This month i was made the Head Photographer for the WE CANADA campaign for the Earth Summit Coalition 2012 in Rio. I like to do my bit for the community but to be asked to do my bit for Canada was just awesome. You know what though, anyone can be a part of it and support the cause. Here are a few words from Helen Beynon to tell you a bit more:

2010 was a pretty great year in Canada. Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympic games, bringing revelry to the streets and creating a strong feeling of national pride. Not only did we do a great job hosting the games in spring-like temperatures, but we also won the most gold medals. Go Canada Go! The Olympics were an amazing display of what we Canadians are capable of when we really put our minds to it – we have a lot to be proud of.

Unfortunately, our international track record in sustainability isn’t quite as good as our athletics. At the 2010 UN Conference of the Parties for Climate Change in Cancun, Canada was awarded First, Second AND Third place ‘Fossil Awards’ for their failure to contribute to international climate change negotiations. We have a lot of work to do if we want to clean up our international reputation!!

As proud Canadians, we need to tell our government that we care about the environment, and we want to work on creating a more sustainable society, here and around the world. “How can I do that?”, you might be asking?? By joining us and making your voice heard through WE CANADA!

WE CANADA is an initiative to strengthen Canadian leadership at the 2012 UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Global leaders will come together at this summit to work on creating real change for sustainability – and Canada needs to be there with a plan for action! The lead-up to this event is a chance for us to look at where we have come from, where we need to go, and how WE CAN create a sustainable future!

We don’t have much time to waste. We’re living beyond our means, wasting our resources and taking away from our fellow human beings – those who live around the world in poverty, as well as future generations. We need to take action NOW, by telling our government to take leadership at the Earth Summit, and by making the necessary changes in our own lives.

“Sustainability” doesn’t mean living poorly – it means spending more time with friends and family, saving money, being healthier, and generally IMPROVING your life! Not to mention the lives of others around the world.

Learn more about WE CANADA, and join the movement at www.earthsummit.ca. Share your innovative ideas and actions. Work with others to build sustainable communities. Tell our government we’re ready to make a positive change!

Recently I’ve had the honor of having Patrick Camblin stay in my humble abode in Vancouver.  The founder of Tribe Riders a clothing company with a group of people that love whitewater kayaking. Their mandate is to create awareness of whitewater kayaking, to showcase it as best they can, and to help increase it’s visibility and participation worldwide.

On a mission to get more people playing on the amazing rivers that the world has to offer. The waterways are the lifeblood of our world and with each waterway severed by dams, the health of our ecosystem decreases. One of the many battles they have to keep this awesome sport alive.

Personally from a designers point of view they have one of my favorite logos of not just a clothes brand but ever in my folder of inspiration. With it printed on many different t-shirt designs i wouldn’t think twice before chucking one on!

If you have a spare few minutes you have to check out this video and their others.

Also check out there website @ www.triberiders.ca

Epic Mountain Video started by Peter Bailey is a video solution and consulting company operating out of Whistler and Vancouver BC. High quality cinematography for a huge range of clients. Peter Bailey has a great understanding of what the client looks for and with passion and skill in editing produces some awesome results. Epic Life Video is a tv series designed to bridge the gap between action sports and mainstream tv. It combines wildlife, extreme sports and outdoor adventure tv utilizing his unique abilities of skiing with the camera and jumping with the camera (his day job is skiing backwards in powder filming clients for whistlerblackcomb ). In all of his shots he is trying to bring the audience into the action in a way that will make them feel as if they are there , hitting that jump , making that turn and chilling with their buddies afterwards

Check out the link below for a little teaser of the Epic Life Season.

need more info: peterb@epicmountainvideo.com

Location: Savary Island, BC

Models: Aleksandra, Zara Durrani

Makeup Artist: Cloe Johnston

A 2 day trip to the beautiful Savary Island 6hours north of Vancouver for what turned out to be well worth the drive and the three ferries. After leaving the car behind at Lund we  voyaged across the last stretch of water to Savary Island. Met by the a local real estate agent Rick Thaddeus, Aleks and myself were shown around the island to spot locations…a hard task as everywhere you looked were stunning beaches, mill pond calm waters and beautiful mountains.

Base camp was chosen, the tent was erected and dinner was put on the camp stove just in time for the rain to start. With the rain hammering down an early night was forecasted. A 5:30am alarm and the girls were into hair and makeup and the tent was dismantled. An unexpected morning call from Rick started what turned out to be a great day. We accompanied Rick back to his house where we met his lovely family and had quick coffee for the road. All packed up and a 2min drive down the sandy narrow streets to the location where we were met by beautiful sunshine and a stunning empty beach for as far as you could see. With all the equipment piled on our backs we descended the 50ft cliff path down to the beach. The genius idea to then re-erect the tent as a changing room and a little yoga to warm up and the shooting began. With a cut off time of 2:30pm we were on a mission!

