In the studio with Duo526

Recently, the musicians behind Duo526 contacted me for updated photographs for their increasingly-busy professional schedule. I had first known the violin half of the duo from photographing Kerry DuWors in Brandon, MB in her work as a dynamic professor at the respected School of Music .

She and pianist collaborator Futaba Niekawa really stand out to me (despite me being completely without any musical background) because their spirit and passion is so obvious — it’s a mindset that’s taken them and their exploration of music literally around the world, along with a strong emphasis on education and mentoring to students. Beyond the huge talent that’s plain to see, they have fun!

It was certainly fun working with the duo 5 years ago for the first time, and it was even more so this month for the sequel. The handful of photos here are just one note in a great long composition from our shoot together - Kerry and Futaba, thank you!

ADDED NOTE - I would be missing a point not to mention our fantastic venue, the Walker Studio Exchange in Winnipeg’s historic Exchange District. Wide open spaces, great windows and excellent owners make it a must-see.

Rotating Back (to film)

Recently I had the chance to use a classic studio camera in a terrific studio. The Mamiya RB67 is a film camera that any commercial photographer who was working in the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s would know of. Along with the excellent lenses as in other Mamiya cameras the big advantage of this camera is the film back rotates to either landscape or portrait view — RB obviously is for Rotating Back.
This lets a photographer change quickly between views, without having to waste time moving the whole camera around either in hand or on a tripod. And it makes a difference practically, especially when photographing portraits.

I don’t like to get bogged down in gear talk, though — to me cameras are tools to make an image, not to fetishize/collect/pontificate over, and the image is what drives (or should drive) photography. In terms of the mechanics, these images were made to test out this camera, its lenses and how it works with in-studio lighting; I’m a big fan of photographing with film (when time allows) and for those who think like I do on that topic, these images were made with Ilford Photo’s wonderful (and underrated, in my opinion) Kentmere Pan 100 medium-format black-and-white film.

Photographer Andrew Sikorsky — find his work at: https://andrewsikorsky.com

Potter and artist Christina Sikorsky

Portrait of Samantha. This was an impromptu photo, but often times those can yield the best results - spontaneous reactions and unplanned efforts can help us avoid ‘getting in our own way’, creatively.

Artist Thor Aikenhead.

A Couple Photos

I always get a little nervous before even the simplest portrait shoots. Most times, it’s just my mind shifting gears and focusing on the work ahead - ejecting all the extraneous thoughts and daily blah blah blah and leaving (hopefully) only the person(s) and the photography.

But on a few rare occasions, the slight buzz comes from photographing another photographer. Is there a photographer that doesn’t find that at least a little intimidating? After all, they’re privy to what we think, how we work and they’re uniquely qualified to assess what we’ve done.

This was the case recently when I photographed Dwayne Larson and his fiancé April, in advance of their wedding (which they paid me the honour of photographing). Dwayne and I have worked in Winnipeg and known each other for years and although we’re different in style — he’s cool and I’m not, let’s not mince words — we both have devoted our lives to photography. What an honour to have him specifically choose me, and my style of working, to make images of this very particular moment in the life and he and his life partner.

Meeting up at the unsung gem Langside Grocery all my nerves were quickly put to rest. Here were two people who made others feel as comfortable as they clearly did in their own skin. Best of all for this photographer, here were two people who are so obviously at ease and great around each other. Great subjects, great location, great light — it was the kind of portrait session I always hope to have!

<<Technical Notes>> My remote trigger stopped working almost immediately upon arrival, so on the fly I was switched to ‘available light’ mode. Thankfully, the late afternoon sun was perfect in Langside Grocery (did I mention how fantastic that location is..?) and so the shoot went on. I used the magical (no other word for it) Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 on my 5D Mark IV, with a few EF 50mm f/1.2 images thrown in when the moment was right.

For more samples of how I photograph people, take a look at my People section on this website.

The front counter at the wonderful Langside Grocery, avec April and Dwayne.