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Anna has always had fantasies about excavators.
She loves them. She worships them.

******
Part of the same shoot as the “Excavate Me” shot and the “Shelter Me” shoot.

Anna finally got rid of the now filthy curtain and dressed herself in a more seductive tight gold dress.

We both discovered how flexible she really was…

—

1x Sb-600 flash bare camera right pointing towards Anna
1x Sb-600 flash bare lighting up the excavator

—
Model: (gf) *Anna Li
Assistant: n/a
Location: The streets!

* * *
Nikon D300
Adobe Photoshop CS4
(c) :VonWong:

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer

—

Anna has always had fantasies about excavators.
She loves them. She worships them.

******
Part of the same shoot as the “Excavate Me” shot, Anna and I went for a completely different feel.

It’s funny how these shoots never really turn out as planned, but we’re both pretty happy with the results. We had a great deal of trouble figuring out the crop for this shot…. and I hope the right choice was finally made.

—

1x Sb-600 flash bare camera left pointing towards Anna
1x Sb-600 flash bare lighting up the dress’s left side
—
Model: (gf) *Anna Li
Assistant: n/a
Location: The streets!

* * *
Nikon D300
Adobe Photoshop CS4
(c) :VonWong:

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer

—

Anna has always had fantasies about excavators.
She loves them. She worships them.
:pray:

So, finally, we decided to go and shoot one. Driving around the outskirts of Place St-Henri, we finally find the perfect street currently under construction to shoot at.

Despite the weather forcast telling us that thunderstorms were arriving, Anna wrapped herself up in an old curtain while I unpacked my photogear.

Turns out my gear is more waterproof than I expected, that thunderclouds make great dramatic shots, and that Anna is immune to cold when in the presence of an excavator!

—

1x Sb-600 flash handheld in my left hand
1x Sb-600 flash bare on a fully extended lightstand from camera right.

—
Model: (gf) *Anna Li
Assistant: n/a
Location: The streets!

* * *
Nikon D300
Adobe Photoshop CS4
(c) :VonWong:

In other news, I’m thinking of stopping my blog in order to continue on this new DeviantArt account I have now began HERE. I think that if I focus all my energies in one place, it would probably help me get farther! Between flickr, DA, the blog and facebook, I’m having too many things to update!

I guess that’ll depend on what you guys think though… let me know.

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer

click photo to see it larger!

—

Who is Chase Jarvis? A commercial photographer that likes to wear sneakers and photograph ninjas. Check out his work!

Why do I have Chase Jarvis’s Shoes? Because I entered my name into the Chasejarvisshoeproject.com and received them in the mail.

—

Unsure weather or not Chase’s shoes had ever had the opportunity to visit Montreal, I brought lefty and righty out to a date one evening where they could view the splendor of Montreal in all it’s magical glory. How? By arriving 2 hours early, waiting for the sun to set, and run around with sparkler’s in my hands to paint and draw with my untalented hands!

The date however did not start there. Chase’s shoes and I had some fantastic adventures involving twisted pipes:

A quick escape from the house of ultimate doom:

Attempting to save the shoes from the almighty construction machine:

… and failing

–

I think somewhere along the lines, Lefty and Righty decided that I was getting a little boring so I figured I’d involve some friends as well as members from the Montreal Strobist community:

From left to right: Rosemary Chu, Anna Li, Yannick Khong, Jerry PH (and his dad behind him), Martin Auclair and Kyle Ruggles.

Obviously, I wasn’t the only one awed by the power that these mystic shoes held:

Even our shoes decided to follow the lead!

That is.. until lefty and righty tried to pull a quick escape on us:

No worries though! It soon began raining Chase Jarvis Shoes down on top of us…!

The End.

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer

Some knights need to climb the tallest mountain and swim across the deepest ocean and climb to the highest room in the tallest tower on top of the tallest chair seated upon the largest cushion to find a princess. Through some fantastic twist of faith, this princess came to me! See, it pays to be a photographer ^^

If you want to find this porcelain princess, I suggest you begin your quest here.

I’ve been getting complaints about writing too much, so if anyone wants more lighting info, feel free to leave me a note  ^^

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer

Thou robb’st my days of business and delights,
Of sleep thou robb’st my nights ;
Ah, lovely thief, what wilt thou do?
What?  rob me of heaven too?

Originally, this wasn’t really the concept… but the result was still pretty entertaining.

In complete contrast, this is the next shot we took together:

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer

There is never enough time.

24 hours in a day, 7 days a week. That’s a constant. The only thing we can change is how we manage our time.

5 hours of sleep a day, 40 hours of work in 4 days, and 40 hours of photography over 7 days with the remaining time going towards family and girlfriend.

Still, there is not enough time.

