Dylan Leeder

New Website!

2011-07-27T18:59:00.001-07:00

So... my good friend Brendan Rygus made me a new website and I am therefore leaving blogger.

I encourage you to keep following my blog that is now integrated into the new website! Check it out here:

www.dylanleeder.com

Thanks for your continues support and I hope you guys keep following my new site!

- Dylan

Fil Skateboarding

2011-05-30T18:17:00.001-07:00

Skateboarding has been a part of my life since I can remember. Because I was surrounded by it growing up I have naturally taken some skate photos before. The biggest difference between my old skate photos and these ones are that this is the first time I've used flash. Since college i've been excited to try it - I'm happy with the results but I definitely have a few things to learn.

Here's Fil skating in Toronto.

Here's the guys checking out some footage.

Oh, and yeah... my computer crashed again since I last posted. I've been able to grab these off my hard drive and edit them on my roommates computer. Honestly, fixing my computer has been hell. It's been two months, it worked for a week, and now I have to by a new hard drive for it. It's definitely been a difficult time in terms of my photography but that's life. Gotta keep on pushing through.

Thanks!

- Dylan

People Watching: Freedom Festival

2011-05-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

Toronto's Freedom Festival was last week and having enjoyed last years I made a point to check it out. The festival is a celebration/protest of marijuana - it's basically live music, various food vendors, and other entertainment with a lot of high people in a park. If you're interested in the festival you can check out my coverage of the same event last summer - see that here: http://dylanleeder.blogspot.com/2010/05/freedom-festival.html

Because I covered the event last year and had less time at the festival I decided to just make another addition to my People Watching series. So...

People Watching: Freedom Festival

I'm digging the whole People Watching series. I find the images have a lot to look at. The longer you look at the image the more things you find. If you want to see the last entry check it out here: http://dylanleeder.blogspot.com/2011/02/people-watching-yonge-dundas.html

More to come.

Thanks!

May Update - What's coming.

2011-05-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a while!

My computer crashed at the beginning of April but I was able to get it fixed! My roommate was generous enough to give me the parts to his old laptop and I found someone that was able to combine my broken one with his and create a sort of frankenstein laptop. Score.

During my time without a computer I kept shooting and was able to keep up on my priority photos using my other roommates laptop. I'm really grateful for all the people that helped me out - it could have been a disaster. Because I was focusing on other stuff I had a collection of personal photos built up. This will be a preview of the posts I'll be doing in the next week...

First, some random photos from my trip back home to Brockville...

I also found a skull in the woods. I cleaned it up and scanned it. Turned out pretty awesome.

Okay... the following are a few preview photos of some of the posts I'll be making in the next week.

I've shot a few skateboarding shots before but never with flash. I've been wanting to try this out for a while and am pretty excited about the results. I was definitely experimenting and have a few things to learn but they're a good start. Here's a moment behind the scenes - the actual skate shots will be posted in the next few days.

I also shot another entry to my People Watching series. Preview of that:

I should also have those images finished and posted within the next few days.

So, now that I finally have a computer again I'll hopefully be back to posting a few times a month. I have a lot of shoots I hope to do this summer and am pretty excited to see the results. Some big things coming up! Yes!

If you're interested in following my other work I shoot and write for a Toronto Blog called BlogTO. I do a weekly series called In The Window that is released every Thursday and I shoot concerts a few times a month. If you're interested you can follow me on twitter and I'll tweet about them as they release. I'll do a concert photo update in the next few weeks with a few examples of what bands I've been shooting.

Check back in the next few days and I'll have the skate shots and the People Watching photos posted.

Thanks!

- Dylan

Lyall's Crow

2011-04-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

So my laptop recently crashed. It's pretty frustrating being a photographer without his own computer. Luckily I live with a roommate who is nice enough to let me use one of his until I know what's up with mine - I will hopefully find out today.

No computer problem is going to stop me from taking photos, tho. I recently photographed my friend Lyall. Check out our hangout with his crow:

Lately I've also been shooting a lot for BlogTO - A lot of shows and also continuing with my weekly feature - In The Window.

