We are about to sell our home which proved to be motivation to print the piece of art we’ve been meaning to print for months. This is a photo Jason took in July 2009 at my parent’s cabin at Green Lake. We go there for a week or two each summer to unplug from our life and recharge our souls. Now I can flop down on the couch for a few seconds and recharge just by looking at the photograph. Ahhhhh.
This year I felt minorly ambitious about the kids Valentine’s Day cards so we made our own. Lexi did a sponge stamp in a heart shape and then drew pictures on the back of hers. Xander made a body out of a felt heart sticker and glued googley eyes on a photo of himself. We had a discussion about the word googley because he didn’t realize it meant anything other than Google, the search engine. Kids these days, eh? When Xander got to his last card he said, “This one’s for Mrs. Born. I have to do my best printing!” He ended up writing “To Mrs Barn”. You can see it in the last picture.
Here are the fruits of their labours …
The 2010 Winter Olympics start tomorrow and I am looking forward to watching it on TV. There is something about people pushing themselves to achieve the impossible that is contagious. I always find I am inspired to push myself as an artist more after watching athletes at the peak of their career vie for Olympic medals. As a child, I loved watching the Olympics. Partly because I hardly ever watched TV so it was a treat, but also because it somehow made me feel validated for all the hours I spent practicing piano.
When the Olympic torch came through Abbotsford this week, we bundled up the kids, put on our Olympic mittens and participated in the historic event. It was a great evening. I have never seen so many people in one place in Abbotsford! The torch was carried into Rotary Stadium by Gerry Swan. Premier Glen Campbell, MP Ed Fast and Mayor George Perry made speeches. Plus there were performances by the West Coast Chamber Singers, Victoria Duffield and Aerial Dance + Acro Academy’s dancers as Hannah and the Inukshuks. However, the highlight of the evening for our kids was that each got their own can of Coke from the Coke tent. Here are a few pictures …
Phew! We just finished our annual website update. It gives us a great feeling of accomplishment to look back at our work and see so many favorite photographs in the same place. I’m feeling a little sappy after it all and want to tell you that we are incredibly privileged and blessed to do what we love. Behind every picture you see on the website there is a story. We are thankful to the hundreds of people who have shared a part of their life and story with us.
Be sure to check out several new galleries under the “features” section. We have added some quotes and a home decor section with sketches Jason drew overlayed with potential portrait displays for your home. Imagine coming home everyday to a beautiful art display of the people you love most.
The weather has been beautiful and after taking a break from shooting, we are ready to get back at it. I am starting to call people to set up Imagine Kids sessions and if you want to book a session for something else, please give us a call at 604-864-6339.
Here’s a sample from our home decor section …
Every year I comb through thousands of our personal pictures and choose about 20 to make into brag books for our parents. This year it took three evenings to make it through all of the somewhat disorganized personal folders to choose the best pictures. And I’m fast!
It’s a happy / sad thing to see how much the kids have grown up over the last 12 months. This year I was amazed to see how much happier Lexi got as the year went on. I think it has to do with how much more she can communicate now. Xander looks so much more grown up with his longer curls.
Click the picture below to see a slideshow of the album …
If you’re in Facebook, you’ll have to view the presentation here.
Merry Christmas!!!!
Yes. It’s photoshopped. We’re more talented with trick photography than we are with cirque arts.
The short version of how we did it is the card is four pictures combined. We photographed each person in our studio on a white background. We knew what we wanted the final card to look like so we did a couple poses for each person to give us some flexibility in case it didn’t work. Jason did the rest, including the beautiful sketch of the tree in photoshop. Fun times!!!
We don’t send out cards every year but here are a few of our past cards:
2007
2006
Here’s a card Jason designed for his family to send back to the Olde Country (England). It was his Mom’s great idea to colour coordinate with the red scarves. Keep it in mind if you’re wanting colourful cards for next year.
(Click to see final presentation complete with authentic period music)
We don’t write much about the why or how behind our photography. Most of the time it’s because we just don’t have time to and other times, it’s because it feels like we’d be tooting our own horn. I (Jason) decided to set up a personal project on my birthday a week ago for fun, some portfolio images and a way to get together and hang out with some other photographers. I will share some of the inspiration + process that guided the project.
The Idea:
I knew about the Power House at Stave Falls in Mission from an Abbotsford Photo Arts Club get together years ago - it really stuck in my mind as I know of no publicly accessible buildings around us that are like it. The era in which it was the building was completed (1912) informed the look that I wanted for some models. Online archives had many examples of images from the early 1900’s that I used as inspiration. The goal for the final images was to have them be reminiscent of early 1900’s portraits with a modern twist.
Clockwise, starting from left:
Kelsey (model), Chris (photographer), Lara (photographer), Mark + Elizabeth (photographers), Amber (model), Jenn (model), Mike (photographer), Me
Arrangements:
Setting everything up in two weeks was a challenge, but I managed to book three models, a hair stylist and a makeup artist, as well as 5 other photographers. We couldn’t find a wardrobe stylist so I took care of the clothing and accessories. Hair, makeup and clothing were based on original photographs from 1910-1930 that I found online.
The Shoot:
Lighting was done with a strobe light into my home made beauty dish, mostly up higher than the model and pointing down towards their faces. This was done with a slow shutter speed to slightly make the subject stand out from the environment. Sometimes a backlight was used to separate the subject from the background as well. I make sure the lighting and exposure is good in the camera before anything enters the computer - even though I knew I was going to be spending significant time working on the images later.
Final Images:
Many historic photographs that inspired the final images contained texture, were yellow toned with variation, and had a frame/mat of some sort. My post production includes these elements in some way. All the textures, toning and mats were all custom made - textures were from old baking pans (see below), the toning is a gradient map with variations in saturation, and the mat was developed in Illustrator and finished in Photoshop.
Here is the link to the slideshow. I was very happy with how the final images turned out and will be using the images for my portfolio on www.jasonbrown.ca.
Wanting to do something interesting for my birthday this year, I pulled together a gig with five local photographers, three gorgeous 1920’s style models, and a unique vintage industrial interior in Mission - the Power House at Stave Falls. It was a blast! There were a lot of images from the shoot, but for now here’s one image of each model as well as a closing group shot:
In above photo, clockwise, starting from left:
Kelsey (model), Chris (photographer), Lara (photographer), Mark + Elizabeth (photographers), Amber (model), Jenn (model), Mike (photographer), Me
Thanks to all who came and especially to Micaela (hair) and Danielle (makeup) - awesome styling!
Jason always looks forward to going on shooting sprees with other photographers and talking shop. He recently met up with a group in New West to play around with off camera flash.
The benefit of using a flash off camera is that it allows the photographer to isolate the subject by darkening the background. Jason is forever trying new things like below in the shot of the guy in front of the ivy - he put a red gel over the flash to turn the wall red. It gives it a whole different feel than if it was just an ivy wall in natural light.
If you’re into off camera flash, a website that we are inspired by is Strobist.
A few pics from his outing ..
