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

Back After A Little Break...Down

Hey Peeps,

Sorry for taking so long to get back on here, I've been pushing everything(remember the last blog post?) and finally burned myself out.  Which brings me to a crucial part of life - rest.  I was working my dayjob, my photography job, edits until 2am and trying to book as much of my free time as possible.  Then I got sick -- really sick.  I'm still dealing with a lot of things right now but I'm working on taking my time and not constantly rushing at 200km/h with everything in my life.

So just to hash out what I have been working on, I was invited to Aperture Studios(http://aperturestudios.ca/) in Halifax to shoot the lovely and talented Karen Murdock, who is also the founder of FIZZ(http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=122405731146445&v=wall).  We had a fantastic team, Cyndi Gordon(http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5926461908) was our clothing stylist/MUA and Eden Boudreau(http://www.modelmayhem.com/622479) was our Hair Stylist, wonderful and professional women, great at what they do and fun to be around.  It was a blast, we got some great shots and I got to do a shoot in the first studio that made me starstruck(and still sometimes does) when I started out in this business.  Here are a few shots:

Then the other week I was able to shoot instudio with 2011 Canadian Winter Games Competitor James Hazelton.

That shoot was fun too, talking about the games, training, and family history involved in this figure skating.  Here's a few shots:

James was a great sport and thank god loved my shots of him.  GO JAMES!!

Anywho, back to the grind, laterz.

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


Oh, and just to update the baby situation -- we're having a BOY!!

Introducing Liam Michael Carty:

I Just Had To Say...(Written On My Lunch Yesterday)

Hey Peeps,


This year is almost finished, another one is beginning with new dreams, hopes and ambition. I don’t normally do this, but for some reason I feel the need to thank all of you. Some of you I really know personally, others I’ve only just met or chatted with online. I have worked with some, planned future projects and others I enjoy talking shop while having some yummy sushi(you know who you are;)).


The point is, is that I can guarantee that I wouldn’t be half the photographer that I am today if it weren’t for each and every one of you. Even the small things that may seem insignificant to you help shape my perspective and abilities towards my craft, business, friendships, family and all of these are integrated together to make up my life.

There is one single thing that ties you all together for me: you inspire. You inspire me in your own personal way(s). Whether it’s your work ethics, processing, lighting techniques or just how you make me think or laugh or love to eat sushi(okay, no more sushi talk). All of you are inspirations, none of you are unimportant, you make a difference in my life – more than you know, and I appreciate it immensely. I can only hope to do the same for all of you.

As I said earlier, I don’t normally do this, and I also don’t do NYR(New Year’s Resolutions), but the force is strong with this one and so I’m caving. PUSH. That’s it, push. Push everything, shoots, schedules, projects, ideas and concepts, travel and experience. No procrastination, even when it hurts to get off the couch. I haven’t really had a problem with this when it came to photography, but I did find that scheduling and planning always were put on the backburner for the most part. No more. You want to shoot? Let’s find a date. Got an idea? Let’s explore it and see where it goes. That means that if we’ve never worked together, but have talked about it in the past – you will hear from me soon. If not, msg me and we will get it done! No more BS, no more waiting to see, no more doing it later. Let’s go. PUSH.

I hope you all a wonderful New Year, a wonderful night and I hope you complete all the endeavours that are truly important to you, whether personal or professional this year(me too!).

Michael Carty

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