Today 5 of my photos were dropped off at the Orb gallery to be included in their upcoming ‘Art of Giving‘ show. I’m so thankful to be included in this cool event and hope you all can come out and join me on the 26th for the opening and auction. This is only my third time showing my work publicly in this way. You know… Prints. Hung. On walls… and I’m totally excited. Thank you so much to everyone involved in pulling together such a great show and cool group of artists!

No rest for the wicked though now that the Orb show is ready to go… I’ve also been asked to show my photography in the upcoming ‘Cheaper’ show here in Vancouver. This event features Vancouvers top 150 emerging visual artists and I’m humbled to be showing amongst some of my personal favorites including Jer Crowle, Fiona Garden, and The Dark. More news on this one soon as the details come together!

I’m sitting here in the ‘Crowd Sourcing’ panel at VIDFEST 2008. Derek, Jasmine and Matt are doing an awesome job talking about the wisdom of crowds and community participation on the internet. It got me thinking… I’m working on an Artist Statement for an upcoming photography show and thought I’d share it and get some feedback. I’ve never written anything like this before and am quite nervous to share it so widely, but I figure my friends know me best and can probably help out. What do you think of this draft? What about the tone? Too informal? What is your reaction? HELP!!!

I’ve always been drawn to the creative and visual arts, but I never developed a talent for drawing or painting (despite years of trying). In photography, I found an outlet for my yearning for creative expression. Suddenly I could capture and share some of what was going on inside my head.

I’ve had no formal education in photography, but I’ve got tremendous passion for it. I simply fell in love with it, and after a while I started to think I could do it. It took me several years and several thousand pictures before I felt comfortable calling myself a photographer. I’m still struggling with the idea of calling myself an artist, and I’m both humbled and honored to be included in such an incredible and creative group.

I’ve developed as a photographer from learning by doing – finding out what works and what doesn’t (especially what doesn’t). I find inspiration in everything and everyone around me. I’m curious by nature, but I’ve also been lucky to have been helped along the way by so many who’ve been willing to show me the ropes, answer my questions, and keep me going the right way. Many thanks to all.

I use photography to capture a tiny glimpse of what’s going on in the world as I see it. Mostly I do this for myself, but I am always pleased when something I’ve shot resonates with others. For a moment, we’re all in the same place.

Special thx to my buddy Alan for some help pulling this together!

(cross-posted from my blog over at Raincity)

Checking in from the basement of CBC’s Vancouver headquarters as we kick off an event which is bound to be quite remarkable - the CBC Digital Development Labs.

This morning was introductions by the entrepreneurial-minded attendees chosen to display and refine their ideas for possible development by CBC. I’m participating as a mentor (along with others) here to advise, gut-check, collaborate with (and learn from) the emerging visionaries.

Our secret lair (which is very cool by the way - set up with a variety of workspaces, conversation breakout areas, Mac labs, gamer stations - feels like jPod) is also loaded with industry types acting more as observers to see how projects come together in the new media paradigm.

Check out the new ION Magazine blog - featuring Daily(ish) Reviews, behind-the-scenes peeks at fashion and music shoots, and access to guest list and insider info on the by-now-legendary ION parties. They assure me that 08 is going to be next-level, and Static Photography and Kris Krug will be a part of it all! Good work Fiona, Vanessa, and Michael.

PS. We’ve also recently created a ION Magazine Flickr group. Submit your photos there and have them included in the magazine and the blog. Here’s some more info…

A couple weeks ago I was a guest on CBC’s On The Coast talking about photography and how to take better family photos over the holidays. It was a fun interview with JJ Lee who is a fashion and design columnist for CBC Radio One. Every Monday you can hear JJ On The Coast. OTC airs between 3-6 PM on AM 690 in Vancouver. JJ also writes for the Georgia Straight about fashion.

From JJ’s blog…

“Fashion photographer Kris Krug, just back from China Fashion Week, took the time to give some pointers on how to make your snapshots works of art… Follow these tips and you’ll have holiday photographs worth posting!”

Listen to the segment here…

Thanks JJ and happy holidays!

