And if anyone is interested in purchasing one of our authentic hockey sweaters, send us an email. We can’t promise you’ll get a clean one though. Like I said… Authentic.

I’ve had the idea of doing wide angle, unflattering portraits for a while now. It’s an interesting way to see a version of yourself. These are characters that we all have inside and some of us only see them in the bathroom mirror when you’re alone and the door is locked. To get in close and see every pore and hair, every little imperfection is a wonderful thing. People are not perfect and I’m grateful to those who are willing to share that with me.

I hope with these portraits, the subject is able to embraced their own imperfections and find humor in them. I would prefer to capture the awkward moments. The photo that is taken when someone has their eyes half open and in mid spoken word. The worst timing for a photo is what want.

With some faces, I would rather go for the extreme emotion.

The great thing is, everyone has a unique face. With every new shoot I learn what works with their face and who they are. I don’t always get it the first round, and I’m really happy that people are willing to come back for a second shoot so I can get it right.

How these portraits are done technically, is very easy.

Lens – Sigma 10-20mm

Software – Adobe Photoshop using the LucisArt 3 ED plugin for the simulated HDR look. Cross Processing and Bleach Pass done with Tiffen DFX plugin.

The hard part, and also one of the most enjoyable parts is working with the model. Trying to find that character they have inside is a lot of fun. Sometimes the character is right there and all it takes is for them to stick out their tongue! With other people I have to dig a bit deeper. I’ve only asked a couple of the people to participate in the beginning to get the ball rolling. The rest of the people in the collection have all asked me if they could participate after seeing the photos.

Fruity Goodness!

In celebration of our new Wellness Program, we kicked off the morning with fresh fruit smoothies. While we all love our Pastry Fridays, this is a welcome addition to the week! Wellness is already an important initiative for the staff since many of us ride bikes, run, do yoga, play on the Slant Six hockey team, or even raise our arms with a pint glass. (That does count as exercise right?). Stay tuned for more information on this program and how we’ll be incorporating healthy options (and hopefully some more smoothie mornings) into our studio.