Olympic Torch in Kitchener

Last night and again this morning, Ryan and I had the opportunity to witness the Olympic Flame for the first time in 22 years.

The last time we saw it in person was during the 1988 Calgary Olympic Torch Relay. I was out in Eastern Ontario (where I grew up) and Ryan was in Cambridge. We spotted a couple of 1988 torch bearers at last night’s festivities.

We first spotted the torch on its way down Duke Street, again over on King and then went to the event at City Hall where there were musical performances celebrating the temporary home of the flame for the night.

This morning, we got up early to see the torch off with the sights and sounds of Aboriginal drums, singing, and dancing.

 

The torch was then lit again and it took off out of town. I ran alongside of it for 1km, taking in the experience.

It was a great sight to see and I’m happy that I was able to see this wonderful symbol not once, but twice. Hopefully, it will come around again in my lifetime.

‘Tis the Season – Christkindl Market

This past Thursday evening was the opening ceremonies of the 13th annual Christkindl Market at Kitchener City Hall. The festival lasts 4 days and is running until this Sunday (tomorrow) at 5pm.

Ryan and I have made an annual tradition of going to the opening ceremonies, which begins with a candle-lit processional from Victoria Park to City Hall with the Grand Philharmonic Choir. After the choir sings, the narration is read, and the tree is lit, we explore the German Christmas festival. Vendors sell crafts, food, toys and more in the indoor market, while outdoor vendors supply the festive crowds with meats, cheeses, waffles, and even some spirits.

 

Although there was no snow, the festive cheer was abundant.
Frohe Weihnachten!

Christmas Portraits

Shoot the Thrill Photography is offering Christmas portraits at the location of your choice for the special price of $50 plus PST.

Half hour sessions can be scheduled from now until the 12th of December. Your session includes the photographer’s time and talent as well as your digital files on a disc. We will provide you with the rights to print and share your photos for personal use.

Shoot the Thrill is also available to design your cards for an additional cost. Contact us by e-mail to request further details or to book your session.

Cedarstone Farm Schooling Shows

Ryan and I (Shoot the Thrill Photography) had the pleasure to photograph both schooling shows at Cedarstone Farm this year.

The June 20th show was a wet one. It was heavily in the morning on our drive up to Durham and continued to be wet for most of the day. The riders and horses were ready; the show must go on.

 

The Fall Schooling Show on September 19th turned out to be a wonderfully sunny day. It was another successful show and a good day for all.

 

To view more photos from these 2 events or to order prints, please click on one of the photos above.

Bride's Ball

On June 20th, The Wedding Ring hosted a Bride's Ball at Elements Night Club with the proceeds of the event going to breast cancer screening at Grand River Hospital.

The club looked fantastic; there was wonderful food, yummy cupcakes, pink drinks, and lots of dancing to be had. I went to the ball with my husband and one of our maids of honour. A great time was had by all and I am definitely looking forward to next year's ball.

Family Portrait: The Stoffers

These photos were taken a few months ago, but I was waiting to post them as some of them were potentially going to be a surprise father’s day gift. Now that father’s day has been and gone… here are a few of my photos of the Stoffers family!

Family Portrait: The Wards

Easter weekend was an excellent opportunity for some family portraits. Today, I am posting photos of the my sister and her two kids: the Ward Family.

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The photos were taken at my parents’ house both on the front porch and in the yard. The weather was a little chilly, but at least it wasn’t raining. As far as I know, a good time was had by all.

New Web Site

After many hours of slaving over a laptop, the new Shoot the Thrill website is up and running! There are some additions and some changes that will be made in the near future, but it’s fully functional and more pleasing to the eye than the old site.

Check it out!

Family Portrait: Allison & Jay, March 29, 2009

This past Sunday, Ryan and I met up with our friends, Allison and Jay, at their house to take their family photos.

Sunday morning was very rainy and it looked like we would not be able to do as many photos outdoors as we had hoped.

We packed up our cameras and lenses, hopped in the car, make a quick stop at Henry’s to purchase a new SB-400 flash (we only had one external flash (SB-600) and were going to be shooting with two cameras) and headed out to Al and Jay’s house.

