Last night I got together with songwriter and artist Steve Lewin.  We had a photo shoot to promote his newly released album and it was a fairly great way to spend an evening.  Steve has written and composed the entire album out of his bedroom and frankly aside from being impressed, the music is right up my ally too.  We decided to take a few shots of him under some controlled condition, then we moved it out onto the street on the way to a gig he had that night, wrapping up the shoot with a cold beer, some great tunes and a live performance by Steve and some other musicians at his Songwriter’s Lounge.  His website is in the works so I don’t have a link to direct you to it just yet.  But in the mean time here are a few of my personal favourite shots from the night.

This is just one reason why I find being a photographer to be so exciting.  I get to meet all sorts of people and on a night where I get to hang out and listen to some music, I can’t complain much about the work side of things.  Thanks to Steve, Gavin and all the other people who played last night!  And James for posing for a couple of pics too.

Thank you for reading!

David Dvir

It’s been another very busy weekend.  We had a very fun engagement shoot that took around some beautiful areas on Saturday, and on Sunday a few different portraits taken throughout the day.  Along with some other studio related work and having any glimmer of a personal life, it was essentially as busy as a weekend can be.  That being said, I’d just like to make a quick entry so as to not be silent for too long.  I’ll discuss each of these two photography sessions in more detail at some point in the future, but for the time being it should be noted that if I could some up the weekend with one word, it would be “success”.

Engagement shoots are always fun but can be especially exciting depending on the time of year.  Although I enjoy photographing all year ’round, Autumn has always been my favourite.  I like the “cozy” feel I always get.  Here’s a shot at Lister’s Farm where I’ve taken some landscape shots in the past.  We revisited this location as per my clients request and although I won’t be putting up a shot from the engagement shoot itself just yet (don’t want to put anything up the clients don’t already have their hands on) here’s a shot I snuck in during the end of the day.

On Sunday we decided to have a few portraits taken all on the same day.  Attempting to be efficient for the most part was a lot more difficult than we originally thought.  However with due diligence we managed to get some greats shots taken and I was very happy we didn’t have to compromise our professionalism.  Here’s a shot that we took, it might be my favourite from Sunday, although I haven’t seen them all yet!

Thank you for reading!

David Dvir

Today I was really looking forward to visiting some pumpkin patches not realizing the weather would be less than ideal.  I had set up a few different locations to shoot from and had my releases printed and was about to start making phone calls this morning when I realized that today just would not work!  Nature of the job I suppose.  I’ve been so busy with getting the studio running that I haven’t managed to get out and shoot too often in the last month.  This is after all what this whole project is suppose to be about.  Love for photography is one thing, but I know I’ve got to continue shooting or I will never enjoy myself.  

Today I was looking forward to expressing my creativeness and was excited about the thought of heading to some pumpkinaries (I know it’s not a word) and just seeing what would come of it.  Most of my greatest shots have always been taken without much planning.  Sometimes it’s as easy as going somewhere you’d expect some great shots to be waiting for you, and finding them.  Other times you might have a shot in mind that you’d like to capture, find a suitable location and only suffer the realization that what you were imaging is currently beyond your reach.  That’s why days like how today was planned to be are so great.  No expectation, no deadlines or timelines of any sort, no disappointment.  Not that disappointment is such a terrible thing.  There’s just a very nice feelings associated with knowing that regardless of what you will end up with from a photoshoot, you’re going to be happy.  Visiting a pumpkin patch to me seems like a win-win-win situation.  Either I get some great shots, or I see some great things, or at the very least I’ll leave with a pie.  Again, weather is a little out of my control (for now).  So I can’t be to ‘disappointed’.

Will be attempting another go at this idea as soon as a nicer day comes around.  Until then.

Thank you for reading!

David Dvir

It’s been longer than I would have liked since my last post.  Things have been quite busy with organizing the studio construction while trying to maintain regular workflow.  It has been enjoyable at the very least though.  I also did manage to spend Sunday relaxing and enjoying myself along with my friend Ashley so it hasn’t been all work either.  Since the last post; we’ve finished up our Olympian’s shoot (Jane Rumball), got a little more gear, and made some leaps with our studio.

Jane’s shoot finished off at the DRC last Saturday and I think overall we’ve got loads to work with.  Be sure to expect a bunch of behind the scenes footage as well.  While I’ve got a ton of work to do in terms of picking images and editing, I’m eager to show of some of what we’ve done, so here is a quick sample of an image we took last Saturday.  This photo has only been edited about 10 seconds and would need a lot more if we chose to actually use it in the final campaign (at this point I can’t be certain as I just picked this one out of hundreds to show you guys).

