ALP – Assignment 4 – Photo Story

My dear friend Katrina once told me that in Ontario, women only have one baby shower even though they had more than one child. When she announced me that she was pregnant, I knew that her baby shower would be a very special day, as it was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for her. With the help of her mother and mother-in-law, she organized a day that was truly reflective of her roots and personnality. Since both Katrina’s parents were born in the UK, I knew there was going to be an homage to her English roots. It came as no surprise that hot tea and various types of finger food were served in her mother-in-law’s finest china. My friend has a great sense of detail, and this could be seen everywhere in the house that day. Everything, from the baby shaped ice cubes, napkins and the small personnalized blue gift boxes, had been carefully thought out and executed. Many guests from different parts of the city, and even the world (her 83‑year‑old grand‑mother flew in from England) were present to show Katrina how much we appreciate her and are happy that she and her husband are entering this new chapter of their lives. As a friend, I was truly honored to have the chance to capture this special day.

ALP – Assignment 3 – Travel Photography

Cityscape

This picture was taken from the south shore of Quebec, where one can get the best view of Old Quebec. It shows the Château Frontenac, one of the province’s architectural landmarks.

Food

Montreal is a great place for foodies, and the city has a lot more to offer than bagels and smoked meat. This picture was taken at Rustique, a lovely pie shop in St-Henri that has the most amazing pie and cookie selection.

Lifestyle

This image was shot at one of the few river surfing spot in the province. Located behind Habitat 67 in Montreal, this spot is visited by surfers until ice covers the river.

The images taken for this assignment could be seen on TripAdvisor or in a Lonely Planet book for the province of Quebec.

ALP – Assignment 2 – Architecture

Kim Hurley-01 (parallel lines)

ISO 1600, f/8, 1/60

The Grande Bibliothèque is a public library in Downtown Montreal that opened on April 23 2005 and was designed by architects from Vancouver and Québec City. The horizontal and vertical lines are one of the first elements that attract the eye, which I tried to represent in this image. When entering the library, we are almost overwhelmed by all the lines that go in different directions. It truly is a stunning building. I wish I had time to capture more, but the friendly staff was quick to tell me that I couldn’t take pictures inside the building.

Kim Hurley-02

ISO 640, f/13, 1/50

The Windsor Station is a former railway station. Its construction started in 1887 and cost $300,000 at the time. It is now designated a National Historic Site of Canada. It now serves as an office builing as well as a metro station. I wanted to show the openess of the station and its beautiful white ceiling.

Kim Hurley-03 (equal artificial and natural light)

ISO 250, f/11, 2,50 s

This is a picture of Caserne 23, located in St-Henri. A first fire hall was built in 1883, but it was demolished and a new one, the one that is still here, was built in 1930-1931. I shot at this angle because there were a lot of cars parked at the front and I not wish to incorporate them. I really wanted to focus on the style of this building and show the contrast between natural light and artifical light.

Kim Hurley-04 (composite/panoramic)

ISO 250, f/10, 1/30

Habitat 76 is model community and housing complex designed by Canadian architect Moshe Safdie. It was originally conceived as his master’s thesis in architecture at McGill University and then built as a pavilion for Expo 67. Habitat 67 is widely considered an architectural landmark and one of the most recognizable and significant buildings in both Montreal and Canada.

ALP – Assignment 1 – Environmental Portrait

KimHurley-01

Ambient  f/5.3, 1/160, ISO 250

KimHurley-02

Reflector  f/3.5, 1/400, ISO 200

KimHurley-03

Flash (split)  f/5, 1/200, ISO 400

Ambient lightmeter reading :  f/2.8, 1/250, ISO 400

 

The artist I chose is Eric Nadeau, a sculptor-integrator. He has been collecting industrial pieces and making contemporary sculptures of them since 1999. His work has been exhibited in various locations and featured in several magazines, such as Magazine Intérieurs http://www.magazineinterieurs.com/fr/index.php and La Presse (Arts et Cultures) http://www.lapresse.ca/arts/ and could very well be published again, as he’s always working on new concepts and pieces.

I decided to shoot Eric at his house, where his workshop is. He does some work in his basement, outside as well as inside his garage, which he converted into a workshop.

One of the main problems encountered during the shoot is that the subject was not comfortable having is picture taken. Since I discovered his work through my boyfriend, who came along for the shoot to assist me, I had Eric talk to my boyfriend while I was taking pictures. I did have to take a lot more pictures of the subject, but once in a while I asked him to look directly at me. He would then pause for a second and look at me. This made for very natural pictures, because he was more caught up in his conversation and his art than we was paying attention to the camera.