Pittsburgh For The Win!

Ever feel like you just need to get away? you're sick of being in the same place all the time and working and feel bored on weekends? 

I get like this from time to time and once it all builds up over a couple weeks, I need an escape. An opportunity presented itself to me through my good friend JMAC, who was going to be taking off to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania to meet up with a friend of his who is a Marine, to open up a new branch of his Charity PTSD Battle Cry. JMAC asked me if I'd want to go with him and see Pittsburgh for the first time, how could I resist an adventure? a chance to photograph a new place I've never been before? ... exactly! I couldn't. 

We hit the road, bags packed, camera gear all charged up and ready to shoot. Scott ( JMACS friend) put us up of the two nights we were there and was also our Tour Guide lol. Scott is a stand up guy who showed us all Pittsburgh has to offer, introduced us to a lot of amazing people who were so welcoming and friendly, took us to some world famous places to eat and of course, helped spread the word about PTSD Battle Cry (www.ptsdbattlecry.org).

Once it Pittsburgh we got right to it, hit up the city for some sight seeing and some food + beer.. lots and lots of beer haha. 7pm we had tickets (thanks to Scott) to head on over to PNC Park to see the Pirates take on the Cardinals, which was a huge treat for me as I've never been to a baseball game before. To my surprise, I was actually allowed to bring in my camera with me 70-200mm lens (big zoom lens), which would NEVER happen here in Canada. I shot a bunch of images of the game, we ate some food, had some more drinks and out of no where, who do we see? Geno's Malkin (Evgeni Malkin - Pittsburgh Penguins hockey player's dad).. so of course JMAC and Scott had me take their picture with him, which you will see in the images below. 

 

Day 2: Was all about tourism. We took to the streets yet again, all different areas of the city to experience and shoot as much as we could. We hit up Pamala's for some world renowned Pancakes, even President Obama eats there.. there was a signed picture of him on the wall, and let me tell you.. those pancakes are something special! We hit everything from a huge candy store to a Pittsburgh Pirates gift shop, to some little pubs/bars for drinks to a Bottle Shop and bar named Hal's which was amazing, my favourite place, we went there a few times. One of the best sites was Mt.Washington.. riding the trolly up the mountain side was fun, but the view at the top was breath taking. You could see all of Pittsburgh, the yellow bridges, the city, Point Park, and the split in the river.. amazing... but enough talk about it, I will let you experience it yourself through my images. Enjoy - Shutter Click.  
 

Pittsburgh from on top of Mt. Washington. 

Pittsburgh from the Mt. Washington look out.

out front of PNC PARK - Pittsburgh

While inside PNC PARK during the game with down town Pittsburgh as the backdrop.

Cardinals in PNC PARK - Pittsburgh

Alvarez up to bat.

Pirates up to bat

Above the Field VIP deck area.

Heinz Field home of the Steelelrs. 

JMAC & Scott, Opening of the PTSD BATTLECRY USA!

Scott & Sam PTSD BATTLECRY USA!

Scott and JMAC with Geno's Malkin ( Evgeni Malkin's Dad )


Afghanistan War Memorial Unveiling

158 Flags snapping around, dancing in the cool wind of April 11th 2015. A crowed gathered around the Cenotaph in Woodstock ON. to pay respects and await the unveiling of a piece of history. 

158 Soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom in Afghanistan. One of these soldiers struck close to home; Pte. Tyler W. Todd from Bright Ontario, Canada lost his life while on foot patrol due to a road side bomb 5 years ago today (April 11th 2010). This Afghanistan War Monument, which is a soldiers Rifle, boots and helmet also known as the Battle Cross, was put in place in Woodstock, not only in Memory of Pte. Tyler W. Todd, but for all the soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan. 

It was pleasure to be brought in to photograph this ceremony by the good fellows from THE EVENING OF HONOUR; 3 fellows: Jeremy Mac Knott, Kevin DeClark and Stephen Smith who decided one day that the veteran's of the Afghanistan War needed to be commemorated as this war was Canada's longest conflict, so they put together THE EVENING OF HONOUR, which is an event to raise money which can be put towards things like this War Memorial to commemorate the fallen. So much was happening: The colour party marching in, Wreaths being laid, Politicians speaking, Veteran motorcycle clubs riding in, 158 Flags stood at attention, each with the names of the fallen printed on the flag sticks and even a fly over by a WWII Harvard aircraft. It was a cold day due to the high winds but the skies were pretty clear and blue, the sun was out and the crowd was large, what more could we ask for. To see a community come together to honour our military personnel, Past, Present and future was amazing. - Shutter Click.
 

Evening Of Honour Members: Kevin DeClark, Jeremy Mac Knott (JMAC) and Stephen Smith Standing with Matt, who was in Afghanistan with Pte.Tyler W. Todd.

The Devils Regimen Salute the Cenotaph after laying down a wreath. 

Afghanistan War Monument a.k.a THE BATTLE CROSS Sits Proud alongside the Woodstock ON. Cenotaph. 158 Canadian Flags dance in the wind, each with a fallen soldiers name on the wooden shaft. 

3 Military men march out after placing a wreath at the Cenotaph. 

Saluting the Cenotaph after placing the wreath 

Jeremy and Kevin show a father of one of the fallen, his sons flag which was placed directly behind the Battle Cross. 

Base of the Afghanistan Monument.

Cadets March In. 

Colour Party Marches In.

Dave MacKenzie Speech.

Ernie Hardeman Speech.

Woodstock Ontario's Mayor: Trevor Birtch, Speech.

