Top 10 - #1

#1 - Redwood Meadows Emergency Services probationary firefighters put out a car fire during training.

This photo was one of the culmination of an approximately six month project documenting what it takes to become a firefighter. One thing I learned that day was that its really hard to light a frozen truck on fire.
Since getting big flames were out of the question I focused on using the light and the water and smoke.
This photo brought those elements together.
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Top 10 - #2

#2 - Cpl. Sam Agustin

This photo has a lot going for it. It is one of if not my favourite portrait of the year and in the running to be one of my best portraits to date.

When I set up to take this shot paid particular attention to balancing the sunlight and strobes. I frequently overpower the sun, which isn't always the best option as I have been told frequently by a mentor. I think I was successful in not only lighting the scene well but bringing together the background elements and the subject for a Remembrance day photo.

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Top 10 - #3

#3 - A tie, two shots from the final marathon of Martin Parnell's Marathon Quest 250.

This one is a tie. I think that the horses are my favourite but only just. However Martin Parnell was in the Eagle office after the paper published and told me that the shot of him running by himself in the cold was one of his favourite shots from the year and that it told the story of his experience for many of his 250 marathons in 2010.

As a photographer it is always nice to be told that you got it right and that not only is the shot good but it tells the story.

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Top 10 - #4

#4 - A tranquilized black bear is carried to the bear trap to be relocated.

This was one of the harder shots in the top ten. The moved around a fair bit and at one time the RCMP were guarding the wrong section of pathways. When I finally zeroed in on the bear it was pure luck. The fire department was called out to help carry the bear and the location was rebroadcast, which I picked up on the scanner. I arrived at the same time as the fire department and got several shots, this one being the best as the two Fish and Wildlife officers carried the bear back to the bear trap for transport out of town.

As it turned out the fire department wasn't needed.

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Top 10 - #5

#5 - A drop of water splashes.

This is the only picture in the top 10 of 2010 that wasn't shot for a newspaper. Trying to get a shot like this has been something I've wanted to try simply to see if I could do it for a long time. I just didn't have the time until early in 2010.

Photographing water drops can be as simple or complicated as a person wants. I did some research online and found a method on strobist that seemed feasible.

It turned out to be easier than I though. I have a lot of pictures that turned out but this was my favourite.

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Top 10 - #6

#6 - The stages of the lunar eclipse Dec. 20 comprised of 9 separate images.

December 20 was my day off. The plan was not to touch my cameras and relax. Unfortunately for that plan I found out that their was a lunar eclipse late that night. Since the forecast was uncertain I decided to just shoot it from my back yard as opposed to driving out into the country only to have it obscured by clouds.

Once the decision was made to cover the eclipse I had to decide how. I decided to try for my first ever photo collage. To be safe I set up one camera on a tripod to cover the stages and hand held a second camera with a longer lens to get the moon once it was red in case the collage didn't work out fortunately it worked. I have some ideas that I think will make for a better shot next time but for a first try I am very happy.

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Top 10 - #7

#7 - Cochrane baseball brothers Ryan van Keulen, left, and Chris.

Just a nice simple portrait of the brothers. This one came together on the fly. My original plan was to get a shot in the dugout. However upon arriving at the diamond I discovered that it was both small and that there was chain link fencing across the front of it.

With plan A no good I decided to go out to the field and try and get the guys at their positions. I used Chris to hide my light and stand that is shining on his brother and the shot came together.

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Top 10 - #8

#8 - Cochrane superbike racer Cody Matechuk at the Calgary track.

This was the first time I had ever covered any kind of motor racing sport. Other than being fast I didn't really have any idea of what it would be like. As it turned out the superbikes weren't as fast as I expected. After shooting some simple freezing action pictures I decided it was time for some panning.

Once again this image was the perfect combination of being in the right place at the right time and being a little lucky. The combination of Matechuk frozen with the pan and the other bike blurred in the background all come together to make an eye catching image showing the speed by contrasting Matechuk frozen moving right across the frame while the blurred bike moves left.

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Top 10 - #9

#9 - Redwood Meadows probationary firefighter Trevor Huggins dumps a bucket of water

on a camper at the annual Firefighters Burn Treatment Society water fight Aug. 13 2010.

Thanks to my long term project on the recruit class (I'll post about that later) I was with Redwood Meadows firefighters when they were reminded about the water fight at the Firefighters Burn Treatment Society's camp for children with burn injuries. Members of the volunteer department join in the water fight which is the highlight of the week for the kids.

Going into this assignment I had been asked not to photograph the kids faces. As a journalist this was a sever handicap. I now had to find some way to tell the story that these children recovering from severe burn injuries were having a great time being themselves. The kids often times stood out at home and could be the only kid with a burn scar in their community. Here at the camp there was no teasing, they could just be kids. I had to try and show this without showing the kids faces.

It rained the day of the water fight which was a blessing in disguise. With all the kids wearing blue ponchos and hoods their faces were often times hidden. Even with this I found myself drawn to pictures of the firefighters and camp councillors with kids in the background. Just as my #10 pic needed the expressions to be great, I needed the peoples expressions to tell the story.

With this shot I saw Huggins going for the kid with the bucket of water and knew what was going to happen. I took the shot and after talking with the camp organizers got the OK. It ended up running on the front as the perfect storytelling image from that day.

For more pictures from the water fight go here.

Or read my story in the Eagle here or see my blog post.

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Top 10 - #10

Don't read too much into the title. I'm posting my top 10 of 2010 and some honourable mentions along the way but I'm not ranking the 10 in any way. They'll just be posted in what ever order I happen to find them in.

On to the picture.

#10 - The RCMP finish the Musical ride with the charge.

Taken on Aug. 3 in Cochrane, Alta.

Walking into the musical ride this was the picture I wanted. I had covered the Lord Strathcona's Horse Musical Ride in St. Albert and gotten great shots of everything but the charge. I made sure to be at the end of the arena my long lens as the ride came to an end. I was set up and ready, there was no reason not to get a technically excellent shot of the charge.

What I couldn't prepare in advance was the expressions on the members charging towards me.

This image was cropped from a horizontal image with a male officer on the left. He had a pretty blank expression which led to him being cropped out. The two female officers were really into the charge, their expressions made the picture.

This assignment was the first real pressure I had working for the Eagle. Being a weekly paper published every Wednesday, I usually have all my stuff in days before deadline. This was different the Musical Ride was in town on Tuesday at 2 p.m. Our paper goes to press at 5 p.m. The decision was made to get the ride into that paper. We ended up getting the paper out about an hour late that day.

The ride ran on front with the above pic as well as two full pages of photos. We were late because of those. With the ride being around an hour or so long, having to drive back to the office, edit the pics, lay out the pages (a slow process), and get them proofed takes time.

Everything worked out in the end, the paper was published and I came away with one of my best images of the year.

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Happy New Year! and a few notes...

So it has been a really interesting year. I started the year unemployed freelancing in Edmonton and end it as the staff photojournalist at the Cochrane Eagle weekly newspaper.

I also started a blog, joined Twitter and Facebook. Of those three my goal for 2011 is to spend more time on both.

The goal is to update this blog regularly, at least once a month, preferably once a week on my days off.

Over the next little while I will be posting my top 10 photos of 2010 and the honourable mentions.

I will also catch up on some of the stories and events that I meant to blog about when they happened but never did.

Enjoy...

One of my last shots of 2010

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