Thursday, September 29, 2011

Sharing the love (or, where other people find new music)

Last weekend, I drove to Montreal and back with a few teammates for the Grand Master's Ultimate tournament. Although we only managed 1 win for the weekend, we played pretty well and I really enjoyed hanging out with a great bunch of guys and ladies. I was a passenger this year and the driver had his kind music on the way to Montreal. He asked if anyone else had some music, but I didn't push the point. On the way home, I offered up some new tunes to the guys, saying I was interested in what they thought of the mix and I thought they might legitimately enjoy a few new finds. If you know me, I've always been the guy to bring his own mixed tape to a party or these days, have a loaded iPod or iPhone at the ready. I'm a little more shy these days about pushing my music, but the memories of friends saying they enjoyed my music, keeps the inner DJ in me alive. After all, that's where I came up with the PJMixer alias.

So they guys liked a lot of the tracks and I said I'd burn them my top 10. I'm not certain when I'm going to see them again, so I thought I'd post them here for the broader group. I hope you like a few tracks. Yes, they are ordered, my mood and progression.



We are seeing We Are Augustines tomorrow night at Wrongbar in Toronto; shots from last time we saw them



Shots from Motopony's gig at the Horseshoe last week for Vivoscene





Canadians Beatrice Martin (from Coeur de Pirate) & Jay Malinowski (from Bedouin Soundclash)




shots from The Monkey's summer Toronto concert



Foster the People are playing here in Toronto on Saturday night and The Sound Academy



Please, please come and play in Toronto boys



Shots from The Vaccines at the Horseshoe last winter



Drat, forgot to post those pics, hold on...there you go, photos from Beady Eye Sound Academy concert

Joe lunch and the umbrella lady

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Friday, September 23, 2011

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Russell

Via Flickr:
After work, I decided to walk South to Queen station and see if there were any interesting people to photograph on the street. I spotted this young guy hanging out close to where Shadow was set up playing some blues. His street fashion, including his tartan trousers caught my eye. I told him he looked interesting and that I was a street photographer, mentioning my 100 stranger project. I gave him my card and asked for a photo. He immediately jumped to the job (admitting he'd done some fashion modelling in the past). I took a few shots and he was really patient as I looked for different looks and angles. We talked a little and I told him to email me - maybe I'll need a model in the future !

Russell was waiting for a friend, he's a skateboarder and model. He's lived all across Ontario and now calls Toronto home. He's 22 years old, finished school and takes on whatever life presents him. I think this shot shows how comfortable he is in his life and in front of the camera.

I shot this with my 50mm/1.8 and got in nice and close. Afterwards, I was thinking a wider angle shot would have been nice to add context but I'm really pleased with the portrait.

Russell is #100 in my 100 strangers project. Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at www.100Strangers.com.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Climbing the urban wall

Via Flickr:
The North Face promotion at Yonge Dundas Square

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Monday, September 12, 2011

Joseph Gordon-Levitt at TIFF

Via Flickr:
One of my favourite new actors. Red carpet for 50/50.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

The morning of 9/11

Via Flickr:
Picture taken in the neighbourhood of my wife's American friend's house.

Friday, September 09, 2011

Thursday, September 08, 2011

A simple lesson learned on taking photos of people on the street

Love seat - #250/365 by PJMixer
Love seat - #250/365, a photo by PJMixer on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
I've been doing the 100 Strangers project for a couple of years and holding at no. 99 for a while. Around Yonge Dundas Square there's some new clever advertising on the benches and I noticed these folks enjoying a nice conversation framed perfectly for the "Love Seat" wording. I wanted a decent shot and couldn't easily take it without them knowing. So I approached them, deciding ahead of time that I wasn't going to formally ask their names and talk to them for my stranger project, but rather simply say hello and ask if it was ok to take their photograph. I gave them one of my cards and asked them to continue as they were, I took a few shots, then showed them what I'd taken. In comparison to the extra effort it takes to talk to people and find out a little more about them for the 100 Stranger project, I felt much more relaxed and less rushed. I'd read a guest post by David Powell on DPS about lessons learned from daily shooting and in point 3 he simply says "The approach I have taken that seems to work is being genuine and I simple ask ‘Do you mind if I take your photo?’. Often I will ask them to continue doing whatever they are doing and I take my shot." It definitely worked for me today.

Love seat

Love seat - #250/365 by PJMixer
Love seat - #250/365, a photo by PJMixer on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
I've been doing the 100 Strangers project for a couple of years and holding at no. 99 for a while. Around Yonge Dundas Square there's some new clever advertising on the benches and I noticed these folks enjoying a nice conversation framed perfectly for the "Love Seat" wording. I wanted a decent shot and couldn't easily take it without them knowing. So I approached them, deciding ahead of time that I wasn't going to formally ask their names and talk to them for my stranger project, but rather simply say hello and ask if it was ok to take their photograph. I gave them one of my cards and asked them to continue as they were, I took a few shots, then showed them what I'd taken. In comparison to the extra effort it takes to talk to people and find out a little more about them for the 100 Stranger project, I felt much more relaxed and less rushed. I'd read a guest post by David Powell on DPS about lessons learned from daily shooting and in point 3 he simply says "The approach I have taken that seems to work is being genuine and I simple ask ‘Do you mind if I take your photo?’. Often I will ask them to continue doing whatever they are doing and I take my shot." It definitely worked for me today.

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Friday, September 02, 2011

A question for Duff

Via Flickr:
I met up with some old friends at the CNE and their son was very excited to see Duff Goodman who hosts Ace of Cakes on the Food Network. Duff started taking questions from the audience right away and our fan had his hand up almost the whole time. I was asking his mom - what's his question, she didn't know. As the session was winding down, our fan got closer to the stage and finally Duff saw him. He asks "can I be on The Sweet Life" which is Duff's new show. Duff ums and ahs and finally says yes !

Four five six clean

Via Flickr:
Played my best round of golf ever today - a 19 over 90 at Tam O'Shanter even though I butchered the 18th with my only triple bogey of the day. I was tied with my son going into the 18th - he parred it for the win (gross) but I won net (he gave me 10 strokes).