This weekend is BarCamp Vancouver and I’ll be heading up a PhotoWalk on Friday night and a PhotoCamp on Saturday.

Here’s some shots from last years late night photowalk at BarCamp.

If you’re interested in photography, cameras, or just want to talk a cool walk through East Van… it would be great to see lots of you out there. Here’s the details. Get in touch with me if you have any questions.

PhotoWalk
- signup on FaceBook
- meet at WorkSpace
- 11pm, Friday August 17th

PhotoCamp
- signup on the Wiki
- @ Workspace during BarCamp Vancouver
- TBD, Sunday August 18th

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

(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.

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.

Bids made some new jackets for El Kartel and hired me to come shoot Kimberly Nelson and Lauren Glazier wearing them.

Check out the rest of the pics on Flickr.

(Cross-posted from my Hardcore Superstar Photoshoot post over at Static Photography.)

(Cross-posted from my Evan Biddell Photoshoot post over at Static Photography.)

I joined the new community website over at JPG Magazine. JPG Magazine was started by friends Derek Powazek and Heather Champ and has had close ties with Flickr since the beginning. They’re launched a cool new site with community features and I think it’s going to be a hit.

I submitted a couple photos for the upcoming issue.. please go check them out and voice for them. The website seems to be the first project of newly founded company 8020 publishing who is looking to ‘revamp the way magazines are published’. From their website:

The online world has created a culture of creation among ordinary people. Meanwhile, magazines are still partying like it’s 1899. Writers write, readers read, and never the twain shall meet.

Simply put, this can’t last.

Magazines need to open their doors to their readers. Instead of thinking of writers and readers as two separate communities, magazines need to realize that they really only have one community: the people who give a shit about their magazine.

Good stuff guys.

As part of BarCamp Vancouver and PhotoCamp, Matt and I are pulling together a lil photowalk in Vancouver’s Gastown.

Digital or film, pro or hack… everyone is welcome… bring a camera (or several!) or be a subject/model. We’ll walk around, take pictures, eat Mister Tube Steaks and generally have a good time. Bring a flash, a tripod, a flashlight, some glowsticks or other fun things and we can expirament with long exposure stuff and light painting.

We’ll be leaving on foot from Workspace in Gastown at about midnight, tonight, Friday August 25th. Hope to see ya’all there.

Vancouver is now home to a fine art sculpture biennale featuring top artists from around the world. The pieces will be up for 2 years (biennale), and what makes this display unique is that they are all public access, all the time (most biennales are a mix of gallery-bound and public land installations).

This is great news for those of us who like to shoot… We’re talking about world-class art in one of the most beautiful settings in the world, and we’re encouraged to take photos (instead of surrendering our gear to security). That said, I task you with finding the interesting angles, interesting light, framing the pieces or finding a beautiful detail.

Take your dog for a walk, make a date out of it, bring your glass (camera) and have some fun. Tour them all or focus on one or two. Post your photos with the tag ‘vancouverbiennale’ and collaborate with us. We’ll be trolling around with an eye out for the most interesting photos - and some prizes in hand.

Submit your shots to this group and we’d love to post your images up on the website with a photo credit (either add a creative commons license or we’ll email you with a request). The BURNKIT team donated the site design and we’d love to have as many excellent photos up as possible (and I’m excited to see your brilliance in action).

Enough chatter - get out there, experience some fine art and bring your camera.

Peace,
Josh + Kris.

PostScript- More on prizes and prize frequency in the discussion forum. (At the moment we’ve got free passes to the Vancouver Art Gallery, and it looks like we’ll be getting other interesting prizes too.) Also, look for us in 24 Hours newspaper, we’re going to publish selected photos w/credits… But we know it’s not just about the prizes either

Flickr War
Verb//slang

Definition:

1. the act of war performed on flickr through posting of unfortunate pictures

Usage:

“If you post those pictures of me in my y-front underwear you’ll get Flickr warred beeyatch.”

Check out this quick interview with George from Flickr at the Vancouver International Digital Festival on Granville Island. I think if you absolutely forced me to pick a favorite Flickr peep…. I’d have to go with George.

I was humbled tonight to get a beautiful testimonial on my Flickr profile page tonight from Mommy Peace… someone I know online but have never met.

“A search for “Flaming Lips” brought me to KK +, his friends and one of the best ever photos of the band.

KK’s photos have also acted as the portal for my children and my studies on degrees of seperation, community and its evolution. KK+ is also an execellent example of the importance of ones name.

Continue to live big Kris…the next generation is watching.”

Wow. That’s like the sweetest thing ever Danie. Thx.

Hey guys. Checkin in from Torino. Woke up this AM to see this cute picture of this kid trying to be oh so tough got Flickr blogged. Thx Heather!

OMG, check out what I found tonight when I finally had 2 seconds to check my email. Unbelievable. That’s *my* trip to London.