PS. Thx to Vancouver photographer Fiona Garden for the hookup. *squish*

With BC Fashion Week bearing down on me, I’ve spent some time this week catching up on blogging over at my fashion photography blog at Static Photography. I’ve been shooting tons and involved in lots of interesting projects but haven’t had the time to post about them properly until now. Late last week I put up posts about:

• Arson Spring 2008 fashion shoot - I shot the lifestyle pics for Arson’s upcoming spring catalog.
• The Police Reunion Tour - photos from The Police’s dress rehearsal the night before they kicked off their world tour.
• Androgyny Magazine inspired photoshoot - a shoot with Malloreigh and Patron inspired by Androgyny Magazine
• AJ Woodworth shoot - I recently shot the pics for countryrock pop-star AJ Woodworth’s upcoming album
• b5 Media photoshoot - I traveled to Toronto to work on a fashion shoot for b5’s new online merchandise store.

I still have a fair amount of catchup to do and a backlog of creative shoots that I’m working on but it feels good to get these up. The site is rather new and I’m still working on growing the content and traffic there. Thanks for checking it out, please subscribe to the RSS feed and consider linking to the site on the keywords ‘Vancouver fashion photographer‘ or something similar.

Photo by Rachael Ashe

I took this quiz that Thomas Hawk pointed me towards and the results that were ‘the robot’ thinks that my photography most resembles Helmut Newton’s… who happens to be one of my inspirations. Awesome.

Here’s a video of me talking about photography at Northern Voice earlier this year. It was taken by Robert Scoble of PodTech and has been posted all over the web including over at Digital Photography School where there is an interesting pissing match going on between people who think my video is a good informal intro to photography and the people who think I’m lame because I don’t know where in Germany the glass in my lenses is ground. *smirk*

In the past 2 years I’ve getting more and more into fashion photography. I’m involved in a couple photography and fashion online communities and subscribe to a few blogs and am generally trying to familiarize myself with the industry and scene. I go to meetups, look at other photographers work, assist different photographers when I can, but photography books and tear them apart, and book lots of lil creative shoots for practice and experience. Anyway, today over at Flickr in the Fashion Photographer’s Discussion Forum I came around this awesome post that I thought was so insightful that I wanted to copy it here to my blog.

“there are few exceptionals for sure. but my “personal” experience are here:

dont go to the expensive photography college,they are a ripoff for the posh kids. the most important thing i ve ever learned in college was the zone system, u can learn it in one week for under 20£. i spend hours and days in the darkroom. u can build a make shift darkroom for less than 300£. it cost me 6000£ in the end and delivering pizza with my lomo.

dont assist (specially those famous one)photographer or you will be shooting like him, only if u like to be copycat , or a short cut to the dosh, but believe me u will never be happy( maybe assist several diferent photographes, but then when are you going to do your own stuff??).

to learn how to light things up, just spend time dazing under the sun, you get a good idea about lighting for sure. the rest you will find a way to get it. i build a £50 kino flood or get a flood 500w tungsten light from a construction site, legally.

dont buy any fancy equipments, my £10 seagull twin lens works great with landscape. digital camera and computer are terrible inventions if you dont have the discipline to use it. shoot film first, black and white film and make some mistakes. absolutely no retouching, buy a computer later when u have a client.

have a very very good relationship with as many model agencies as you can…..be nice to your crews and let them create something for you as well. you should have a good feeling in the beginning who you are working with. feed them even just an apple and a banana. charismatic personality get you very far.

dont copy trends or up and coming stuffs or u will always be the one catching up with everybody else. find inspiration in some unlikely resources. if i dont have to, i prefer not to use models, instead my fav. are dancers, actors…..but some great models just had it all…

dont give a damn on what everybody said, photorgaphy comes first, fashion second then the model to fit in the shot, NOT vice verse, maybe equally important sometime but not more important than photography******(only if you want to create a picture with an unique signature of yourself and create a niche of fans and clients, then follow this path)

these are everything i did for the last 8years, and i realized its a long(*)road( not so hard and painful if you are passionate about photography and have some nice pictures sometime) .

make sure you have enough to pay your rent and food, or get your frineds and families to pay for it …. just for a while and dont piss them off, they are a life saver…

and keep on shooting and no retirement plans. ”

Original post by takkytak
Photo by Megan Cole

(this has been cross-posted from my fashion photography blog)

We've really been learning a ton about flashes, strobes and studio lighting for fashion photography in the past year and one of the main avenues for my education has been assisting other working photographers on their creative projects.

