Photokina 2012

I know this post is about 3 weeks overdue but hey, better late than never! This photokina post isn't going to tell you about all the latest gadgets from the biggest companies (Canon, Nikon etc) but it will focus on the things that made me happiest at the trade show in Cologne, Germany.

First stop was Lomography, unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to sign up for the DIY La Sardinia workshop where they were giving away free cameras (I can't be too greedy, I do already have one , below) but was very happy to have a 1 on 1 tutorial with a Lomokino camera (shown above) and be able to play around with all the fun props they had to go with their circus theme. 

Next stop was up the stairs to Samsung and although I've never really liked their cameras I did really like all their displays- breakdancers, waterfalls and lego boats! We also stood in line for 45 minutes to get a photo on a vespa printed on a mug for free but the camera they were using was having problems connecting to wifi and the in camera editing looked very slow going anyway so we abandoned it.

Sony had lots of models to try out their cameras on

The Impossible project was doing demonstrations of their latest technology basically being able to use and Iphone to take a picture, put it on their device and make it an instant polaroid like picture. I'm still not sure how I feel about this- Glad that it opens up more ways for people to use analogue technology but I always loved the feeling of that a Polaroid is like a negative, there is only one of them. 

We also stood in line for about an hour to get these photographs taken of us by photographer Walter M Rammler for a project faces@photokina on a hassleblad camera then printed on an Epson fine art printer. 

I used a CeWe instant print machine to make these glossy prints and was surprised with actually how nice they came out.

On the opposite end of the scale, Polaroids new digital instant camera disappointed me, with a much smaller amount of megapixels than all cameras on the market and poor printing quality, I feel like this machine could have been made so much better had a little more time and money gone into it. (See printed example of me using one above)

And lastly, my next big purchase is going to be an Epson scanner so while I was chatting to the reps about them I got this print done on one of their printers, and I was again surprised at the quality it came out with. Maybe my 'anything printed not in a lab on wet lab paper is crap' mentality was slightly changed. Maybe. 

110 film makes a comeback

In my second year of university I went to a recycling place called reverse garbage and managed to pick up around 10 cameras that people had donated. I held on to a few of these because they were in good shape and looked cool, something must have been telling me to because just recently Lomography started making black and white 110 film which will go in a few of them! To go along with it last week they announced 2 brand new cameras 'Fisheye baby basic' and 'Fisheye baby metal' which I'm excited to get my hands on mainly for the fact that even the regular size fisheye is light, and these babies are even smaller so I love the idea of having one as a keychain or something permanently in my bag.

When I was in Cape Breton recently I also came across an old 110 camera still with film in it which has the expiry of 1982, 5 years before I was born! I'm interested to know if these will come out at all. 

Fisheye baby basic

Fisheye baby metal

A sample picture from the Lomography website, this guy looks strangely familiar thou!

Vincenzo and Laura for Swallow and Twig

As soon as I saw the collection by Mary from Swallow and Twig it made me think of the movie 'UP' and so we rolled with that theme for the product shots of her beautiful hand painted and resin set jewellery. We shot in iconic Halifax locations of the Public Gardens and on Citadel Hill and one of my favourite moments was right at the end of the shoot when I gave the balloons we had been using to a little girl. I strongly suggest you go and check out the Etsy page of Swallow and Twig as they have a sale on at the moment and I just can't say enough good things about the little pieces of art!

Unveiling my Website

For a long time now I have been wanting to build a website. I've been building my portfolio and showing it all on my Facebook page and on here, my blog, but my lack of web design skills held me off building one. More and more lately I had been thinking about doing it, to try to be taken even more seriously about doing what I love and to be able to market myself. It wasn't until I was watching an Epic meal time video (of all things) that I finally got pushed over the edge. They were advertising 30% off Squarespace fees. I had used Squarespace before at one of my other jobs and had mastered how to do that so I took up a free trial to begin with and with the help of my lovely (geeky) boyfriend I've now got it all up and running. I'm sure that I will be making little tweaks here and there along the way but I'm thinking it looks pretty good.

