Commercial Photography | The Rewards of an Interesting Assignment

Commercial Photography | The Rewards of an Interesting Assignment 

Recently, I had the opportunity to partner with BrandActive, www.brandactive.com,  a brand implementation firm based in Toronto and Fletcher Allen Partners (now University of Vermont Health Network) in Vermont and New York to create a piece to illustrate their recent brand change to the University of Vermont Health Network. The focus of the project was to be a sign installation at the Fanny Allen Campus in Colchester. In the past I have produced works with a combination of time lapse photography and still images; but, for this project, we ventured into video capture as well.

Part of the new look sign(s) was a granite base; and in the video, we wanted to incorporate the connection to the local-sourced granite and feature the geographic areas serviced by the University of Vermont Health Network in Vermont and New York State. You can view the video here: http://youtu.be/_-kcOqvUQck

Visiting the granite crafters, Rock of Ages, in Barre, Vermont was particularly interesting; and I got a great inside look at an industry that we don't often see and something I wanted to share. The amazing part was the mix of modern technology with the traditional hand crafting methods. My host, Amanda, was wealth of information about the processes and the history of Granite production which is the foundation of the Barre area. Enjoy the photos and brief tour.

Computer controlled saws handle the time consuming cutting process. 

Here a pneumatic drill bores holes in this massive block of stone to be split for the sign base. 

The block is split like this by using a series of wedges and shims shown driven into the drilled holes. The split line is scored with a chisel to ensure a clean break. After this, the block is shaped to its final dimensions.

The surfaces of the granite pieces are still shaped by hand using various chisels and hammers to chip away stone to the desired shape and texture. You can see some of this in the video. 

Working a little backwards this image shows a block of raw granite being hoisted out the quarry. 

A wide angle landscape shot shows the Rock of Ages quarry and the tall derricks used to hoist the granite out of the pit. If you notice the pattern and colour (unique to Barre Vt) of the granite on the face you might recognize it from a scene in the Star Trek movie where a young James Tiberius Kirk drives a corvette over a cliff. 

Hope you enjoy the photo tour and the video. The video was shot on a Sony A-99 and many of the photos were shot with a Sony A7 using a variety of Sony and Sigma lenses.

Please remember Fulcrum Imaging is now booking photo shoots for March and April, be sure to visit our website at www.fulcrumimaging.com to see the new look and recent work.

Landscape Photography/ Using Long Exposure Photography Exploring Niagara Falls

Landscape Photography/ Using Long Exposure Photography Exploring

 Niagara Falls

 I was in the Niagara region recently and had the opportunity to do some Landscape Photography and Urban Landscape Photography. I love exploring, so naturally I like this style of photography. Niagara Falls in the winter is a totally different place than in summer at the height of tourist season. All times of year offer some great photography but winter tends to attract less people allowing a photographer to shoot relatively freely from the better vantage points without throngs of tourists and other photographers. And of course the falls look totally different with the ice and snow. Since I was out and about both before sunrise and in the evening I took advantage of lower light to stretch my exposures upwards to 30 seconds. 

During my shooting I did discover some new things and remembered some things forgotten. One was during my night shooting outing. The falls are lit by a multitude of spotlights and I am not sure if its unique to winter with ice and snow but the lights have a very noticeable dark spot at the centre as you can see in the following picture.

My solution in this case was to overexpose slightly and do some major dodging and burning, then convert to Black and White using Nik Silver Efex pro. This view is a rather common and iconic vantage point. 

This photo was taken in the morning before sunrise and was my first exposure of the day. The colours were quite dramatic and warm at this time. 

Another shot, below, was taken in the am a little later than the previous and although the processing was toned to give a different look the light had also changed dramatically. This was a lesson relearned; the winter season doesn't give a long window of opportunity for great light. 

And probably about ten minutes or less later, the dramatic saturated look above, was almost gone replaced by a blue even light below. I chose to include the viewing station in this shot just to do something different and give the shot some foreground interest. I think the inclusion tells more of a story. 

After shooting the falls at night in the first shot, I ventured up the Clifton Hill tourist area and caught the bright lights and a blurred spinning Ferris Wheel using long exposure. I love the dynamic sense of movement captured. As you can see, in the winter, this often busy area is almost deserted with the exception of a few car light trails going through the frame.

If you like my photography and want to see more of my professional work please check out my website www.fulcrumimaging.com. It has just been redesigned so it may be worth a second look too. All of my photography is copyrighted and can be licensed or sold as prints. Please contact us for more information.