| Shania Twain | CMT | One2One |
I've previously shot behind the scene stills for a CMT One2One episode featuring the Rascal Flatts and I was really excited when I was invited back for another taping of an episode. This time around the show was featuring 5-time Grammy Award winner, Canada Walk of Fame member and country music legend Shania Twain. Any kid growing up in Canada during the 90's and 00's knows some Shania Twain song even a little bit. I mean, "You're Still the One" was probably the most popular First Dance Wedding song in Canada between 1997-1999. It was pretty cool to be part of the entire production experience , it was the first time I actually photographed a country artist that I recognized which added a little bit of nervousness out of the gate, but after meeting her and spending some time behind the scenes it became business as usual and another day at the office.
The CMT One2One with Shania Twain airs TONIGHT at 8pm EST on CMT, I don't have cable so I won't be able to check it out, but if you do you'll get to see some of my images featured throughout the episode and closing credits! Enjoy the full gallery of the behind the scenes of the entire production and interview.
Man... I feel like a woman...
-3B
| Chinese Supermarket | Toronto |
One of the most unique things I got to cover for editorial assignment was a Chinese Supermarket by the harbourfront. There was a crazy amount of people in a pretty small space but it made for some cool images. I wasn't really in the mood to eat the squid on a stick but some people seemed to enjoy it. Oh and another thing, I'll never forget the smell of tofu being cooked. Here's a glimpse of my two-hour stay of the closest thing to China in Toronto.
-3B
| Rogers Cup Final | Toronto |
One of the sweet perks of being a photojournalist is that I get to sit courtside during some major events. I never shot tennis prior to shooting the Rogers Cup Men's Finals, so I can honestly admit I was quite intimidated especially since the legendary Roger Federer was going to be competing against up and coming tennis stud Jo Wilfred Tsonga. Just a little warning for anyone who's going to be shooting tennis courtside in the middle of summer... it gets HOT! It felt like it was 100 degrees down there and went through about 5 bottles of water. It was fun.
-3B
| Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition |
One of my favorite clients is a sweet trendy restaurant in Toronto called Parts and Labour. They've recently expanded into catering events and usually bring me along for any special events they are hosting or catering. On Halloween they brought me to one of the coolest events I've ever covered. It was the pre-launch party for the Stanley Kubrick Exhibit at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in downtown Toronto. I was super excited to cover this event as it was going to feature plenty of costumes and good times, not to mention, Stanley Kubrick is my favourite artist and his movies have heavily influenced my artistic style and approach. (Not to mention he was an amazing photographer before getting into films and his images are incredible and it was truly amazing seeing his original images on display).
2001 : A Space Odyssey, The Shining and Clockwork Orange are all in my top 10 favourite movies and it was amazing seeing the actual props and equipment used to film those legendary pieces of cinema. Now that the exhibition is coming to an end I can finally release my images from the event for all movie fans to enjoy.
-3B
| Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition | Tiff Bell Lightbox |
| High Valley | CMT: Live at the Edison |
I've had the pleasure of working on CMT's Live Concert Series Show for a little over a year now and I've loved every minute of it. It's really great to be able to just do my thing and have the producers completely trust my vision for pictures. I've gotten to work with some of the coolest people and gotten to meet some extremely talented and popular country music bands like the Grammy Award Winning Rascall Flatts and Juno nominees / winners such as Dallas Smith and Kira Isabelle. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity and try to make the most of it every time we shoot an episode. I'll admit, it's pretty cool seeing my pictures used in commercials to promote the episode, and used in the episodes themselves to help with scene transitions and throughout the credits.
Today was the premiere of High Valley : Live at the Edison episode. In honour of the premiere I'm able to release some production stills for you guys. Brothers Brad and Curtis Rempel were some of the nicest, most down to earth artists I've gotten to work with, it was a lot of fun working along side them during this episode. They had a hilarious fascination with my TLR camera and were pretty pumped for me to develop my rolls of film to share with them. They put on a killer show and made the most of the cool setup and detailing by the production crew. Check out the episode on CMT Canada's website at http://www.cmt.ca/show/high-valley-live-at-the-edison/
-3B
| High Valley | CMT | Live at the Edison | The Great Hall | Toronto |
| Lives Reimposed: A Series on Joe Bielski |
Every now and then in life you come across people with such amazing stories that you find it difficult not to share it with the world, Joe is one of those people. I met Joe nearly three years ago now during a weird moment in both our lives; Joe was going through a severe battle with depression and I was dealing with my own personal hardships too. This commonality and unspoken understanding created a unique bond between us and Joe instantly became one of those life-long friends, someone I could call up on a whim to chat or hangout. During my TV documentary class in University I had the challenge to tell an editorial story for one of my final projects and I knew instantly that I wanted to reach out to Joe to see if he would open up and share his life experience candidly through a lens. Luckily, he did.
Below are still images from the "set" (AKA Joe's badass loft) taken during the filming of the short online documentary created by me and two of my colleagues / friends at school. I hope you can take the time to step into Joe's shoes for a few minutes and gain a better understand of his story because he's not the only one who has to face these uphill battles on a consistent basis. On a day like today it's important to remember that you're never alone and there are always people ready to support you and help you overcome whatever you may be facing, just remember that reaching out isn't a sign of weakness, but instead , it's truly a sign of bravery.
- 3B
Here is the final documentation that came out of this project:
| Bell Let's Talk | Toronto, ON |