University of Alberta Pandas Jaki Ellis celebrates a point on the University of Montreal Carabins with her teammates during the fourth and final quarter-final matchup at the CIS Woman’s Volleyball Nationals at the U of A main gym in Edmonton on March 5, 2010. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal
University of Alberta Pandas Tiffany Proudfoot dives for the ball during their second set against the University of Montreal Carabins during the fourth and final quarter-final matchup at the CIS Woman’s Volleyball Nationals at the U of A main gym in Edmonton on March 5, 2010. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal
University of Albera physical education professor and exercise psychologist Tanya Berry believes there is a hypocrisy with elite Olympic athletes pushing fast food McDonald’s. She runs past a McDonalds on 109 St. near 84 Ave. in Edmonton on February 23, 2010. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal
M.E. LaZerte High School female wrestler Breanna Egloff, 17, poses for a photo outside her school in Edmonton on February 24, 2010.
I shot Breanna wrestling for a story by Chris O’Leary for the Journal.
After the match the sky was beautiful and I knew she was hot from the match so I asked her if she would pop outside for a quick portrait. I already had my lights set up and there was a nice flat football field just outside the gym.
I used my DIY Tilt-Shift lens which is fixed at f2.8 and shot with my Canon 5D at 1/50 sec, ISO200.
Since I was shooting wide open at f2.8 I had to set my flashes to minimum power at 1/128.
If I could have done this again I would have asked her to not smile so much and not look at the camera. With that being said though, her smile really showed her friendly character. I wish her well in her wrestling career.
Posted by ryanjackson on Feb 23, 2010 in lighting, photos
University of Alberta Pandas centre Alana Cabana has been hurt most of the season but is trying to heal up for playoffs. She poses for a photo at Clare Drake Arena in Edmonton on February 18, 2010. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal
I was assigned to get a picture of a hockey player who has had many injuries over the last year. Rather than just getting a picture of her on the ice (which doesn’t really illustrate injury very well) I asked her to sit in the bleachers and set her gear beside her.
I placed two flashes behind her at 1/32 power with tinfoil barn doors on them so I could direct the light better.
I find tinfoil gives a nice shiny “harsh look” for rim light. The fill light is just a flash at 1/8 power with a 1/2 CTO “orange” gel to warm up the light and a small softbox.
I shot it with a Canon 5D, 1/125sec, 50mm f1.4 lens at f6.3, ISO100.
Last month I spent an entire day with young figure skaters Lee Royer, 11, and Kyra Gregory, 10, who hope to one day compete in the Olympics as an ice dance team. I was amazed at how little I knew about this sport. First off, and most surprising, it is one of the most expensive sports. Ice time, coaches, and costumes add up to tens of thousands of dollars every year. These kids wake up around 4:45am six day a week so they can practice before school and then after school they practice more. You know what I did when I was 10?…. nothing! These kids were so inspiring and wonderful to follow. Enjoy!
Same pictures new year This was my second year shooting the birki and of course I took some photos the same as last year.
Icicles hang from Herb Stark’s face after completing the 31 kilometre Edmonton Journal Tour event during the Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival which started at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village and ended at Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, 35 kilometres east of Edmonton on February 13, 2010. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal
Competitors take off in the 31 kilometre Edmonton Journal Tour event during the Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival which started at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village and ended at Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, 35 kilometres east of Edmonton on February 13, 2010. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal
Competitors take off in the 55 kilometre event during the Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival which started at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village and ended at Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, 35 kilometres east of Edmonton on February 13, 2010. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal
Graeme Nishikawa from Whitehorse, Yukon, left, wins the 55-kilometre event followed by Ian Murray from Canmore, Alta. beside him during the Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival which started at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village and ended at Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, 35 kilometres east of Edmonton on February 13, 2010. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal
MaryAnne Rintoul holds up a metal that her grandmother won for competing in the Birkebeiner race in Norway over 90 years ago during the Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival which started at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village and ended at Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, 35 kilometres east of Edmonton on February 13, 2010. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal
Posted by ryanjackson on Feb 5, 2010 in photos, video
1,200 students, staff and faculty at the University of Alberta unofficially smash the Guinness World Record for most players in a single dodgeball game at the Universiade Pavilion better known as “The Butterdome” in Edmonton, Alta. on February 5, 2010. The former record was 450. The event was organized by the U of A students’ union. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal
This is the second of three blog posts on the Art Gallery of Alberta supplement that I worked on.
Click on the image above to go to the Interactive Tour page. The amazingly talented Donald Allen at The Journal did all the Flash code for this and I did all of the 360-panoramas. I shot almost all of the panoramas with a Canon 1D Mark-III camera and a Peleng 8mm fisheye lens. I’m going to need to go back and re-shoot many of the panoramas as construction was still underway when I made these.
