I was commissioned last week by the Globe and Mail to take a portrait of the Albert premier. They had slotted a time for myself and the reporter from 3:30 to 4pm. So basically, a half-an-hour for the interview and the portrait. Which usually means 5 min or less for the portrait. That’s problem one.

So, as I was doing my research on photos of past premiers and politicians one thing I didn’t want to do was the stand-by photo of the Premier behind his desk flanked by the Canadian flag and the Alberta flag. Boring and it usually doesn’t add anything to the story. I’m sure the story will mention that he is the premier of Alberta or else it will be obvious. So why take the obvious and redundant photo. Problem two – how not to take another redundant photo.

The day before the interview and portrait was supposed to be done, I called the Premier’s press secretary, Tom Olsen, and explained what I wanted to do. Or more specifically, what I didn’t want to do. He said that he couldn’t promise anything but to call him the next morning. I did. And I showed up around 10am at the Legislature at Tom’s office.

I was told that the Premier had a busy day, including Question Period. I replied that I was willing to wait for an opening. I waited. And waited. Then I got about six minutes with the Premier and his staff as they prepped for Question Period. Then I waited some more. And then I got about 3 minutes with the Premier and his chief of staff. Then I waited some more.

3:30 came rolling around and I went in with the reporter. And I waited as she finished her time. Then it was my turn. It was past four and already getting dark so I asked if I could turn off all the lights in his office so that the tungsten lights wouldn’t mix with the window light. And in about 38 seconds total, I took this photo.

Maybe I really didn’t need more than 5 minutes to take a portrait. Maybe I didn’t have to spend the day to take a 5-minute portrait. But, if I didn’t spend the time preparing I probably wouldn't be in a dark room with the Premier of Alberta.

The Technical Stuff: Keeping It Simple. I shot the whole day with a Nikon D700 and a 50 F1.4 lens.

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The idea behind Movember is to raise awareness about prostate cancer. http://bit.ly/rerf

So, this is the second year I've photographed this event and Edmonton has really upped their game. I'm seriously amazed at how much effort went into some of these. There were some great costumes and really great spirited people. 

The Techincal stuff: So this year I tried to up my game too. I was using a Rayflash (pseudo ring flash) and a second flash (SB800) which I held on a monopod and put up and off to the left for my portraits. BTW, I was hired by Getty Images out of their Australia office to shoot this. Quite the shot list too. 40 images fully captioned and handed to the client by the end of the night. Try working on editing photos while three burly lumberjacks are doing the boogie up against you.

                       

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Hi everyone, so here are some of the portraits we took before picking up Mark Olsen from the airport. It is too bad that we didn't have time to photograph all the super wonderful costumes that Shelly hand made. Check back later this weekend for the exciting conclusion of ... The Super Long Wait At the Airport.

           

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Boxing is pretty popular in our small city. It always has. I was at this
event last night for our city daily, The Edmonton Journal, and sent the
first photo along with four others for the night.

But when I was looking through all my missed and blurry shots, I got to say
that the graphic designer in me was really drawn to some of the out of focus
shots. They seem kind of cinematic and story-telling.

The Technical Stuff: Shot at ISO2000 at 1/800sec, f2.8, using a Nikon D700
and 70-200mm lens. For boxing I'll take a chance and focus on one person
that I think will be the punching bag. And then I shoot, shoot, shoot. And
no, I can't seem to anticipate the shot. I basically cross my fingers. I
find that keeping both eyes open helps a lot. Except when blood or sweat
starts flying at me. Yuck.

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If you look carefully at everyone in this photo, especially their eyes, this
photo looks staged. That's because it is. This is what the PMO's office
calls a photo op. No reporters are allowed just TV and still photographers.
Come on. Is it that hard for politicians to take that extra time to go on a
real tour of the plant. Maybe all photo captions should say, "This is a
staged event."

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BACKGROUNDER: A man with a rifle took hostages at the Workers' Compensation
Board in Edmonton.

Here are some of the photos I was filing throughout the day.

                   

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Hockey, hockey and more hockey. That pretty sums up the next 7 months here
in Edmonton. I enjoy shooting it (maybe not as much as football) but I think
what I really enjoy is getting a chance to meet up with several other
photographers and shoot the shit before every game. The Sun will usually
send one photographer, the Journal will send two, one photog from Reuters,
one from Getty (sometimes I'll shoot for them), and then either myself or my
colleague will shoot for Canadian Press. Oh, and the Oilers have two
photographers. So, that's quite a few shooters.

It's interesting to hear some of the veteran photographers talk about
shooting in the Gretzky era. The excitement of multiple Cup finals and
knowing that you are covering something important in Sports history. I'm
sure that is what it's like right now shooting the Penguins or Capitals.
Those photos will live on.

The Technical Stuff: Shot with a Nikon D700 (and grip to get 8 frames a
second), 400mm lens for shooting from a high position, 300mm lens and
70-200mm lens when shooting from down low through a hole. All shot at ISO
2500 and 1/800 sec shutter. The ice level position I try to shoot from is
called the suicide hole. It looks straight up the ice so that you can cover
almost the whole ice surface. Longer lens for shooting opposite net. Of
course you risk getting a puck in your face. Or worse, one in your lens.

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