Portrait: Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed

Nadir Mohamed, CEO of Rogers Communications poses for a photo at the Fairmont Hotel Macdonald in Edmonton on October 7, 2010. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal).

Video: Flash Dance Mob at University of Alberta

About 150 occupational therapy students from the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta organized a flash mob on Oct. 6, 2010, as part of an effort to promote and build awareness of Occupational Therapy. Video by Ryan Jackson/Edmonton Journal

Portrait: Fort McMurray municipal councilor Phil Meagher

Phil Meagher, Deputy Superintendent for Fort McMurray Public School District is running for re-election as municipal councilor for Fort McMurray. Meagher poses for a photo in his office in Fort McMurray, Alta. on September 27, 2010. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal).

Aliya and Jeremy Ring Wedding – Saskatoon Wedding Photographer

I’ve known Aliya and Jeremy for years. They were a wonderful couple to photograph and the wedding was a blast. Also check out their engagement session.

James Cameron visits the Oilsands in Fort McMurray and the people of Fort Chipewyan

I never expected to be back up to Fort Chipewyan so soon but thanks to James Cameron’s visit last month I got to.

One thing I found about the media coverage (especially TV coverage) of James Cameron’s visit to Fort McMurray and Fort Chipewyan was that it was more about HIM and about people’s reaction to him than what he actually had to say or the issues that he was discussing. I understand that TV has to boil everything down to a small sound bite but it sucks when someone talks for over an hour and then less than five-seconds of what they say is clipped.

Here are my three videos from his visit. The first one is in Fort McMurray where you learn why he was there, the second one is the people of Fort Chipewyan telling their stories to him and the third is his press conference after his tours. You can also watch the entire hour-long press conference on the Journal website.

James Cameron’s reaction after his first helicopter tour of oilsands development around Fort McMurray on September 27, 2010. The Hollywood director flew into Fort McMurray on Air Canada Jazz on Monday and will tour the oilsands and speak to aboriginals downstream in Fort Chipewyan on Tuesday. Video by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Fort Chipewyan residents emotionally voice their concerns of cancer and pollution to James Cameron on September 28, 2010. Video by Ryan Jackson/Edmonton Journal

James Cameron speaks in Edmonton Sept 29, 2010 after his tour of the oilsands in Fort McMurray and meeting with residents downstream in Fort Chipewyan the previous day. Video by Ed Kaiser and Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal Watch the entire hour-long press conference on the Journal website.

Canadian Online Publishing Award Nomination – Dodgeball Video

Saaaaaay whaaaat?

I’m nominated for a Canadian Online Publishing Award under the green category. The Journal was actually nominated for five awards. Hooray for everyone!

I’m up against CBC, The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star so yeah…. we’ll see how that goes!

I’m just happy to be nominated. I better not beat any of those other stories that are much more important!
On a side note though… my Dodgeball video has over 600,000 hits now!

Portrait: Farmer waiting for his crop to dry

It was a beautiful sunny day and I had the pleasure to drive about an hour out of town to photograph a farmer with his crop. The quality of his crop is great but it has way too much moisture from all of the rain and cool weather. He can’t harvest until we get some warmer weather to dry out the crop.

Farmer Albert Wagner stands in his unharvested barley crop near Stony Plain, Alta. on September 22, 2010. Wagner says it will be a good year if we get some warmer weather to dry out the saturated crop so he can harvest it. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal).

Farmer Albert Wagner stands in his unharvested barley crop near Stony Plain, Alta. on September 22, 2010. Wagner says it will be a good year if we get some warmer weather to dry out the saturated crop so he can harvest it. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal).

To light the image I used a single Alien Bees ABR800 flash at full-power and shot on a Canon 5D Mark-II with a 24mm TS lens.

Group Portrait: Young Public School Trustee Candidates

Public school trustee candidates (left to right) Darryl Lagerquist, Heather MacKenzie, Michael Janz and Sarah Hoffman pose for a photo at McKay Avenue School in Edmonton on September 21, 2010. They are all under 30 years old or younger, and don't have kids. But all believe strongly that schools need to be more connected to the community and that school boards need to take that broader community into account when they make decisions. They are among a crop of candidates who break the traditional school trustee candidate model. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal).

I got an assignment to photograph four younger candidates who are running for school board trustee. (Read the story Young trustee candidates defy stereotypes )  Since they were younger I wanted to use edgier lighting and have more of a magazine look.

To light this image I used an Alien Bees ABR800 ring flash powered by a Pure Sine Inverter and an 18Ah Battery since there wasn’t a power source outside. I placed two 550EX flashes behind them at 45-degrees and zoomed the flashes to 50mm. They were set to full power. The ABR800 was at 1/4 or 1/2 power I think.  It was a cloudy day so I didn’t need much power to overcome the ambient light.

The first few images had bad lens flare from the side lights so I taped tinfoil to the sides of the lights to block the light from hitting my lens.  Tinfoil and tape is very handy to keep in your lighting bag!

On the camera side I used a 5D Mark-II and a Canon 24mm Tilt-Shift lens.  I had the lens tilted all the way to keep the lines straight on the building as well as the people since I was shooting from a lower angle. I shot at 1/60sec, ISO200, f13.

Typically I shoot at low apertures however, since the Tilt-Shift lens blurs the top and bottom of the frame when you tilt the lens you need to shoot at a small aperture to make the image sharp.  Notice how the legs and steps are a little bit softer and the faces are sharp.

Perry and Jennifer Chahal go door-knocking

Perry and Jennifer Chahal go door-knocking with five-month-old Isaiah and two-and-a-half-year-old Xavier in Edmonton on September 16, 2010. Perry is running for election to the public school board and Jennifer is running for the Catholic board. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal).

Portrait of Dr. Holger Buchholz

Dr. Holger Buchholz, pediatric ventricular assist device (VAD) specialist poses for a photo at The Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute in Edmonton on September 15, 2010. (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal).

To light this image I used an Alien Bees ABR800 ring flash in front and a Canon 550EX flash with a 1/4 CTO (orange) gell and a Honl Grid behind him hitting the wall. I used a Canon 5D Mark-II and a 24-105mm IS lens at 60mm. When I asked him to smile the first time he said “Germans don’t smile…” It was pretty funny. He smiled for the rest of the shoot but I liked this one the best.   Read the story VADs keep hope alive for ‘sickest of the sick’