Fellas from THE EVENING OF HONOUR at the podium.

Jeremy doing an interview with CTV.

Kevin doing an interview with CTV.

Jeremy, Kevin, Stephen and Matt unveiling the Afghanistan War Memorial: Battle Cross.

Kevin standing up at the Cenotaph.

The Minute Of Silence. 

A few Military men hanging out as they get ready to start the ceremony. 

Silver Cross Mothers Presenting the Silver Cross to the Cenotaph.

Silver Cross Mothers receiving roses.

Soldiers presenting a wreath to lay at the Cenotaph.

The Devils Regiment arrives.

Members of the Woodstock Police Department Stand amongst the 158 Flags.

Pte. Tyler W. Todd's Mother reaches out to touch the Battle Cross in memory of her son while holding onto her grand daughter. 

New Style in my bag

HELLO everyone! Finally, it seems like winter has been defeated and spring weather is making it's way into South-Western Ontario! it's +7 out there right now, snow is quickly melting, the air is fresh, the sun is shining, I couldn't ask for more. So, with this new weather, here's some new imagery. 

One picture, just to show you whats coming! I'm excited to announce my animated still images also known as  Cinemagraphs. These are still images that have a moving component in them, which really adds some creativity. Unfortunately, these kinds of images cannot be printed and can only be used on certain internet forums. So, from this point on, any Cinemagraphs I make will be posted on my webpage/blog as Flickr and Facebook do not seem to support them. I will, however, post links to my blogs and/or Cinemagraph section of my website, once it has been created. That portion of my site will be created once I get some really creative Cinemagraphs made. I just wanted to post a quick one (wish some bad editing, as you can see hahaha) so you all have an idea of whats to come... i'm sure you can see the potential these have for creativity! 

- Shutter Click!  

FAKEOGRAPHERS

Just wanted to throw this out there, as i've seen it floating around social media quite a bit lately: " HOW MUCH WILL A PHOTOGRAPHER COST FOR A WEDDING?: this can be answered with another question " WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO PAY AND DO YOU WANT DECENT PICS?" .... there are people out there offering to shoot your wedding for $500 .... these people are what I like to call "FAKEOGRAPHERS " ... don't be surprised if they show up to your wedding with nothing but an iPhone or a point and shoot camera. They are seeing an opportunity to make some quick cash and handing you over crap images which are either unedited or horribly edited.. buyer beware! In photography the old saying " YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR " is VERY true.... If you're going to go the $500 route... do yourself a favour, go out and buy enough of those disposable film cameras for all your guests, hand them out at your wedding and let your guests fire off all the pics then take the rolls of film to walmart, shoppers, staples and have them developed, because this is about the same quality of images you're going to get but at least this way your guests got to have some fun with it and it makes them more apart of your wedding rather than paying some random to show up. 

If you want great images, shot with a photographic eye, edited by someone who has spent years with photoshop, countless hours and money learning photoshop through tutorials, knows some photographic theory... then you're going to have to spend the money for quality. A decent photographer is going to have a portfolio to show you: either online, on an iPad, a Blog or a hard copy that they will show you, and it will have sharp images, fully edited, there will be some sort of style to them. They will have a DSLR some lighting, reflectors, umbrellas... keep in mind not all photographers use flash.. some shoot natural light only, but they will still have a DLSR camera and reflectors. They will schedule a meet and greet session with you, they will have a website and be able to supply you with some positive references from past clients... you will even hear about them on social media. As for a price range... it varies.. there are some really good photographers out there who don't quite have the experience with weddings and are just getting started with them so they have great imagery but charge a little less to compensate for their lack of experience in the wedding field.... they will charge somewhere around the $1200-2500 mark. Then you have your experienced wedding photographers who will charge you $2500+ .... Usually, there will be packages to choose from.. these packages will include 3 levels or more .... each level will have different coverage time, a certain amount of images, either a CD of your images or Prints. Keep in mind, photographers are a business..... they are calculating their packages on their lives... they need to pay bills, pay for equipment ( which is no where near cheep... one umbrella is $200... for a damn UMBRELLA!!!! ), gas for their travels to your shoots, their time shooting and editing, photographers spend countless hours editing your images... it's not just about taking pictures.. we go home load your images.. we have to catalog them, transfer them onto 3-4 hard drives so if one crashes we still have back ups of your sessions, then we have to go through and pick out all the good, usable, edit worthy ones, load them into an editing program, then edit.. it can take an hour per image sometimes depending on what they are doing with your images.. if your package says you get 500 images... well.. you do the math at how long they are going to spend in front of a computer, day and night editing. They have to pay for their cell phones, which is how you contact them to book, internet for email and websites and business cards, accountants, lawyers for contracts, computers and editing software...... so expect to pay for the service... you wouldn't walk into a clothing store expecting to walk out with a $500 leather jacket for free would you? 

So please.... if you're picking a wedding photographer, and you want someone who can provide you with great images expect to pay $2500+ at least... or $1200 for someone who has a great portfolio and is new to the wedding world... anything under $1200 you're shooting yourself in the foot.... lets get rid of these "FAKEOGRAPHERS " who are constantly degrading the quality of photography, stealing work from actual photographers who love the art form and are actually passionate about getting you, the client, what you want. 

Kevin Vyse Photography 
Photographer. 
www.kevinvysephotographs.com

Fitness Calendar For A Cause

They work hard, eat right, are devoted and disciplined as well as love what they do! 