It was a really fun project, and I’d like to thank Jane and everyone involved for helping out and making it what I hope will be a huge success.

We also picked up some extra gear this last week.  Receiving our Alien Bee’s Vagabond battery.  This thing is pretty awesome, it’s got a bit of a slow recycle time, but honestly it does exactly what it’s designed for very very well.  Using this little guy I’ve got plenty of shots to take on the road with my monolights and that’s all I was looking for.  So I definitely recommend picking one of these little guys up.  We’ll also be using profoto in the future, but I imagine this little yacht battery with a strap will see some use no matter what.

I haven’t actually been taking too many pictures since Jane’s shoot.  Things with the studio have been getting very very busy and I feel like I’ve been a lazy photographer, but I also know that I simply haven’t had the time.  One thing that I am really excited about it a general layout of the studio.  A few days ago we agreed on what the scheme of the studio will look like, and bearing in mind that this still needs some tweaking and we will be adding a few extra features, here’s what it’ll look like.

Lastly, I had a great time Sunday with my friend Ashley with whom I started the day out by heading to a restaurant downtown.  We had a quick lunch and began our day.  I’d like to add at this point that all I had on me was one camera, some lens cleaning solution and a single lens (17-55).  All images shot on the day are just a result of these things, even though I desperately wished I at least had a tripod at some points.  OK, so we headed to the Jays game where they were playing the Mariners, and ended up winning in dramatic fashion.  While the game was going on, I received a phone call from a friend asking if I’d be interested in going to the Leafs game that same night, I looked over at Ashley, and said yes.  So the Jays game ended and we had some time between games so we decided to grab another bite and some beers at Scotland Yard.  A few wings and beers later and I was ready for bed, but right then we picked up our Leafs tickets and heading to the Air Canada Centre to watch another dramatic game.  The leafs lost (I know…. I know…) but it was still a great game.  Afterwards we stopped by another bar before catching the train home and had a couple of ciders to end the night and a great day.  Here are some picks of it all.

Thank you for reading!

David Dvir

We had a nice little fashion shoot this week for Sense of Independence.  A women’s clothing store on Eglington Ave.  Some behind the scenes footage is below as well as 2 of the final shots they decided to use in their advertising.  It was actually a really fun shoot for me.  After a lot of initial setting up, we had the model simply stand on a queue and I fired the camera’s shutter off remotely the rest of the time.  Probably as easy an actual shoot as it gets in terms of camera operation.  Although the set up took a bit of time and was certainly not easy since I lacked a very necessary assistant on the day.  

On the topic of this shoot, we got to use our new Profoto 600 Compact monolights.  I was very happy to get to use these new lights.  They are especially awesome and they did not disappoint!  Certainly a great addition to the system.  We also plan on using these lights this weekend when shooting our on-water portion of Olympic athlete Jane Rumball.  We will be using them in conjunction with Alien Bee’s portable power units.  Should help us get all the portable lighting we’ll need for this shoot!

Our website is still under construction, I appreciate any feedback while we’re in the building phase and encourage anyone to make any suggestions.  Keeping in mind that work is still required on every single page of the site though.

Shooting in progress

View of the setup

Client reviewing live feed from camera

Thank you for reading!

David Dvir

Today was essentially our first gig as a group.  Crew of three, one model, and an amazing facility at our disposal.  All in all the shoot was pretty great.  I had a lot of fun, and I think we got just about everything we were hoping for, if not a bit extra.  Next weekend will be the closing end to this project shooting at the Rowing club.  Facing a few challenges about shooting on water, all the while looking forward to figuring them out.  

It’s an interesting thing this jumping into new challenges business.  I find the best way for me to learn is to get a small grip on things, and dive in head first.  It’s always going to come with stumbles, but from my experience I learn to walk a lot faster, and remember how to for much longer than by really  taking too much time learning.  Critics may disagree, and that’s fine as I really shouldn’t be giving advice anyhow, but for me.. I find everything much more fulfilling after figuring it out for myself.  Today being a prime example.  Next weekend’s shoot will likely be smoother, and even better.  So I’m comfortable with how well today went.  

Another point I should mention is exactly how impressed and honoured I feel in regards to my friends and family’s support.  Accolades are one thing, but really feeling like you’re making the right decision is an amazing feeling.  Something that has eluded me for a long time.  So thank you all.

Been a long weekend, looking forward to a nice long sleep tonight.  Behind the scenes footage, and the final cuts of the project to come once all shooting has finished next weekend.  In the mean time, a few more shoots are booked for this week including a very fun one on Monday (skateboard park), and a couple of others later.

Until then – dreaming of my studio…

Thank you for reading!

David Dvir