My photo chosen for EXPO 2010 SHANGHAI exhibit!

From the Canadian Heritage press release:
The visual arts category brings together original pieces by more than 40 artists in an exhibition of Canadian contemporary art that will be held at the Canada Pavilion. This exhibition was developed around Canada's theme at Expo 2010: "The Living City: inclusive, sustainable, and creative."

I'm one of 40 visual artists chosen for exhibit. I didn't even submit! Cool. Cirque du Soleil put the exhibit together. I think I'll celebrate with a nice bowl of spicy Dan Dan noodle soup, yumm.

Magnum photos pre-earthquake Haiti

This photo essay from Magnum photographers of Haiti before the earthquake is fantastic. The combination of music and these fantastic photos is incredible.

click here: http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/essay/haiti

Giovanni Hidalgo, master conga player

Me and Giovanni in the studio

I had the great pleasure of spending the day with the best conga player in the world, Giovanni Hildago, here in Halifax. He was shooting a new educational dvd set. Should be a 3 hour, 2 dvd set when complete, covering beginner, intermediate to advanced. I spent the best part of the day with Giovanni, his manager Jhean Paul, talented director John Walker and the rest of the crew. They were shooting at the beautiful St Ceclia studio's in Purcell's Cove, just outside Halifax. Great people all around and Giovanni was one of the coolest dudes I've ever met. Completely down to earth. He invited me to visit him in Florida. What can I say?

John Walker and Giovanni at St. Cecilia studio's

the whole crew

Portfolio books?

Portfolio books - anyone use them any more? Here are some pages from mine - in need of an update!

DAYS INN or A Room without a view

To be fair there actually was a view of an apt. bldg. parking lot.

Many hotels in the area were full so I stayed at the DAYS INN.

THE ROOM: fine, except it was 1/2 kilometer from the front desk, there was no elevator and I was on the 3rd floor. 3 heavy camera bags - some welcome exercise after a long drive. The bed was a king so I also had plenty of room to jog in my sleep. All in all not too bad.

THE FOOD: there was a $2 fee for room service but you had to go get it yourself!! I suppose they had to call a courier to pick up the empty plates next day. A good greek salad and an OK pork dinner with mashed and veg. Breakfast buffet - flashback to 1980's Cuban all inclusive. Eggs tasted terrible, powdered for sure. I made a joke to the waitress about the 3 oz juice glass and she returned with a normal size glass and in a good-natured way grabbed the little glass from my hand, poured the juice into the larger glass, then walked over to the juice table and topped it up for me.

COST: $171.04 with food and tax.

Would I stay there again? - sure, I've stayed in worse places.

Below is a photo from the job.

Ringflash

Playing with ringflash as a fill light. I think I like it!!

Light kit

My Profoto kit housed in an Airport Addicted case.

My ringflash and softlight reflector live in a much larger place. Its the case I originally bought for my Profoto Acute 2 kit. The Airport is a better home for the Acute2 and the Acute600b has its own teeny weeny little case. Love that kit!

The ringflash with beauty dish takes up too much space!

WHAT THE....&*$%#@!

What's that grey blob creeping across my screen? It gets worse as the day goes on. In fact right now, (3 hrs after I shot this image), its a full 3/4 of the way across the screen

Ok, so here's what happens.

You call Apple support and they confirm who you are then do a little troubleshooting. The guy is pretty sure its a monitor issue and not a computer issue so he then sends you to the next tier. That guy may possibly do a little more troubleshooting...he asked me to plug the monitor into my laptop which conformed it was a monitor issue. He then sends me to a sales type who explains how the switch will happen. They email a courier label which I print and take to UPS. As soon as the label is scanned for shipping back to Apple, another monitor is automatically shipped to me.

All in all a pretty painless experience.

There is a full one year warranty and a 30 day return policy even on the refurbs. Buy the extended warranty on monitors for a full three years.

Apple 30inch display!

GEEK SPEAK....

Got an Apple 30", lots of real estate here! Don't know how I lived without it. Running both monitors from a G5 with the original GeForce 6600 LE graphics card. Calibrating both monitors with an eye one display for good color, gamma, luminance etc.

Seen here with my 24" monitor on the left with the 'eye one' calibration device.

Setting luminance is tricky and very important. 120 is recommended but I'm running at 90 and I think that may be a little too bright. Its about matching what's on the monitor to what comes out of the printer. I've got both monitors looking pretty good after calibrating a few times. 6500k, 2.2 gamma, luminance 90. The eye one calibrates color very very well. If you decide to calibrate w/an 'eye one display', make sure you download the latest 'eye one match 3' software from xrite.

Here's a tip: get a refurbished display and save a bundle but be sure to buy the applecare warranty. It gives you 3 full yrs. In fact, I'd get the apple care if I had purchased a brand new monitor.

NEWS FLASH LA! Viagra, oysters & mechoui.

photos:

1/ Andre Mallet of Mallet Oysters wearing a tie ( that's the real news!)

2/ Mechoui, ( lamb & chicken on a spit)

3/ Julie beats The Oyster Boy in a shucking contest, (Julie 6, Oyster Boy 1)

4/ the chef

Forgive me for not including any photos of oysters but we were consuming them like all get out.

Viagra, Oysters, Lamb on a spit. Pick two.

OK, now you know why the good people of Northern NB don't need viagra.

For a moment, visualize one of those great viagra tv spots. Now visualize the sound and picture fizzling away and the logo for MALLET OYSTERS moving across the screen.

You know what I'm talking about.

They can also cook up a mean lamb on a spit. Its called a mechoui. We recently had the great pleasure of attending the grand opening of Mallet Oysters in Shippagan NB. It was a great affair with media scrums and all. The town has never seen so many tv cameras, photographers and radio types all in one place. These people know what they're doing when it comes to oysters. Its a family affair and they grow the best in the world. People from all over attended. Even 'The Oyster Boy" from the great city of Toronto made the trip. He says, 'people in Toronto know how to eat'. Well, that may be true but people in the East know how to ph&#%ck. Go ahead and google up the stats, and then thank Mallet Oysters. The Oyster Boy is one of the top distributers in Hog Town and he knows his oysters and his market, that's why he made the trip.

And Mallet Oysters know how to grow the best. If I had to describe the whole affair in a few words I'd say, family, community, nature, science and love. In fact if I owned the joint, those words would be on every box, business card and email tag that left the plant. While the rest of us proceed to blow ourselves to smithereens, these good people will inherit the earth and from them will grow a better world. And in that world everyone will eat Mallet oysters and lamb and pig and chicken on a spit.

www.malletoyster.com