B&W Film

So I purchased a roll of black and white film around the beginning of summer and finally finished it last weekend... that's how much I shoot film.

So yeah, here's a bunch of random photos from the roll.

Ilford XP-2 shot with Canon AE-1. No edits.

Self Portrait...

JESS!!

Word.

- Dylan

Aggressor Live

I've photographed a lot of shows in my past and when I did I usually cranked up my ISO and shot almost wide open - by doing this it usually resulted in a lot of digital noise and an annoyingly shallow depth of field on my 5D Mk2. So having shot so many shows the same way I thought it'd be interesting to switch it up a little...

I've been doing a lot more controlled lighting shoots lately and decided I was going to take the same route with the next concert I shot. One of my biggest concerns about doing this is that a lot of bands don't enjoy strobes firing at them the whole time and I needed to have permission to actually set up flashes on the stage - which could also be annoying to the band.

Luckily I've got a few friends in a metal band called, Aggressor, their all really chill dudes so they had no problem with me setting up flashes to photograph them live.

You can check out their music here...

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/aggressivemusic

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aggressivemusic

So... I set up two flashes behind their amps - one stage left and one stage right. I also had a flash on camera.

Here are some of the images...

The biggest flaw in my setup was that I was using the flashes optical slaves to fire them. This resulted in not only my on camera flash firing them but also every other persons camera flash. Both of my flashes on stage died half way through the set and I also made every other persons photos look awesome - you're welcome guys! Next time I use wizards.

Thanks again guys!

- Dylan

Dogs! Maverick & Kayo

So I was sitting in the window of a pizza place enjoying my lunch when coming down the street was an animal of epic proportions. As soon as I saw Maverick, the great dane, I knew I had to take his photo.

I was lucky to find out that Kelly, Mavericks owner, had a friend with a boston terrier. We planned a date and the next thing I knew I had two amazing dogs in my apartment.

Here are the results...

Maverick:







Kayo:

HIGH FIVE!






The original plan was to get a photo of the dogs together to really show Mavericks size but after a while Maverick became uncomfortable with stepping on the white paper. I didn't want to make him do anything that he didn't like so we didn't end up getting the photo of them both. I'm still really happy with the results, tho!!

Here's a photo of me and Maverick having a moment. BEHIND THE SCENES!!

Thanks a lot!

- Dylan

Cait

I recently photographed Caitlin from Elite Models. Because my roommate is also a photographer I was lucky enough to be able to shoot Caitlin after he did. It was a productive day in the apartment! Big thanks to Cait too!

It's nice to be getting back into studio lighting. I'm excited to keep practicing my lighting and to experiment with different schematics. With studio lighting it's a lot more challenging because you don't have an environment to help make the image interesting - you have to create every aspect of the image.

Shoot went well! Both Caitlin and our make-up artist Andrada Mogosh did an awesome job. Made my part a lot easier!

Here are the images...















Yes, I know... I have a thing for putting my subjects on the right side. I try to switch it up but it just seems so unnatural! I'm going to have to figure that out.

I'll leave you with a little outtake. Presenting Andrew:



Thanks again!!

Parking Booths

Normally I'd probably start this by going into some rant about how parking booths are metaphoric for something a lot bigger then they are. Perhaps I'd go on about how they're significant because they're still partially man run and that robots are taking over the world...but really... I just like the way they're lit at night.























... it was cold.

New Years '11

Happy New Year!

Hope you're all excited for the next year! I guess here is where I'd go on about my resolutions and goals and stuff but to be honest I haven't really set any solid ones. I think I'm just going to do what I usually try to do and TAKE OVER THE WORLD (Ah, no, that'd be way too much responsibility). I'm just going to keep pushing myself to improve my photos and to get closer and closer to becoming a full-time photographer. Oh, life!

I've been SUPER busy with work and stuff so I haven't been shooting as much as I'd like to but I was able to take a few portraits.

Here's a good friend of mine, Ryan. He really likes buffalo and plays in a sweet metal band called Aggressor. Check them out... http://www.myspace.com/aggressivemusic



Here's a portrait of another Toronto photographer, Kevin Bryan. Check out his work at his website... www.kevinbryan.com



Kat works in the tattoo parlor I currently live above so it wasn't too hard for us to set up a shoot. She's a body piercer at Ultimate Tattoo on Yonge St in Toronto. She's super chill and her passion towards body modification is really interesting. I can't imagine doing some of the modifications she's done to others and have gotten done to herself.



Also, consider that a quick preview to the next Strange(r) People update. Yes! I am finally updating it!!

There was a big fire less than a block away from my apartment. Pretty interesting... the buildings wall collapsed in the summer so it was blocked off then a fire mysteriously started. Check out the damage...



And here's a cute puppy looking over a couples shoulder...



Also! Huge thank you goes out to the college I attended a while back for updating their blog about me. Some days I wish I could go back to when I was in school there - I loved it. Check out their blog... http://algonquinphotography.blogspot.com/

Thanks to my roommates who promised me that they'd wake me up in the middle of the night if I didn't update this. Thank you for being good at being dicks. Chicken woman.

Oh... and if anyone knows any of the following people can you tell them I'd like to take their portrait:

Brody Dalle
Angelina Jolie (and Brad Pitt if he's around)
Conor Oberst
Bob Marley
Barack Obama

Thanks!
- Dylan

P.s. ALL IMAGES ARE COPYRIGHT DYLAN LEEDER. DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION. Thanks.