   Bodybuilders and strong men united with Tornado City Boxing in Woodstock Ontario Canada, to put together a fitness calendar raising money and support for support " Daso " a.k.a. Domestic Abuse Service Oxford.

   I was asked to come in as one of the photographers to get some awesome work out shots of Thomas, a local up and coming bodybuilder who is going to be lethal to the bodybuilding world. The thought process was very fast for me as I only had one day (2 hours to shoot), and one day to edit the pics and have them sent out for print. I wanted this to be lit well and in a way that would make Thomas muscles pop but also allow him to be out of shadow so you could see who it was. 
    This calendar is geared towards women so there had to be a sexy appeal to it, which wasn't to hard as Thomas is pretty ripped, so my job was easy and I'm sure the ladies are going to be vary pleased. 

    Since we were there to shoot and I banged out the shots pretty quick, we decided to just keep shooting and see what we could get as this was Thomas' first ever photoshoot. Finally, I was able to sit down and edit some more of the images from our session at Tornado City Boxing. I went with cool tones in the image as thats kind of the feeling I get when I think of metal weights, gyms, hard work, ripped people, so with the cool tones I set the mood. I also wanted to have a lighting set up in which you'd see some of the lights, to give it that "behind the scenes" kind of look to the shoot - Shutter Click. 

  

Jujitsu Submission Invitational 2014

    You could smell the sweat, dedication, respect and passion in the air as everyone flooded into the Adrenaline MMA Training & Fitness Centre. With music cranked, a ring displayed in a sea of people and competitors warming up, in the zone ready to compete the Submission Invitational was under way. 

    Not sure what to expect really, I did some light testing and some custom white balancing to make sure I could get the best images possible, I crouched down to make sure I wasn't obstructing on lookers views and got ready to capture the art that was about to unfold in front of me. I didn't know to much about jujitsu, all I knew was that it was more about points and submissions through skill rather than punching and kicking the crap out of each other. 
    Let me tell you, it was not easy to photograph. Quick movements, flipping one another, standing up, down on the ground, grabbing, twisting.. it was intense. Lighting conditions were a bit tough to work with as well, so some of the images were a bit blurry and it took me a bit to figure out what I needed to do to compensate. Over all, it was an amazing experience full of action and challenging aspects from a photographic perspective, which I really enjoy.. thats how you learn. 

Adrenaline MMA Traning & Fitness Centre is an amazing facility, with two levels, friendly and clean atmosphere. Upstairs has matted floors with a boxing ring and an open concept, and downstairs has a weight room, change rooms, and an Octagon.. there could be more I didn't get much time to look around as I had to focus on shooting. Adrenaline was quite impressive, if you're looking for a place to work out, learn MMA, Jujitsu, Kickboxing, boxing etc.. I would highly recommend their facility. Plus.. who wouldn't want to learn from actual UFC fighters like Sam Stout and Mark Hominick? - Shutter Click 
 

Jujitsu Submission Invitational 2014
Jujitsu Submission Invitational 2014

Woodstock Ontario WWII Veteran Receives Frances Legion Of Honour Medal

    The rumble of 4 harvard's, the sound of the Military men and women marching, the sound of a trumpet being played; all were experienced today in London Ontario at Victoria Park for a special medal ceremony. 

    Ken, a WWII veteran from Woodstock Ontario, along with 3 other WWII veteran's received medals for their service today. Ken was the reason I was there, he was receiving a medal, which i'm told only 4 other Canadians have received, the Legion Of Honour, the highest honour medal of France. To be able to photograph such an amazing event, a piece of history which I will never be able to photograph again i'm sure, was a pleasure. - Shutter Click



      

Ken, walking up to receive the Legion Of Honour Medal.

ANTHONY & ELLIE | LOVE LOCK DOWN

What a pleasure to shoot these two love birds! With our own personal private location full of creeks, forest, deer, open fields, corn fields the adventure unfolded through the afternoon. 

Anthony & Ellie wanted something new, fresh and creative which is what drove them to Kevin Vyse photography. Making sure to keep the vibe of an engagement shoot we set out to make some amazing images. With an overcast start to the afternoon we started to hike back into the woods finding little hidden gem locations to shoot in, which this area had tons of. 
   Ellie & Anthony seemed like photoshoot pros as every time we set up to shoot they were already in the perfect pose, which made my job really easy. Over all this shoot was a lot of fun, laughs were had, the hike gave us all an awesome work out and also helped us stay warm as the weather was quite dull and chilly.  - Shutter Click.

Images: 

 

These two are also in to fitness, so of course we weren't going to leave that out of their session. Working out is all about the perfect hand placement... Anthony has this one down pat! 

Sexy and Confident Boudoir

Beauty comes from with in, when a woman feels sexy and pretty she can do anything. Boudoir is about bringing women to this level, making them feel sexy, gorgeous, confident and beautiful. Cassidy's session was for her boyfriends birthday, so we got together and planned out a nice boudoir session for him. Not only was it for him but it was also for her, as every women deserves to feel sexy and confident.

- Shutter Click

 

She sits in the warm sunlight as it beams in through a near window.

Engaged with a gaze 

Sitting in a pool of light, she makes her connection

A night in planning supper

she gets ready in the mirror and the shadows.

2014 RAM RODEO

Mud getting kicked in my face, Men and Women flying through the air, Bulls and Horses Jumping through the air.... this was my day at the 2014 RAM Rodeo in Woodstock Ontario, Canada. 

