HI all,
I’ve decided to merge this blog to my main blog, http://blog.avantdp.com, and will discontinue using this blog as of now.
Please update your bookmark and rss feeds.
Thank You
Jewelry | Chrome Hearts | Dec 27, 2009
January 19th, 2010
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This is going to be interesting and very different from my normal posts. A few weeks ago, I was taking some jewelry photos for an up and coming business. Details to be released later on. After 3 weeks of intense trial and error with lighting setup, product setup, and photo shooting, we had some fun shooting something a bit more unusual, or at least something that relates to me very well – a small collection of Chrome Hearts jewelry. Most of my friends know I’m a huge fan of Chrome Hearts’s designs and products. Every time I step into one of their stores, I tend to come out of the story non-empty handed. I have already visited all their American stores including New York, Los Angeles, Malibu, Honolulu, and Las Vegas. I’m definitely hoping to visit the Europe and Asian stores when I get a chance.
A little background, their main designs consist of fleur-de-lys, crucifix, floral, and dagger. All their silver jewelry are made of 925 Silver. Richard Starks is the original and current owner of Chrome Hearts.
For more info, check out their site
Styling and placement of products done by a good friend, Janice Chow
Here are three of my favourite photos from the day
Chrome Hearts Rings and Necklace - fleur-de-lys and crucifix designs
Chrome Hearts Bracelet - Floral/Crucifix design
Chrome Hearts Necklace - Dagger design
Baby Portraits for Tyson | Jan 9, 2010
January 11th, 2010
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This past weekend was cold, but I was able to observe a lot of warmth in Carman and Trung’s family. Tyson was born in late November of 2009 and by now, he’s over one month old! Here’s a sneak peek of a few of my favourite photos from the day.
Location: Stoufville, ON
Mom and Dad playing with the newly born, Tyson
Mom holding the newly born son, Tyson
Baby Tyson posing in a AC/DC rocker tshirt
Baby Tyson looking tired
Dad playing with baby son, Tyson
Baby Tyson staring right into the camera
Will’s Subaru WRX STI | Oct 24, 2009
January 7th, 2010
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Yes, I’m going back in time. There’s going to be two major differences from the last posts.
First of all, he last few posts has been very human oriented. Instead, this week, I’m going back in time and am going to post a few photos of my friend’s Subaru WRX STI. Other than saying that thing flies, what else can I really say?
Second difference is, the past few posts were all shot with 580EX with Pocket Wizards, however all these photos are shot with a 20W Sony Video Light.
The bad thing from the shoot, the wind kept knocking the light stand over, the freezing weather… The good, we got great shots from limited resources.
Below are a few of my favourite images.
Location: Go Train Station, Markham, ON
Subaru WRX STI Front view
Subaru WRX STI Front Driver side view
Subaru WRX STI Front Driver side view 2
Subaru WRX STI Rear Passenger side
Baby Portraits for Harratt | Dec 13, 2009
December 29th, 2009
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Before I even start this post, I wish everyone had a great Christmas break and wishing everyone have a Happy New Year!
I’ve known Harratt’s parents half my life and they were probably the third couple I shot a bridal session for and a wedding session for. All those were done with my Nikon FE 9 yeas ago. Fast forward to Harratt, let me being to introduce him as my god son. Harratt was born in Scarborough General Hospital 2 years ago on Victoria’s day and I was the third person in the world to holding him after he was born. As much as I love taking photos, this session is really the only second time I took for him since the first day he was released from the hospital.
Two and a half years since that day, I can conclude that Harratt has grown quite some what, being very energetic, running all over the place all the time. When he is not moving, he is on “his” Apple iPhone 3GS playing games. The crazy thing is, he seems to know what he’s doing and I probably don’t!
This photo session was held in an empty apartment with all the room for him to run around. This was quite a challenging task as he never stood still for any photos. It really reminded of my wedding work when I’m running around to chase down moments, emotion and angles. This was quite an easy setup, one speedlite on a shoot through umbrella on the left and another speedlite bouncing off a silver reflector on the right. Of course, the reflector I had seemed to stir up some funny topic to be better off remained in the silence.
Here’s a few of my favourite images from this session
Natural High
Being Himself
Being Cute
Starting to get even more energetic
Playing with the balloon
Running into the kitchen
Playing with the iPhone
Concentrating playing games
Violet and Viruses Band Promo Shoot | Nov 15, 2009
December 17th, 2009
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As many people know, I love working with bands and people who are into music. Violet and Viruses is a rock band based in Toronto, ON that started back in September of 2008 and I have been working with these guys on photoshoots, covering live events and being part of the roadie crew (or the only one) back then. As it turns out, this is the second photo shoot I have done with Violet and Viruses. The first time was done in U of T where we were shooting in the cold at midnight with only available light. This time around, I shot the entire shoot with one speedlite on manual settings with a 1/8 grid invented by David Honl. Good thing that day was not overly windy or too cold, even though my light stand got blown and knocked to the ground a couple of times, but we managed to get some good photos out of the shoot. It’s always fun working with local talented musicians.