Some of my latest posts I wrote and photographed:

Mother Mother:

Full review: Mother Mother light up The Phoenix

Listener:

Full review: Listening to Listener at CMF

My In The Window feature:

In the window: Spiritualized, The White Stripes, Nas

In addition to doing the show review for Listener I also managed to get a few videos of Dan doing his spoken word. I really like this guys music.

Yep. So I've basically just been keeping busy, working on my portfolio, and rockin' out. My birthday is on Friday! Exciting!

Thanks!

- Dylan

Print Prices

2011-03-09T12:58:00.001-08:00

Hey guys!

I recently decided that I want to start selling more prints of my work. When photos are printed they're a lot better quality and I feel it gives the images more value. Photography is art and I want to start treating my photos more like fine art.

So! Here are the prices I will be selling my prints for:

Prints:

8x10 - 25.00

8x12 - 25.00

12x18 - 40.00

16x20 - 80.00

24x36 - 150.00

Framed Prints:

8x10 - 60

8x10 - 65

12x18 - 80

16x20 - 130

*ask about bigger sizes.

The frames will be black with a white matte. If you prefer something else we can definitely work something out.

If you're interested e-mail me at contact@dylanleeder.com. Free delivery if you're in Toronto, Brockville, Ottawa or anywhere in between. Anywhere else there will be additional shipping charges. You can pay through paypal or e-mail money transfers.

You can choose from almost any photo of mine. Here are a few of the photos that turned out beautifully printed:

Anything from THIS blog post.

Anything from the Gold Medal win HERE.

Here are a few photos of prints I have around my place.

You can also get two prints (5x7) in one frame:

Lots of prints!!!

Again, you can get a print of almost any image I've taken. If you've ever really liked a photo of mine consider it - they really add to a room and it's A LOT better than viewing them on a computer monitor.

I'm also still selling my Newfoundland book. 100$ for the book. More details on my Newfoundland blog post HERE.

Thanks so much!

- Dylan!

Whats up? BlogTO.

2011-03-04T18:15:00.000-08:00

I recently started shooting for a Toronto blog - BlogTO. I'm pretty excited about it because it's getting me back shooting shows and will hopefully open a few doors along the way. It's been interesting so far because a lot of the job is writing. I'm definitely not the strongest writer in the world but I'm interested in improving. I think it'll be a great advantage in my career if I'm also able to write about my future experiences.

I work for their music section so I'm shooting a lot of shows. With the shows I also plan on doing "features" on local musicians or musicians that are stopping through on tour. The features will be a good way to improve my portrait work and make for some interesting subjects along the way. With the portraits will also be an interview - it's funny because this kind of just plays off of my Strange(r) People project. I guess I just like people.

Here's a few photos and the links to my recent BlogTO articles:

Tennis

Full article HERE

Persian Rugs

Full Article HERE

I also do a feature called "In The Window". It's basically a weekly article about what's in the windows of local record shops. I take photos of the storefront and then ask an employee to talk about a few of them. It's pretty interesting and has already gotten me listening to different music.

In The Window: Criminal Records

Full article HERE

In The Window: Rotate This

Full article HERE

I recently also set up my Paypal. So... I'm going to try and really get into selling prints/books. I find the quality of a photo increases drastically once it's printed. I want to start putting more value on my photos, as I think some of them deserve. I'm going to do a post on specific prices and sizes of prints available in the near future. I'm excited.

So ya... lot's coming up in the future. A BUNCH of shows I'm hoping to cover coming up... Deer Tick, City and Colour, Frank Turner, Cancer Bats, Joe Purdy. I'm hoping to start shooting more portraits (hah I always want to shoot more portraits). Uhmm... Actually, I should go to bed.

I'll leave you with a pretty funny behind the scenes of a shoot I assisted for a Toronto based photographer Matt Barnes. I really admire Matt's work so it's been pretty cool experiencing it first hand. Really good way to learn.

Matt Barnes Photographs Playmate Lindsey Gayle Evans from Westside Studio on Vimeo.

For more of Matts work check out his website www.thatsthespot.com

Take care

- Dylan

People Watching: Yonge & Dundas

2011-02-22T17:16:00.000-08:00

Did I just start another series...? I have a feeling my career will have a lot of series. Series's?Serieses?... Serious?