We arrived at 2pm to find the family scrambling about, hair being done, ribbons being tied, and curlers being removed. We sat and had a coffee and noticed that the rain had completely cleared and the sun was coming out. We decided to do outdoor photos first in case the rain came back.

We ended up taking almost all of the photos on the backyard deck, shooting toward the yard. Looking back at the photos now, I can see that this was a poor choice as the images were quite hazy with the sunlight. The position of the sun wasn’t great that time of day, which caused a lot of blown out images and haze. Luckily, not all of the photos were taken in that exact situation. Also, the photos that were affected were mostly correctible with some adjusting in Lightroom.  I will definitely pay more attention to the position of the sun next time.

I did happen to take some photos towards the house with Jay and his two kids, which turned out quite nicely. The colour ended up looking great and I was very happy with them.

 

We broke up some of the shooting so that I took photos of Jay with his two kids while Ryan took photos of Allison and her daughter. Then I took the three kids away and did their photos while Ryan went with Allison and Jay for some couple shots.

I finished off my photos for the day by taking some of Allison and Jay relaxing in the house.

All in all it was a good day for learning in a real-life situation. I’ve never worked with 3 kids and 2 parents at once before. It was an interesting experience. Parents are always looking to see if their kids are behaving, which makes them not look in the same direction as the kids. Kids also act up more when they are in the large group with the family and act more natural when they are just with the other kids and the photographer.

I’m looking forward to more experiences with family portraiture and more opportunities to work with different family units and group environments.

Schmap: Toronto Photo Short-list

I received a message in my Flickr mail today letting me know that one of my photos has been put on the short-list of photos for possible inclusion in the Schmap Toronto Guide. The new guide will be published late April 2009.

I've done the necessary reading of the terms and accepted them. I've submitted my photo to be considered.

This is the photo they chose for the short-list:

Wedding: Heather & Andrew, September 27, 2008

I'm going back in time for this post to September 2008: Heather and Andrew's wedding day.

This is a wedding where I played more than one role. I was a bridesmaid and also an unofficial photographer of the day.

Heather and Andrew had a photographer as part of their wedding package with the Blackforest Inn, but she was only to be photographing their day from noon until 7pm. As the girls were going to be getting their hair and makeup done early in the morning and then getting ready at Heather & Andrew's house, I stepped up with the D60 and took some photos of the "getting ready" portion of the day and also some reception photos after the photographer had gone.

It was a very fun day. We took a Brentwood Livery limo to get our hair and makeup done at Frenzi, a salon in uptown Waterloo.




After the salon, we went back to the house to get ourselves and the bride ready.
I took some photos of her dress before handing the camera off to my husband, who would be taking photos of the groom and the guys getting ready.


I continued to photograph with my point and shoot Nikon L5 (convenient to hold in a small purse).




At the reception, I decided to get a couple of more creative shots. Heather and Andrew always bring "monster cookies" with them when they travel. They take photos of them wherever they go, so I figured they needed a good photo of them at their wedding:

And finally, the obligatory ring shot:


All in all, it was a wonderful day and a great experience.

Brass Mantis

About a month ago, Ryan (my husband) and I were invited to a live music show at a local bar called The Circus Room. We packed up a couple of DSLRs (D60 and D40), a flash, 2 lenses (18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 and 50mm f/1.8) and headed out to shoot in possibly the worst conditions avaialable.

The bar was dark (as most bars are), the stage area was very small and contained by walls that were covered in different coloured paints and random decorative items such as a guitar that kept interfering with good shots. They also used fog.

The guitar on the wall:


There was some luck to be had with the downstairs having more conisistently coloured walls, so I did some headshots down there before the show started.



The last of the above photos was actually shot next to the stage after the show.

In a way, I'm glad that we had a chance to shoot in such non-ideal conditions. It gave us some great experience working with very little and still coming up with some good shots. I was contacted for some prints of some of the photos of this show and yesterday delivered the finished product. They were quite happy with them and have actually mentioned possibly using us for photography in the future.

Here are some of my performance shots:


If you would like to see more of my photos from this show, just click on any of the photos in this post. You will be brought to the photo on Flickr where you can easily view my Brass Mantis set.