I never knew a rodeo would be so much fun! I'm not a cowboy by any means, sure I live in a small town that has a ton of farm land, and we're known as the Dairy Capitol, but I'm more of the city photographer guys. Still, I enjoyed myself quite a bit and Bull Riding.. geez those guys are nuts! I really wanted to give it a try but they wouldn't let me, must have been afraid I would have done really well.. hahahha just kidding, I give them a lot of credit, those Bulls go nuts out there. 
    Not only was there Bull riding, but they also had: Barrel racing, cattle roping, bucking bronco, both with saddle and bareback, horse slalom, and they even had these young ladies that did all these tricks while riding on horses, it was impressive. I will definitely be attending again next year, one of the best events Woodstock has to offer. - Shutter Click

Images Below.

Cowboy tries his best to hold on for 8 seconds, but this Bull had a different idea. This was the best bucking bull out of them all, I couldn't believe how wild he was. 

Cowboy gets thrown head first by this bucking bronco at the 2014 RAM Rodeo in Woodstock Ontario, Canada. 

Cowboy comes out of the gate with Lasso ready to rope the calf and tie em up!

Cowboy quickly dismounts his horse and runs over to the calf, flips it over and ties up its feet

After being thrown off this wild bulls back, it spins around and comes after the cowboy while laying in the mud... sometimes, the bull wins.

Almost made the 8 second mark, but this bull had other plans and quickly spun to the side throwing this cowboy off his back into the mud. 

Mom and Daughter Fashion shoot

You will see a lot of these two from me, they are my best friends and we're always doing shoots together. It's Labour Day weekend, it's still summer and warm out, so there's still time for some outdoor photoshoots. We had talked about doing a shoot but weren't to sure if the weather was going to cooperate, but we were hanging out anyways so we played it by ear. The weather actually ended up working perfectly, it was too hot for the most part, especially when we went down to the trails in the woods. 

We started off in the backyard, there's a neat little shed back there that kind of has a rustic look to it which I felt would be neat for a background. I put a flash on a stand up in amongst a tree hoping to have some of the leaves and branches cast shadows down onto the shed for a little more drama in the scene, plus I love shadows. 
    From there I told them about a place I know of where there's all these trails down through the woods and a big lake, which I thought would make for some good images, I've shot down there quite a bit. We walked a few of the trails but didn't go to far, the sun was out in full effect and with these trails being incased by trees there was zero air flow, so it was getting quite hot and muggy and the mosquito's were treating us like a buffet. 

for these images I was just using one flash, up high on a stand, no umbrella or soft box, just hard light, which is weird for me because I hate hard light. To carry a soft box, stand and flash plus the camera down there, for an impromptu photoshoot was to much so I decided to restrict myself and see what we could come up with. Over all the shoot went pretty well, I'm still not that good at mixing flash with ambient light, I get the concept it just isn't something I've done a lot. For the most part, i've been an ambient light shooter, only in the last 1.5 years have I been tackling flash, so I'm happy with the images and so were the clients. Here's to a great day with two people I love more than life, a good shoot, and summer. I'm going to miss these summer days/nights, but it's the price you pay for living in Canada!

Images below 

    - Shutter Click. 

 

These trails were a little dark and kind of creepy, so we decided to have some fun with it and do some hard lighting to give that dark, moody, shadow feel to the image. 

She was getting a little tired of shooting and wanted to do more cuddling, so, roll with the punches and use whats presented to you.. 

using a flash far back shooting through the trees, I was able to cast some shadows down onto the shed to give that " late in the day, hard light " vibe. 

These were some of our fav pics from the shoot. Out in the woods with a tunnel of trees, the light was nice as it filtered down through all the leaves. 

A another image of pyper running into her moms arms after she was getting tired of walking and just wanting to go home. 

Pyper didn't want to do pictures anymore, she was getting tired. As the wind blew, she decided to walk off set. Sometimes the best images are the unplanned, quick shot images. 

Shoots can be tiring for little ones, especially on hot summer days. Always wait for that moment when a child decides walking is overrated and wants to be carried. Once the parent picks them up, you can get some good candid, real moment shots. 

These trails can get pretty dark and seem a little creepy. Pyper thought there were packs of wolves in the forest and kept yelling out "pack of wolves". We decided to use this to our advantage and do a creepy, dark woods image using hard light to cast shadows amongst the trees.

Denial: Graffiti Artist

            To anyone that follows my Facebook page, you know that I recently did a fashion shoot in Windsor On this past Sunday. For those of you who don't follow my Facebook page and didn't know.. now you do! and ps, you should go follow my Facebook page, just type Kevin Vyse Photography into the search and it will come up. What you didn't know, was that while I was in Windsor I was lucky enough to meet an amazing, mind-blowing graffiti artist who's world renowned, his name DENIAL.  <--------- just click his name and you will magically be whisked away to his website... and I urge you to check it out because his stuff is the bees knees. 
            Honestly, I had never heard of him before I went to Windsor.. I had seen his Coke Can recreation before but didn't know anything about it or understand it. Luckily, the make-up artist and friend from the shoot, Melissa, knows him, and model Mindy from the shoot, her boyfriend works for him. So of course, we all got VIP access to his studio which was fantastic.

In order to get to the studio, the back way, we went down this alley which is full of graffiti and most of it, if not all of it, is Denials. It was quite a treat to see some seriously good Graffiti, in my home town it's a bunch of kids with standard nozzle spray cans from some store spray painting swear words and Penis' all over buildings.. Bravo ya idiots...