Anyways... introducing my next series:

People Watching

This was interesting to do considering how obvious I was when taking photos of strangers. I stood in the middle of an extremely busy corner at Yonge and Dundas and set up my camera on a tripod. I left the camera on live-view and held my finger on the trigger so it wasn't too obvious when I was taking each frame. I tried to keep my eyes away from the back of the camera so the people had no idea when I was actually taking a photo. Overall I was pretty surprised with how mild the peoples reactions were.

If you've been to Dundas Square enough times you'll probably know this guy...

Thanks again!!

- Dylan

Thomas Pound

2011-02-21T20:38:00.000-08:00

I was with Thomas on New Years and quickly took a photograph of him in the crazy crowds. At the time he was wearing the same coat/hat that he's wearing in the following photos but the original was out of focus - apparently I still can't focus a camera.

I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and get out and practice environmental lighting. This is what came out of it...

I did not use any gels for any of these photos. These lights just happened to be there. Kind of annoying to be honest.

I also finally updated my Strange(r) People project. Here's a preview image from the most recent entry...

You can check out the whole entry here: http://strangerppl.tumblr.com/

I recently started shooting for a Toronto blog called BlogTO. I'm really excited about this opportunity because it may open a few doors I didn't have before. With it I will be getting back into shooting concerts and hopefully a few interview/portraits in the long run. You can check out my first entry on a local record shop here: http://www.blogto.com/

I've also recently noticed that you can see how many people have "shared" a link on facebook. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many shares a few of the my links have! Thank you so much to anyone who has reposted or told a friend about my work. It helps a lot.

Much love!

- Dylan

Newfoundland

2011-02-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the amount of time it has taken me to actually get this post up. Because this was, and still is, my biggest photo endeavor I wanted to do something special with the photos and not just throw them online. So... I made a book.

The book is a 32 page hardcover book. It's completely hand made and I designed it myself. The book has a bunch of photos that will never end up on the internet. You're welcome to buy one from me but because of it's hand made quality it's 100.00. If enough people want them the price can be reduced, tho. I can also offer prints of any image you see on this or in the book. If you're interested in either feel free to e-mail me at dylanleeder@gmail.com. So... onto the post! Enjoy!

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If anyone knows me they know I have a strong sense of adventure and a true love of nature. I really had no plan on going to Newfoundland until I became aware that a friend of mine, Lexi, was living in St. Johns - we got talking and the next thing I knew I was planning a two week road trip to Newfoundland.

It's interesting planning a trip like this because it doesn't actually feel real until you get on the road. The day I left was absolutely beautiful - I couldn't ask for anything more. The car was completely packed and I pulled out of the driveway with a destination 2,700 km away.

Driving for two and half days by myself was a really good experience. I feel that most people feel uneasy when thinking about sitting in a car by yourself for that long - but I feel it was a wonderful experience. I was able to listen to more music than I ever have in two and a half days and I found myself truly enjoying my own company. I began talking out loud and becoming so relaxed I was comfortable enough to let out a solid laugh when I found something amusing. Maybe I was just going crazy... but it felt good.

The first day I was able to make it from my home in Brockville all the way to Fredericton, New Brunswick. Just before I hit Montreal my GPS died and I realized the charger wasn't working. At first I thought this was the worst thing that could happen but thankfully I realized my Blackberry had a GPS. I was actually able to use my Blackberry to navigate the whole two week trip... with the help of actual paper maps. After getting through Montreal's horrible traffic the rest of the day was a breeze (I had the windows down the whole way).

The first day I only really took one photo because I was literally driving all day.

Northern Quebec:

I ended the day in Fredericton, New Brunswick. I decided to sleep in my car that night so I drove around the city to find a good parking lot that I wasn't going to get hassled in. I found an abandoned hospital and parked in its back parking lot between the building and a river. Before bed I made sure to grab a beer and a few shots of whisky in celebration of a very long day of driving. I didn't realize how creepy the area I parked in was until I decided to sleep. Oh well, I'm still alive!

