État D'Urgence Mani-Festival: Because The Homeless Should Have Their Own Festival

Alanah Heffez of Spacing Montreal and I made our way to the État D'Urgence Mani-Festival taking place at BERRI-Square in Montreal's downtown core. Some of the photos will be featured on Spacing Montreal's blog. It was rainy and quite cold, but about 100 attendees were present for food, fire dancers and a variety of musical acts.

All in all, a surprisingly friendly and forward environment. Folk were more then happy to find their way in front of my lens for some impromptu captures and chat me up thereafter. I shouldn't be surprised, but the number of street folk with Facebook pages did catch me off guard. I've made a few promises that I must keep with these shots.

One new friend was a very proud fellow by the name of DB with a great Toronto tattoo emblazoned across his forearm. Apparently it was a cover-up for a previous tattoo and had become its own project in development. I look forward to seeing the next phase of the piece.

I'll be honest, the cold and wet got to me after a good hour and a half and we soon found ourselves in the shelter of a nearby pub to watch the Canadiens lose to the Penguins. The luxury of such a shuffle is certainly not lost on me tonight. Nor is the bed less then 10 feet from my work station.

In the words of the festival organizers:

"État d’Urgence is the fruit of an impressive mobilization of several hundred people building an honest-to-goodness urban village and offering over five days, around the clock, a variety of services to homeless people. Its eclectic artistic programming serves as a catalyst for unprecedented social encounter. État d’Urgence promotes proper social hygiene because its participants deal face-to-face, help one another and discover one another. Art is the uniting principle here; it sheds light on the suffering, acknowledges it and offers strength and resilience!"

It's late and I have a shoot at 10am, so this will be brief. I'm terribly proud of this Roller Derby shot I took of Montreal hardcore Derby mistress Heidi Beater Pan-Tease Rubin and I wanted to show it off.

The kids are burning something in the kitchen...

Caboodle!


Megan Deere!


Zach!

I'm with Caboodle all weekend. The young theatre collective (it seems so strange writing that) from Belleville Ontario are spending the weekend in Montreal. My good friend Meghan Deere, the facilitator/creator/director of Theatre Caboodle decided a few months ago to bring the group to Montreal for a second shot at putting a few pieces the kids created and co-wrote on a small stage in the Mile End.

I've been declared co-producer as well as photographer (mainly because I keep tapping my network to build and audience) but I'm also hosting 3 of the 9 younguns at my place in NDG. For the eternal bachelor, feeding, putting to bed and making sure everyone is clean before we leave the house activities are quite the novelty and I have to say I'm enjoying the young company of the likes of Zach, Erin and Simon. The rest of the crew are staying in the Plateau... divided up between Meg and our colleague Kim's place.

The kids are performing tonight and tomorrow night. I'm right now drafting this post from Mainline Theatre while the kids watch a play (a real play at a real theatre!). More info about the show can be found here.

Here are some of the photos I took when they were in town this Summer.


Katie!


Clare!


Simon!

The Kitchen Project

Let's wax a little less poetic here and talk about some work and some photos I've had of late. It's been awhile (again) since my last post. This one marks my campaign to mount one blog post a week for the next year. I have slew of gigs to report on, but I'll start with the one that featured food. Food. Food.

2009-10-25 The Kitchen Project - Images by Tristan Brand

The next 5 years... And Evelyn Hofer's 87.

I'm trying to decide how to lead my life for the next few years. I'm coming to terms with the fact that it is difficult to make a living here in Montreal and that all the work I would like to be doing asks that I be more qualified. Some of that comes in the form of a degree, some of it pure work experience. So the age old question arises: is it time to dedicate myself to finding a photography job and less private work? While there seems to be no end to the things I can shoot here in Montreal, the need for me to shoot things seems limited. I made the decision to pursue humanitarian and NGOs efforts and lend them my skills, but the question of how to go about that remains just beyond my grasp right now.

More importantly, I just want to shoot more so I can get better at what I do. So I can see people better. I don't mean to sound self-deprecating; I know I am getting better at what I do with each new experience (yes, this is a race with myself, fuck). If anything, I want to sound positive here: there are a never ending stream of talented photographers and photojournalists in the world that inspire me to be better. One such person is Evelyn Hofer, who passed away on November 2nd.

I won't attempt to paraphrase the commentary I've read after her passing, nor will I try to deny becoming most familiar with her in the the time following her death (funny, that). The portrait photos she achieves are so much more inside her subject then anything I've ever attempted or anything I've seen in a long time. Apparently she favored very composed images (many of her images border on still life) and it says to me that her character must have been something to encounter if she was able to achieve the work she did. Was she boisterous and convincing? Was she quiet and commanding? Was she shy and did her subjects mold themselves in sympathy? Was she something else entirely?

Here is an exercise: browse her portraits and imagine being around her as she conversed with her subjects and went to work. What sort a person do you imagine? Do that before you read anything written or said about her and see what your imagination drafts and how close or near to the real thing you are.

And for some of her scene work, look here to New York Proclaimed.

