Help-Portrait Vancouver.

The Help-Portrait Vancouver movement is something that is very important to Roger. He's been volunteering his time for the event every year. This year, he was the lead photographer for the event at the BC Children's Hosptial. Here's the behind the scenes video shot by Steve Tan:



The main event is happening on the 1st of December this year. The group from Help-Portrait Vancouver is currently seeking donations to cover supplies and insurance. Here's a link to the donations page. Help-Portrait Vancouver Donate Here's also another fabulous write-up about Help-Portrait Vancouver from the wonderful folks at 12x12yvr: 12x12 Photomarathon

12x12 Photo Marathon and Raw Talent Exhibit 2012

Last week Roger was surprised to find out that one of his images was chosen as the theme winner. Theme number 7 was a tricky one to interpret, but Roger's image of the kids getting caught in the act won out. The image was taken at grandpa Harry's store in Vancouver. He really wanted to have the family involved in the photo marathon. What better way to get them involved, make them the subjects in the image. The shot was with two lights, one modified via Saberstrip as the main light and the second speedlight on top of the freezer to act as a rim and all triggered via Pocket Wizard. The definite key to the shot was the expression on Malcolm's face. He was lucky that both of the children played their roles perfectly. Special thanks to Tracey for assisting, the image was shot with the Nikon F100 and the 35mm 1.4G AFS on Ilford HP5 400 film.

Many of Roger's friends came out to see the exhibition to support the event and his photography. He was very thankful to everyone who came out. Truth be told, he just wanted his film to turn out, winning was certainly an added bonus and immense honour. He's hoping to participate again next year, at least in 2013 he'll know what to expect.


Here's the winning image:


Here's the whole set and a link to them via flickr:


Special thanks to the Kelly sisters who came out to support Roger. It was very sweet of them to come out. What a great group of ladies. Maybe next year they'll enter the competition too.

Surprises.

It's been a busy weekend. Roger participated in the 12x12yvr photomarathon on Saturday. It was a day of 12 film exposures in 12 hours of 12 distinct themes. Tracey and the kids met Roger in Vancouver to help with a few of the themes. Let's just hope they all turn out ok. We'll all be waiting till the evening of the 22nd to find out.

On the home front, there have been some challenges with respect to the kids. Melody in particular is resisting going to sleep. We're all hoping that it's a short phase, but for the last several nights evenings have been tough. Lots of crying and complaining. That same old phrase starts running through my head: "No-one said raising kids was easy". It's less than a week to go for the family trip to Disneyland. After months and months of planning, it's actually coming to fruition in less than 7 days. Roger and Tracey have decided to wait and surprise them. They've told the kids that they're going to Seattle, but in fact will spring on them that they're going on an airplane to Disneyland. Roger's hoping to capture the reaction on video. They're excited enough to go to the PNE every year, now we'll have to wait and see how they'll react to this.

Here are some images that Roger took with his new 70-200VRII lens. It's amazingly sharp.