Lewis Cardinal

Lewis Cardinal, failed municipal election candidate, is now running for the NDP in Edmonton-Centre as one of the federal party’s marquis candidates. Cardinal poses for a photo in in downtown Edmonton on September 4, 2009. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Cardinal was a pleasure to photograph. When I first arrived I mentioned that I had photographed him back in May 2007 on my third day working at the Journal he remembered me and the photo which was nice.

I wanted the photo to say “downtown” so we decided to go outside for the shoot. It was a rainy day and very windy but luckily Cardinal had short hair and wasn’t afraid  of a few raindrops. We walked to a nearby parkade and climbed up to the top floor so I could fill the frame with buildings and not be shooting up his nose.

Since it was a cloudy day I decided to pull my favorite trick and colour my 550EX flash with an orange gel. I then set my white balance to Tungsten which makes the background go blue…. much nicer than boring gray rain clouds. The flash was bare-bulb, zoomed to 35mm and probably 45-degrees off to the left.   I shot this at 32mm, 1/1000s, f5, ISO200 with a 5D and Pocketwizard Flex5’s.

I shot over a hundred photos of him easily but I liked this one the best because it shows confidence which is important for someone running for election. You can read the Trish Audette‘s profile of Lewis Cardinal in the Edmonton Journal.

Atlantic Lobster

Chef Ray Bear demonstrates different lobster dishes for an Atlantic Lobster promotion event held at Character’s restaurant in Edmonton on September 2, 2009. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

WPCA Chuckwagon Racing

Chuckwagon fan Seven-year-old Brayden Ilnichi takes a break between races during the first night of Dodge World WPCA Chuckwagon Championship action at Northlands in Edmonton on September 1, 2009. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Driver Lincoln Douglas comes down the stretch in Heat 2 during the first night of Dodge World WPCA Chuckwagon Championship action at Northlands in Edmonton on September 1, 2009.  Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Krista Graham of The Graham Sisters Trick Riding Team performs the “Suicide Drag” on her horse Allstar to kick off the first night of Dodge World WPCA Chuckwagon Championship action at Northlands in Edmonton on September 1, 2009. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Amber Graham of The Graham Sisters Trick Riding Team performs the “Stroud Layout” on her horse Hemi to kick off the first night of Dodge World WPCA Chuckwagon Championship action at Northlands in Edmonton on September 1, 2009. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Fox Creek home invasions

On Saturday Journal reporter Alexanda Zabjek and I went up to Fox Creek, Alberta to talk to community members about a recent rash of break-ins and home invasions. They have had at least 35 in less than two weeks which is crazy for a small town of 2,500. Read the story.

Kim Priest is the secretary of the Citizens on Patrol community group in Fox Creek, Alta. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Crystal Roe’s house was broken into last Friday night in Fox Creek, Alta. She is seen through the screen window that criminals bent to invade her home and steal her wallet while she was sleeping. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Crystal Roe poses for a photo with her son Koby, 7, and daughter Tielle, 10. Roe’s house was broken into last Friday night in Fox Creek, Alta. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

A walking path in Fox Creek, Alta. on August 29, 2009. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Overpowering the sun with Flex-5’s and Speedlights

Darcy Carter is one of the organizers for the 5th Annual Peter Schiemann Memorial Slo Pitch tournament which is running this weekend.  For the first time, oraganizers will have a full 16 teams, including two RCMP teams, playing. Over the last five years the tournament has raised about $20,000 which was donated to local charities, the biggest recipient being the local DARE program. Carter poses for a photo at Meridian Sports Park, north of Stony Plain, Alta on August 28, 2009.  (Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal).

In both these photos I should have moved the umbrella down so that it would fill in his face rather than being blocked by his hat.

