~ click on the photo above to see the images of the night

Every first Friday of the month, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal hosts a relatively undiscovered rising star in the local community and gives them the opportunity to perform at the Nocturnal Fridays.

Now being the photographer for the event  means that I get to keep my ears open for free and get a free show while working! So far I’ve never been disappointed by the musicians that have been chosen for the events but Socalled was definitely something fantastically out of the ordinary (imagine a mix between Jewish rap/electric/traditional folklore all presented by one very charismatic man!)

~Source: Museum of Contemporary Art:
Socalled is a musician, photographer, magician and writer. He started out on piano as a youngster, then took up the accordion and became interested in all kinds of music. After graduating from McGill, he made an animated film, while also writing for HOUR magazine and performing. An eclectic, hyperactive musician, he appears and records with numerous fellow artists. Socalled won a MIMI Award for (These Are) The Good Old Days. His latest album is titled Ghettoblaster.

Hope you enjoy the shots, and I highly recommend you listen to his album!
Benjamin

~Click on the photo above to view the photos of the event.

Yesterday, I photographed an event pro-bono for the Young Bar Association of Montréal to commemorate the first edition release of the “Guide for starting an Enterprise” at the Atwater Club.
I shot the entire event using a single SB-800 unit, a CTO (Color Temperature Orange) gel, D300 set on Tungsten White Balance, and a 17-55mm f2.8 Nikkor.

I was relatively happy with the results of my shots and consequently invested some time into shooting photos such as the mirror image above that were more artistic and less conventional.

I believe that looking for that which is not necessarily seen by others is what differentiates me from other photographers. Then again, since the photos are rather abstract, it’s all a matter of taste.

Another photo that I’m particularly happy with is one that almost killed myself taking. In order to take this shot, it required me to drag a chair from the other side of the room, take off my boots and stand on it while calling out orders to all the people in the group. Meanwhile, Continue reading ‘Young Bar Association of Montréal’ »

Thursday Evening, I  voluntarily photographed a meeting for the Youth Chamber of Commerce of Montreal with Anna Li who assisted and contributed a couple photographs to the event.

The event was pretty bleak from a photography point of view: 30 people crammed into a tiny conference room for three hours. 2 speakers ( Benoît Perreault and Anthony Chamy, fyi), a broken flickering fluorescent light and no flash allowed. This was also the first time I had a problem with the NOISE that my camera made everytime the shutter clicked. Surprising how loud it resonates in a room of very well behaved young adults!!

On the other hand, I had the fantastic opportunity to listen in on two fantastic speeches about business, opportunity and most importantly how they got there. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that when you are offered to do a gig, don’t turn it down just because you’re not being compensated from a monetary point of view because there are other gains that we don’t usually see right away!

That being said, here’s the album from the event:

Benjamin

PS. For more information about the event itself: http://www.jccm.org/en/activites/activite_292.asp