I think this will be my last pre-China blog.
I’ve been hideously busy lately, shooting, editing, working, flying, doing improv, socializing, trying to get ready for the trip, etc. It’s almost a good thing that I got this new toy from work. I have never wanted a Blackberry, mainly because I feel that they tie you to work, never letting you unplug. But, I’m required to carry it now, even if I decide not to respond to the constant stream of email that comes to it. After some serious mucking around with it, I discovered it’s actually not too bad. I’ve got it configured with my personal email now, it runs Google Talk, and I have customized the desktop with one of my own photos. I downloaded fun ringtones to it too (mine now plays the Charlie Brown theme song). I can now understand the argument that it doesn’t necessarily tie you to your desk, but frees you from it, since you don’t have to run back to the office/home to read your email. Glass half-full, glass half-empty.
I had a fun shoot the other day. I shot a Latin jazz band in the middle of the Humber river. Aside from having to be on location at 7am on a Sunday morning, it was highly entertaining. It was very peaceful when we got there, but a bit chilly.
After a bit (lot) of coaxing, we got the band set up in the water. Aside from the leader of the band, most of them were reluctant to get into the water. But, eventually we were ready to go, musicians ankle-deep in river muck, and instrument stands and stools somewhat firmly supported by rocks. It was interesting to me that the steel-pan player had recently wrecked his knee, and had only a few days before underwent the ACL surgery that I need. He needed a lot of help from the other band members to get down to the river, and to get himself set up in front of his drums, but it was encouraging to see that he was actually functional and getting around.
When we finally got to shooting, the band was great. They played a few songs, and soon enough, a crowd was gathering on the riverbank, cheering and clapping and whistling at the end of each song. The guys were really getting into it, goofing around, switching instruments, having fun. As the sun came up, it even became quite pleasant to be standing in the river.
Anyway, we shot for a few hours, until the sun was too high to shoot any more. Here are a few of those shots.
I decided to embrace the lens flare, since it was impossible to avoid anyway. In a couple of the shots, I had to hold my hand out in front of the camera, in the frame, to block the sun when the flare got too extreme. I used Photoshop to remove the hand from the photo afterwards.
Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, this will be my last pre-China post. I’ll be flying out on Monday morning, and I need all the time until then to get ready. I am actually excited to the relative peace and quiet of my 13-hour flight to Beijing. We’ll see how I feel 8 hours in…
Friggin sweet work, man. LENS FLARE FTW!!
Best of lucks for your chinage adventure. I predict that many will be demanding that you blog from the trip, but I’ll be the salmon and say that you should enjoy it and immerse yourself into it fully rather than trying to hunt for web access to update a blog. If you don’t update by the time you’re supposed to come back….then I’ll just assume that you got captured for being a foreign born pigdog and that you’re not in some kind of jail making license plates 😮
Good luck, enjoy the trip, and I hope you find more of yourself in it, which is the best part of traveling.
Have a good time mate,
i’d ask for lots of pics, but i know thats a given,
Have fun!!
Awesome shots, as usual.
Have an amazing time in China!
LOVE these photos! I’m adding to my “Kevin Thom” favorites – right up there next to the photo of my pappy and me, of course! Have a great trip – can’t wait to swap stories!
I love the photos!
and I hope you will get a chance to write detailed blogs like last time. Have an awesometastic trip, we’ll miss you.
Thanks everyone. I’ve got definite plans to make detailed China blogs. See you here soon 🙂
I think the lens flare works fantastic, gives it a very summery feel, rather like spring .. even if it is cold and heading to autumn!
Question about the new toy, which BlackBerry Curve is it? 8300 or 8310? I’m keeping my eyes out for the 8320 which will hopefully keep the GPS and include wifi too 😉
Been needing a new personal phone for about two years and I’m still trying to hold on until a good one with phone, pda, wifi and gps on it in one .. might be a goal that’s a long way off but hopefully not.
Enjoy your trip to China, can’t wait to read later on what you got up to 😀
Cath.
(designgeek)
It’s an 8310. I’ve got GPS on my PDA though, which seems to be much more useful. There are more GPS apps available for Windows Mobile than for the Blackberry, and wifi seems more common on Windows Mobile too. 🙂