Who Wants A Moustache Ride? (I'm going to regret that title...)

Hey Peeps,

I can bet you know at least one dude, be it your friend, brother, father, son or some other label that connects their life to yours.

I can also bet that at least one of those guys has suffered from a fight with prostate cancer or some form of mental health like depression and/or anxiety.

If not, well you do now.  Me.

For an explanation of the moustache, keep reading.

I haven't had prostate cancer - thank goodness, and it may not look like it from the image above, but I have suffered from large struggles with anxiety and depression.  Bottomless pits that left me in a world that was flat and colorless, without substance or meaning of any sort.  

But I fought.  

I still fight today.

And this month, I'm hoping you will join me in that fight by joining/donating Movember & Sons.  They are a great organization in these struggles and I am proud to be part of a team of men who support it.

Our team, the League of Extraordinary Moustaches, is made up of over a dozen guys in my local area, led by our Team Captain and fellow photographer, Adam Graham.

We have raised several hundred dollars in just these few days and are continuing to collect more with your help.

You can see my progress on my Fanpage every two days as I update my moustaches growth.

Check it out so far.

Day 1

Day 3

Day 5

Okay, okay, not much growth right?  Well it's only been 5 days - cut me some slack, it will get better.

One of the many fun things with Movember are the free, customizable cards you can order, here's a shot of ours that I just received today and I also hope to grow by the end of the month.

Man, that makes me look old...

Also, I wanted to generate more fundraising by using my photography, so I am donating 10% of every shoot I take in Movember towards this cause.

How my Holiday Special helps Movember

I challenge all of you, whether an artist or whatever it is you do to do something similar in support of Movember.


So please listen, care, grow and give.

Oh, before I go, a quick "Good voting" to my American readers, I hope you all the best in your leadership choosing and sincerely enjoy the democracy that so many in this world don't get to.

And I hope Obama wins.  BAM!!  ;) 

Laters,
Michael Carty

Michael Carty Website
Michael Carty Email

BMO Hockey Heroes Weekend 2012

Hey Peeps,

Just got back from a great weekend in Halifax, NS covering the BMO Hockey Heroes Weekend with my buddy and second sniper Adam Graham.

It was fun reconnecting to some of the people who I worked with and the NHL Alums that I worked with on last years event, which was spectacular and did a great job of raising funds for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia.  We also had fun meeting new people involved in the event and hope to work with them all again soon.

So, how was the weekend itself?

Answer:  Fan-dan-tastic!

After getting to my place Friday morning, Adam and I made sure we had all the gear we needed and piled into my car for the 3 hour drive to Halifax.

We did the usual photographer thing on trips right?  We talked shop.

Who better to talk shop with than another photog?

Gear - Lighting - Business - Work/Life Juggling - Editing - Prints - Aesthetics, we went through the entire gauntlet.

A pit-stop in New Minas and an hour later we were pulling into the Westin Nova Scotian, unloaded our gear and set up our workstation before preparing ourselves for the first nights events.

After the setup was completed, we went downstairs to the banquet hall where we met up with Jane Davies and Annette LeBlanc, Vice President and event coordinator from ZedEvents respectively and our contacts for Hockey Heroes, to get any last minute information we may need.

Our NHL Alumni this year were:  Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Claude Lemieux, Guy Carbonneau, Marty McSorley, Russ Courtnall, Gary Leeman, Al Iafrate, Rick Middleton, Gaston Gingras, Kevin Maguire, Todd Warriner, Todd Harvey, Ken Belanger, Gilbert Dionne and Alain Cote.

Needless to say, that first night was fun.

We got a lot off of our shoot list ahead of schedule, the clients affiliates were overly happy of the job we did and everyone was having a great time.

Items were auctioned off to the fans for fundraising and the Alumni were getting into the swing of things.

Soooo wanted this!!

Good sports for a great event!

There was a lot of people there, the brews were flowing and spirits were high.

Jane Davies, Vice Pres of ZedEvents and Menna MacIsaac, CEO of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia 

NHL Alumni and event coordinators

The Alumni with our Dartmouth Dodge sponsors

Robert Zed, Jane Davies and Leanne Andrecyk:  President, Vice Pres. and Creative Director of ZedEvents respectively

What a great banquet before the games begin!!