Blackberry Sorbet in Toronto; the post Pop Montreal blog

I'm attempting to make one of my favorite things: blackberry sorbet. Tomorrow is thanksgiving and my good friends Kiran and Alexis, who have been kind enough to let me stay at their apartment, are prepping massive amounts of food for dinner tomorrow. I've always been a fan of Sorbets; this will be my first attempt to make it myself.

I'm in town for a little work, a little down time and to see some friends. I find TO has been good for the creative juices any time I flow through. I have some much-loved friends that call this place home and do wonderful things. Lisa Pijuan-Nomura (of Girl Can Create) is one of those folk. She and her husband Dave, his sister Catherine and the circle of creatives that surround them are responsible for great things here... and a typical Sunday in TO will find me at Forest View Dim Sum with them discussing our latest endeavours, geeking out over camera gear and wandering over to Kensington market for coffee at either Ideal Coffee or Moon Beam.

To report a little more on Pop Montreal and the goodness that was the 5 days of the fest;

I did not have the fortune of catching Tune_Yards, one of the most talked about shows at Pop, but I did get to catch filmmaker Vincent Moon speak at Espace Reunion. Monsieur Moon, with awkward and endearing flourish introduced us to film after film (running off his little Mac laptop) and the one that left me most inspired (as it happened early on and caught me completely offguard I suppose) was this little diddy featuring Merrill Garbus (that's Tune_Yards, folks) and a place I really, really want to find in Austin called Sam's Barbecue (BBQ!) and some flies. And some onlookers.

Hit play!

tUnE-YaRdS: SXSW 2009 from Dig For Fire on Vimeo.

Making me extra pleased with myself this week is the mention I got on Pop's web site, just below the Sufjan video. Thanks Pop; you made me feel all giddy inside.

Now I feel as though my photos might require a seperate blog post. Perhaps between turkey and desert I will finalize my Day 4 and 5 galleries and post them here in slideshow form.

Time to go skim the sorbet again one last time before bed. 8 hours til Dim Sum!

Pop Montreal Day 3

Alright, off to Dragonette (in 30 minutes!!!), but here are some more slideshow, including the Slew!


2009-10-02 The Slew - Images by Tristan Brand

Pop Montreal Day 2

Holy hell. Hardly a moment to post. I'll let the photos do the talking...


2009-10-01 Pop Montreal Day 2 - Images by Tristan Brand

Experimenting with scrims and faces...

Between editing shots from weddings and meetings with potential new clients for the witer, I've been making a point of getting in to the studio for some purely experimental shoots. I recently came across the work of Dan Winters which made me realize I have a lot to learn about light and fine control.

I've had some scrims lying around the studio gathering some dust and I decided to put them to use. The results you see make use of a single studio light. I started using a fill light, but I really wanted to just see the results of one light controlled with a pair of scrims. The scrims were placed a few feet in front of the light (a small softbox) one after the other, parallel with the plane of the subject's face. This not only diffused the light a bit but made it somewhat more directional as the small holes of the scrim material on two parallel planes let mostly perpendicular light through (I realize I should add a sketch to explain this).



One of the first things I've realized looking at these shots is that I should try placing the light source above me along with the scrims. This is tricky to achieve, but I really want to try and shoot more in line with the axis if the light and face so I can get a more "head on" look. Jonathan's shot is dramatic I find, but almost a profile shot.



The background was a bit of a mess as we need to replace our black backdrop in the studio ASAP, so please try to ignore it (I barely can). Still, it is just visible in the shots and I really wasn't looking to work with it anyway. Or is that just a sad excuse?

Now that I've had a little success with this little technique I've got the guts to call out more friends and pull them into the studio as guinea pigs. Well, would guinea pigs complain if they get some slightly usable shots out of the affair?

I should probably stock the place with some wine to be sure.

Drawn and Carnivale shots

Check out this film collaboration between James Jarvis and Richard Kenworthy... made for Nike.

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo.

I was working out of Studio 300 yesterday and Riccardo popped this up in full screen on the TV. I can't decide whether the video or the musical accompaniment (which kicks in at 1:05) are more upbeat. This is pretty amazing stuff... 3D animation rendered to look hand drawn. That's been done before, but to lesser impact. The film is called Onwards. We came across it at Drawn, a blog higlighting illustration and cartooning. The blog is a wonder-site on its own and you may find yourself exploring it for hours. Be sure to also check out Creative Reviews, um, review for more insight into the project.

As for me, it's been a quiet week after days and days of shooting in August. For a more visual representation of some of my favorite moments from last month, check out some of the shots I took at Carnivale Lune Bleue with the Unsettlers in Ottawa last week. The CLB is a 30's period carnival featuring real (well, actors portraying REAL) carnies, freak shows and snakes.

I hate snakes, Jacques! No, I love 'em.

Nova Scotia (Post NDP Convention)

Another airport post.