This was such a last minute thing and we really did not scout for a place till the very last minute. Originally we were going to do it in some woods in Richmond Hill, but the safety did not occur to us. Then we thought about someone’s party room in their condo but that plan also back fired. We finally arrived in some swamp area in Markham, ON. I am going to be honest about this. I got inspiration from Slipknot’s “All Hope is Gone” album cover as soon as I saw our environment. Here are a few photos I like
Violets and Viruses Band Promo Shoot 2009
Violets and Viruses Band Promo Shoot 2009
Violets and Viruses Band Promo Shoot 2009 - Vocal
Violets and Viruses Band Promo Shoot 2009 - Drummer
Violets and Viruses Band Promo Shoot 2009 - Guitarist
Violets and Viruses Band Promo Shoot 2009 - Bassist/Guitarist
Finally, here’s a quick 30 seconds video that I made with Animoto.
Family Portraits, Danica and Henry | Dec 7, 2009
December 12th, 2009
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I can’t believe it has already been 10 years since I shot my first engagement and wedding, and it was for Danica and Henry. It was on a Nikon FE, relying on 50mm f/1.4 and a 105mm f/2.0 and around 8 rolls of Kodak 35mm color film and 4 rolls of Kodak 35mm B/W film. A decade later, I was taking family portraits for their family with 2 kids over the past 5 years with my Canon 5D. Yes I have made the switch over as most of you know and a ton of equipment later…
Caron, the 5 year old sister was especially enthusiastic in front of the camera. I am convinced all female babies and girls are especially responsive to my camera and lenses. She was jumping around and just posing for me like what a professional model would do. I didn’t even have to think about how to guide her. The younger brother, Caleb just woke up before we started taking photo so he was not as enthusiastic about it. Nonetheless, the photos turned out really well and from this set, you can tell a strong bond in their family.
Time flies, I still remember the times when I held them when they were little babies. It’s no wonder this time, legitimately they can call me Uncle Chris.
P.S. the white bear that I bought for Caleb when he was born is still very white!
Location: Richmond Hill, ON
Here are a few of my favourite photos from the day:
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- Family portraits for the Lee Family
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- Family portraits for the Lee Family
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- Family portraits for the Lee Family
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- Family portraits for the Lee Family
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- Family portraits for the Lee Family: Caleb
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- Family portraits for the Lee Family: Karen and Caleb
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- Family portraits for the Lee Family: Music!
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- Family portraits for the Lee Family
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- Family portraits for the Lee Family
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- Family portraits for the Lee Family
Here’s a slideshow from the day
Baby Portraits for Abby | Nov 8, 2009
November 25th, 2009
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So far I’ve blogged about music photography and cars, models. This time, I’m going to do something a little different, it’s a post of one of my friend’s daughter, Abby. Abby was born earlier this year and since my wedding work won’t start again till early next year, I decided to take some cute photos for Abby.
This is the first time I’ve taken photos of baby portraits on a more serious note (not including the times where I took photos of my god son or during full moon dinner) so I decided to get to their place early, play with her and let her be a little more familiar with me. It was very fun when Abby was just shaking her hips to her favourite music just before the shoot.
When it was time to shoot some photos, she just lit up to basically stardom in front of the camera. Coming from a 7 months old, she really knew how to pose for me and really smile in front of the lens.
Here’s a couple of my favourite photos from the shoot. Simple setup, one off camera flash light on a stand with an umbrella and a giant reflector.
Location: Richmond Hill, ON
Baby Abby | Baby Portraits
Baby Abby | Baby Portraits
Baby Abby | Baby Portraits
Baby Abby | Baby Portraits
Baby Abby | Baby Portraits
Baby Abby | Baby Portraits
Lastly, here’s a 30 seconds slideshow,
Motorcycle and Benny, one light | Sept 24, 2009
November 18th, 2009
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As many of you might know, I’m a die hard available light photographer. Lately, I wanted to challenge myself and pickup playing with off camera lighting again. I went to pickup a couple of Pocket Wizards, Flex TT5 and Mini TT1, fantastic toys for my needs.
Anyway, so I got my friend, Benny to come on over on his bike and shoot some photos. We drove over to a nearby school parking lot and took a few photos. The interesting thing was, a security guard came over and I thought he was going to kick us out. Fortunately for us, he was a die hard motorcycle fan and just wanted to check out Benny’s Honda CBR600RR.
Here are a few of my favorites from the short session due to the wind knocking over my umbrella/stand/flash (speedlite) and all that.
Honda CBR600RR
Benny's Motorcycle with one light shooting
Benny and his motorcycle
Benny posing for his motorcycle
Benny and his motorcycle and one light
Photo Exhibition | Sept 11, 2009
November 12th, 2009
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As I have stated previously, this one I assure you will be very different from my wedding posts. Back in mid August, I received a phone call from the bassist from Speed of Service and I was very honored to be invited by them to exhibit the photos I have taken for various Toronto underground music bands (mostly soft rock, hard rock, and metal) for the past couple of years. Of course, I was asked to help out with the photo documenting during their CD party release.
Here’s a slideshow I made that was played throughout the projector and my notebook all night long.
Toronto Indies Bands – Slideshow, 2007-2009 from Chris Pun on Vimeo.
On top of the slideshow, I had a printed portfolio for everyone to check out.
Here’s a photo of the small but efficient exhibition setup on three mini tables and a photo of me in action.
Thanks to all the friends who came out and supported the event.
Music of slideshow courtesy of Speed of Service – Official Website, MySpace, Facebook
Shouts out to Mok for providing these photos. All images were left raw, uneditted.
Location: El Mocambo
- Exhibition
- Me in action