Saturday, we shot the teams on the ice and caught some great vid footage that will be posted at a later date, along with some wonderful action stills of gameplay:

Team shot

Guy Carbonneau cracking up with teammates

Everyone is so eager to get out there!!

 

 

 

 

 Did I mention this was also a family event?  Oh yes, tonnes of kids of all ages came out to see the stars, grab some autographs and photos and enjoy the weekend!

Future NHL Alumni?

Marty McSorley posing with some fans

 

 

Great for the whole family!

The local team got to take a pic with some of our Hockey Heroes

 Then they got down to business....

Ray, Guy and the boys scrabbling for the puck

Watching the action from afar...

and up close!

Todd Warriner was gracious enough to let Adam strap his new GoPro cam to his helmet during gameplay and got us some sweet footage.

The event also had a Beard-o-Thon for fundraising...

as you can see there were many participants, lol.

Eager, waiting, historic, heroic...

Why not just a little showboating eh? LOL

 Overall it was a fantastic success, we shot tonnes of images, Adam captured a lot of great footage of which we are sifting through currently and the clients, both ZedEvents and the Heart and Stroke Foundation were very happy with the work done.  

Can't wait to do it again next year!!

Did you go to the event?  Do you plan on going next year?  Who would you have as your favorite alumni next year?

LET ME KNOW!!

Laters,

Michael Carty

Michael Carty Photography

Michael Carty Email

Beauty Dish Test and Multi-Photog/Multi-Model Shoot!!

Hey Peeps,

I really should have posted this earlier, but things have been up in the air - as usual.

I had a really great chance to work with a diverse bit of talent last month.  Great people in the industry like photographers Clifton Saulnier, Adam Graham, and Jodi Spicer-Outhouse; models Jessica Atwood, Jessica Matthews, Holly Richardson, Ashley Goodwin, Kaleigh Pitman, Spencer Robertson, Kirk Fougere; stylists Shawna Jackson from Shawna’s Hair Studios (in Sodalicious on Main St., Yarmouth) and Jill Goodwin from Styles Unlimited (on Starrs Rd, Yarmouth); MUA Jennie Surette from Afterglow Spa; clothing from Sharon and Laura from Making Memories Bridal and Tuxedo (Main St., Yarmouth) and the great guys at the MacKinnon Cann Inn, Michael Tavares and Neil Hisgen who let us use their business for location.

I want to first off thank Adam Graham for inviting me to the event and Clifton Saulnier for assisting me with the gear to pull off my first test of my homeade beauty dish.

It went fantastic.

We had a number of models to work with, and a great selection of wardrobe, but a limited amount of time to capture everything.  So I was only able to shoot with 5 different models between the two VERY LARGE homes, and I only used 3 rooms I believe - but that's all I really needed.

Spencer, Kaleigh, Ashley, Jessica M. and Jessica A. were fantastic models.  They followed direction easily and understood what I was going for in all of my shots.  The wardrobe, hair and make up was done perfectly(Gods bless the MUAs/Stylists) and I had a great feeling the whole time.  Anything was available to us.  Our imaginations were the only obstacles we had - although it was cold.

VERY cold.

I wouldn't be surprised if some people got sick shortly after this shoot.

Luckily, I brought two space heaters to one of the houses, setting one up directly next to where I was posing my models(hey, it's my heater, I can do what I want lol).

Let's take a look!

Spencer looking suave

How can you resist him?

Loved the colors, and how Ashley's rose-like dress compliments the rosed wallpaper

Jessica A's expression is so open and honest, love those eyes!

Here Jessica M's great skintone is so flawless - like butter and her blue eyes go so well with the backdrop!

Jessica M is showing us a more sultry side of her

Did someone say sultry?  Kaleigh is definitely working the sultry wagon here

I think that everyone involved is in agreement to keep this an ongoing thing in the future.  I'm planning on my next trip to Yarmouth to formally give my models copies of our work and talk some shop with my fellow photogs over some good food.

Next week you will see a special blog post of Adam and my coverage of the BMO Hockey Heroes Weekend 2012.  It is going to be a blast!!

But until next time let me know what you think of my first DIY Beauty Dish test, was it a success?

ANSWER: YES.  EMPHATIC YES.

Anywho, more posts coming soon!

Laters,

Michael Carty
Michael Carty Photography Website
Michael Carty Email