I had a little help today. Daniel is a student and is helping out our web team this month. Today he came with me for a shoot so that he could get out of the office so I put him to work!  I wanted to see how well the new Pocketwizard Flex5’s work with a Canon 580EX flash to overpower the sun when shot through an umbrella….. I shot these two photos at 1/4000sec, f1.4, ISO50.   The bare bulb flash to the left certainly overpowered the sun well but I don’t think I got enough fill from the umbrella.  Both flashes were at full power.  In both pictures the umbrella was as close as I could get it without it being in the photo.

I’m going to try and build a rig similar to the Lastolite TriFlash and see what three flashes can do to overpower the sun in bright sunlight.

Critical Mass

Bike enthusiasts ride in the “Critical Mass” down the 109 St. High Level Bridge in Edmonton on August 28, 2009.  Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Eskibutts

Our awesome lifestyle reporter Jen Fong did this story on women who go to Eskimos games and check out player’s butts…. so guess what my assignment was today…

Edmonton Eskimo Kamau Peterson during practice in Rundle Park in Edmonton on August 26, 2009.  Photos by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Kamau Peterson was a GREAT sport for doing this and helped knock the awkwardness down from an 11 to a 10.

Tags: Esks

Oil and Football

The Eskimos usually practice in Commonwealth Stadium or nearby Clarke Park but today they moved to Rundle Park which made for some different scenery.

The Edmonton Eskimos practice at Rundle Park in Edmonton on August 25, 2009. Photo Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Dragon Boats and Lighting Lacrosse

The Glenrose Gators paddle their hearts out during the 13th annual Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival in Edmonton on August 22, 2009. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Lacrosse is a GREAT sport to shoot and probably the WORST sport to shoot because it is always sooooooo soooooo dark. It is always played in a hockey arena, which is dark enough to start, then they remove the ice which means there is no light being reflected up from the ground… you always have to shoot at the highest ISO possible and you still get a blurry 1/200sec if you’re lucky….. enter Speedlights!

I setup two 550EX’s with CP-E3 battery packs and pocket wizards.  I put light green gels over the flashes to balance the blue flash light with the green fluorescent ambient light. I only lit half the arena since I only had two lights with me. I set one up at the blue line, zoomed to 50mm and pointed about 20 ft in front of the net. The other one was zoomed to 35mm and placed in line with the net, pointed about 10 ft in front of the net. They were both set to 1/2 power on manual mode.

I used the Journal’s old Canon 200mm f1.8 lens which comes in damn handy for sports like this. I shot everything at f2.0 which gave me a full stop advantage over my other f2.8 lenses. This allowed me to keep my ISO at 800 and made for some beautifully clean and sharp Lacrosse images.

The only thing I love as much as the quality of strobed images is the fact that it makes you slow down. When you are shooting at 1/2 power you can’t just burst-mode everthing at 8fps. You could maybe take one picture every second but even then you risk pissing off players with the constant flashing.

Strobes make you slow down and anticipate the action. Rather than busting off 1000 frames and feverishly hunting for a sharp image, I may only shoot 150 frames in an entire game and the majority of them are sharp and clean.

Calgary Mountaineers goalie Jake Dietrich blocks a shot with Clarington Green Gaels Chad Tutton in front during the gold medal final game for the Junior ‘B’ Lacrosse National Championship in Beaumont, Alta. on August 22, 2009. Calgary won 8-4.  Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Calgary Mountaineers Mike Tyrell attempts a shot on Clarington Green Gaels goalie Zack Higgins during the gold medal final game for the Junior ‘B’ Lacrosse National Championship in Beaumont, Alta. on August 22, 2009. Calgary won 8-4.  Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Clarington Green Gaels Shayne Jackson, who had been voted MVP for the entire championship is dejected as the Calgary Mountaineers celebrate winning the gold medal final game for the Junior ‘B’ Lacrosse National Championship in Beaumont, Alta. on August 22, 2009. Calgary won 8-4.  Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal

Safe…or Safest way to transport your dog?

A woman rides her scooter down Groat Road near the University with a dog in her backpack in Edmonton on August 21, 2009. Photo by Ryan Jackson / Edmonton Journal