Big Money Shot 2009 Grand Finals – Ty Hall & the EZ3

Ty Hall and his band delivered an entertaining set as part of Live 88.5’s Big Money Shot Grand Finals. I hadn’t had the chance to see them perform before, but they didn’t disappoint.

Die Mannequin

This past Friday, I caught Die Mannequin at Live 88.5’s Live Lounge. What a great performance! If you get the chance to catch Die Mannequin live, do it!

Big Money Shot 2009 Grand Finals – Down In Ashes

The first band to hit the stage for Live 88.5’s Big Money Shot Grand Finals this year was Down In Ashes. This is the second year in a row that they were in the finals. Both times they were chosen from the wildcard event. The band obviously has a hard core group of fans, as they have voted them into the wildcard event the past 2 years. While they did win $10,000 in support for making it to the finals, they walked away empty handed when it came to the big prize. Once again, the guys delivered a high octane set that their fans have come to expect. I’m certain you’ll see them in the competition again next year.

Big Money Shot 2009 Grand Finals – Hollerado

As I mentioned in my previous post, the big winner in Live 88.5’s Big Money Shot contest for 2009 is Hollerado, who put on a great show and was definitely deserving of the win. Great songs and an energetic performance put them over the top. I think they had security freaking out at the end of their set, when they pulled a few people on stage. A few more took the liberty of jumping up, but luckily security was able to quickly put a halt to it, or it could have become chaotic up there. The lead shot only shows about half the people that made it on stage!

Big Money Shot 2009 Grand Finals

Friday night I attended Live 88.5’s Big Money Shot Grand Final event at Capital Music Hall. This is the biggest night in Ottawa music, as one lucky band walks away with $250,000 in talent support. And this year’s winner is……….Hollerado!!! Congratulations guys! They put on an awesome show. There were great performances all around, but when it came down to it, Hollerado was the clear winner.

Another Lighting Workshop

A couple of weekends ago, I was off to another lighting workshop. This one was courtesy of Don Giannatti. Somehow I stumbled across his Lighting Essentials blog about a year ago, and have been following along ever since. It was 2 full days of all out lighting, 8am to 5pm. Funny how the time flies by when you’re having fun. It was an intense weekend of learning. Don covered everything from studio lights and small flash, to umbrellas, bounce tools, light meters, beauty dishes, and working with models. I’m sure I’ve left something out. Don has been doing this stuff for a long time and has a vast amount of knowledge. He even ended the weekend with a session on ‘going pro’ if you were able to stick around. So Sunday didn’t end at 5pm, it was more like 8pm. Did I mention it was a long weekend? I learned a lot and am ready to start putting it to practice.

I have posted a few photos from that weekend. I will probably post some more once I have had a chance to sift through them all.

Photo Manipulation

Chase Jarvis had an interesting post the other day about how some say photography today is on a downward slop with photoshop. These “purists” claim that the masters before us didn’t have this luxury and didn’t tamper with their images. Check out Chase’s post to see the marked up photo he has from Richard Avedon, which is covered in instructions in red marker to his printer.

Photographers have been manipulating their images for almost as long as they have been taking them. Where do these “purists” think the dodge and burn tools in photoshop got their names? Yes things can be taken too far, but I don’t see anything wrong with some manipulation if it makes for a stronger or more visually interesting photo.

Getting Started With Studio Lighting

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of taking another course with Harry Nowell. It was a custom course, which was great because it gave Nathalie Madore and myself plenty of time to ask questions and try out different things. While it’s impossible to learn everything about lighting in a single day, Harry gave us a good base so that we would have the confidence to start shooting and building our comfort with studio lights.

The first part of the day covered a bunch of technical stuff including strobes, light meters and hot lights. The second part of the day had us setting up a couple of scenes to shoot photos of some models he had arranged to come in to the studio for us.

Though the time flew by too quickly, it was a fun day and I learned a lot. It was definitely a good start to kicking my fear of flash. Thanks Harry!

BMS Round 3 Finals – Down In Ashes

These guys are a bit of an oddity in the competition, as I can only think of 1 other band I’ve seen competing that is as heavy as Down In Ashes. They put on an energetic set, fueled by material from their upcoming album.

Last year they were in the year end finals through wild card voting. This year, they stepped it up, winning their prelim, but losing out in the Round 3 Finals. They obviously have a dedicated following of fans, as they are once again playing in the wildcard show for a chance at the last 2 spots in the year end finals again this year. We’ll soon find out if they can pull off the repeat.

BMS Round 3 Finals – Tara Holloway

This girl looked like she was having a blast on stage. Her energy was evident throughout her whole set. Tara has a great voice and some catchy tunes. I’m sure you’ll see her take the stage again in next year’s competition. Below are some photos captured during her performance. Be sure to check out her website!

Next up……..Down In Ashes.