I had the opportunity to photograph this amazing Edmonton gospel group for Avenue Magazine. They are a gospel group dedicated to preserving the style of vocalizing and musicianship that Alberta's Black pioneers brought with them from the southern United States nearly a century ago.

It’s a pleasure to photograph portraits of such a dynamic group of people. Taking photographs of people with character is just a matter of pointing the camera in the right direction and letting them be themselves.

I was commissioned by the Globe and Mail earlier this month to take a portrait of Patrick Kabongo, an offensive lineman with the Edmonton Eskimos’ CFL football team. The story was about how much he volunteers and gives back to his community. Patrick is a 6-foot-6, 315 pound small C celebrity here in our northern city. Fans love him because of how he plays on the field but he’s also known for his personality. Every time I’ve seen him he usually sports a huge smile or a great laugh. But, he seemed almost serene in every photo I took of him.

Patrick and his family fled the African city of Kinshasa in 1982 when the Zaire government was battling rebel forces in a bloody conflict. He came to Canada and grew up in Montreal and got started in football through an organization that runs sports programs for underserved children. He ended up playing at Vanier College and then to Nebraska University. Sometimes we forget that these athletes playing in our CFL are all top ranked football players coming from prestigious US football schools.

The Technical Stuff: This portrait involved three lighting scenarios. I used my Nikon D700 with a 50mm f/1.4 for the blue photo and a Nikon D300 and the 17-55mm lens for the other two. The first photo is obvious, with two Nikon speed lights with white shoot thru umbrellas on either side. I also use a Honl 1/8 grid on a Nikon SB900 for very focused lighting on his face (for both lit photos). In the third photo I put the speed lights behind him. BTW, that’s the roof he’s holding on to.

     

Meet Marie, Earl and Abenezer (age 22). Earl is from Toronto and has run into some bad luck but he’s described as working homeless. He is trying to make ends meet and save enough to be able to find a home. Marie is from the Yukon. Abenezer has been in Canada for five years and has been living on the streets for the last four years.

If you have any winter clothing lying around in your storage, please donate them to a local charity. Or even better, why not make a donation in honour of a friend or family for Christmas.

The Technical Stuff: These photos were shot with a Nikon D700, ISO 2500, with a 50mm lens at F1.4 (which is why you get that beautiful shallow depth of field). The catch lights in their eyes show up because I made sure that a brighter part of the sky (deep blue) was behind me and they would have to face that way.

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.

Ok, so the car is not a GTO but it made for a nice title.
April 22, 2009 - Driver Erica Thiering, Alberta Champion (for her age class,
she's 17) stock car racer, poses for a photo at her family's home.

I had to do a portrait of a local teen race car driver out on the family farm. It would of been nice to shoot on a race track, but like in many cases I'm left to the mercy of the assignment editor (in rare cases you have an assignment editor that is a photo editor) and the time schedule of the subject. I knew I wanted to create a dramatic image but also thought about other racing photos I've seen of winning drivers – driver on hood of car.

The Technical Stuff: A storm was coming in so I had to be quick. On the positive side, the storm brought with it some great dramatic looking clouds. I used two SB900 speedlights. One was shot through a white umbrella (to provide a softer light) and pointed at Erica. The other was used as fill for the car. The speedlight in the umbrella was gelled with a CTO (colour temperature orange) and then I set the white balance on my Nikon D700 to tungsten light. The white balance setting made the ambient light (which I stopped down to darken) very blue while the CTO gelled light brought back the warmth to her face.

Sometimes the simplest photos are the most interesting. When I shoot
portraits, I try to reveal some characteristic about the person. This can be
done with the environment, maybe a prop, or signage (snore). But, if you can
reveal the essence of the person just by their posture, the look in their
eyes, or just the way they are holding their hands – that's magical.

Edmonton - July 2, 2009 - Photo Illustration from Sam and Tin's engagement photo session
at South Edmonton Common Theatres. PHOTO BY JIMMY JEONG

This photo illustration was actually inspired by a post I read on Strobist. (Hey, there's
no original ideas left. Only our own take on it.) The couple wanted to shoot
a portrait session in the movie theatre but we added a twist.

For me, photos should tell a story, or a least start a conversation with the
viewer. I find that with a lot of jobs you have to be pretty quick to find a
way to tell the story. This is usually the case for editorial jobs. But some
of the bigger magazines or commercial jobs will have some great art
directors to bounce ideas with. The worst is when you have a writer tell you
exactly what to shoot, ­ this just cuts off the creative process.

The Technical Stuff: This type of shot is actually pretty easy to do. It involves taking multiple photos and then just putting them together in Photoshop. The camera was placed on a tripod and then I just went around with the couple lighting them with a Nikon SB 900 speedlight in a small softbox. The camera was triggered with a Pocket Wizard remote (to prevent camera shake from someone pressing the shutter), which in turn triggered the light.

BTW, I call this a Photo Illustration because Photoshop was used (beyone the simple dodging, levels, sharpen tools) to create the final image. Faking images to trick people is not very cool. Hey, I'm an editorial photog at heart so I can't risk losing the trust of readers.

   

Professor Christopher Mackay poses for a photo at the University of Alberta
in Edmonton, Alberta on Friday, July 31, 2009. Professor Christopher Mackay
is the author of a new english translation of the "malleus maleficarum," the
definitive medieval guide to identifying witches and witchcraft. PHOTOS BY
JIMMY JEONG FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

If you need a dose of eccentric and interesting people, your local campus is where you will find them. I really wish I had a chance to go for a cognac with Professor Mackay. Seriously, who still wears a watch and chain. I wish I could pull that off.

The Technical Stuff: So to shoot this photo, I used one speedlight with a Honl Speed Grid (1/8 Grid) and then used the ambient light in both of these photos. The Speed Grid is great because it really focuses the light with no spill. I probably underexposed about 2 stops to make the ambient seem darker and then lit just parts of his face with a my off camera Nikon SB900 hooked up to a Pocket Wizard remote trigger just to the left and slighly above his face. Because there were really no props to be had (he didn't have any hidden witches lying around) I wanted to create a sense of tension and mystery just with light.