–

It is ironic that I had originally chosen the theme for the 7th Montreal Photo Challenge to be “Distress” & “Out of Time” specifically for people in exams thinking that I’d be perfectly safe. Turns out that I managed to fill my schedule as full as the next guy over. With 5 photoshoots over the last week, 2000 photos to sift through, a surprise birthday party for the little sister, and Anna finishing exam,  life’s been pretty hectic.

I can’t complain though since I’m doing what I love. =)

–

The shot above was taken in two parts.

The first was the background clock taken during a photoshoot last Saturday with a porcelain princess. Be sure to look out for those shots, I believe my best portrait ever taken will be included in it =)

The second shot was taken with the help of the lovely Anna Li in her apartment hallway. One shoot through umbrella on camera right to match the clock’s lighting and a little bit of fill from the front flash was all that was required to make the shot. A bit harder was to make sure she had the exact right posture that would fit properly on the arms of the clock! We took a total of 73 shots!

Hope you enjoyed the result

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer

Unfortunately, I could not find an official introduction of Patrice Agbokou. Surprising since he is not only a member of Jahnice +, but a bass player and producer within the locally and internationally renown group know as “Islands“.

–

The shoot with Patrice was also completed as part of a shoot for the Kalmunity Collective with the help of Sean Cronin. For this shot, we had decided to go try out something different and shoot in the stair cases of the building. Having a single light shining from 90 degrees over at camera right and a bit of on camera fill was all that was necessary to capture this shot.

Sweet & fast, the only problem with this shot is that he looked a little like a prison escapee… hah!

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer

Originaire d’Haiti, à un très jeune age, Jahnice est receuilli par une famille québecoise. Ainsi il grandit en Mauricie, au Québec. En 2003, il décide de s’installer à Montréal. Là-bas sa passion pour la musique prend un nouvel envol. Il y découvre le KalmUnity Vibe Collective, un collectif d’artistes multidisciplinaire au sein duquel la création artistique, musicale et poétique, l’originalité, la passion et la complexité de l’être humain ne font qu’Un..Il fait ainsi la rencontre du musicien Patrice Agbokou, bassiste et réalisateur. Il perçoit Patrice comme un grand frère. L’union ainsi crée permet à notre Sonneur d’explorer davantage son répertoire musical. Tous deux inspirés par les rythmes afro-antillais et la musique alternative, ils conçoivent la Soul Hybride et rassemble autour d’eux les artistes qui forment Jahnice+. [Can't read french? Listen to his music HERE]

Joel Janis was one of the happiest people I had the opportunity to photograph during my shoot with the Kalmunity Collective. Out of all the instruments to choose from, he brought a bell! Nicknamed “Le Sonneur” (the ringer (?)) , this urban poet hopes calls himself “the bell ringer that hopes to awaken all those that are deaf”. For more information about the Hybrid Soul music he performs in, check out his band’s website here: JAHNICE+

–

After realizing that this young fellow had brought, out of all the possible instruments, a BELL with him, I decided to follow the approach that worked well with Blackbird Selman, and asked him to simply play his instrument!

“Ding ding ding ding ding” rang the bell as Joel happily clanged away. As I started shooting, the idea to have some kind of ghosting effect by dragging the shutter came up. Tired of using the same black or white background, I climbed up atop a chair and used the floor as a background! Using a large shoot-through umbrella on camera right and a bare flash providing some fill on camera left, I got a natural vignetting on the floor creating a sweet gradient.

Joel meanwhile, clearly having the time of his life with his bell just kept ringing away and allowed me many great opportunities to capture his “joie-de-vivre”!

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer

In 1998, a trip to Canada for vacation changed her life path in terms of vocation. She discovered Quebec and started dreaming about being a music student there. Ever a woman of action, she set out to align that vision with reality.

She garnered a win in the illustrious “Graines de Star” showcase in 2000. In 2001, she obtained her music degree and continued to pursue her studies at The University of Sherbrooke. She made the move to cosmopolitan Montreal and received her bachelor’s degree in music in May 2005 from the Universite de Montreal. Concurrently, she performed with such renowned musicians as pianist Luc Beaugrand and effervescent multi-talent, Gregory Charles. [read more .... and listen to her music HERE!]

Another shot completed for the Kalmunity Collective.

Let me just say one thing, this lady here is a DIVA. I’m sure Sean Cronin, my faithful assistant for this shoot, could  easily back this claim. During the shoot, I encouraged her to relax and sing as I took shots of her. Sing what? It didn’t really matter… the sound that came from her voice was clear, vibrant and filled with a depth that I found extremely moving.

Don’t trust me? Check out her music for free HERE.

—

Wearing a fantastic afro, it wasn’t very hard to get this beautiful young lady to sing and perform for the camera. Blowing out the background using a pair of SB-600 flashes, and lighting her with a soft shoot-through umbrella was all that was required to take this shot.

Simple, clean, vibrant and pure talent. This is how her music made me feel. Hopefully I’ve managed to convey that.

—
Benjamin Wong
http://iintrigue.com
Montreal Based Photographer