Musician Leeroy Stagger contacted me to shoot a music video for his new single “Everyone’s on Drugs” from his newest release “Little Victories”. After a brief exchange of emails it was apparent that Leeroy and I had a creative connection, and that this project would push the limits of the video work I have done to date.

Armed with  a model (MW Photographics regular: Ashley H), makeup artist (Bonnie F), two assistants (Satnam S and Justin Q), and minivan full of gear – we met Leeroy on location in Drumheller, Alberta to begin scouting and shooting. I had pitched the concept for the video only a couple of nights previous to production, so a shot-list didn’t surface until the morning of the shoot. It was a stressfully early begin to our shooting day (5:30am) for makeup and shot setups – and we didn’t put the cameras down until 15 hours later.

The music video is currently still in production, but I wanted to blog about something that happened upon wrapping production. We had been shooting in an abandoned church in Dorothy, Alberta – and Leeroy suggested we get some still photos while we had continued access to the set. Everyone was super tired from the day, but happy to pull out battery packs and studio strobes on location to create shots you see here.

Leeroy played guitar while I shot these frames, the acoustics of the little church was quite interesting and gave the moment a bit of an eerie, but positive vibe.

Leeroy Stagger is a post from: Lethbridge Photographer

Related posts:

1. A Quick Glimpse of my new Music Video Shoot

Marie Helene came by the house today to do a little recreational shooting. It was father’s day so my family let me have the run of the house to do whatever I pleased – are you surprised I picked a photo shoot with beautiful women? I wasn’t either.

Marie Helene is my ambassador for francophone culture in Lethbridge. She laughs at my broken speech, horrid pronunciation and sarcastic René Lévesque accent as I try to impress her (French 30 baby!), and when I request she use a cigarette and bottle of rye as props – she gets in full character! A true joy to have on set.

The wings I had as props had been put through the wringer by my youngest kids, so I wanted to do something gritty with the post work to go along with the tattered feathers. Lighting was a simple two light setup, alternating between a bare AB800 for the backdrop, to a AB800 with 60in shoot-through umbrella for fill and a ABR800 ring light as the main.

Post work was done in Adobe CS5, textures from the Flickr “Textures for Layers” group – licensed via Creative Commons.

Merci Marie, Votre beauté brille au-delà de la surface figurant sur les photographies!

Feathers and Fashion is a post from: Lethbridge Photographer

No related posts.

After a two month hiatus from personal photo projects, I’m back – and damn it feels good.

In the downtime I spent a bunch of time with my kids, a great opportunity to reconnect. My good friend (and shooting partner) Brien Gehring took on some solo shoots of his own and I even taught my 11 year old son how to assist. Overall things worked out great, the break from photography reaffirmed my passion for this medium and I feel I’m coming back into the game stronger and smarter. Win, win.

After a retro-wedding shoot in Tilley, AB, my first solo project was a pin up shoot organized with Ashley, one of my favourite people to shoot. Ash had connections at a truck trailer repair shop, and had after hours access. We took advantage of that with a series of shots showcased here. Special thanks to both Ashley and Brian Lutchmeesingh for the assist!

A word on the post production done on these images: I used many of the new features of Adobe CS5 (Photoshop and Lightroom 3 ). The “gritty” look was obtained with smart objects loaded into Camera RAW and layer blend modes adjusted to taste. A little bit of “high pass” filter, and some overlaid layers, and blammo! Hyper realism. No third party “actions” were abused in the creation of this set.

Baby, I’m Back! is a post from: Lethbridge Photographer

Related posts:

1. Photoshopapher
2. Feathers and Fashion

A 50′s Wedding is a post from: Lethbridge Photographer

No related posts.

Easter Sunday at my house was a quiet affair. I hid the usual supply of chocolate bunnies and eggs throughout the house at 2:30am, knowing it was the only time the place would be quiet and still enough for those types of shenanigans. There was one activity on the agenda that differed from previous years – an early morning photo session involving genetically-mutated fruit, one super hot (and tired from our shoot the night previous) model, and a seven-foot coastal carpet python.

While others were in church, I was taking our team to Sunday school with one heck of a shoot (inspired by the Apple iPad launch in a random firing of neurons). Creativity meets creationist thought – I like it!

