Men With Brooms

With apologies to Leslie Nielsen, I took up curling on the weekend! Not as a curler, of course, but with my camera, and this was my first venture on to a curling rink. The “roaring game” is a passion with many Canadians, and it is reasonably easy (and inexpensive) to play and have fun. Equipment is minimal, but the skill set required to curl well is quite significant. Navigating on a slippery ice surface, and being able to have a rock stop exactly where you want it to requires skill and lots of practice.

Our local club – the Carleton Place Curling Club - hosted a Curl For Cancer event – oops, Bonspiel - this past weekend, and I covered it, on assigment for the EMC. A single “end” in curling gives everyone the opportunity to “curl” a rock, and it looked like this part of the game would gve me the best shots. As a player releases the rock, there are a few seconds of wonderful reactions – smiles, frowns, joy, and disappointment.  I managed to get quite a few good shots by getting down low at the side of the rink and concentrating on the the rocks being relelased. Look at the intensity in the eyes of the gentleman in the burgundy jacket, and the disappointment on the face of the man in navy.

After a day of curling, dinner, and awards, the Canadian Cancer Society was the big winner, and that, of course, is the real point. Lots more photos on ZoomPhoto.

Another Pleasant Surprise

Last summer I told the story of how I did a photo shoot of some kids in a fashion show, and what a treat it was to get such great shots of kids enjoying themselves. The facial expressions, especially, are incredible, and tell such wonderful stories (my grandkids have also given me some great shots - but I expect that of them!).  So when I pointed may camera at a young lad at the Canadians hockey game tonight, I should have known there was a special treat in store.

Between the second and third periods of the Carleton Place Canadians hockey games, one of the kids in the crowd gets a chance to stand at the blue line with three pucks to see if he can get one in a small opening in a piece of plywood covering the net – if he does, he wins some nice prizes and gets to be a hero in front of a cheering crowd. This is usually going on as I am heading out of the arena, so I’ve been stopping behind the net and taking a couple of photos. Tonight’s contestant was particularly cute and determined, and also in a hurry to get the job done. I didn’t have much of a chance to set up or think about the shot - he was ready to go so I started shooting. The picture here is the best of a number of great ones – he has just released his last shot, under the watchful eye of Ryan Lowe of the Canadians, and the determination is evident in his face. Ryan also has his eyes fixed on the puck, and, if it was possible, they are both clearly “willing” the puck into the net!  The full set is on ZoomPhoto at the end of the game photos.

Senators in Town

Shean Donovan is a 15 year veteran of the National Hockey League, having played over 900 games with seven different teams, including the past three years with the Ottawa Senators. Shean grew up in Carleton Place, went to school here, and started his hockey career here.

Last Friday night (January 8), Shean was honored prior to the Junior A Canadians game. He took the time to mingle with the crowd, sign autographs, and pose for pictures. He was on the ice prior to the game, gave a short thank-you speech, and watched as a Senators jersey with his name was unvieled - the jersey is mounted on the end wall of the arena for all to see.

It was impressive to see a professional athlete give back to the community, without any of the “attitude” we see from so many pros. Thanks Shean - well done! Lots of additional pictures at ZoomPhoto.

The Studio is Open for Business

The point of all of the third floor renovations in our old house over the past year was to give us a home office and allow us to close down the expensive real estate we were renting in town. That project is pretty much complete now, and we decided that I could use our old TV room at the back of the house as a photography studio. It is just under 10 x 16, so it is not huge, but it will certainly satisfy my needs for the next little while. Of course, we were unable to resist a total renovation of the room, so we removed and replaced all the insulation, rebuilt the ceiling completely, and installed all new drywall. And, along the way, I rewired all the electrical, telephone, and network cabling. It is now freshly painted and has a new hardwood floor, and I have moved in.

I’ve set up a table at one end, for product photography. I take photos of all of Lorrie’s baking for her web site, and I started into stock photography last spring and I need to get back at that. The table comes off the wall easily if I need more room for portraits or anything. At the other end, I have a workstation with a large screen monitor, connected to my camera so I can control the camera while tethered to my pc. It is very cool to work that way.

So I think the renovations are done for a while. Back to work, now…