So heres where you come in! Submit a photo of something that makes you EPIC-ly happy! I'm thinking that laughing face of your child, your favorite beach or park to visit, or even just a photo of a time that is now a great memory. You can submit either by posting it to my facebook page or by emailing it to me at erin@erinwoodgatephotography.com. I will put all the photos into a folder on my facebook page called 'The Epic Competition' (I've put a photo in there of a happy memory) and the person whose photo has the highest amount of 'likes' wins a free photoshoot of your choice either for yourself or to use as a gift certificate for someone else. I realize that my 'fans' are everywhere from here in London to across the country in Halifax to all the way at home on the Central Coast and as I'm going to be in all 3 of these places within the next 3 months it will be possible for everyone to enter!

So go on, have a look at my new website, then look through your photo albums and submit a photo that makes you Epic-ly happy, then share my page with your friends to get more likes on your photo and have some fun in the process! As an extra bonus, everyone who enters get $25 off their first photo session!

I'll be drawing the winner in 10 days or when my page hits 350 likes, whatever comes first :)

Etsy Photography Trade

So I'm not the best Etsy-ier. I have to admit it, I got really excited at around Christmas and decided I would put up a bunch of prints to sell and make some earrings, I loved taking the photos of the earrings but after only one sale I kind of gave up, I didn't keep posting new things and my shop slowly dwindled away. I was at a party last week and I was talking to someone about photography and Etsy, and suggested that I contact some Etsy sellers to see if they were interested in doing a trade.

I honestly couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it sooner! Image is everything on Etsy! And were always told that to have professional images of your Etsy products will boost your sales, that products will sell better when they are shown being used and photographed by a professional.

So Etsy sellers, or any other designers for that matter, what I would like to do is offer photography services of a range of your products in exchange to add a couple of your products to my prop collection. Its a win win situation for both parties. I will photograph at least 5 images of each item.

This can be for anything, think outside the box, everything from newborn hats to Jewelry for adults, clothing for children, cool home goods I can use as props or for stylized shoots, etc. If you are interested, all you need to do is send me the link to your shop (or if you are not open yet, tell me about it and what you are selling) in an email to erinwoodgatesphotography@hotmail.com

New work Wednesdays

I'll take this blog post to 1. Show you some photos I took not too long ago of a lovely model Aurora who froze her butt off in the -15 degree weather to get some lovely winter wonderland photos and 2. Announce a new 'Spokesmodel' search to get my High school senior portrait photography sessions off to a flying start.

Last year I went to a seminar put on by Atlantic Photo Supply which had a speaker talking about running a photography business and he was mainly a 'Senior' photographer. Where I'm from graduating isn't such a big deal, we don't even do the cap and gown photos but I do think it is an important thing to document so listening to him speak about how he would capture each child in a family growing up and graduating really resonated with me and my love of capturing life- like my last post.

So here it is, the Erin Woodgate's Photography Senior search!

Looking for creative and outgoing high school seniors for a great opportunity to document this special time of your life!

Everyone is unique and has different likes and dislikes. Would you like to do something other than the standard cap and gown photos for your senior year?

Let's celebrate who you are and capture something unique and you!

Erin Woodgate's Photography is now searching for 5 special seniors, one from each high school in the London (Ontario) area to be spokesmodels and here's the exciting part- you get your session absolutely free!

Here's what you get-

- You get a FREE High School senior photo session

- Online Facebook gallery to share with friends and family

- 10 retouched digital images from your session on disc

To get more images from your session on disc here's what you do-

I will give you some of my business cards with your name and a special offer for your friends and family on it for you to share.

- Each person who hands in your card when they have a session gets you 5 more images on your disc.

- 5 images for every 20 friends or family who "like" my Facebook page- Erin Woodgate's Photography (They must send your name in a message to keep track)

You and a parent MUST sign a Release Form if you are under 18.
All Spokesmodels will be featured on Facebook, my blog, and marketing materials.

If you would like to be a spokesmodel for Erin Woodgate's Photography, please send me a photo of yourself and a short note telling me why you'd like to be a senior spokesmodel. Applications must include your full name, phone number, email address,which school you're attending and what grade you are in.

Applications are due by May 1, 2011.

Please email applications to erinwoodgatesphotography@hotmail.com

I'm looking forward to hearing from you!