A Musical Fix for the Cause

There are two particular passions in my life that I get totally absorbed in on a surreal level at times! Photography and live music reach inside and comfort, excite and awaken my spirit with each note played, each frame captured. Any opportunity I have to re-energize my passion, I will be there with a smile on my face and camera in hand!

This particular event was at a local establishment, with a great cause in mind. FIX Magazine, an online entertainment magazine for the Sarnia Lambton Area hosted this gathering, all in the name of The Canadian Breast Cancer Society. Well done to Jess Pedlar for your exhaustive efforts promoting the ever so talented artistic community that we live in!

A special shout out to the Eagle Radio Station, 103.3fm. The wonderfully colourful Gary Connors & Bumble were broadcasting live, interviewing the musicians and kept us all entertained as usual! For those who are new to the music scene in this area or new emerging artists that may be reading this....Gary Connors is one of the biggest advocates for promoting local music and musicians! I urge you to contact him with your music! We should all be thankful to have him in our corner for the future of our local talent! I am blessed to call him my friend! Thank you Gary!

The fans were treated to a wonderful experience as Shelly Rastin and her band belted out soulful music in an acoustic setting. Wow, truly thankful I was there to enjoy that! Crow Jane and Whiskey River Band brought such diversity to the lineup, what an entertaining evening for all to enjoy!

In short, I love my life! It is filled with the beautiful sounds from creative spirits that I have the honour of catching with my lens!

Happy to announce my photos were published in Fix Magazine, April Edition...visit http://www.fixmagazine.ca/ and click on the mag to see full screen version!

As networking makes the world go round, please check out these websites:

http://www.shellyrastin.com/

http://www.myspace.com/crowjanecanada

http://wrband.com/

http://www.eaglecountry.ca/

Until the Next Photographic Event! Kxo

Baby It's Cold Outside

Occasionally some of the coolest adventures happen with such spontaneity that we just have to hang on for the ride! Last minute texts about a photo shoot equaled a fantastic evening of expression and freezing cold fun! The project: "Baby's It Cold Outside", a new single from some very talented artists - namely my friend and country singer Kira-Jade, Jamie Prokop from London (Mercy Train) and The Murray Williams Band, was produced at I AM Studios in Brantford. Please watch for artist links at bottom of this blog!

After a hot cuppa and a chat about the creative concept looking to be achieved from this venture, it was time for the magic to begin! Bringing these two together in my lens was entertaining and filled with a natural chemistry that was exquisitely evident once the shoot began. Kira-Jade a natural, angelic, heaven sent beauty and Jamie a wonderfully handsome gent with dynamic, effortless charm. This photographer's dream team perhaps? Add in softly falling snowflakes and the evening was pretty much perfect! Below are some of my favourite shots from our time together...enjoy and know I am available to capture your beautiful spirit when you are ready!

Kira-Jade & Jamie - first shots of the night...had to know it was going to be a good evening of shooting!!

We then moved on to other favourite spots that are readily accessible within this geographic location! Kira-Jade and I had explored these before during our first photo shoot together, so it was great to hear the excitement in her voice about returning to "the red doorway", "the alley" with new locales to experience along the way!
Speaking of natural on-camera chemistry....

The "wall of words" was the turning point for Jamie...his inner male model "tude" was awoken and there was really no stopping him after that!

No worries that Kira-Jade had any troubles keeping up to him!! Wow...

Two incredible talents brought together!

The result...a fantastic CD cover for an amazingly fresh and fantastic version of a timeless classic. Creative by Jamie Prokop, KILLPRO productions - great work Jamie!

Networking & promoting one another are keys to our success! Please click on one of the links below to listen to and then download your copy of Baby It's Cold Outside.
http://www.kirajade.bandcamp.com/

http://www.jamieprokop.bandcamp.com/

http://www.murraywilliamsband.bandcamp.com/

Full musical credits can be found through these above links...congratulations to all on such a successful venture! Thank you for the adventure! Artist links for your enjoyment and ongoing support:

www.myspace.com/kirajade1 www.myspace.com/jamieprokop
www.myspace.com/mercytrainmusic I AM Music Studios -Facebook

Looking forward to the next adventure and to sharing it with all of you!!

Road Trips & Resting Grounds

To ever underestimate any simple road trip would be my first mistake! After jumping in the car with my close friend Aimee, my photographic mind started to visualize the day ahead. With camera in lap, I was excited to know that we were heading to the town of Bayfield for the day. Shopping of course was first on our minds, though our bright yellow NIKON strap on each of our shoulders would be a dead give away that we are on a mission, veiled in a nonchalant stroll through the quiet town. It is always a treat to travel with someone else who has a passion for the lens!

One stop we made was to a studio that wasn't even open...the magnetic bright colours drew us in, we couldn't help but take photos of this unexpected vision of stimulating hues! We were then met by the artist herself, a cheerful young woman who threw the doors open wide so we could experience her work inside. Her exuberance was matched by her obvious talent that was evident in each of the creations on the easels within. She spoke of her personal visions for the projects she is working on, also of her successes so far. We thanked her for sharing her passion with us, as we walked out of there quite speechless actually. I am always so humbled by those who are gifted with a paintbrush and palette of colours! Kristyn Watterworth of Kryart Studio (http://www.kryartstudio.ca/) in Bayfield, Ontario - YOU are an inspiration with your masterful talents, willingness to assist children expand past the daily boundaries they deal with and your wisdom of the art in which you have so wonderfully submersed yourself in!

After meeting such a gifted artist, Aimee and I were definitely enthusiastic to continue on with our own paintbrush of sorts - our cameras! What a day this was so far!

Having left Bayfield, we took a bit of a detour to explore more of the countryside. Aimee pulled the car over to show me an old abandoned house that slept at the roadside. I couldn't help myself and knew that I was going to wrestle the high reeds to get through to the property that held so much history. Little did we know at that point HOW many historical treasures we would find!

The countless old tractors seemed to be succumb to the fact that the trees, bushes and weeds were growing up around them, that soon they would disappear forever in the forgotten woods. The massive barn that once would have stood tall and proud by the house was now brought to ruin by time and neglect. Seeing wooden wheels on one of the contraptions made me realize just how long ago this collection of farming ghosts had started to convene at this locale. The old GMC truck was just filled with unspoken memories that I longed to uncover.

What timely opposites we experienced in our road trip! From lively, young, talented artists selling their wares in an eclectic town to a forgotten farming graveyard complete with an abandoned home right out of a spine-tingling horror film.

As I picked the endless supply of burrs off my clothes, I smiled knowing that I had forever captured some of those hidden stories with my lens. A big thanks to you Aimee for being a wonderful friend! Until the next road trip! KMB

Erin & Carli - Graduation with a Twist

Every Grade 8 girl wants to look beautiful for grad and have some pictures taken to remember this big event in their lives. For best friends Erin and Carli, it was an adventure indeed to have their photos taken. It was decided before hand that we weren't going to go to the normal grad spots that everyone else was going to. I definitely had other places in mind for these two creative, lovely girls! We actually ended up having two separate shoots - the first was with the girls in their everyday clothes, the next a week later with them all dressed to impress right before Grad. The spots for photos were chosen to show a real contrast from the formality of all a Grad can be! This approach allowed the girls' free spirits and "their funky attitude" to come out with no hesitation! Definitely an experience to remember for them!

Pics from First Shoot:

Pics from the Second Shoot - Grad Night!

Thank you Erin & Carli for great memories!