    I was blow away by the detail Denial can get out of these cans. I saw everything from a Heman character wall spread to a skeleton hand and route 66 sign art piece. Not only does he do these massive wall pieces, but in his shop he uses masking tape, spray paint, rulers, measuring tapes, scissors and all kinds of other things to make these amazing pieces of wall art. He masks out different parts of the image while exposing other parts to make layered pieces, which was cool for me to see because as a photographer, I do the same kind of stuff in Photoshop.   

Anyways, I won't drag this out anymore.. but again.. I urge you to click on the link I put in this blog and check out this guys work... it's amazing and some of it is pretty hilarious as well. Here's a few images I shot while we were there. I wish I would have got a portrait of him but we had 3 hours of straight shooting in the club and I didn't have the equipment with me I would have wanted to have to do an awesome portrait. - Shutter Click. 

 

The many spray cans of crazy colour Denial uses to make his masterpieces. 

A pretty well known Denial Piece, one of the first images I ever saw of his... sitting there along with a few other pieces of art. 

A few of art pieces from Denial maybe a few from other artists he likes as well.. I know he said there were some pieces around the shop of other artists who's work he really enjoys. 

A few pieces sitting on the table which are works in progress. 

where all the magic happens and the art comes together! Work Station.

where all the magic happens and the art comes together! Work Station.

Two giant Denial pieces in the Graffiti Alley behind the shop, such amazing work.

Stairway down to the merchandise shop.. T-shirts, Spray cans, Nozzles, hats and more.

One of my fave pieces: Enjoy Denial, a coke can parody. Great piece.  

And..... just because I shot it while I was there right after the visit with Denial, Detroit! I honestly had no clue that Detroit was THIS close to Windsor... I knew they were close, just not THIS close. 

RAWartists: PANORAMA showcase

June 19th, 2014 I was a part of the RAWartists network in Toronto On. displaying my photography. RAW is a group thats all about art, all forms of art (painting, live performances and music, photography, jewelry making, drawing etc... any art form). They come together all over the world allowing artists to apply and show off their work and network. You can sell your work at the show and they do not take a commission, which is pretty awesome of them. If you're interested in becoming a RAWartist or simply just want to read up on them to see what they're about, here's a link to their site: www.rawartists.org 

I wasn't to sure what to expect from RAW.. I was new to it, had only heard about it through another photographer on Facebook from my area a few weeks before I decided to go for it. I'm a quiet, shy kind of person, I don't do well in large social interaction, but 2014 for me was all about stepping out of comfort zone, putting myself and my work out there, meeting new people who love what I love and RAW showed up in my path, so why not jump in?! 
   Let's skip ahead to the night of the show. I had to be in Toronto by 2pm to set up my display, it was a 2 hour drive, but I got there fine and on time, actually about an hour early. I went inside and saw the fencing where I was going to be displaying my work, excited, nervous, anxious and a little tired as I didn't sleep much the night before... I took my work out of the box I had brought it in and started to place my work. After an agonizing 15 minutes, my work was up and looking quite good if I do say so myself! 
    I took a minute to check out the work that was hanging to the right and left of me and on my right, who's work was hanging there? None other than Tina Picard - Toronto based fashion photographer! I was blown away because I just found out about Tina maybe 3 weeks prior to the show and fell in love with it right away. I couldn't believe that my work was displayed beside hers, I was pumped but also feeling a little unworthy. I want you all to check out Tina's work, it's outstanding: TINA PICARD: FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER 

7pm: It's show time! 
          Ok... so I was a little late for doors open ha! but you have to be a little fashionably late, right? Actually my buddy Jeremy and I took off down town T.O. to hit the Ripley's Aquarium and get some food, it took a little longer than expected because it was such an awesome place to look around and get some shots. We made it back, I went to my show space and hung out for a bit until Tina walked up :) .... eeeeek, we talked for a bit and then people starting coming in and looking around. Right away I was in deep, talking to random people I didn't know, asking all kinds of questions about my work and style but surprisingly, I did alright.. I didn't throw up on anyone which was my biggest goal of the entire night. 
            I was actually surprised at how many people showed up to the event, the place was packed. I lost track of time, but not to long after people came in and looked around our RAW presenter jumped up on stage and got the show started. We had: 3 live fashion shows, a hand full of live bands, a guy who spit fire all over the place ( which was amazing.. I could feel the heat on my face and I was about 20 feet from the stage)... such an amazing display of talent. 
 Anyways.. i'm sure you just want to see pics.... and to those of you who actually read all of this... you're an amazing person lol..... oh PS, the images aren't amazing... I was there to show my work not shoot the event.. I just took these shots to give you a little feel of the night.  - Shutter Click.

A model struts the runway at RAW displaying a hand made by Love, Poetry Corsets 

A warrior model comes out strong to strut the runway at RAW looking fierce 

Warrior model striking a pose with her sward on stage at RAW

Second Warrior model with her flaming sword striking a pose at RAW 

Male model sporting his warrior wear on stage at RAW

Fenyx Fyre on stage at RAW blowing out a huge fire ball! what an amazing act. 

Fenyx Fyre holding a fire ball on his chest live on the RAW stage. 

Fenyx Fyre displaying another fire ball, which he is licking on the RAW stage

Fenyx Fyre Blowing out a giant cloud of fire on the RAW stage.

Lucky Widmore rocking out on stage at RAW, these guys have an awesome sound. loved them.

Over all view from the top floor at RAW. So many people showed up, so many great artists... I had a great night and grateful to be apart of the RAW family. Moral of the story, step out of your comfort zone and do something that scares you, great things come from it and you will feel more alive. Life starts when you're out of your comfort zone. Thank you RAW!