Recently we had the chance to go to a local Gastown boxing training gym to assist on a shoot for Trevor Brady. We brought our new lights and between the 2 of us we lit 4 different locations and came up with these shots.

We spent most of the time on set setting up and testing lighting and cameras, but also had the opportunity to step in and Trevor took a couple test shots of Kris this time around and published them with the rest of the images. *blue steel* Careful, now he's a 'male model. Ha.

Trevor is a true creative talent… We're big fans of him as a person of his work as well. He's been super gracious and knowledgable and very fun to hang out with. Thanks again man.

Model - Kay (Jettmodels.com).
Photography - Trevor Brady.
Assistant - Kris Krug.
Makeup - Dana Mooney.
Wardrobe Stylist - Jessica Smith.
Location - Vancouver, Canada

(This is cross-posted from my fashion photography blog)

Some cold wet Saturday's in Vancouver it's just plain hard to get rolling. To fire up our creative juices this weekend, Static pulled together a shoot with aspiring models Margaret Torgerson, Jordan Petryk and Bill MacEwan to build up their portfolios and have some fun.

We pulled from Discollection made by local vancouver fashion designers kdon and Elika Designs, styled by Kimberley Nelson and hit the Vancouver streets and alleys. This is what we came up with. Check out the rest of the creatives over at Flickr.

(This is cross-posted from my photography blog over at http://staticphotography.com)

We recently had the chance to wander around Gastown and dowtown Vancouver with actor and musician Mark Huculak. He looks like Justin Timberlake and sounds like Akon and he was an absolute pleasure to hang-out with and shoot.

I shot 100% film on this including both color negative and cross-processed expired slide film. Check out the rest of the headshots and portraits over on Flickr and check out Mark and his music on his MySpace.

If you’re an actor or actress (or model or dancer or DJ or comedian) looking to have headshots or portraits taken and/or build your portfolio please don’t hesitate to drop us an email or give us a call. We’re fun, easy to talk to and affordable… look at the results!

I recently assisted on a photoshoot with awesome Vancouver fashion photographer Trevor Brady. Trevor is an amazing guy with fingers in lots of different creative pies: from the web, to retail, to photography.

I brought out my new Alien Bees studio lighting and we tinkered around with our 5 lights combined. I learned a ton about studio lighting gear and am excited about another upcoming shoot that I will be assisting him on at at boxing studio here in Gastown. Stay tuned.

Thanks Trev for having me out and to everyone who collaborated on this super creative shoot.

Photographer: Trevor Brady
Assistant: Kris Krug
Model: Bianca (Jett Models)
Makeup: Dana Mooney
Styling: Adan Chan
Location: Studio 304

(cross-posted from my Vancouver Fasion Photography blog over at www.staticphotography.com)

We recently had the chance to do a fun fashion editorial photoshoot with Natalie Pagnucco. We used several impromtu Vancouver photoshoot locations including an alley along Water Street in Gastown, and Matthew Good's apartment.

Congratulation to Natalie, she has recently been picked up by the Vancouver modeling agency L2 Models and has used several of the shots she worked on with Static in her portfolio.

Kdon over at Discollection is an amazing designer and stylist. I've been using her for lots of Static Photography shoots lately and was even more impressed than usual in the job she did styling the Ashley-Rae photoshoot with awesome designer vintage clothes from her store.

I recently stumbled on this great list of photoshoot tips for models (or anyone who is having their portraits taken). Thanks to Vancouver editorial and people photographer Dawn Stenzel for the list!

I'm sure every working photographer probably has their own list. What's on yours?

1. Make sure you get a good night's sleep prior to the shoot. This will help prevent the un-wantedbags under the eyes as well as help give you the patience and stamina that is needed during a shoot. After all, we all look and feel better after a good nights sleep!

2. Your normal diet should include the daily recommended consumption of water. This alone will add greatly to the look and healthiness of your skin.
3. Striking different poses with the same facial expression does little to enhance your portfolio. Spend some time in front of a mirror learning and developing a variety of expressions. You may want to consider studying the expressions and body language of the top models in your field for examples and ideas. If you are just starting out your photographer will be able to share ideas with you.
4. I can appreciate those models, dancers and people in the talent industry that prefer to wear as little make up as possible. However, I prefer to have a make up artist and even possibly a hair stylist on set whenever I am shooting, although this is not always possible due to the pricing package the model has chosen. I am going to include a few make up tips for if a make up artist is not present for your photo shoot.

