Gerhard+Doris

Hey Peeps,

I just shot a sweet, simple wedding this morning for my newest friends originally from Austria(currently in Switzerland), Gerhard and Doris.  After being introduced via email and our mutual friend Darren from The Harbourview Inn, we met for the first time last night to go over the specifics of their ceremony.  They have planned their wedding as part of their traveling through Canada so there are no friends or family attending, which makes me feel even more honored to be taking part in it - but that didn't mean that they weren't getting calls and emails from home to give updates to loved ones full of anticipation!  They have been so friendly and kind that I couldn't wait to post them here in my blog for you to enjoy.

This wedding was different from the norm, it was so simplified that I didn't have a package for what they were looking for, but I was determined that they get exactly what they were asking - and more!

After arriving, I took the rings and the bride's shoes and went all over the inside and outside of the house, taking creative images to capture the feeling of the day - as seen below:

Well that totally got the creative juices flowing and helped me get more familiar with the area, lighting and composition needed to shoot the rest of the afternoon, here are a few:

So I have to run, I'm getting ready to head back to the Inn for drinks with the newlyweds!

Later,

Michael Carty
tangentpath@hotmail.com
Michael Carty Photography Website

Meeting Dane Sanders and Shooting for Lust Boys

Hey Peeps,


This month I was asked by fellow photographer Dawn Melanson if I wanted to attend a talk sponsored by Atlantic Photo Supply being held at Studio 2540 in Halifax(thank you soooo much Dawn!!).The speakers were Dane Saunders, James Van Hees, Steve Richard, and Eric Boutlier-Brown.

These guys were all so great to listen to, they were down-to-earth, professional, friendly, approachable and had a focus towards their individual visions that was inspiring and refreshing.

It was a wonderful day of diverse perception, work ethics and giant cookies - delicious!

The highlight of my day was actually meeting an speaking with Dane about his book Fast Track Photographer, and his recent publication The Fast Track Photographer Business Plan(which I'm reading now).  They are a definite read for anyone seriously determined to turn their photography into a profession without burning them out, frustrating them to hell or make them give up photography altogether with a hate for it.  Both are terrific reads, with great insight and simplistic(but not necessarily easy) questions to ask oneself about who you are as a photographer.  Using these answers, you can better steer yourself towards the photographic career that you are uniquely designed for.  Needless to say, Dawn got a few shots of the day(it was a photography-based event right?)

 Well this is not the best image of me, but it was excellent pizza!

And of course, the ultrafan in me had to get a shot of Dane and I together, lol.

I also got the chance to shoot with two of my long-term models Victoria(who was just signed with a modeling agency) and Sharon, on a special project for some band art for Lust Boys.  We went to 3 different locations, 2 of which worked well.  The following is from the first location(the second will be posted in the next blog.)

We had a great time shooting these(as always, *pat on back*), and I can't wait to see how the rest turn out, they are(as I have explained to my wife) a little more "riskay-er" than anything that I have shot previously, but they do tend to go with the flavor of the band.

Anywho, again I suggest checking out Dane's books if you are serious about your photography business and all of the links in this blog for great artwork, artists, businesses and models.

Chat you later,

Michael Carty
Michael Carty Photography
tangentpath@hotmail.com

Half Marathon in my Full Marathon Training

Hey All,

I just got back from a 3 mile run, part of my marathon training for October 9th in New Minas(the day before my 32nd birthday) the Valley Harvest Marathon will be my first marathon ever - but not my last. 

I've been running for a handful of years, interval sprints, fartleks(no jokes please), etc, but I have never ran as far as a marathon - at least not consecutively.  My training schedule was 18 weeks long and I say was because I started late.  So in order to get under the wire of time that I have, I selectively eliminated 5 weeks of the training schedule.  See below for full schedule, marked off weeks are ones I skip:

I'm currently on week 8, so this weekend I have to run 13 miles.  For those of you who don't know, a half marathon is 13.1 miles and wouldn't you know it?  There's a half marathon this Sunday!!  HAHA!! Ho-ho, heh-heh, a-hemmm, hmmmm..... *sigh*, oh my.

So the goal is to do the Yarmouth Bean There. Ran That Marathon. (well, half marathon for me) this Sunday - or Sundee as my budd Davest likes to call it.  I'm trying to stay positive about it, it is for a great cause - the Kidney Foundation of Canada and focus on the love of running that I have.

I'm really looking to incorporate more of my running into my photography, wouldn't it be great to meet with clients and go over job specifics while cruising down a sunny road for a few miles in the sunlight and fresh air?  The blood pumping and lungs gasping, it can only spur on the brainstorming of creative ideas. 

