the withering machine gun fire.
Canada entered World War II in September 1939. Canada was a location for the training of troops, a strategic location for the transatlantic convoys, and a major military force for the liberation of Europe. In the World War II exhibit, the museum had a Spitfire flying overhead and Hitler’s 1933 Mercedes-Benz 700k staff car.
After the war, Canada was on the front lines of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. The Canadian Navy excelled in anti-submarine warfare and was a member of STANAVFORLANT, a NATO task force. Canada was between the two superpowers. Any nuclear war would see Canada stuck in the middle. The most important part of this history was the creation and later cancellation of the Avro CF-105 Arrow (the most advanced interceptor of the time) and the subsequent purchase of nuclear tipped BOMARC missiles for Canadian airspace protection (as part of the larger NORAD organization).
Soviet T-72 main battle tank
This part of the exhibition had a Soviet T-72MBT and a MGR-1 Honest John short-range missile.
The final exhibit was Canada as peacekeeper. I am justly proud of the Canadian peacekeeping missions. We have earned our reputation in conflict zones in the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean. If I were in a position to influence the future direction of the Canadian military, it would be to expand the peacekeeping missions and sovereign territory protection (cough, the Arctic Ocean, cough), at the expense of large-scale offensive military actions (i.e. NATO).
I had only a few minutes at the end of my visit to walk (nearly run) through the extensive art gallery. I really enjoyed seeing the wealth and variety of art pieces on display, which cover all the major combat areas and conflicts, up to and including the current mission in Afghanistan and our on-going peacekeeping missions. The museum closed as I was in the gallery section.
Overall, it was good to go through the museum, but I don’t know that there is much to draw me back for return visits.
Interesting research notes: Canada has the 13th largest defence budget ($21.8 billion Cdn), and 58th largest in terms of personnel (67,000).
Instead of shooting in the classrooms (which are very cluttered visually), we used the rehearsal studio. It is about the same size, but it is set up like a theatre with a black velvet background. It is a better location than the studio.
I also wanted to use the off-camera flash and coloured gels. Rosa and I had experimented at home one evening in December, and I wanted to try again. Specifically, I wanted to put some colour into the background to make the group of girls standout.
Including Rosa, who is playing Ms. Minchin, there were four girls. The choreographer posed the girls, and I would take a number of shots. The dancers tried six different poses.
The Canon 7D has a wireless flash controller built-in, using the on-camera flash. This means that when using the Canon 420EX off camera, it must have line-of-sight to the camera to receive the data.
I put the 420EX on a stand on the floor behind the girls. It was pointed at the black backdrop with the wireless receiver pointed back at me. I used a green gel (Honl) over the flash to ‘break-out’ the dancers from the background.
Because of the limitation of requiring line-of-sight, there were times the flash did not fire. The outfits of the dancers would block the communications. The ideal solution would be to use an RF (radio) controller that would not require line-of-sight.
Because the on-camera flash is used to trigger the remote off-camera flash, this meant that for some shots, I had to fix the red-eye in Aperture. This also could be reduced with an RF controller.
When using the flash, I try to take a set of two photos as quickly as possible. I know that the first photo will trigger all the flashes. When the second photo is taken, the flash has not had enough time to recycle and so I will get the second photo without flash and without needed to manually go turn the flash off. Having photos with and without flash allows me to pick the one that I feel is better. Sometimes the flash will overpower the exposure, and can produce harsh shadows; the nature light exposure might be better. Other times the flash is needed to correctly expose the image.
The photos taken will be used in promotion for the performance (Centrepointe Theatre, May 2011) and for the school in general. In the past, some of my other photos were used for the Capital Events poster and local newspapers.
On the flight to Madrid, while flying into the sunrise, I noticed this triangular dark area on the horizon. In my sleep-deprived state, it took me a few seconds before I realized it was the shadow of the Earth.
This shadow extends out hundreds of thousands of kilometres into space, out past the orbit of the Moon. If the shadow intersects with the full moon, we see a lunar eclipse.
The act of exploring and understanding the world and universe are such an incredible joy for me.