Harvard's and Hero's

This weekend ( June 20th-22nd) was a Gathering/Event in Tillsonburg On. Celebrating 75 years of the Harvards and the Veterans who flew them. This Harvard fly over was the largest one since WWII and there was no way I was going to miss a piece of history like that.

I showed up to the Tillsonburg airport around 11:30pm, from the highway I could see a small sea of yellow planes as I approached and was instantly excited for the show. The sound of 11 harvards flying through the air is outstanding, nothing like you've ever heard before. This event wasn't just harvards, the majority was, but there was also a Harvard II trainer there which was a treat to see, and two T-28 Trojan's, One navy blue, and one that was White and Orange if I remember right, it was a treat to see them take off at the end of the show. 

Harvard's and Hero's started off with one harvard and one amazing pilot who was making this plane do things I never thought a harvard could do. This plane was flipping tail over prop, straight up into the sky and stalling out, kicking the tail over the nose, crazy rolls, and really really low flying.. I mean .. if I had to guess, 30 ft off the ground, it was insane!  After that, all the harvards took to the skies to do a couple fly by's, which was then followed up by the Canadian Harvard Aerobatics Team, who always put on an amazing show with smoke and crazy stunts! - Shutter Click ~

 

The Canadian Harvard Aerobatics Team come racing in from the right, smoke on, getting set up for a steep climb.

Coming straight at the crowd while in a diamond formation, pulling back on the stick and going vertical. 

Pulling back, shooting straight up and back over the top for a smoky back roll.

Team comes straight over the crowds heads with smoke on, setting up to bank left and come across centre stage.

Two team members come flying in head on and cross last minute just missing one another.

The reason everyone gathered.. The 11 Harvard Tribute Pass.. what a sound and sight to see. 

Rick Volker, A Harvard Aerobatics Pilot gets in his harvard and taxi's up to put on quite an impressive solo aerobatics display. Who knew the harvard could do the things he made it do!

Rick Volker, Banking hard in front of the crowd as he gains some momentum and air speed to perform some more amazing aerobatics. 

Rick Volker doing a close, topside pass for the crowd and photographers.. what a photo op! 

Rick Volker doing a tight inside loop stage centre. 

SPEED and SOUND

The scream of a CF-18 Fighter Jet sneaking up on you from behind just under the speed of sound is one of the best sounds I've ever heard. 

Today was the Tillsonburg ON. AirShow, which is a small show, but it's a great show. There really isn't much of a ground display like you normally see at air shows, and there are only two acts: The F-18 and the Canadian Snowbirds. Due to it being a small show, the planes really push the limits, which makes it that much better, plus it was soooo hot out and a shorter show really saved a lot of people. 

The F-18 came busting out just under the speed of sound from behind the crowd, and flew directly over us nice and low screaming like nothing you've heard before, it was amazing. Due to it also being fathers day, we got a little bit of a longer show than normal as the F-18 Pilot radioed in to get permission to do two extra fly by's at the end of his time slot, which was a treat! 
  Half hour after the F-18 left, the snowbirds fired up and taxied out. I was fortunate enough to be in Photo Alley, which was so close to where the snowbirds were parked. And by close I mean close.. about 20 feet. When they fired up their engines, the heat was insane, the noise was better than any live rock show and the smell of jet fuel smelt amazing. You know you're close when people are leaning forward to keep standing and peoples hats are flying off as they turn their heads away hahahha so awesome! 

here's some of the images i've worked on so far from the day.. more may be added, so please, follow my blog to get updates on this even and on future shoots. Thank you for checking me out, feel free to leave comments. - Shutter Click. 

 

 

© Kevin Vyse Photography 
All rights reserved 2014 

F-18 Hornet comes flying straight over head just under the speed of sound

F-18 does a high speed pass in front of the crowd, nice and low.

Snowbirds climb high into the sky, turn on the smoke and flip over backwards

Snowbirds Pilot puts his parachute on after giving it a check over

getting ready to taxi out, Pilot and ground crew member communicate with hand signals.

Snowbirds taxi out after all checks have been done. Let the show begin! 

Panning the camera with a slow shutter speed as the snowbirds take off to the skies

F-18 fly's by the crowd doing whats called the " top side pass " showing off the top of the plane and the 2014 paint scheme.

As the F-18 starts into a steep climb, vapour forms and fly's off his wings

Renaissance Festival!

WOW! it has been far to long since i've done a blog post, this must change. 

Smashing lances, crowds cheering, beer drinking, pig roasting, sword fighting and much much more! This was my experience today as I attended the 2014 Woodstock Ontario Renaissance Festival. This event was pretty amazing, with so much to see, from fire breathing to catapult slinging, archery, sword fights and Knights upon their steeds hitting each other with 10 foot wooden lances. When I showed up, the first thing I saw was 3 people dressed up in proper old time attire in a barn with Fire Batons spinning around their bodies, being balanced on their heads while another woman twirled around on a hula hoop type contraption hanging from the ceiling, it was quite impressive. 

   I continued onward to the grand stand where I heard the crowd yelling and clapping, of course I had to hurry to see what the ruckus was about. JOUSTING was about to commence! An announcer came out on a horse wearing quite the outfit and explaining what we were about to see and gave us the run down on how scoring for Jousting worked. Next rode out one of the knights, an older looking fellow with shiny armour. Then another knight came out, apparently they were father and son, who would think a father and son were about to joust one another, but thats what happened! 5 bouts took place with some real hard hits, one being dishorsed, chunks of wood flying through the air... men and women running through the crowd crying and screaming.... ok ok... that last part didn't happen, but in my weird over active mind it did lol. 

