Palliative Care Research Team Portrait

The Manitoba Palliative Care Research Unit at Cancer Care Manitoba are working at finding better ways to help those in their last stages of life on this earth. Their web design team wanted a photo in front of a window in order to blend into the light colour of the basic page of the website. The window on the fourth floor common area was the best spot for the shot. Shot with two strobes and umbrellas using a 16-35 mm lens on my Canon Rebel XT.

A new book for kids who stutter

This new title from Hooray Publishing reinforces the idea that those who stutter can lead a productive and active lifestyle and need not shy into the background. Aiden moves to a new school and confronts her stuttering by standing up for others and in so doing finds her own freedom. Author Karen Hollett gives us the first of hopefully many titles for children who deal with stuttering. Beautifully illustrated by Lori-Lee Thomas. I was privileged to prepare this title for press setting up the files for the workflow at Friesens, Canada's renowned book printer.

Boys' Camp Photo

I was surprised this morning while reading the latest issue of Christian Week (Manitoba edition). My photo of campers at Discovery Boys' Camp last year was in a half-page ad for The Christian Camp & Conference Association Canada. I took the shot at Manitoba Pioneer Camp last summer. MPC used eight of my shots in their current summer camp brochure. They also feature many of my shots in the photo section of their web site. Check them out here. (Classic Girls #24-30, Cash Island Boys #16-20)

Dr. Pierre Plourde on Haiti

Many of you know about by involvement in Haiti. My friend, Dr. Pierre Plourde, has been leading week-long health care missions to a small community on the fringes of Port au Prince for the last several years. A busy man, Plourde asked me to compile a video because he could not be in Ottawa for work and in Vancouver to attend a fundraising banquet. So we shot the video of him expressing greetings, thanks and a description of the mission along with some of the footage I shot the three years that I joined him in Haiti.

BEAUTIFUL DREAMERS (18 min.)

Click To Play

Beautiful Dreamers from Bruce Hildebrand.

My friend, actor and director, Jon Ted Wynne, asked me if I would like to shoot a film for him. Accustomed to documentary work, I had not done a dramatic shoot since my student days at Ryerson, but I agreed. We had the stage for two days one weekend and it was a bit tight time wise, but we got all the material that we needed there. I enjoyed the social aspect and teamwork on set.

He shot some flashback scenes on his own. Then he asked me to edit it. It was more challenging than I thought it would be. The difference made the project to be quite a learning experience for me.

The story is about four cleaning women who come together one night as they are cleaning the stage after a theatre performance. They reflect on the dashed dreams of their youth.

Shot on Canon Vixia HDV40 and edited on Sony Vegas 7.0. The premiere showing at the ACTRA Film Festival and Open House (Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at Cinemateque in Winnipeg. Now you can watch it here. The video is 18 minutes long.

AWANA Christmas party

Another term of Awana clubs for kids closed out this week at Bethesda Church. Lots of fun games, good food and carol singing. I like the intergenerational aspect of this activity club--all the way from 3-year-olds to grandparents participate. Parents are leaders, pre-school and school kids are "clubbers", youth are helpers. It can get intense, but it all seems so worthwhile at the end of the night.

Pioneer Camp Photos

My son Walker loves Pioneer Camp and who wouldn't. It is a wilderness camp on beautiful Lake of the Woods--a wonderful place to appreciate the marvels of creation. I was invited to volunteer at the camp as a photographer and kitchen assistant. What a great way to spend a week in July. This is my second year there and I was asked to get some shots at the girl's camp as well. Keep an eye out for the brochure with more shots that I took this summer.

http://www.manitobapioneercamp.ca/