Maybe I should offer it as part of my workflow with clients, a kind of optional extra - with no extra charge!  I need to run, for my health, for my family, for my photography, for myself.  Strength training is great - in moderation, but how many body builders can run 26.2 miles consistently?  What's the life expectancy of a body builder?  What's the main cause of death of a body builder?  I use body builders as my example because, well, they strength train and I believe for the most part they do little if any cardio.  I would think that a body builders life expectancy would be average 60-70 years(low average to average) and I would believe that the main cause of death would be cardiac arrest.

If I'm wrong, please correct me - with scientific information, I have not looked up any information to back up these beliefs, they are based on my own very basic knowledge of strength training and how it effects the body.  But I know for a fact that marathoners and overall runners have life expectancies of 90+ years, few die of cardiac arrest and the bonus is that most have the physical and mental acuity of people decades younger when compared to their less active counterparts.  Anyways, enough runner's preaching from me.

I hope to see some of you out there at either of these events, a few races have landed on my other training days, a few 10k's and a 5k, which were fun as heck.  Take a look:

Okay, so back to work.

Next Blog?  Mike Is A Fucker.  Don't ask, just keep your eyes peeled.

Laterz,


Michael Carty
Michael Carty Photography Website
tangentpath@hotmail.com

Tony's Promise

This summer I was approached with a unique request.  I was asked to take photographs of ashes being scattered at the beach.  The ashes belonged to a young teen by the name of Anthony McColl.

I was honored to be a part of this, especially after hearing Anthony's story and of the promise named after him.

You see Anthony was killed in an automobile accident by a drunk driver.  From what I have been told, he was the designated driver for his group of friends, and while driving them home another driver who was intoxicated struck their car head-on.  Everyone survived except for Anthony.

Since then, Anthony's family and friends have promoted what is called Tony's Promise, which you can find on Facebook(http://www.facebook.com/#!/tonyspromise?sk=photos is the open page, here is the requested one: http://www.facebook.com/groups/tonyspromise/#!/groups/tonyspromise/).  It is a promise that you will not drive drunk or under the influence of drugs in memory of Anthony and those like him.  If you have ever lost a loved one because of driving under the influence, I'm sure you understand a little bit about the pain Anthony's family and friends go through everyday without him.

We went to the shore at sunrise, we prepared the ashes, took a couple of test shots with sand and then proceeded to shoot what was to be one of the best photo experiences of my career.  It was a perfect day - literally.  Anthony would've loved it.

Below are a few of the shots we took, I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them, and I hope you do as I did and join Tony's Promise to promote responsible drinking and responsible driving for the future.

Thanks again McColl Family for letting me be a part of this great cause.

For Liam. Love You, Dad

Hi Son,

Your mom woke me at 6 am this morning to feed you, which was a delight after it being your first night at home.

I’ve been thinking a lot about you - even before you were born, and wanted to let you know what was on my mind and in my heart.

Before you arrived, I had the deepest fears about being a dad.  I knew that I was having a son, but the idea of being someone’s daddy was overwhelming at best.  As soon as your mom went into labour, all of my worries evaporated away and left a new sense of purpose in my life that I would never know without you.

You will always be my son and I will always be your dad no matter what.

I’ve never loved someone as completely as I do you.  You are the reason I get up in the morning, the reason why I stay up late at night(thanks again :D) and you fill up my life in all the ways that it was lacking before.  I can’t imagine my life without you in it and I don’t know how I’ve ever survived so long without you.  You are the scariest thing that I have ever done, the greatest gift that your mother could have ever given me and you are the most spectacular thing that I will ever help to create.  You are my strength in this world and I only have to look at you to push past any obstacles.  I will always love you unconditionally with every moment in this world and the next, and I will do anything to protect you and help you in this life.  You will find that it can be a struggle to be a good man in this world and to know what’s right and what’s not, but you give me all the strength I need to be a good daddy for you.

In just a few days, I am surprised on the amount of things that I have learned from you and I thought that before I finished this letter that I would point out a few.  When you sneeze, you sneeze twice – no more, no less – always twice.  There is a special kind of dance that only I know how to get you to do that helps you burp when you’re gassy.  When you’re hungry, you smack your lips;  when you’re still hungry, you munch on your right fist(actually you do this constantly).  You like to kick when your diaper is being changed, and I seem to be the only one who changes them - mommy ‘assists’, because for some reason(that still boggles logic)I prefer to hog this responsibility.  The first daddy superpower that I learned was the ability to stop a stream of pee using only my bare hands.  You gurgle in what I like to think are ‘bird calls’.  I swear that since you were born you have said,”Hi.” on at least 5 different occasions – one of which your mother heard too.  You never cry in my arms and I like to boast to everyone about that.  You have monkey toes and I wonder if you will be a runner like your dad or perhaps choose to climb instead(seriously, your big toe articulates like a thumb dude – so cool).  When you’re quiet and you hear my voice, you look for me until you find me, turning your head in some moments(which is a feat in itself for a 4 day old).  I’m always looking for you.