Our team arrived on set mighty early (dragging their collective heels from a shoot the night previous). Bonnie Ferguson arrived first with her usual rolling trunks and makeup chair – ready for action. Brien Gehring supplied the mutant fruit, ready to assist & second shoot, and Kelsey N. showed up sporting aviator sunglasses, a bare face, and a smile.

While other models would have shrieked at the chance to pose with a massive snake, Kelsey eat the challenge for breakfast – a total pro! Garrett, our handler did a fantastic job with “Serenity” on set – giving her the occasional “snake break” to warm up on my front lawn (the neighbours don’t get excited anymore), and to pause for  a snake potty-break (a very educational sight, I still have mixed feelings about things in life that you can “unsee”).

Here are work-in-progress frames from the morning. Please take the time to view the “behind-the-scenes” footage presented here, its a little more in-depth than we normally put together, a testament to improved camera / video skills with the Canon 7D and my first attempt at using the new Canon EOS E1 plugin for Final Cut Pro in my video workflow. LOVE IT!

Original Sin is a post from: Lethbridge Photographer

Related posts:

1. Please be Mine, No. 8
2. Lethbridge Saree Shoot

You’ve seen Carrie K. featured here before, albeit with much more clothing.

Carrie and a friend swung by last night to help us explore a few different lighting setups in studio. Bonnie Ferguson arrived bright-eyed from our early morning shoot in the cemetery, plus a full day working at the mall – thank you Bonnie (who stuck around to do a completely different makeup application halfway through). Brien Gehring is almost always at my side as a trusty assist – so our team was complete – set for a night of photographic debauchery.

Carrie’s ink is a reason alone to ask her to shoot, she’s a traffic-stopper even without tattoos – so twist my rubber arm (My favourite subject is the human canvas). We exchanged text messages throughout the day and decided to do a modern pinup, or “Maxim” magazine-inspired studio shoot which was a great way to end a solid day of shooting. I’ve been on a hard-light diet for the past couple months accompanied by high-powered studio strobes and small apertures – so it was refreshing to setup our 56″ moon unit (octabox) and squeeze as much as we could out of a very basic one-light setup with intensely shallow DOF (everything you see here was shot at 1.8).

Take special note of the frames with Carrie’s hair up, you’ll see them again soon on this blog – with a slight transformation

Maxim Overdrive is a post from: Lethbridge Photographer

Related posts:

1. Everything but the Bitchin’, Ink!

Residents of Lethbridge and surrounding area are all-too-familiar with the commute from Lethbridge to Calgary on Hwy 2, often inventing creative ways to shorten the drive by cutting through Granum, or bypassing Calgary altogether by travelling through Vulcan, Alberta. It was on one of these routine journeys that I noticed the a quaint cemetery servicing a small town conveniently beside the highway.

This example in particular has a beautiful mix of early-century grave sites, and new shiny, undated tombstones waiting for their owners. I had mixed feelings about shooting there, wanting to keep our presence low-impact and respectful to any mourners that might be present. After reviewing the work of other photographers who’ve incorporated cemeteries in their portfolio, as well as having been a guest on the Galt Museum graveyard tour – I deemed it morally ok and put the issue to rest.

We arrived on a day greeted by high winds (typical of Southern Alberta) and worked with both Ashley (who played our dark character) and Marie Helen (our virtuous vision in white). We attempted to tell the tale of a young woman greeted by a dark visitor – and the two worked our shot list despite the howling winds. It was somewhat humorous to see Brien Gehring (assisting) fighting with a 22″ gridded beauty dish in high winds, I wonder how his back is doing today?

Makeup provided by the wonderful Bonnie Ferguson, without whom our shoots would be certainly lacking.

Some frames from the shoot:

The Lady is a Vamp is a post from: Lethbridge Photographer

No related posts.

Every image you see on a magazine rack has gone through some retouching. In the fashion section? All of it.

Its a simple fact – images fed to you for public consumption exist in an alternate reality. One where people are pinched and pulled until its questionable if the resulting image could even function with the laws of physics. As a society we value beauty and a perfected image higher than most everything else. I’m not here to judge.