Here are some of my favorite still images I shot over the last month. The night ones were shot from the roof of a nearby office building with a Canon 5D, 24-105L, and a tripod.
AGA employees and their friends and family walk through the new Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton on January 9, 2010. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal).
A view inside the new Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton on January 26, 2010. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal).
The National Post also ran my photos front page and did a nice spread on the inside.
Posted by ryanjackson on Feb 1, 2010 in lighting, photos
This is the first of three blog posts I’m going to make about working on the Art Gallery of Alberta supplement.
For the last six weeks I was off the normal photo schedule at The Journal and put on the Art Gallery of Alberta project. On Sunday the new gallery opened up to the public and last Thursday we had a 36-page supplement in the paper as well as a big online feature.
My favorite thing to shoot is portraits so I went to town with this one. It was exciting to have a new building with interesting architecture to shoot in. Here are my favorites.
Art Gallery of Alberta Executive Director Gilles Hebert poses for a photo in the new Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton on December 1, 2009. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal). Shot with a Canon 5D, 16-35L @ 31mm. 580EX flash into an O-Flash ring flash. F4, ISO400.
Shot with a Canon 5D and a 75mm DIY Tilt-Shift lens. One 550EX flash to the back left with a snoot on, Lastolite EzyBox softbox and a 550EX to the right. 1/200sec, f2.8, ISO50.
Art Gallery of Alberta Curator Catherine Crowston poses for a photo in the new Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton on December 1, 2009. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal). Canon 5D, Canon 24mm f1.4 lens at f1.8, 1/60sec, ISO640. Available light.
Allan Scott, Chair of the AGA Board poses for a photo in the new Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton on December 1, 2009. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal). Canon 5D, ISO100, 1/160sec. Canon 50mm f1.4 lens at f5.6. Canon 550EX into a Lastolite Ezybox to the front right and a 550EX with a snoot on it to the back right.
Cool thing about this image is that the AGA has it framed and hanging in a boardroom dedicated to Allan Scott which means I now have a photograph in the Art Gallery of Alberta pernament collection!
Randall Stout, architect of the new Art Gallery of Alberta poses for a photo in front of the gallery in down town Edmonton on December 3, 2009. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal).
For this image I wanted to go all artsy so I shot it with my 1950’s-era Yashica D twin-lens medium format camera. I had a 24×36″ softbox to the left with a White Lightning strobe and a 40×60″ relector to the right. I shot on Kodak T-Max and develeoped it myself in the Journal’s old darkroom and then scanned it.
Is this image any better because I used all that gear and film? Nope! But it was a lot of fun trying to do something different and that’s the best part of my job!
Friday night was an opportunity for me and Greg Southam’s MacEwan University photography students to shoot some basketball for their sports action assignment.
I was surprised to see that almost all of the students shot Nikon. When I went to Loyalist it was the other way around. Nikon has really come a long way since then in quality and price.
Here are some of my favorite photos from Friday night. Enjoy!
Brandon University Bobcats’ Melanie Thompson makes a shot on the University of Alberta Pandas’ net during their match at the U of A Main Gym in Edmonton, Alta. on January 29, 2009. Pandas won 87-39. Photo by Ryan Jackson / ryanjackson.ca
Brandon University Bobcats’ Chantel Gaslard, left, and University of Alberta Pandas’ Josephine Peacock fight for the ball during their match at the U of A Main Gym in Edmonton, Alta. on January 29, 2009. Pandas won 87-39. Photo by Ryan Jackson / ryanjackson.ca
University of Alberta Pandas’ Caitlin Stiksma, left, and Brandon University Bobcats’ Jayla Bousquet fight for the ball during their match at the U of A Main Gym in Edmonton, Alta. on January 29, 2009. Pandas won 87-39. Photo by Ryan Jackson / ryanjackson.ca
University of Alberta Golden Bears’ Harvey Bradford goes for the net during a match against the Brandon University Bobcats at the U of A Main Gym in Edmonton, Alta. on January 29, 2009. The Bobcats won 88-85. Photo by Ryan Jackson / ryanjackson.ca
University of Alberta Golden Bears’ Harvey Bradford tries to get through Brandon University Bobcats’ Dany Charlery, left, and Martin Lawrence during their match at the U of A Main Gym in Edmonton, Alta. on January 29, 2009. The Bobcats won 88-85. Photo by Ryan Jackson / ryanjackson.ca
This was my second year shooting the birki and of course I took some photos the same as 