Here's some of my images from the day... I was only there for about an hour so I didn't get to see everything they had to offer. At some point there were sword and axe fights, some falconry and bands. There's still time, I may go back. - Shutter Click~

 

© Kevin Vyse Photography 
All rights reserved 2014 

Fire Blower getting a flame to burst off the end of the baton.

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All rights reserved 2014

Lance smashes to pieces as the knights connect on horseback

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All rights reserved 2014 

Another hard hit from the knights shattering the lances... the knight in blue was actually dishorsed with this hit.

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All rights reserved 2014

First Knight came out and put his helmet on, then proceeded to ride right up to me for a close up photo op

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All rights reserved 2014 

After jousting a crowd gathered on the grass as a bagpipe and drum band rocked out some tunes to promote their show later tonight. Braveheart style! 

SHOWCASE!

Getting the word out: 
I have been accepted/invited to showcase some of my work in Toronto, ON Canada on June 19th, 2014 at the Revival Bar [783 College Street, Toronto] from 1pm - 3pm. This is the first time i've ever done anything like this, and for those who know me will know this is HUGE. I don't really like big crowds, I have social anxiety issues and Toronto has always scared me. Mainly the driving scares me.. it's brutal. 
    Ok, so here's what I need from everyone. This show requires that I sell 20 tickets to the event ( I'd love for you to come to the show, but even if you can't make it to Toronto you can still buy a ticket in support of me and my work and the RAW community.) Tickets are $15 each and the cost of the tickets does not go to me, it's simply to rent the bar out, to cover the tables, electrical chords, backdrops, etc.. all the things that go into making this show able to happen. 

What to expect at the show:
This showcase is not just for me to show off my work, of course. There are performing acts (bands, dancers etc..) Drawing artists, Painting artists, Sculptures, any kind of art you can think of is welcome, there's even fashion shows! So as you can see this is quite the event with lots to see and do. 

How to get tickets:
All you need to do to get your ticket and show your support is click on the link at the end of this blog. You will be taken over to my Artist showcase page on the RAW: Natural Born Artists website. From there you will see yellow wording to the right of my pictures that says " Buy A Ticket For This Artist " all you have to do is click on that and a window will pop up with all the info to get your ticket. Remember when you're buying this ticket to make sure my name and Kevin Vyse Photography is selected from the drop down menu. This allows you to buy a ticket through me for the event and helps support me and my 20 required ticket sales to show at this event. 

I'm really excited to step out there and show off some of my work. I'm trying very hard to shoot some new pieces between now and June 19th. Images that no one will see until the show. Once the show is over I will then be posting the images online. I really hope to see familiar faces out at this event and meet lots of new faces as well. 
Shutter Click!


here's the link:
http://www.rawartists.org/kevinvyse


Hair/Fashion/Glamour OH MY!

       Cans of hair spray flying, make up pallets blasting colour all over, dresses, shorts, shirts, bra's, shoes all around me. This was what it was like on set a few weekends ago in London, Ontario as I got together with Hair Stylists Cassidy and Jodie, jodie also does make up, to do a hair shoot for the Salon they work at. 
        Our goal was to set up some simple portraits to show case different elaborate hair styles so we can place some of the images in to hair competitions. But first, before we got into the hair shoot, we decided we would do a little photoshoot for Cassidy to get warmed up. We did the shoot in Jodi's loft which is gorgeous.. 13' high ceilings, crown moulding, all open concept, big windows and a rooftop with an old fire escape... as you can imagine it's a great location with endless possibilities. Due to living in Canada and it being winter.. the rooftop didn't work out for us because it was covered in deep snow, but it will be used this summer with out a doubt. 

         After Cassidy's shoot, the other model's ( Ellie, Alex and Shelby) showed up so we could get started on hair and make up, this was around 2pm. Alex and Ellie were up first, so we started shooting against my white seamless backdrop, shooting some head shots and some full lengths. It went pretty well, I found that the roll of seamless I have is only good for head shots.. it's only about 4-5' wide which doesn't work well for full body so we decided to move over to one of the walls in the loft and use that. Over all the day/night was a success, it was long ended up being about 11 hours.. but that was with breaks to change looks and change make up, change hair and lenses and lighting set ups. 

         This post is just a starter post for this shoot... Seeing as how these images are being entered into competitions I can't post a lot of them because we don't know which ones we are entering yet. The ladies are going through the contact sheets to select which images are to be edited for which categories, a lot of them I haven't even edited yet because I want to know which ones are being used instead of editing a bunch that we won't use at all.... Soooooo with that said, I'm going to use this post to show of just a few shots I did of Cassidy in our PRE shoot, and then i'll follow up to this blog post later after the hair images have been selected, edited and entered for competition. Hope you enjoy these images. - Shutter Click.

 

Loved the wallpaper here, made for a great backdrop and a nice neutral colour to make her hair and skin pop.

This was one of my favourite locations.. Here I had to brave the deep snow on the rooftop to get down to the landing on the fire escape, and shoot Cassidy as she leaned out the window of the loft for a fashion/glamour kind of look.

The bedroom was an outstanding space.. Huge King size bed with this amazing headboard and a giant window behind it making for an awesome amount of backlight to create nice separation and get that hair glowing.

A Day Of Boudoir Pt. 2

Lights prepped, umbrella's open, lenses cleaned, memory cards erased, camera on.... A knock at the door and in walks the first set of models. 