All in all, not a bad few days. It was interesting to watch some sort of Canadian democracy in action while I try to keep abreast of things on the other side of the globe in Afghanistan. With all the eyes of the world on the what may or may not happen in the little country, this little country's New Democrats put their heads together to enact resolutions and plot the best course of action to take over the next little while. It was a spectacle.

With a few days off afterwards I took to some familiar terrain to see some family and friends. I made the best of my time and managed to find the Atlantic on more then one occasion. Cold as hell. Sort of scary. Especially from under the surface of the water. "Next time bring a dive buddy".

And here boards my plane... Again.

Awaiting Departure

It's been a little longer then expected since my last posting. As you, the experienced internaut, may have experienced with your blog/column/web site, if you let too much time pass it becomes even more difficult to write something that doesn't sound like a laundry list of what-I've-been-up-to's and lackluster anecdotes.

...but I've been really busy with lots of photography work since I last jotted anything down. Just For Laughs - Zoofest ended and I rushed to post all my images from the 60 plus shows I covered.

Zoofest: Once And For All We Are Going To Tell You WHo We Are So Shut Up And Listen - Images by Tristan Brand
I immediately left Montreal for a week in Gravenhurst, Ontario to work on photo-documenting Meghan Deere's ongoing community art project, Theatre Caboodle. This was the follow up to last year's week-long retreat. Most of the company remained the same, but new additions made for a very different year. This was also a return to the site of my serious accident involving a 60 foot cliff and my broken T-12 vertebrae. That incident has made photography a challenge over the past year, but I'm even more determined to get in shape to compensate for my fragile spine.

The group mounted their show "He Always Litters" at the end of the week-long run. Below are some of the shots.



Now I must jump on a plane to Halifax and the NDP convention. I'll be in Nova Scotia for a week shooting not only Politicians, but horses too. Shooting? Poor choice of words?

Busy, Busy

I just realized that I have work every day until August 3rd. No, not grind work at home managing my archive... a shoot every day for all 24 days, having started on July 10th. Caramba.


Well, I have a shoot in less then an hour. Time to grab the kit and head out. 5 shows in a row tonight.

Here are some from last night's Metro.


Zoofest: Metro - Images by Tristan Brand

Zoofest has begun...

I'm once again working from Shaika Café in NDG as my internet connection at home has bailed on me again. I've made some deadlines for myself that I have to meet, so with some luck (and a short post) I'll be done by closing time.

Zoofest, the little festival in the big festival, began on Friday and I've got myself a two week gig shooting every show that falls under the festival's umbrella. There have only been four shows thus far as most start up on Tuesday the 14th, but each show has been a hit in my eyes.

Unlike the rest of the performances you will see at the Just For Laughs festival (which is the parent, if you will, to Zoofest's newborn baby) the shows at Zoofest are not limited to the realm of Comedy. Case in point: Hume Baugh's piece "The Girl In The Picture Tries To Hang Up The Phone". I'm not going to lie, this is a heavy piece. Don't go if you are looking for a good laugh. On the other hand, if you are looking for intensity and honesty so brutal, please go! Hume is a capable and heartbreaking story teller who tells the true story of the end of his mother's life.

Hume made my job difficult. His setup is simple: no dance numbers, no acrobatics. How am I supposed to capture him? I'm hoping the photos I posted do get the poignant crush of his voice across.

The three other pieces are all solid pieces and I highly encourage you to check out any of the performances playing at Théatre de L'Esquisse. As for navigating the Zoofest web site for information on time and location? Fuck it. Here's what you need to know:

All four shows at Théatre de L'Esquisse run until July 19th. Every night features the following schedule:

Anatomy Of A Love Affair/Snore (18h30-19h30)
The Girl In The Picture Tries To Hang Up The Phone (19h45-20h45)
Four Minutes If You Bleed (21h00-22h00)
Café Café (22h15-23h15)

Théatre de L'Esquisse - 1650 rue Marie-Anne E (Just West of Papineau)

All shows are 10$, I think. I encourage you to consider spending 40$ and seeing all 4 shows in one night. Really. I thought I would get bored. I didn't. I thought I would start daydreaming in a show. I didn't. I really enjoyed the experience, and encourage you to try it...

And the photos? I'm quite happy with them. Here's a little slide show.

Zoofest: Rushes - Images by Tristan Brand

On the run in Toronto

I'm slopping up eggs, grilled cheese and a double espresso in a favorite Toronto haunt, Java House on Queen Street. I'm about to visit a certain Ballet School to research dance photography a little. That's right, I'm in Toronto not only for a small gig, but I'm hunting here too. I return to home base (Montreal) sometime tomorrow.


Now what can I show you so far? I've got my camera, but haven't got the time to upload anything from my card for now. So how about some old favorites to get this blog underway? The slideshow below is embedded from my very fresh web site, http://www.tristanbrand.com


That's right, finally, my very own site. She's a bit bare for now and I still have a lot of tweaking to do. I highly recommend you check out Photoshelter if you work in photography. I made the move primarily to better serve my clients and to get a little more professional sheen coating my web presence... and less runny eggs. Time to head out.


Favorites Archive - Images by Tristan Brand