This I spent assisting Jason Ryant at the UBC Boathouse in Richmond. It’s a venue I haven’t been to before and the view is amazing. The ceremony was held on the docks and had a excellent backdrop of the Fraser River.
One of the interesting things about this wedding was that everything was either homemade or locally sourced. The food was amazing and all the details were immaculate.
All that being said the UBC Boathouse provided a great place to come to after to enjoy all the wonderful food that had been prepared by families of the bride and groom.
Alright so I’ve been writing for a while now and somehow I have missed mentioning Adam and Kev. They are an amazing Photography pair that I contract for every once in a while and more often than not. I wear a whole bunch of hats for them including first assistant, retoucher, digital tech but most frequently caucasian C-stand. If you don’t have a decent headshot talk to these guys, they will set. you. up.
Little bit of backstory, I met Kev in early 2009 while I was on practicum with Bryan Ward (Warning: Adult Content) as Kev was Bryan’s old assistant. Later on that year Adam and Kev hosted an Assisting Workshop for my class at Studio 304 (reasonable rates, great location) where we exchanged handshakes and the like. Later that year, before I went traveling through Europe they asked to meet with me to talk about a potential contract position with them. I was ticked I had this whole Europe trip and this AWESOME opportunity came up. Luckily they were considering starting it in January, joy! When I got back from Europe they had me come in and see their retouching process and now send their clients files to me through and FTP server and I have them back within 5 business days. Perfect work for me as it fits my schedule as I can retouch at 3pm or 3am, you can’t pay for that kind of job flexibility. When a big shoot comes up, like when they shut down Holt Renfrew till 1am in the morning to do an album cover for Aliqua they give me a shout and have me come and assist. Possibly the best working relationship to date.
Working with Adam and Kev over the last couple months has been great and when I walk into the studio I know I’m going to have a good laugh, even if it’s at my expense. Thanks boys and here’s to the future !
So if you've been following this blog for the last little bit you'll know I spend most of my assisting time working with Ed White. One thing I haven't touched on too heavily is the actual process we go through when lighting a room. Most Architect's do not design rooms with photographers in mind, some rooms we walk into the lighting is perfect...some rooms you walk into and you wantto cross off the floor plan to walk right back out of.
One tool that we use are "cans". Cans are basically a household lighting fixture with a clamp on one end, you can use them as bare bulb or attach a reflector as seen in the image below. Kick them up high on a light stand and they mimic the warm glow from a pot light, you can see the difference in feel they give the shot below. More often than not, we try and hide them behind pillars to make the post-production easier, sometimes we have to leave them straight out in the middle of the room and piece together two shots.
So if the next time you look at a shot and wonder how they achieve that look or lighting magic, think of the almighty can and its disappearing act.
