Thursday, February 21, 2008

Wednesday, February 20th

It was a good show at Gallagher's tonight. My brother Paul and I showed up, and since the videographer Josh wasn't able to show, the improv guys stuck Paul on the camera. Paul had never seen a video camera before, but he was able to figure out the workings of said camera, and he filmed the show.

Paul operates a video camera for the first time ever.

I, meanwhile, wound up sitting way off to the side for the first half, and so my first batch of shots were from an interesting angle. I captured a bunch of fun shots that were really up close and personal, most of which I cannot post, but here are a few that are safe for web.

A really flattering picture of Jeff hosting the show.


After the break, I relocated towards the back, and got a few shots which involved more than one improviser.



Once again, Brad's enormous beard got in the way of many of the shots. Instead of putting up way more shots of Brad than anyone wants to see, I compiled the best shots into this Beard Montage TM.

Frightening, isn't it? And yet we can't turn away...

Thursday, February 14, 2008

The Power of Beard

Table 23 Comedy Improv on February 13th was one hell of a show. Here's some of the hundred or so shots I snapped.






To make things even crazier, it was Silvia's birthda!












Monday, February 11, 2008

Synchronized Travel

My friend Sean came to me with an interesting idea. His sister is in Montreal at present, and Sean and I are both in Vancouver. Each city has a 'University' street. Each group took a set of identical directions and in two seperate cities, we followed the steps, taking a photo at each location.

These are my results from UBC.

1) The first stage is your starting point

Simple enough. I decided to shoot the street itself.



2) Walk in any direction for 50-100 paces, and then turn 180 degrees

Sean and I walked down the street in the direction I'd shot earlier, and we turned 180. This was my shot, which was almost identical to Sean's.




3) Continue walking in that direction until you see something blue

At this point, I was beginning to worry that our directions would wind up being finished within five minutes or parking. Immediately to our left was something blue, which I shot.



4)Make a left turn and walk 50-70 paces

This was a little better. We began to put some distance between our parking spot and ourselves. We walked along and came to a nice seating area. I shot an individual bench with a cool reflection in the puddle.



5)Walk in any direction until something that either is or looks like
the number 7 or 11

This instruction allowed us to move away from our starting point and to explore the UBC campus a little. We went up some stairs, along a path, and then we spotted a couple of 11-shaped objects. Here's what I shot.



6)Take the first left, and continue walking until you find somewhere to sit

We weren't going to sit down with it raining the way it was, but we found a ledge that would make a good seat. I played with this photo a little more than I usually do in editing, dropping the saturation until there was only faint colour remaining.



7)Choose any direction and walk for 25-50 paces

This step was easy enough. We followed a path in towards one of the UBC buildings a short way, and looked for something to shoot. I found the girders set in the building quite interesting, especially when shot with a telephoto lens. You can really see the shallow depth of field on this shot.



8)Continue walking until you see an unusual colour, shape or texture.
Turn 180 degrees

This thing had both unusual shape and colour, so it was an easy shot to take. I wish I'd taken the time to line this up a little better, since the shot feels a little crooked.




9)Keep walking in any direction until you see an archway or an unusual
architectural feature

We walked along to the UBC library for this one. I spotted an arch over a doorway, and I shot this through a gap in a gate. I particularly like the cold and warm tones in this shot, in addition to the nice arch.



10) Head for home, but continue looking for anything that catches your eye

This was our parking garage. Again, the play of cold and warm in this photo was fun to capture.

So those are my shots for our synchronized photography. It was fun to get out and shoot despite the weather. There's been some consideration towards making regular photo trips, perhaps with mutliple groups following the same instructions except heading off in different directions from a common starting point. We'll see what shapes up.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

The First Show at Eclipse!

I was on hand for Table 23's first show at Eclipse Bar and Grill, and I had the camera with me. Unfortunately, the lighting in Eclipse is far darker than Gallagher's, which meant I was forced to shoot with a flash. I only took a few shots since using that flash is far more disruptive, and I wound up with a few grainy, ugly, red-eyed photos.

Enjoy the flash photography!

Thursday, January 17, 2008

January 16th, 2008

Table 23 had their first show of the year yesterday, and I was on hand with the ol' camera to docment the momentous occasion. Here are the shots!





"We interrupt this show to remind faithful PBS viewers..."

"Did you say two?"

Russ fails at death.





A tender moment between skits...