My Blog

My Rolling Stones of wedding photography

Hey Gang,

I get asked from time to time who's wedding work do I admire? That list is pretty, theirs just too many to name!  But at WPPI this year I got to meet some of the photographers who's work have moved me, shaped me and inspired to get better.  I get laughed at by my pals because wedding photography is my passion, I really do eat, sleep and think weddings all the time.  It drives Lez crazy!! *lol*.  So it was pretty surreal bumping into my Rock-Stars of our profession.  The thing that was so cool each and everyone fo them gave me their time which I still shake my head about considering their were over 10,000 attendees that wanted their time as well!  I would love to share my Rolling Stones with you!  I want to also thank my pal/roomie Jaime Roberts for taking all these photos, you rock bro!

 

I definitely recommend that you click on each persons name to see their work, they're all AMAZING!

 

This was our first night in Vegas and in the main hallway and I see Jerry Ghionis!  You have to understand Jerry has brings fashion to weddings, check out his site you'll know what I mean! So obvoiusly Jaime and I just hand to get a shot with him.

I was one of the lucky few that had a chance to attend Silvana Frammartino of Impulse Photography here in Toronto.  Silvanna was awarded the 16x20 Wedding Print of the year award in 2009!  She's one of the most gentle souls you'll ever meet.  Im here friend now! *proud smile* Also here is her close friend and AWESOME photography Judy Cormier of Elementz of Photo.  Judy is the leader in Boudoir Photography here in Canada.  I just love Judy!!

Now when it comes to Leica wedding photography everyone thinks of Riccis Valladares who's is so pure and raw!  I was at the Leica booth speaking to Linda who by the way is an absolute sweet heart!  I mentioned to here that I would one day love to meet Riccis as I have never seen him before.  She said let me introduce him to you, he's right here!  We spoke for a while talking about my new found Leica Love!

Im on the escalator and right behind me is no other than Jose Villa.  In the age of digital photography Jose has continued to shoot film and only film.  It says a lot when digital wedding photographers are having Jose cover their wedding! Looking at his work has inspired me to shoot a little bit of film again and Im having a blast!  Even though I dont look it was was super excited to get a shot with him! *lol* He also gave me some pointers for the Fuji stock I picked up! *wink*

And then there's Joe Buissink.  I have followed Joe's work right from the beginning when I first started shooting weddings.  Joe's work is beyond words and the phrase "a picture is worth..." would describe his work perfectly!  This will sound dumb but Lez and I have teared up looking at his work, you cant help but get pulled into the moment.  Its this man's work that has inspired me and I hope one day I will be able to move people just like Joe!

 

Me and my Leica :: in Vegas

Hey Gang,

What a gorgeous morning!  I got the kids this week at home for march break, I want to thank everyone on Facebook for the awesome ideas! But it was so funny when I asked Kennedy what she wanted to do today and she yelled out "Rock climbing" I'll have some photos up tomorrow with our adventures! *wink*

As most of you know I attended WPPI for the first time and the experience has been amazing to say the least.  I got to meet the ROCKSTARS of our industry such as Silvanna, Jesh, Jose Villa, Jerry Ghionis, and the amazing Joe Buissink whose work Ive admired for years.  I gotto attend Silvana's Master class and Im honored to be called her friend.  If you havent seen her work you gotta check it out, its breath taking!

So of course I brought my Leica with me for the trip and one of the highlights was I met the wonderful people of Like through my close friend Jamie and Linda at Leica introduced me to Riccis Valladares.  This gentleman is purely awesome.  He shoots all his weddings solely with his Leica's He has both the film M7 and digital M9 (droooling!) *LOL*.  It was really cool to speak with him and pick his brain a little bit!  *wink* OK enough already Bass just show me some shots!  Here are a few you can see the rest on my Facebook.

 

On our first day before the convention started Jamie took me on the Vegas strip tour and we happen to stroll upon this street magician in front of the Harley Davidson Restaurant.

I just coudn't resist

You gotta be proud of me I didn't gamble at all....I saved my money for camera toys instead! *lol*

 

 

Haiti Relief Raffle Winner is....

Hey Gang,

Before I announce the winner I want to thank you from all of my heart to everyone that had purchased a ticket for this raffle.  As mentioned before all the proceeds were donated to the Canadian Red Cross Haiti Relief fund. My goal was to raise at $500 but Im so proud to say between yours and our governments generosity we surpassed that and raised $2180!! 

I know their can only be one winner of the raffle but the real winners here are struggling people of Haiti.  If you have not done so its not too late to make your donation even $5 can make a difference.

Because of your generosity and willingness to help our brothers and sisters of Haiti I wanted to do something special for all of you who purchased a ticket.  This summer I will be holding a {BASSEM} "Portrait day", this is where you can come and have a picture taken with your family or friend or fiance or boyfriend or girlfriend, mom or dad or both, sister or brother, your pet or even just of yourself.  I will email everyone the details who purchased a ticket.

