The past year was far from the best year we've had, but a damn sight better than 2009 (by about 300%). Granted, part of all of this was due to the relocation from Calgary to Vancouver. Moving into a new market is never very easy, coupled with the economy being WAY down, leads to a challenging undertaking for just about any business. But, here we are, alive and kicking.
This week (the last week of the year) has been spent reviewing the projects we'd shot in 2010, both personal and client-driven, and creating goals for 2011 and beyond. Thought we'd post a few of the highlights from 2010.
One of our favorite images this year is the image of a man who is fighting to crawl out of a hole in a frozen lake. The image is a comped image, all work was completed in-house. The frozen lake, which looks like it was
shot somewhere in northern Alberta
is in fact Lost Lagoon with Stanley Park
from a hole cut into a 2 inch thick 4ftx8ft sheet of styrofoam. The sheet was supported by studio stands and specifically angled to recreate the proper camera angle used when shooting the lake surface. Colour and contrast were matched in post. We really enjoyed this project.
One of the few product images included in this retrospective is an image shot during the production of our first foray into motion photography/video. We've produced 3 product demonstration videos in 2010 with another currently in production. Due to confidentiality issues we cannot post the videos at this time but rest assured, they're kick-ass!
This image was created for promotional purposes; portfolio and website. Clean and simple, the way we seem to like them these days... Thanks to all involved for their time and talent.
The 2 images below were produced for a client's website. An un-comped version of the portrait is displayed on the Koz website. All post was done in-house.
Canada the vehicle had to go into the body shop. On the way to pick up said vehicle we chose to take a ride on the new-ish Canada Line. We made this image just as the train was exiting the tunnel into daylight. The title 'Train to Salvation' popped up the moment we saw the image on the view screen. How is one transported to the sweet hereafter (if you believe in that sort of thing) in the 21st century? A couple of people here didn't get the memo that you can't take it with you.
We worked on a video project in Mission, BC and naturally the Canon was handy. We spent most of the project shooting on the First Nations Reserve just south of Mission. During some down time we made these images (and more like them) as well as some documentary images of the video project itself. This would be 'Fenced Tree' (left) and 'Texas Gate' (below).
In an effort to get to know the city we relocated to it was decided to start an on-going photo-essay of the city and it's people. These are 2 of a number of cityscapes we created, just for the sheer joy of it. As an added bonus, we've enjoyed some residual income through stock licensing of these and other images from the project.
Through industry associations we've been incredibly lucky to take part in and contribute to instruction at Vancouver Photo Workshops. VPW offers instruction in all aspects of digital photography, from beginner to professional. Dan of Koz Photography offers a seminar dedicated to the business end of the industry; building estimates, image licensing, copyright and intellectual property knowledge and more. This seminar ran quarterly in 2010 to much success and is slated to continue through 2011.
Through this association we're lucky enough to partake in a few other hands-on seminars that VPW offers. We created the 2 images here during seminars taught by Wayne Hoecherl, a master of photographic lighting.
There you have it, our 2010 retrospective. We're looking forward to creating our brand of evocative, enigmatic portraits in 2011 as well as building great professional relationships. Check back for blog updates regularly (it's one of our New Year's resolutions, regular blog posts!)!
All our best in 2011 and beyond.
Koz Photography