Boudoir is underway! thats how it all started out. I was fortunate enough to photograph some truly beautiful ladies 2 weekends ago in London, ON. at the gorgeous HOTEL METRO. We had a big room (honey moon suite) which is a wide open concept room. Behind the king sized bed was an exposed brick wall which was exactly what I had envisioned for this shoot, and it worked out perfectly. 
      3:00pm is when the first model arrived with friend, model and assistant Ashley. Madison (first model) was having some pictures done in a boudoir style for her boyfriend as a christmas gift. Her images will not be shown here for two reasons, 1 they are for her bf and for his eyes only and two they are a christmas gift so I wouldn't be able to release them before christmas anyways as he does not know she had them done for him. Madison's shoot was flawless, the images turned out better than we could have hoped for and she looked fantastic, I can't wait to hear about her bf's reaction to them. 
around 7pm is when the next model arrived (Cassidy), a beautiful blonde who is confident and boy can she model, she knows her body well, and knows how to move it/pose it. Cassidy was a pleasure to work with and a lot of fun! 

We wanted to do a variety of images, not just boudoir but also some creative grunge type party shots. We started out with the boudoir images, had some sexy poses on the bed and a chair that was in the room and in front of the large window. This shoot was 9 hours long and I have to give props to the ladies for sticking it out, we were all feeling it the next day thats for sure. Cassidy and Ashley stayed to do all kinds of different concepts so you will be seeing a lot of them in this post. 
    My over all goal is to start getting more and more into the world of boudoir. I find it to be more than just portraits, it's real art... the way a woman uses her body, her lines and when she gets comfortable in front of the camera it's like magic, the beauty comes blasting through... it's amazing to see the transformation take place. I love the idea of a woman coming to me for some tastefully, sexy pictures to boost her confidence. Whether it's because she just got out of a bad relationship, a failed marriage, proud of herself for pushing herself to the limits to get fit.. etc... it feels great to know that I can help a woman change the way she sees herself and be more confident with herself. 

A big thank you to Madison, Ashley and Cassidy for an amazing night of photography, modelling, laughter and of course a few Twisted Iced Teas.. delicious! hahahha

Shutter Click!


So, with out further a due ...... here are the images from the boudoir marathon as well as some of the other ones we shot:

 



 

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All Rights Reserved 2013 

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All Rights Reserved 2013 

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All Rights Reserved 2013 

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All Rights Reserved 2013 

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All Rights Reserved 2013 

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All Rights Reserved 2013 

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All Rights Reserved 2013 

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All Rights Reserved 2013 

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All rights reserved 2013

© Kevin Vyse Photography 

All Rights Reserved 2013 

© Kevin Vyse photography 

All Rights Reserved 2013 

A Day Of Boudoir Pt. 1

    After months and months of searching my photographic passion, I have finally realized which area of photography my heart lies. I've tried family portraits, weddings, events, landscape etc. They're all great aspects of photography, and they all have their own little perks, but when I pick up my camera and shoot boudoir, high fashion, or conceptual fine art portraits, my heart sings. This doesn't mean I won't be doing any family portraits, or engagements, or weddings, it just means I'll be doing a lot less of them and trying to put my time and energy into Boudoir, High Fashion and Conceptual Fine Art Portraits. 

    Today marks the day of my new journey into the world of Boudoir Photography. I have shot some boudoir type stuff with my best friend a few times, and if you follow my work, you've seen her face a few times. I decided that I need to book some ladies and give it a try full out, so thats what I did. My best friend had shown her shots to some of her friends and they loved them and wanted to get some done of themselves, so I said " Lets do a mini boudoir marathon". I will have 4 ladies showing up at 4 different times through out today at a beautiful Hotel in London, ON Canada. 

     I've been asked " do you get nervous for these kinds of shoots, you're photographing women who are half naked and you're a guy, don't they feel awkward?" 
The answer: Yes, I always get nervous before shoots, especially these but not because the ladies are half naked, thats doesn't effect me at all because my mind is completely focused on capturing their beauty, camera settings, lighting etc... I want to be able to provide these ladies with beautiful, tasteful images they can look back on in their elder years and remember how fun it was and how sexy they felt. I want these ladies to feel confident and sexy. Some of them are taking these images for their boyfriends and I want their boyfriends to love them and "get in the mood" if you know what I mean. 
    As for the ladies feeling awkward, I'm sure at the beginning when they first start the shoot they're a little nervous and maybe it feels awkward but once the ball gets rolling, they start to feel more comfortable. As a photographer, you need to make the clients feel comfortable, and be very respectful of them. I always chat during the shoot " How has your day been so far?, what are you doing after the shoot?, Have you done any modelling in the past? " things like that to make them feel more comfortable and not focus to much on the fact that they're being photographed. Another good technique is to have music playing during the shoot. Dance around and act like an idiot, seriously, do it... the more you look like a moron the less nervous they will be, because they don't feel like the only one being the centre of attention and being weird, It works, Plus if you can get them to laugh at you and snap a shot, you may get an amazing image out of it.

This image below was one of those shots. I was being an idiot and doing some stupid funny faces at her and she went to do one back, then busted out laughing. I took a quick shot, and this ended up being one of her fav shots from the shoot. Yes the image is a little burry because i quickly raised the camera up and shot with out allowing the camera to focus 100% but she loved it, so that works!

- Shutter Click

 

Ps, keep an eye out for the images from todays boudoir marathon. I'll be doing a PART 2 of this blog about the shoot.   

© Kevin Vyse Photography
All rights reserved 2013