The surroundings as they were, it seemed every direction you looked was like a photo in itself. Zara and Aleks knew exactly was needed and killed every shot jumping in and out of the tent into a record number of stunning outfits to complete on time. As the last shots were being snapped,  Rick climbed back down the cliff path to help us pack up and get back on the ferry. The shoot was a great success but it could not have gone so well without the awesome team work of Zara, Aleks who organized the whole trip down to the last detail, Cloe and a HUGE thank you to Rick Thaddeus who went out of his way to make our stay one of which we will all never forget.

Geek Section: The was no artificial light useed in this shoot it was all down to the sun and a reflector. I should state that the reflector was changed due to the different skin tones in the models (Zara had gold and Aleks had Gold and Silver grid pattern). Camera settings: 1/320s ISO 200 at f8. The canon 24-70mm f2.8L was used for the whole shoot. As for the direction of the sun we didn’t have much option but to have most of the shots back lit as the sea was used for the background of all the photos.

To see the photos from this shoot you can check them out at the commercial section of this sites portfolio….http://www.milesclarkphoto.com/commercial/

To find out more about Savary Island check out Ricks site: http://www.savary.ca

Vancouver Sports Pictures based in North Vancouver is a premiere action sports photography company who capture high quality images of amateurs to professionals in a huge amount of sports played. Their expertise are on-site digital photography and instant photo printing at sports tournaments and corporate events.

Paul Yates heads the company and apart from being a very talented photographer he is also a smart man by joining forces with milesclarkphoto.com and together creating modern high end elite team posters. These posters are printed at 12″x36″ (1ft x 3ft) so are a great size to have up on the wall and are custom made to each team. It puts a powerful modern twist on what has turned into something that is put in a draw as soon as it gets home. This isn’t just a poster its a sense of achievement, a memory and something that you will be proud to bring out to show your kids, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Check out Paul’s work at www.vancouversportspictures.com

Geek Section: ….sorry guys, this one is top secret!

I was challenged to come up with a creative image/photo for a facebook profile picture yesterday. The deadline was given of 48hours. After a few design concepts which i can’t embellish on as i may have to use them for future projects, i came up with this. Initially it was going to have butterflies coming out and was going to be titled “nervous’. After much deliberation i decided it was too busy and took away from the actual art of the stomach missing and thought the title ‘hungry’ would work just as well.

Geek Section: This was created using a series of photos with a little artistic flair with the graphics tablet. The lighting was an alien bee at 1/4 power with a beauty dish on. The camera settings were 160 at f8 ISO 200, shot against a plain white door (handle removed in photoshop) Other than the initial photo on myself, i took and photo of the inside of my boxers and the inside of my t-shirt, these were then placed and fine tuned to fit the original photo. The stomach itself was removed simply by using the stamp tool and the background replaced using a gradient matching the background. If you would like more details, let me know or if you have a spare few bucks purchase ‘Photoshop Top Sectret’ dvd set. A little pricey but worth it. The collection of dvds inspires you and teaches you step by step on how to create a huge range of photoshop skills. For more info check out the link below:

http://www.photoshoptopsecret.com

Model:  Kofi Obiri-Yeboah Jr.

Location: Vancouver, BC

Shoot: Well after being delayed for two days the shoot went ahead and turned out to be worth waiting for. Kofi is an awesome guy and the shoot was a lot of fun. Here is a little sample of what we got, but be sure to check out the sport and portrait gallery for the actual photos in the next few days.

Geek Section: For those of you who are wanting to know a bit more geeky stuff this shoot was done with a Canon 1Dmk3 with a Canon 24-70mm 2.8. The flashes were 2 Alien Bees B800′s, bare flash with one or two exception. For the most part i was shooting at 320, f5.6 ISO 100 with the alien bees at around 1/4 power. My shutter speed was a 320 as i wanted to remove all the ambient light from the large uncurtained window in the studio and make the subject pop from the background. If there is any specific photo you want to know more about go to the contact page give me your info and question and i’ll hook you up.

Massive thanks again to Kofi, pleasure working with you and look forward to next time.

Well it‘s been in the making for a while but my new site is up and running with this great blog for you guys to check out what things i’m up to and what interesting things i come across. The blog will be predominantly photography based with some design stuff but i’ll try and keep it fresh and exciting for you guys to follow and answer any questions that i can. My first proper entry to this blog will be tomorrow night after i have finished a basketball shoot with my good friend Kofi. So stay tuned to see how that went and i’ll post a little description of how i went about doing it.