The car I drove the whole trip and my hotel that night:

(Taken with my Blackberry)

The next day I had to make it to North Sydney, Nova Scotia to make sure to catch my ferry to Newfoundland. This day was really exciting for me because it was my last day of driving before actually being in Newfoundland... it was also the first day I got to see my number one love - the ocean.

I arrived in North Sydney a few hours before the ferry left so I took a few photos while waiting...

The ferry:

The ferry ride was 14 hours and travelled all night. At first I was really excited to be on the boat and heading into the ocean but it lost it's excitement once I had seen every inch of the boat. I headed to the bar and grabbed a few drinks to help keep me amused. There was a horrible acoustic artist playing that was so bad he actually made me leave - probably a good thing considering how expensive the drinks were.

A few photos of the ferry:

That night I ended up sleeping on the floor in a room of other people snoring. It was a long night.

I finally arrived in Newfoundland on the third day of my trip. It was early and I was super excited to have finally arrived. Only another two hours driving and I finally arrived in St. Johns, Newfoundland. This was the last time I'd be driving alone for the whole trip.

Houses in St. Johns were painted to match the boats coming into the harbor...

St. Johns harbor:

Introducing my co-pilot for the trip... Lexi Fisher! She was a HUGE help for the trip. She did most of the navigating while I drove and she also cooked basically all of the amazing fire cooked meals. Without her the trip wouldn't have been even close to the success it was. It was also nice to have the company throughout the trip - we didn't know each other very well before we started so it made for a lot of interesting conversation getting to know each other.

We stayed in St. Johns for three days to give me a break from driving. Throughout those three days we frequented the many bars on George St., I officially got Screeched In, and we got ourselves further prepared for the ventures ahead.

Here's Lexi the night before we left for our trip around the coasts of the province:

We left early the next morning. We had our trip pretty well mapped out but we made sure we had the freedom to adjust it as we went. A trip of this nature is not meant to be fully planned.

Our goal for the trip was to stay as close to the coast's as we could. The cliffs in Newfoundland are breathtaking and we wanted to see as many of them as we could. Our first destination was the Cape St. Mary bird reserve. What's cooler than a bunch of birds on the side of a cliff?

Driving through Newfoundland is interesting in itself. Unless you were on the one highway the roads were terrible. There were occasions where you would be driving forever without seeing another car or even a house. It was amazing. An interesting NFLD past time seemed to be shotgun drive-by's to road signs:

For our trip we made a point to spend as little money as possible - both because we didn't have much of it and it simply makes the trip better. We camped every night and cooked our own meals. We simply lived out of the car. Another one of our goals (or challenge depending on how you look at it) was to not even pay for camp sites. This proved harder in some of the major parks but there was a few nights that we we simply pulled off the road and set up camp.

Camp our first night:

First fire cooked meal:

The next day our first destination was the fishing village of Dildo. Yes, Dildo. Why did we want to go to Dildo? Because of it's name.

Dildo:

After Dildo we headed north to Terra Nova National Park. We were planning on not paying to camp but after a few hours of venturing around we realized that we had to pay for a campsite. Not too big of a deal considering it's usually under 30.00 a night.

Terra Nova National Park:

Yeah! Fire cooked meal!

A few months previous Lexi had hitchhiked up the eastern coast of Newfoundland and recommended we checked out a little island called Fogo. Next destination: Fogo Island.

We woke up that morning, did our morning hike, and left to Fogo. My biggest appeal towards Fogo was the fact that it's an island off of an island. Not only is Newfoundland secluded from the country but Fogo is even secluded from Newfoundland. Here's a few photos from the ferry to Fogo.

I really loved Fogo. The island had plenty of cute little fishing villages full of overly nice people. Such a strong sense of community.

We took longer than usual to find where we were going to set up camp that night but it was definitely worth it. It was my favourite camping location of the trip. We found a nice stone beach right on the ocean next to a small fishing community. We spent the night drinking wine on the beach - it was incredible. Here's a view from our tent:

Full moon.

Our next destination was Gros Morne National Park. We saw pictures of it and I knew we had to see it. It turned out to be better than I could ever have imagined. The landscape of Gros Morne is unreal. Mountains with rivers running through them right next to the ocean. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

We got there after the sun had set and rain was coming in. We decided to quickly set up camp and call it a night.