So Yesterday I want to the Canadian Red Cross here in Cambridge and asked them to choose the winning ticket.  Sharron of the Red Cross was so kind to volenteer.  The winner will recieve a complimentary portrait session:

Value of the portrait session: $500

Portrait session includes: 1-2 hours of coverage, $300 credit towards albums or enlargements, DVD of full resolution images with licence for personal printing. 

AND THE WINNER IS........

 

 

 

Photo-tip :: Best Cheap Lens

Hey Gang,

Time for another photo tip!  Ive been getting a few emails lately asking what lens should I get?  My first answer is to get the best you can afford but not every has the budget for a 24-70 F2.8G ED, or the new 70-200 VRII or the super new 24 F1.4G each lens runs about 2K each.  But dont loose hope every camera manufacture makes a standard 50mm lens usually f1.8-2.8 which is great for low light situations.  These lenses run for about $150 but you can find them used for about $100.  Now your asking "am I really going to get a quality lens for $150?  The answer ABSOLUTELY!!  For $150 you get a super light, sharp and bright lens perfect for almost any situation.  You put that lens on a cropped sensor body and you have the great portrait lens, put it on a full frame body and you have a perfect all-around lens great for street photography.  But the proof is in the pudding I recently did an e-session with Michelle and Brandon this past weekend and pulled the lens out for what I was expecting to be a few shots, I actually used it for almost the whole shoot.  What I particularly love about this lens is its a prime (no zooming) and it forces you to use your feet to get closer or further from my subject or different angles.  Well enough talk here are a few shots from this amazing lens.

 

Heres a link to help you find a 50mm lens for your camera 

 

 

Boys and their toys :: my new Polaroid Camera

Hey Gang,

I must have jinxed it when I mentioned yesterday that I was loving this weather! *LOL* Yesterday I posted about my late Christmas gift Lez and the kids got me which I’m still waiting too see the photos. I called my lab and they told me to relax it’s only been one day and it will take about a week! *LOL* So what does a person that loves film but wants instant feedback get? a Polaroid camera makes total sense! I picked up the instax mini by Fuji and started playing around with it the other day.

Lez and I are re-doing the kids bedrooms; Lez is the fashion/interior decorator of the family so I’m told! *wink* Other than using my lifting, moving, painting, nailing skills which are limited as it is I would also print up some photos. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to play with my new camera and use the polaroids from it. The collage below are scanned Polaroids that taken by my new Fuji Instax Mini 7. You can see the rest of the photos on my Facebook

 

 

Me and my new toy :: Mamiya 645 with 80mm F2.8

Hey Gang,

Happy Monday, I have to tell ya that Im loving this weather!  Im not sure if you remember but I had mentioned that Lez and the kids told me that my final Christmas gift hadn't arrived yet!  Well on Friday I got a parcel in the mail when I opened the box I started screaming with excitement like a little kid.  My family gotten me a Old Mamiya 645 medium format camera complete with waist-viewfinder, 80mm f2.8 lens and of course a roll of film.  Not many of you know this but I started off shooting film with an old Minolta xe-5 35mm camera shooting mainly b&w.  I even rolled and developed my own film; I remember turning our bathroom into a darkroom and processing my own images.  Nothing is like the seeing your print come to life in the developer for the first time, its magic!  The funny thing was at the time our house only had one washroom and Lez would be knocking on the door needing to use it! *LOL*

This is my very first medium format camera for any of you that dont know what the difference is, your standard film camera usually takes 35mm film.  My mamiya takes 120mm film, bigger negative means bigger enlargements.  Before I could use the camera I had to figure out how to load it! So of course I went to YouTube to find an instructional video, gotta love YouTube! *LOL*  Now that I knew how to load the camera I took Kennedy and our new addition to the family out to play!  I gotta admit it took a couple of shots for me to get used to not looking at the back for instant gratification.

Im going to mail the film out today, I cant wait to get it back.  This is bringing back so many memories for me.  Its so nostalgic!  Maybe Ive gotten to used to digital but Im so anxious to see the photos! *LOL*

I get asked alot what do you do for inspiration?  I believe doing things like this helps artists get their mojo flowing!  I will post the photos as soon as I get them back!  In the meantime I thought I'd take come photos of my new/old camera!

 

 

 

The new Nikon 24mm F1.4G is here!!

