That’s right, kids. Wholesome equipment porn is featured
this week on drool.

Please be advised, too, that following that porn, there are a
couple of shots, down near the bottom of the post that are
not safe for work. Not porn, per se, just NSFW.

EQUIPMENT PORN

So, what does it take to shoot editorial and commercial work? At
least shoot it the way I do?

Thought I’d give you droolers a peak into my bags and stuff…..

This is my rolling camera/computer bag. D3X; backup; a bunch
of lenses (but I use my 50mm lens for almost everything); 15 inch
MacBookPro, loaded up; light meter (yes I still use one); tons of
spare cables, batteries, memory cards and stuff.

This bag holds my lights: Profoto Acute 12 and Acute 6 flash generators
and three heads, Pocket Wizard (bad name) wireless triggers.

Light stand bag. Tons of stands, light shapers, clamps, tape,
extension cords and misc. bits and pieces.

Sometimes, though, I just use my punk-ass Hasselblad or
my Mamiya 6. Plus the Sun.

And you need a Pit Bull (mine’s named Gus) to protect it all…..

Also required…..

People say you need an eye, and that’s true. More important,
though, is a brain (especially if it’s connected to your ears and
your mouth, as well as your eye):

There’s also quite a physical aspect to the deal, what with
getting the gear in and out, up and down; moving furniture
and so on.

And, finally, you need a car. As Hazel Motes says in Flannery
O’Connor’s great novel, Wise Blood: “No man with a good car
needs to be justified”

EXPOSURE GALLERY

Up the stairs at Thyme + Again, a tony resto and takeaway place
between Hintonberg (ripe for gentrification) and Westboro (pretty
much totally gentrified), Exposure Gallery is supported by Sheila
Whyte (who owns Thyme & Again) and curated by Ottawa artist
and designer Carrie Colton. They plan on showing photography.

The space, while, well….spacious, serves two purposes: gallery
and dining room for the ladies (and men) who lunch. The nature
of this beast is such that it precludes exhibiting any work that
might spoil appetites. Understandable.

Their current exhibition “LANDLOCKED”, by Toronto photographer
Eamon Mac Mahon, is probably a good indication of what curator
Carrie Colton has in mind for this space: to serve up tasty, tasteful
modern photography.

Camsell Church. © Eamon Mac Mahon

I look forward to seeing work on the walls of Exposure Gallery.
Something tells me that this project has legs. And good-looking
legs, at that.

Some scenes from LANDLOCKED. Eamon Mac Mahon (t.r.) and Carrie Colton (b.l.)

TIM PORTER

There’s another gallery in town that shows a lot of photography.
It’s in one of the grittiest parts of the city and need make no
concession to what’s appetizing.

In fact, Guy Berube, director of Gallery La Petite Mort, takes
great delight in ruffling feathers, touching nerves.

Case in point is the Tim Porter exhibition, which opened
there yesterday and runs until September 17th.

The fotos are plain and simple shots of conjoined twins,
preserved in formaldehyde. These images both attract
and repel. It’s impossible to look at them without feeling
a sense of wonder.

Me, I couldn’t stop looking at these images, which are both
science and art in the most profound sense.

Go see this show. Wonder.

From: STILL LIVES. © Tim Porter

RENFREW

Found myself in beautiful downtown Renfrew last week.
Here’s a few shards from that trip, plus a shot of Magida,
Sam (hair and makeup) and me. And a shot of Magida and
Sam with the guy who took the shot of us……

FINALLY

An exhibition of my fotos of April and Erik will be opening
at Gallery La Petite Mort (that place, again), September 18th.
Mark your calenders.

April + Erik, smoke