Another Stage

I love the idea of taking a beautiful dancer out of her everyday element and placing her on another stage.

Here's a few photos from my shoot with ballet dancer Nicole Caron. I'm always impressed by her grace and poise -- and patience (she always plays along).

Cowboy Portraits

Tom Bews, on his horse Big Enough, watches a storm roll toward his ranch near Longview, south of Calgary. Bew, 67, grew up beside the family of Stampede icon Guy Weadick and, not surprisingly, made a career in Competitive rodeo.

Clay Chattaway on the Bar S Ranch established near Nanton in 1886

Morgan Chattaway, Bar S Ranch

Vern Lonsberry

Roy McLean

Kiel Wilson

Dustin Gonnet

Bill Cross

Bison Whisperer

Trying to get a bison to co-operate for a photo is quite a challenge.
I was working with rancher Ivan Smith, who has gotten the reputation of being a bison whisperer, so I knew he'd help me get a few usable pix.
And also help me stay out of stomping range. Bison, or at least this group of bison, are particularly curious and when I would lay down in a few cow patties to get a fresh angle, Ivan would give me a heads-up when they wandered over for a sniff. I had to move quickly as some of the herd wanted to check me out. Having a 800 and some pound animal breathing over top of me wasn't something I needed to experience.

Here's the link to the story done by Calgary Herald colleague Meghan Potkins http://www.calgaryherald.com/Bison+whisperer+demand/6464490/story.html

Ivan Smith talks to Sarah on his Big Bend Bison ranch near Penhold, Alta.

Female Priest

I was assigned by Swerve magazine to photograph Calgary's only female priest who is part of an international group trying to reform the church. They call themselves the Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP).

But how to photograph this? In a church? Yes, that makes sense. Dressed in her vestments? Another option. Things like that are necessary to show that she is a priest.

But how to illustrate the fact that she is a women performing rites that the Catholic church only allows men to perform? And that she risks severe censure for what she's doing?

Since women priests are still in the shadows and not recognized by the Vatican, I thought the best way to illustrate this was to photograph her half in shadow. 

Here are a few of the pix I took, some from the mass I attended where I could not identify members of the congregation because they feared being ostracized by family or other devout Catholics in their community.

 Calgary's only female priest Monica Kilburn Smith

                                            

Saint Brigid's cross

                                                                  

 Calgary's only female priest Monica Kilburn Smith performs Easter mass for the Saint Brigid of Kildare Catholic Faith Community at St. Andrew's United Church, where they rent space.

  

Mah-jong

Recently, I've started working on a project in Chinatown’s Canton Block and the locals who gather to play mah-jong. 
Here are a couple of pix that are in this weeks issue of Swerve magazine.


http://swervecalgary.com/2012/03/30/mah-jong-canton-block/

Kevin Chen

I was lucky to meet and photograph Seven-year-old piano prodigy Kevin Chen who is the youngest member of the MRU Conservatory program and the youngest in Canada to do his Grade 9 Royal Conservatory exam. He is full of energy and after sitting still playing during the Kiwanis Music Festival I had to talk him into posing for a few photos by running around the music room with me. luckily I have experience talking a seven-year-old into photos.

Bottle Picker

I was assigned to follow a bottle picker on his route some nights ago and this is one of the photos I took of picker Kirk Black.  It was taken on my Mark 1V at 3200 ISO.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/homeless+business+picking/6104111/story.html

World Juniors 2012

A few of my photos for the Calgary Herald from the 2012 World Juniors in Calgary, Alberta.