The next day we decided to head to Western Brooke Pond to go for a hike. When we arrived we got really excited - it was wild.

Once we got hiking we realized we had to cross a waist deep river. We were skeptical at first but it wasn't going to stop us.

After we got through the river we came to a point where the path was actually impossible to cross. It was way too muddy and so full of brush that we had no idea what direction we'd be going in. Sadly we were forced to turn around... back through the river!

Because we were unable to hike the whole path we decided to go for a little hike up a little mountain by our campsite:

The next day we decided to climb Gros Morne mountain. The mountain is 806M and is a 7-8 hr hike. It was definitely the most strenuous hike i've done but it was completely worth it.

Lexi heading towards the mountain:

(I feel this photo doesn't truly represent the size of the mountain.)

The climb was an amazing experience. Here's some photos from the top:

A few photos of us at the top...

That night we were both exhausted so we treated ourselves to a restaurant cooked meal. What a fulfilling day.

We originally planned to head north up into St. Anthony but we would have spent most of the day driving and we decided we wanted to spend as much time as we could in Gros Morne. Since we climbed the mountain the day before we decided to take it relatively easy and check out a local light house - it was nice.

Later on in the day we took a little hike to swim in a water fall. It was also nice.

I was stoked.

Our last night in Newfoundland we enjoyed another one of Lexi's amazing fire cooked meals beside the ocean.

The next day we had to leave to catch the ferry back to Nova Scotia. It was sad leaving Newfoundland - I felt like I could have gotten used to staying there. The whole trip ran extremely smoothly and even the weather was fairly good to us (Newfoundland is known for getting a lot of rain). Having been to Newfoundland I now have such a strong appreciate for the province and it further reminded me of how beautiful Canada is as a whole. I really do love my country.

Once we left Newfoundland we were pretty determined to get home so I put my camera away and just concentrated on driving.

Here's the last photo from the trip:

Again, if you're interested in more photos from the trip the book is full of photos you wont see otherwise. Thank you so much for the continues support - you guys are what pushes me through the days when the photography field gets overwhelming. Because of you guys and my pure love of my craft I will never stop taking photos.

- Dylan

Cieraugh

2011-02-06T19:23:00.000-08:00

I recently photographed Cieraugh in studio... and by "in studio" I mean in my living room.

Don't have much else to say... Oh, Strange(r) People has been on my mind. I will be updating it soon, I promise.

Also... I know I've said it before but I WILL be updating this with Newfoundland photos soon.

Hope you're all doing well!

- Dylan

B&W Film

2011-01-25T17:36:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-23T21:38:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-18T16:46:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-16T19:44:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-12T20:07:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-08T19:01:00.000-08:00

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.

Fall Update

2010-11-16T20:01:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've updated this so... here I am.

I haven't updated too much since I got back from Newfoundland because of my transition into my new apartment and job. It's been a busy few months for me but I hope to do some shoots in the near future that I'm really excited for.

I recently started working at Pikto and am enjoying it. Pikto covers many areas of photography so I'm hoping it'll help round out my photograph knowledge more. With having studio rentals, photo printing, seminars, a gallery and press I'll definitely learn a few things along the way. I think the best thing about working at Pikto is being surrounded by photography. The more I'm surrounded by it the more I'll be inspired to shoot.

So yeah with living in the new apartment...

and working at Pikto I expect to be inspired/motivated to shoot more.

So much to do and so little time!!

I've also began thinking more and more about what direction I want to take my photography in. I think I may actually be realizing what I really want to be doing in the future and it feels good.

I find when I'm talking to photographers they mostly declare themselves one form of photographer and that's it. "Hi, I'm ****** and I shoot fashion" or "I shoot still life" or "I shoot film". Me? I just shoot. I simply love taking photos no matter what it is. I have a large range of photographs from portraits to events and I'm okay with that. Photography offers me a way to show my depiction of the things i've seen/done and also to have a creative outlet to produce images i've created in my head during my non-stop brainstorming. The satisfaction I get when I finish with an image is so rewarding that I crave it constantly.

