Got a lil’ more action from the last photoshoot with Checkmate & Concise, in the form of a promotional poster/flyer.   They’re throwing a release party for their album down at the Plaza.

Hailing from Vancouver, B.C. come two of Canada’s premier emcee’s with their long -anticipated debut record, “African Kings”, the first of seven installments from West Coast legendary rap duo, Checkmate and Concise a.k.a. DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH. “This record is a culmination of events…it’s everything Concise and I have been waiting for… a diverse, well-written and produced album, featuring some of the best rappers and beatmakers we’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with in our short recording careers…”. For more information regarding Defenders of the Faith, Checkmate and Concise, and “African Kings” the album, please contact us at: www.myspace.com/defendersofthefaith

I’m going to do my best to make it down there for the party.

Album is available on iTunes on November 11th - so you can make sure you’ve got all your moves down, before it goes down.  =)

My friends at Hired Guns Creative have been focusing their talents towards wineries as of late. Their classy designs are well suited for this kind of work, and to compliment the design, they needed equally classy photographs of the wine offered.

Rocky Creek Winery is a small boutique winery in the heart of the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island.  If you are to try only one of their wines, give the blackberry port-style wine a go… unique, delicious, and can be savored in so many ways.

These bottle images, photographed “on black” are carefully crafted - each highlight on the bottles is intentionally placed to show shape, colour, and separate them from the background nicely.  The mirror ‘effect’ is no effect at all, those are the true reflections of the bottles.   Always a challenge.   Although with some good photoshop skills a reflection like you see here could be added to an image (as is quite popular these days), a discerning eye can really tell the difference.

I believe, even if you’re not looking for the details, the entire image can make an impact on a customer’s perception of quality, attention to detail, and how much you care about each aspect of your business and marketing.

I look forward to working with more vintners in the future - typically very friendly people, gorgeous locales, and of course, a little challenge in creating clean, bright and beautiful product photographs to compliment the time spent on their craft.

	Although I take ~200 product photos a week, I still found myself experimenting and creating at my home studio this weekend, just for kicks. Sounds odd huh? Product photography can create quite a challenge though - we want to achieve the cleanest, most crisp and balanced image.  Colours and rendition of the image have to be incredibly accurate! I bet it would definitely surprise the average person how much setup goes into what looks like a very simple shot!  The example shown at left of the new Method Body Wash can be particularly difficult.  With it’s clear bottle I needed to pay attention to defining the edges, while not losing or washing out the pale pink colour…. and with it’s reflective surface, it was imperative that I watch how the light plays on every curve to get a ‘perfect’ image. This image (and many more like it!) was used in an advertising flyer that is distributed across Western Canada.
Let me present a few more examples of my product photography:

As you can see, there can be a variety of challenges - and I love each and every one of them!

Are you considering an online store?  Are you looking to redesign a menu with food shots that make your customers’ mouths water?  Want to showcase your product in the best possible light?  With a professional look to your product, you can let it demand top dollar.  Let’s talk