“Kris, I’m a huge fan of your photography and have recently
came across someone who may have stole some of your photos.
This guy was on my contact list for a while now and when I
checked his photos today I came across a bunch of yours. I
made a comment on one asking why he had all the same photos
of you and he has since blocked me. I’m assuming this means
he knows he’s done something he shouldn’t have.

I figured the next logical step would be to notify you.

Check his set out:
http://flickr.com/photos/kcorazza/sets/72057594061896396/

Best regards,
Cory Krug”

And check this out from his profile.

“I feel my photography represents me as a person and also shows how I see the world through my own eyes one frame at a time.”

Stewart or Caterina can you shut this guy down or something? :p

Thanks for the email Cory.

UPDATED: 7 minutes after posting this and having my attack dog Scales send him a few emails the photoset was apparently deleted. Heh. Thx guys!

UPDATED: He pulled down the offending photos and blocked me on Flickr. Heh.

UPDATED: Too bad I didn’t get a screenshot… LOL… now this guy is trying to sue me!

I came accross a great list of New Year’s Resolutions for photographers by Bob Johnson over at one of my favorite photography blogs, Earthbound Light. Check out the list, I’m definately going to be trying to work some of these into my 2006.

* Actually read the manual for your camera.
* Learn to use the lenses you already have rather than buying more.
* Buy a new lens.
* Take a photography class or workshop.
* Take a Photoshop class.
* Join a photo club.
* Use your tripod more often.
* Learn to spot meter and use manual exposure.
* Shoot things in both horizontal and vertical.
* Convert to digital.
* Start shooting raw instead of jpeg.
* Learn to use adjustment layers.
* Learn to use color management.
* Set up your own website.
* Organize your images.
* Register the copyright for your photographs.
* Find a new place to photograph.
* Explore a well known location all over again.
* Take more pictures.

(cross-posted from Static Photography)

Robert Scales pointed out that the ‘kriskrug‘ and the ‘kk‘ tags on Flickr both made the most popular list today. *blush*

My business partner, Rhonda Fast, is having a photography show at the Wicked Cafe in Vancouver. It’s a part of a 12 month series we’re running featuring emerging Vancouver photographers and Rhonda is the 3rd artist to exhibit. Her show is titled “Strike”. The idea behind minimalist art is that it lacks concept, focusing on geometric shape, monochromatic color palettes and anonymity of style. That’s where the journey for “Strike” began. However, as will happen, it evolved, concept started to develop and location became of utmost importance. Strike is a new look at the commonplace; a twist on the mundane of an iconic pastime. An exploration in minimalism with concept. The show will run for about a month and we’d love for you to join us at the opening on December 16th @ 7pm.

Wicked Cafe
7th & Hemlock
Vancouver, BC

There are several social software sites I’ve been tinkering with over the past year or so. Here’s a link to my profiles on the ones that are the most intersting. Flickr by far is my favorite and is the only one where I actually spend a lot of time. Last.fm is pretty amazing and doesn’t really require any time investment. LinkedIn is the most ‘professional’ of the bunch and MySpace seems to be the most ‘popular’. What are your favorites? What other sites are awesome?

Flickr
MySpace
Upcoming
43Things
43People
43Places
Del.icio.us
Photoblogger
Tribe.net Profile
LinkedIn
Yahoo!360
Last.FM Profile
Lightstalkers

Feel free to connect with me on any of those sites if you’re a member.

SillyGwaiLo is sitting here giving us a super sneak preview of the Drupal Flickr module he wrote this weekend (based on Boris‘ Skype Drupal module by the way). This thing is very alpha… and very hot. Unlike other implemenations of Flickr/Drupal modules I’ve seen this one is multi-user… perfect for community sites!

It adds your flickr sets, photos, favorites or rss feed of tagged photos as a block to your Drupal site. It automagically sucks in all the data via XML from Flickr and displays it on your site. It also sucks your Flickr photos into your user profile on a Drupal site based on your NSID (Flickr user number). The top 5 photos from your photostream (or any site users) can be displayed at the top of your profile page. In addition, it can create a ‘photostream’ page on your site imported from your real-time photostream at Flickr. It can suck in anything from Flickr that is available via the API including all the metadata too like comments, favorites, EXIF data, upload times, etc etc.

Colin wrote some code for Backstage that publishes photos to Flickr from a Bryght or Drupal site. I think they’re going to work on integrating their stuff together this week. Cool stuff boys… will be exciting to work the bugs out and release the code.

I have a lil photography show taking place for the next month at Wicked Cafe here in Vancouver. Brad from Wicked is gonna keep the place open a lil late on Friday so we can have an ‘opening’. Hope you can come out.

Also posted to Static Photography and VanDigiCam.

UPDATED:
HERE’S a Google Map to Wicked Cafe.