However, I’m here to tell you that I retouch my images. Shocking! I know… I use photoshop and the other tools I have in my arsenal as extensions of my creativity, not to simply correct poor photography – but to take an image just “that much further”. I extend every effort to ensure my images come from camera as best as they can (proper exposure, lighting and interaction with my subject), but once they land on my hard drive – it’s fair game. I’m gonna zit-zap, push, pull and liquify the image of you that’s inside your head – lets cheat the mirror a bit and create the best image we can.

I’ve been behind the driver’s seat of Adobe Photoshop since version 2.5 (that’s before the days of “layers”, folks). Sixteen years of solid design experience goes into every pixel I push. I’ve got Adobe Certified Expert and Adobe Certified Trainer status in the product – and I’m happy to bring your vision to life with it. If it sounds like bragging, it is – I’m proud of my career as a visual artist and love the medium.

In the spirit of creative retouching, let me share my latest work in progress:

“Photoshopapher”
Makeup: by Bonnie Ferguson, Models: Cass & Ashley, Assistant: Brien Gehring, “Photoshopaphering”: Michael Warf

Photoshopapher is a post from: Lethbridge Photographer

No related posts.

Hip Hop fans in Lethbridge owe a ton to James Nishima (DJ Booda), a local promoter who consistently brings quality shows to a city barely scraping the 80,000+ mark – let alone the percentage of hip hop fans that makeup the local population. I met James through one of the former supporters of CKXU – Lethbridge’s local indy radio stations, when we struck a deal to photograph one of the local acts coming through.

Since that evening I’ve been fortunate to shoot Naughty by Nature, Kardinal Offishall, Raekwon (of Wu Tang Clan fame), and now Tech N9ne. Tech and his crew certainly didn’t disappoint, his years in hip hop back him well – a seasoned performer with intense flow, clarity and precision on the mic.

Some of the dangers of shooting in a nightclub are the distraction of drunk patrons, the lack of shooting space, and the nightclub egos getting in the way of making great frames. Shooting solo with thousands of dollars of camera gear strapped to your back can be an unnerving experience, but I roll up my short sleeves, sport my tattoos and make a mean face to give this big boy some “working room”.

I shot from the crowd last night as administration was being quite strict with stage access, thank god for height – being 6’5″ really helped in this situation (the poor people behind me). I look forward to the next big show Booda brings to town, the small venues – quality shows and great access makes for fertile ground for photographers looking to increase their portfolio of live music shoots.

Some frames from the show:

Tech N9ne! is a post from: Lethbridge Photographer

Related posts:

1. Scenes from the Underground

Pinup and boudoir photography are high on the list for commercial photography trends, so I thought if I threw my hat in the ring – it’d have to be special. There’s so much of this style being generated that its easy to get lost in the sea of great frames made by other photographers.

Enter Trisha C, sprinkle liberally with some Bonnie Ferguson makeup artistry, knead well with some Brien Gerhing assistance, and bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes with a Canon 7D, studio and prime lenses.

Voila! Retro Pinup photography, home-made and sealed with a kiss!

In all seriousness, I met Trisha at a burlesque dance show (KGB girls, Calgary, Alberta) at Henotic in Lethbridge (a fine establishment, strong supporter of the arts). She chatted with my wife about Burlesque dancing and mentioned she had the talent for it as well, little did I know I find her in front of my lens – recreating some of the many cheeky poses seen that evening.

Bonnie did a fantastic job emulating the Bettie Page style for Trisha’s rockabilly-inspired look, her blunt bangs and exaggerated eye brows certainly didn’t detract either. Brien and I setup a 22″HO beauty dish with an AB800 head and diffusion sock to get that directional, yet soft look (I wanted the cast shadow for the final frames), and I happily snapped away as Trisha worked with outfits that she brought from her own collection!

I’ve been openly criticized about the amount of post work put into the resulting frames, one party labelled this effort a “photoshopapher” which gave me a good chuckle. Last time I checked a “photoshopapher” was simply called “graphic designer” or “artist” where I come from. I’ll accept both labels with pride. No photoshop “actions” or lightroom “presets” where harmed in the making of these images, post work is 100% photoshop and a wacom tablet.

Regardless of how you might feel about these frames, I present them to you for your enjoyment without apology:

A Proper Pinup is a post from: Lethbridge Photographer

Related posts:

1. Ashley, Modern Pinup
2. Lethbridge Saree Shoot