Hey Gang,

Today is a great day for all us Nikon Shooters!! At 12AM this morning Nikon officially released the much anticipated, much rumored 24mm f1.4.  For any or you that might not understand the significance of this announcement let me explain.  I never regretted dumping my canon gear and switching to Nikon but I always missed my fast prime lenses, especially my fast wide-angle. See Nikon has only released one auto focus wide angle prime in its history and soon after that discontinue making it even though it was a beauty of a lens?  So you can imagine that the price of a discontinued kick a$$ lens would sky rocketed.  You could by that lens brand new for $1700 but as soon as Nikon stop making it the price jumped to as high as $4000. You can see now why Im so excited but better than the cost savings is that this lens is FAST and if the specs are right the optics will be next to non except Leica! *wink*  So what does all this mean???  With Nikon ultra high ISO capabilities and now its new fast glass I can now shoot in almost any situation.............Muuhaaaah (my best evil laugh) *lol*

 

You can mind more info HERE

 

Available in late March 2010

A fast, wide-angle lens with a fixed focal length of 24mm at the maximum aperture of f/1.4

Fast lens with a maximum aperture of f/1.4 that allows users to capture images with beautiful blur characteristics

ED glass and aspherical lens elements are utilized for a new optical design that achieves high resolution

The adoption of Nano Crystal Coat effectively reduces ghost and flare

Quiet focusing with built-in Silent Wave Motor (SWM)

Two focus modes selectable – M/A and M

 

 

 

 

  

Haiti Needs Our Help :: Portrait Session by Bassem

Hey Gang,

Happy Monday to all of you! But to our brothers and sisters in Haiti its not happy.  It breaks my heart to see the suffering in Haiti, but what can we do?  That's what I asked myself.  Being a husband and father of two wont allow me to physically go there to help and I probably dont have the experience and skills they require.  What I do best is take photos and capture moments.  I've decided to put together a raffle until February 11th to help raise funds for the Canadian Red Cross.  The Raffle is for a free portrait session by me, you can use it for an e-session, family portrait life-style session, you and your pet, maternity session, baby session or a high-glam studio session.  All the funds ABSOLUTELY ALL THE FUNDS will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross.  On top of all that {BASSEM} will match a donation from all the money raised through the raffle up to $500.   Please tell all your family and friends They need our help!  Here are the details.

 

Value of the portrait session: $500

Duration of raffle: Month of February 2010

Cost of ticket: $20

Your more than welcome to purchase more than one ticket! *wink*

Portrait session includes: 1-2 hours of coverage, $300 credit towards albums or enlargements, DVD of full resolution images with licence for personal printing. 

Method of payment: Paypal (my email info@bassem.ca) (please include your name and phone number and email in the comments section)

If you want to mail a cheque please contact me.  Please make all cheques to the Canadian Red Cross on the memo line please write:  Haiti 2010 Earthquake relief

 

On February 28th we will announce the winner! 

 

Here are some examples of what you can use your portrait session for.

 

Note:  All session are completed within Southwestern Ontario.  They can not be completed during the weekend.  Must be completed within 2010. Portrait session may not be exchanged for money or any other services.

 

Photo-Tip :: Shutter Speed

Hey Gang,

I know its been forever since my last photo-tip-Friday. I have a little confession, I've been enjoying my Fridays off! *wink*.  For this lesson I want to talk about shutter speed and its relation to your photos.  This is the definition I got off the net:

"Shutter speed, or more literally exposure time, is measured in seconds, but often marked in reciprocal seconds. A typical exposure time for photographs taken in sunlight is 1/125th of a second, typically marked as 125 on a shutter speed setting dial. In addition to its effect on exposure, shutter speed changes the way movement appears in the picture. Very short shutter speeds are used to freeze fast-moving subjects, for example at sporting events. Very long shutter speeds are used to intentionally blur a moving subject for artistic effect. "

Basically to freeze action use a fast shutter speed or if you want to show motion in your photos use a slower shutter speed.  I do suggest mounting your camera on a tripod when using slower shutter speeds, this will prevent camera shake that causes blurry images.  The following two examples demonstrate the effects of using a fast or slow shutter speed.  Now Go out and play!

 

Shutter Speed 1/1250s (notice how the Leslie and Ryan seem to be "frozen", look at their feet especially)

Shutter Speed: 1/20s (I asked April and Jason to be still but do you notice the movement of the train) I didn't have a tripod with me so I used the ground instead! *wink*

 

Me and my Leica :: Day Two

 

Hey Gang,

Just my second day out with my new Leica!  Im totally loving this little camera!  Its sad to say but as a professional photographer thats all I seem to be doing, professional work.  Im not shooting for myself as much as I used to.  This forced me to ask why?  I guess the answer was simple, I hated lugging around my huge Nikon SLR D3, its such a behemoth of a camera.  Carrying it around screamed "paparazzi" *LOL*.  Then a few friends of mine introduced me to a leica.  Dave and long time Leica wedding shooter even lent me his Leica M7 to test it out, it was so cool to shoot film again!  The first thing I noticed is how small it was, so compact and quite! The other great thing (depends on how you look at it) was its fully manual including focus perfect for the photographer that wants to get back to basics and not mess around with a hundred functions.  Its simply a black box that makes photos, well it doesnt really make the photos, you know what I mean!  Here are just a few pics that I took at my in-laws for Sunday Dinner.

 

I think every photographer has this photo somewhere in their collection! *lol*   

Just a quick shot of our Godson Cristian, dont you just love the cheeks!

This was a moment I captured between my sister-in-law and Ava.  Ava wasn't really in the mood to finish her dinner! *lol*