Trick or Treat?

Trick or Treat?, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

I just wanted to wish you all a Happy Halloween.

I won't be dressing up but I will be experiencing a true North American Holiday which should be a lot of fun.

Animal Activity

Animal Activity, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

On Wednesday night we ventured through the cold to go see Paranormal Activity at our local Empire Theatre. Since the hype online many weeks ago we have been eagerly awaiting this movie to come to Halifax, I even went to their website and joined in the polls to request it come to a city near you (clever marketing).

For those of you who are unaware of the plot its basically about a couples struggle to try and document what seems to be a haunting in their own home. All the footage is by a hand held camera and has some premise that it is a true story similar to how Blair Witch was introduced to us.

The movie itself was very minimal, we would get dialogue from the suffering couple trying to find out what is going on in their house and at night the camera is placed on a tripod in their bedroom to watch what happens while they are asleep. Most of the sequences at night only amount to bumps and noises, doors moving and lights turning on but these create a wonderfully creepy build of tension.

I won't go into details but Paranormal Activity was fun but it fails on one major level and that having a cliche horror Hollywood ending. After the movie I read that the director had shot a number of different endings but the one that was released was heavily influenced by Steven Spielberg no less. The movie had managed to tell a story without being too obvious, the audience was left to decide what was going on and to discuss what they saw or didn't due to the poor quality of the camera.

The ending basically ruined the whole film for us because after such an increase in tension it felt like it was rushed to get to a simple conclusion.

Paranormal Activity works because when you think about it sitting at home you start to become aware of all the small noises a building can make. the cinema setting was crowded and noisy, chatty scared girls, cell phones that weren't switched off and rustling popcorn bags ruined this movie for us because the movie requires silence so you hear every subtlety.

If I was to recommend it to people I would say wait for DVD, curl up on the sofa and turn the lights off and scare yourself silly because I think it only works if you are experiencing it in your own home. This is a place that is supposed to be safe, your own private fortress, and what better thing to penetrate that than something otherworldly?

The Simple Life

The Simple Life, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

It never gets old seeing little Frannie as she collects nuts for the winter. She has become such a character with no fear as she climbs and jumps all over us looking for her bounty. Her personality shines through and I would like to think there is a bond between her and Chris, she appears to be very loving and intelligent.

I took this video as Chris shot his latest image which you can see on Flickr. This marks probably our last interaction with Frannie until next spring so watching it I have mixed emotions. Who would have thought one so small could entertain so many.

Wanna Dance?

Wanna Dance?, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

A couple of weeks ago I received a message on Facebook from an old friend from college called Natasha referencing my recent 'Other Worlds' work on Flickr. Her boyfriend Chris had seen them over her shoulder and was pretty impressed and then continued to badger her about asking me to work my magic on him. When she told me this I happily responded as I do to people who show an interest and let them know that all I require is a self portrait shot against a blank background.

Not long after that I got an email with a shirtless picture of Chris in a strange pose, it was then disclosed that he wanted to be turned into Wolverine from the X-men comic series. Yesterday I started to tackle the picture which didn't take long at all with only a few minor finishing touches needed today before uploading it online.

I have yet to hear from either of them if they approve but I am sure Chris will be happy with his new physique :)

Thundercats HO!!!!!!!!

Currently enjoying photographing my friends retro toy collection. Many of these action figures I had myself as a child and wished I still did. Unfortunately sometime in my early teens i accompanied my mum to a local car boot sale where she had a stall for the local club she was a member of. I saw all the people there making money and thought to myself maybe I could earn a little something as well. So the following week I decided to sell all my toys (something I now regret).

Lion-O, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

I was lucky to accumulate a large collection of toys from certain series like He-Man and Thundercats so my little folding table was crammed with colourful little figures, weapons and accessories.

I recall a man circling my stand with a suitcase until he finally came up and said "How much for the lot?". I looked over the array of different collections trying to put a price on them because until now they had been priceless to me. "Fifty pounds" I stuttered "Done!" the man said, handed me the cash and threw my childhood into his suitcase and walked off.

There had been no time to process what had happened and for the moment I was overjoyed, thinking about how I was going to spend the money. It wasn't until I got home and reality sunk in that nearly all my fond memories of playing had been exchanged for such a measly price. The man was clearly a dealer and would make three times as much on my immaculate collection. I think it was that moment that defined the value I have on personal possessions and probably why I try to collect toys at any given moment.

As an adult I am always on the look out for new and exciting action figures, but now my excuse is for photography. It gives the object another purpose, almost making it into a new art form. When you look at my 'Retro Plastic' collection or the 'Transformers Animated' series they bring memories to the viewer of a time that have forgotten. Its for that reason alone I love doing what I do.

You can find awesome retro Thundercats T-Shirts

at Tees for all

Teefury - ONE DAY ONLY (Oct 2nd)

Hi everybody

First of all sorry for the spamming if you already heard, but Chris (powerpig on Flickr) has one of his awesome T-Shirts (concept by me) on Teefury.com for ONE DAY ONLY!!

The shirts are only $9 each of which he only receives $1 so please please take a look and hopefully buy one or two for you and your friends.

Thanks for your time, its nice to see him being recognised for his hard work and talents.

Wedding Bells

Just over 2 weeks ago I did my first major wedding shoot for a friends cousin. I had never met Jeff & Megan until the day itself which made me extremely nervous because I know how important it can be and the fear of ruining someones special day never left my mind. The wedding itself was a small affair of about 150 guests situated in an apple orchard in the north valley of Nova Scotia.

Everyone made me feel very welcome and I was treated like a guest with a place at a table and a meal from the buffet. The day was long, shooting for at least 6 hours, and my legs and back ached due to the constant crouching to get the right angles. I left the event feeling positive as I had glimpsed at a few shots before packing my kit away.

Megan & Jeff, originally uploaded by Fanboy30.

All that was left to do was edit down the 1000 shots to 200 and process them, a task that I only just finished today (hence the blog post). People forget just how much work is involved to make a perfect image, no matter what they tell you, 99% of the time it never comes straight out of the camera.

I use a couple of processing techniques in Photoshop incorporating layers and colour treatments to saturate and highlight the important parts of an image. Luckily most of the photos required the same minor tweaks and patch ups because they were shot in the same lighting conditions. All in all I am happy with the results, I posted a few on Facebook so Jeff and Megan could get a glimpse of what was to come, I heard good things back from them so that put my mind at rest.

Its hard to say that this is an area of photography I want to do often but it sure can pay the bills.