ottawa senator chris campoli

This week I had an assignment to shoot an event at a Barrhaven elementary school. Spartacat and Sens defenceman Chris Campoli came to the school to give a presentation during an assembly, and then have a smaller autograph and question/answer period with one particular class. Before I even left the house I kind of developed the mindset of 'I'm not leaving without getting a portrait'. And not of Sparty. So after the assembly I followed the kids up to the classroom, Chris comes in along with some other people accompanying him, a couple film crews, and they start with the talk. I shoot it all, enjoy the hilarious questions from the kids, and it eventually wraps up. Kids start to file out, and Chris starts doing a short interview for the news. So I quickly set up a light in front of the projector screen thing and change my camera settings. As soon as he finishes his interview I ask him if he could pose for a portrait, and point to my little setup. He smiles and says sure, even though I knew he has to leave soon. I place him, he puts on the huge grin, I oblige and take that shot. Then I tell him he doesn't even have to smile, so he drops the cheese. I take two more shots, and say "Yeah exactly! You are a serious hockey player after all." To which he accidentally grinned again for the last shot, out of pure awkward amusement I'm sure. He then had to go, I thank him for his time, and pack up. Metadata says it took 12 seconds. It may not be the most stellar photo I would love to take of an NHL player, but also not too bad for a 12 second shoot with an on-the-fly setup. But really, I was just happy I went home knowing I did what I set out to do.

And as promised, here's another one of my bookmarked TED Talks. This one is probably tied for my favourite with the last one I wrote about. It's Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat Pray Love) speaking about creativity. I've watched this one a few times, and it never fails to inspire me. Check it out here.