I just can’t wait to see what I learn next son,

Love You, Dad

BMO Hockey Heroes Weekend and Less Than 2 Weeks Left!!

Hey Everyone,

Last weekend I had the great opportunity to be the event photographer for the first annual BMO Hockey Heroes Weekend in Halifax.  It was put on by the Heart & Stroke Foundation, a great cause in which I'm sure most of us have been directly or indirectly effected.

Basically, what I had to "endure" over those 3 days was to attend all the scheduled events, with full access to everything and everyone, and shoot the 12 great NHL Alumni that were attending, see below:

Glenn Anderson, Gaston Gingras, Kevin Maguire, Jay Wells, Rick Middleton, Terry O'Reilly, Ray Bourque, Tom Sim, Marcel Dionne, Claude Lemieux, Todd Warriner, Mario Roberge in order from left to right.

I was even told by Marcel Dionne personally that he really liked this image(ego stroke).

This was me for about 10 mins during the first night, please excuse the quality, the lady that shot this didn't know how to use my cam:

It was a blast to say the least - and exhausting!  I had very early mornings, very late nights and very long days with no more relaxing after those two previous images from the first day.  Besides shooting the hockey action in every conceivable way, I was constantly backing up images, printing group/team shots and burning disks.  I'm estimating over 1000 shots were taken this weekend with over 700 as keepers.  Want some more?  Here:

Mr. Ray Bourque

Mr. Tom Warringer

So, Liam, my son-to-be, is going to be born within 2 weeks(or should be), my nervousness has dropped drastically to a simmer - which I think is normal for an expectant father.  I actually want to get him here asap so that we can get to some type of normality - and I want summer to come too lol.

I've been realizing some things lately, and I've also been running my ass off.  Besides working out for an hour to an hour and a half every day, I also run at least 3 miles a day - if not more, and it feels great... and sore lol.  That's to be expected though.  I really want to be a fit and energetic dad to Liam, to be involved in his life and get that life on the right track regarding health, ambition, dreams and positivity.

Anywho, gotta go rub the belly, cheers

Michael Carty
http://michaelcartyphotography.com
tangentpath@hotmail.com

Second Shooter, Hockey Heroes & 4 Weeks to GO!!

Hey Peeps,

I was approached by Dawn Melanson(http://www.dawnmelanson.com/), a great wedding photog friend of mine and past childhood neighbor, to be her second shooter for a wedding this summer.  I've never been a second shooter before but I'm realizing all of the benefits of it and I think I will definately keep it in my skill-set.

Luckily, Dawn was taking the cute couple Robert + Jessica around the Annapolis area for an engagement shoot the next day and I was able to attend and shoot some shots off myself.  It was a great time - minus the periodic mini-blizzards that kept manifesting - and we had taken a lot of great images as seen below.

just to show you how cold it really was here, this is a snap that Dawn took of me, not the best image but just look at how bundled up I am!!

In other news, I have recently been offered a sweet gig in Halifax next weekend.  I am the exclusive photographer for the BMO Hockey Heroes Weekend event, this event will host 12 NHL Alumni, along with other local celebs for 3 days to raise money for the Heart & Stroke Foundation(http://www.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=437856&lis=1&kntae437856=57C56BF3208A4B0B8BE3BE794DFA8FA2).

I'm looking forward to meeting some childhood heroes, getting some great images and work connections, and help to serve the worthy cause that this event is working towards.

The downside(or upside) to all of this is my wife S. is due in 4 weeks.... yes, that's right, I will be over 300kms away for 3 days while my wife has 3 weeks until her due date - I just realized the "3" connection there.  But no worries, I have my cell on me 24/7, unlimited text, the event reps are aware of the delicate timing, and I'm actually going to be closer to the hospital that she will.  I can't wait for Liam to arrive!!  S. and I did some maternity shots the other day just to make sure we had them before she popped and we love them, here are a few.

Anywho, I gotta go watch Jasmine Star live on http://creativelive.com,

Michael Carty
http://michaelcartyphotography.com
tangentpath@hotmail.com