A few weeks ago i was asked to shoot Liam Firus….to a lot of you like myself  asked who is Liam? Well i found out, not only was he a super nice kid but also the Canadian National Figure Skating Champion 2010 & 2011.

The chosen rink for the shoot was the Agridome next to the PNE  Vancouver. Having shot lots of hockey over the years in many different rinks i had to say this one was a great choice. Like every rink it had it’s challenges with glass 90% of the way around the ice limiting angles and good light to the human eye but terrible light for a camera even with the top of the line lenses.

After a quick introduction to Lorna Bauer, Liams coach the camera started clicking. Panning across the ice keeping Liam in the cross hairs gave me a real close up view of the concentration a fluidity that he has on the ice. After what seemed to be only a five minute warm up he launched off the ice to a height i can only relate to basketball players and spun quicker than i thought fathomably possible. Taking me a little by surprise i then had to leave a little bit more play in the in the framing of the shots. One thing this rink had to offer was an upstairs gallery which gave me the opportunity to shoot down onto the ice giving myself a nice white canvas to work with. Being a big fan of the slow shutter shots this gave me a great opportunity for some great arty movement shots.

After only a 45 minute ice time it was all over seemed like the time just disappeared. Although short, it was a great experience and an eye opener to see this talent in front of my eyes. A massive thanks to Liam, Lorna and Mark for this opportunity and wish Liam all the best in 2012 and the future.

Geek Section: Well not much too it. In terms of freezing the action the shutter speed was a minimum of 400 and in doing this the apature was maxed at 2.8 on a Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L. The ISO was also stretched at 4000 occasionally 6400 so evidently a bit of noise reduction was needed in the post production.

Kits Beach in Vancouver, Canada is home to several VERY popular beach volleyball courts. With a backdrop of the city this was the chosen location for a volleyball shoot i had in mind. So the only way that we could shoot this without having anyone around was to get up early and head down before sunrise. Not having woken up this early ever in Vancouver it was an awesome view to see the sun rise over the mountains with a beautiful pink, orange, yellow and then blue ski.

Stephanie Manou and her partner Brendon Rolfe were the willing athletes for this shoot. Stephanie is a registered Kinesiologist and Fascial Stretch Therapist and Brendon is an Elite Personal Trainer and together they run Rawe Health Solutions. Rawe Health Solutions is a health and wellness company based out of Vancouver, BC.They offer an array of personal training and stretch therapy services to clients of all ages, sizes, and fitness levels. At RAWE Health, they strive to always bring you the latest trends and techniques to always give you the leading edge in health and fitness.Their staff aren’t just “trainers” but are athletes, alumni, neighbors, and volunteers. They are a piece of the Vancouver community and are open to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for fitness to help Redirect Athletic & Wellness Evolution.

www.rawehealth.com

All set up on the beach with the sun rising, we started off with so portrait and lifestyle shots. With the day along with ourseves warming up we moved onto the action shots. Diving around on the sand and jumping and spiking at the net made for some great shots.

2 days after Christine Chou won the Canadian Nationals in Masters Figure Tall, i was lucky enough to organize a shoot with her.

Christine is an astonishingly dedicated and focused athlete who works incredibly hard to achieve the body she has. Months before her next competition her diet alters to get the most out her body and fitness schedule jumped up. Obviously what she does is working and i’m really happy to have had the opportunity to shoot with her.

The idea of the shoot was to show her physique in a more moody and grungy look than the standard oiled up smiling bikini look. The location was a dark underground car park chosen for it’s great textured walls. The image of Christine working out on her own using her own techniques of a set of tires and basketball gave the shoot the small story i was looking for.

For the second year running i have been hired by Vancouver Sports Pictures to Shoot the Vancouver Canadians Baseball Team over the summer season.
Always in good spirits the crowd fill the unsheltered ends of the stands to take advantage of the summer and with beer flowing and constant crowd participation in song it’s always a great way to spend an evening no matter what age you are. With stats of 9-3 so far in the season the team are looking strong and coaches have done a great job in gelling this new team together for the season. Most of the seasons games are at 7pm and in shooting from the roof gives you a spectacular sunset over the mountains.
Shooting the Canadians is a blast, you have the set shots you have to get for the sponsors out the front of the Nat Bailey Stadium and banners and prize give aways but as soon as that first pitch is thrown it’s all action! Getting real dynamic shots sliding into base, stealing bases, diving catches to name a few. Still waiting for the golden shot of a bat breaking from a past pitch but it will come one day. Its always at this time of year where i wish i had a spare $5000 for a nice 400mm f2.8 but that i’m sure will also come one day.

Here are a few shots from the opening game of the season. A little overcast but a 2-0 victory kept spirits high.

Keep your eye out for more shots in the action section of the portfolio. Also i will be tweeting from the game occasionally from @milesclarkphoto

Geek Section: All shot using ambient light the setting predominately used are minimum 500/sec f2.8-f3.2 to occasionally give me a little more depth of field to play with and my ISO jumps around with the sun out and behind clouds at around 400.  Lenes i use, 70-200 2.8 with 1.4extender  and occasionally a 300mm 2.8 if i can get my hands on it.

Come watch a game, tickets are cheap and it a lot of fun.

Industry Dance Magazine is an online dance magazine, the number 1 dance community website in Canada. I was taken on board to shoot the July front cover with editor in chief Christie Lee Manning and dancers Tia Haraga and Thiago Fayad. Christie Born and raised in Vancouver, BC, Christie Lee Manning has established herself as a a very talented, upcoming artist. Trained in Classical Ballet, Jazz, Hip Hop, Contemporary, Tap, Musical Theater, and Ballroom, Christie graduated from the Langley Fine Arts School as a Dance Major after performing with the school’s modern based dance company, Esprit De Corps.

The location chosen was downtown Vancouver and with a few ideas for shots it was going to be a busy day. The series of shots ranged from aerial photographs onto the street below, dancing with buskers, jumping down stairs and littering alleyways. Not everything went to plan. We were asked by security to leave one set stairs as they apparently were not meant to be photographed and a not so kind elderly lady was convinced we climbed on her car to get onto a spiral staircase even though the behind the scenes video shows the team effort gymnastic leg up option we decided on.

The day was a great success and even though we were on a tight schedule the energy of the group and constant laughter was easily enough to keep spirits high and inspiration flowing.

Check out the behind the scenes footage in the “inMotion” section of the Portfolio.  http://www.milesclarkphoto.com/inmotion/

Also check out Industry Dance Magazine at http://industrydancemagazine.com/

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!

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.