   If you leave all your other make up at home never go to a photo shoot without your facial powder. The freshly scrubbed face will undoubtedly present undesirable highlights in the nose and forehead. If you are intent on the natural look you can find a translucent powder that will tone down the highlights (consult a make up artist for recommendations). There is only so much your photographer can do with high key lighting and you certainly do not want your images to project a shinny or oily looking skin.

   A matte look can make a big difference in the quality of your headshots. By using a solid foundation evenly blended well into the neck and upper chest area we are able to avoid changes in colors.

   Your eye shadow should be a lighter shade to avoid the "raccoon look". A lighter shade gives a flattering appearance of bringing the eyes forward rather than the unflattering deep set appearance from a darker shade.

   Be sure to carry your hair brush, hair spray, and/or gel to the shoot. Keep hair and jewelry accessories small. Hair styles can make a drastic difference in a model's look.

5. Try to avoid sun tanning just before your shoot. Start tanning weeks before to avoid sun burn and tan lines on the day of your shoot.

Cross posted from my Static Photography blog: Photoshoot Tips for Models.

I’ve been overdue in posting about the upcoming Web Directions North coming to Vancouver February 6-10th, but 2007 is upon us and it’s just around the corner and I’m getting really excited. The combination of amazing speakers, fantastic location, and after-hours events will make Web Directions North about as good as a conference can be. But the connections and friendships that you build there are what will make it even better. Here’s the deal…

* WDN is a tier-1 web design and development conference that is going to be here in Van and attract the who’s who of the UI, UX, and design worlds. It’s gonna be all our peeps who usually we only get to see at SXSW (i.e. ‘internet spring break‘) but here in Vancouver.

* Topics include Ajax and Javascript, CSS, Microformats, mashups, standards based web design and development, accessibility, web app development, XHTML and HTML and more.

* WDN is put on by Dave Shea, Derek Featherstone, Maxine Sherrin and John Allsopp. These guys are awesome collegues, mentors, and friends.

* People like Cameron Moll, George Oates, Kelly Goto, Andy Clarke, Adrian Holovaty, Douglas Bowman, Dan Cederholm, Joe Clark, Molly Holzschlag, Derek Featherstone, Veerle Pieters, Jeremy Keith will be in town presenting and training.

* There are 2 days of skiing and snowboarding up at Whistler planned for the event. That’s what I’m talking about. Everyone is gonna wanna move here after their visit!

I’ll be there for the event and the snowboarding and hopefully I’ll lots of you there as well.

I've worked with Jessie Harris once before on the Made In Vancouver photoshoot with Margaret Torgerson and he was great. That time I called him. This time around Jessie lined up a model and friend of his, Chantelle Bousquet, and asked Static to do a shoot of them. With help of the styling team of kdon, Shai, and Tamar we did an awesome fashion editorial shoot in Gastown that might be favorite so far. Thanks for everyone's help… I think it turned out awesome and I'm excited to work with you guys again. Check out the whole set over at Flickr.

Recently I had the chance to do a photoshoot with models Lenore Owens and Mitchell Bowman in Gastown that we ended up jokingly calling "Screamo". We had the help of our friends Kimberley Nelson of Discollection, Shai of PrepWork, and Tamar Ouziel. We've done several shoots together now over the past few months and I can't say enough about what a great styling team they have been to work with. Thx guys. Check out the whole set over at Flickr.

A few weeks ago I blogged about submitting a few of my photos to JPG photography magazine for inclusion in their upcoming issue. Well, submission are now closed and 3 of my pics are being considered for publication. Please head on over there and take a look at them and vote for these 3 pics of mine.

“Free Radical” to Embrace the Blur

“The Streets of Italy” to Tourist

“Shower” To Intimate

I’m in it for the free subscription. Here’s the deets in case you are interested in submitting for the next issue.

Street photography is about getting out there, observing the public, overcoming your shyness, and documenting the world around you. It shows the world as it is, like holding up a mirror to society, capturing a moment in time.

So let’s see your best street photo! Remember: Photos in this theme must have been taken on a public street. And we’re not looking for photos of streets, we’re looking for photos taken on streets.