August 13, 2010

Sailin' (T.O)


A few pictures from earlier in the week.


And a portrait of John who was driving me around to shoot the sail boats.

August 12, 2010

"Where are his feet?" (T.O)


Tennis is in town. I don't feel like blabbing about how to shoot it; there's a thousand ways to do it, and to quote a mentor of mine: "You'd have to suck not to get "something" out of three hours of hitting the yellow ball". (Though it is a little more subtle than that)

But I thought I'd share a little bit about the importance of feedback.

Feedback is invaluable. Having experienced shooters helping you out and telling you how you could have done this or that better, is the best way to improve.

Upon coming back with what was probably the best "jubo" picture of Rafael Nadal; a colleague and mentor immediately said : "Where are his feet?". Referring to what he saw on TV (from the media room); Nadal jumped at that moment upon winning a very long set, and my tighter picture didn't show it.

Now this picture is still good enough; and he could have simply said "good job", but by telling me how it could have been better; you can bet your ass off next time around, in that situation, I'll be shooting loose and will have the full body.

And that's how you learn, and that's how you get better...

August 02, 2010

Caribana 2010 (T.O)


The biggest Caribbean parade in North America. Organizers claim there are more than a million people participating and attending, which is a major overstatement but everybody seems to benefit from the juiced up numbers (and reporters can't be bothered to venture an accurate estimate and call them on the lie).

Even if the actual figure is far less than half what they claim; there is a lot of - sweaty, horny, festive - people.

I tend to get migraines from the mix of loud music and big crowds; which is why I never look forward to covering these events. If it wasn't for my job, I'd never get anywhere near these things.

But as I've said before, the variety of assignments makes Toronto such a great city to work in, so it's with eagerness and good earplugs that I tackled this year's Caribana Parade.

Good pictures are easy to make; great pictures are very rare. It is what it is, costumes are colourful, people are dancing, "like shooting fish in a barrel" my colleague Andrew said. But good moments - the photojournalistic sense of the word - are rarely encountered because the event lasts all day and is spread all over the four-kilometre route.

I (unsuccessfully) headed out looking for great pictures (I always keep an eye open for the zinger.) It didn't happen this time around - it almost never does - but here are a few of the good - not great - photos from that day.

This was last year's post