My love of capturing the world around me is what powers my photography. If I go a week without producing at least one image I become anxious. Life moves so quickly and I hate the thought of missing an opportunity. I have found that photography is the best way of freezing time and truly immortalizing a moment I feel should be remembered. I live for new experiences and seeing new things. For me photography is the best way to keep those experiences alive - by capturing these images the moment lives past that 1/125th of a second. With sharing it to people I hope to provide at least the slightest idea of what it was like... good or bad. I want people to see what I'm seeing, to get intrigued, to wonder, to question or simply know that these certain things exist or are going on.

Another thing I love about photography is the power an image can have on a viewer. People say an image is worth a thousand words but I personally believe they're worth more. When someone views an image they have no choice but to think something of it and with that I've already done what I want to do... I've got you thinking, I've got you feeling something.

Here are a few photos I've taken recently.

Sausage Lady:

My roommate Andrew:

Michelle and Derek:

Koli's Hand:

While i'm at it here's a few Newfoundland photos. The next post will be completely dedicated to Newfoundland. It'll be really awesome.

In other news...

A few months back I took photos of art for a book called "Around The World In the Blink Of An Eye". The photos were simple copy board lighting shots of the artwork so you wouldn't be able to tell they're mine - but I'm still extremely excited to help such a positive project. The book is a charity book that directly supports education and literacy programs in Africa. If you're interested you can check out the book and the organization, we(e)press, here.

Lately I've also had a very strong interest in conflict photography. I hope that someday I'll able to shoot conflict but that won't be for a while. It's something I'm definitely going to have to ease myself into. Here are two documentaries that I loved.

The first is called War Photographer and it follows conflict photographer James Nachtway. I loved the way they attached a video camera to his still camera so you can see the exact moments he's photographing. It really shows how personal he gets with his subjects.

"In a way, if an individual assumes the risk of placing himself in the middle of a war in order to communicate to the rest of the world what is happening. He's trying to negotiate for peace" - James Nachtway taken from War Photographer.

Here's a trailer:

And you can watch it here.

The second one is called Shooting Robert King and it follows Robert King for over 15 years while he photographs three different wars. It follows him from the time he was 23 and just out of college so it's particularly interesting to me. I loved his honesty about it all and how naive he was going into it. Very eye opening.

You can watch it here.

So yes... I have ideas for a lot of shoots so hopefully I'll be able to put them into action soon. Pikto is a good step but I can't wait until the day that my full time job is taking photos. Even the thought of getting paid to be somewhere and doing something I love is surreal. Sure! I'll travel to another country to take photos for you!

I'll leave you with a video by one of my most recent musical obsessions, Frank Turner. Honestly, I listen to at-least one cd of his every day.

"AND I WONT SIT DOWN! And I wont shut up! But most of all I won't grow up!"

Thanks!
- Dylan

Nuit Blanche '10

2010-11-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

Nuit Blanche describes itself as a free all-night contemporary art event where people take to the streets to witness and be memorized by hundreds of different contemporary artists (List of artist can be seen here)

The event starts at sundown and ends at sunrise so it makes for quite the night. There was no way I was going to miss it.

More about the event at http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/home.shtml

Considering I live about a block away from Dundas Square it was definitely not difficult to find the action.

First thing I experienced was a dub step parade. Yes, a parade with one of my favorite genres of music SUPER loud. Score.

Dubstep Party Parade:

Dundas Square:

Neil Young projections at City Hall:

Of coarse there was live music and dance parties. And of coarse I photographed it:

There was a HUGE variety of art pieces and here's just a small example of them...

"1...2...3... JUMP!"

I asked a random girl to pose with a toy lawnmower I found:

I also did an addition to my Strange(r) People project...

You can see his interview and a few others over at it's site www.strangerpeople.com

What a night. Every street seemed to just be one big party. Can't wait until next year.

THANKS!
- Dylan

Catch Up - Newfoundland Teaser/Strange(r) People

2010-09-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hello friends!

Life has been pretty exciting lately... I have recently returned from an amazing trip to Newfoundland, I've moved into a brand new apartment in the heart of downtown Toronto, and I've started a new project that I'm absolutely in love with. Life is good.

So... I have absolutely fallen in love with Newfoundland. The land, the people, the atmosphere, the ocean... everything. The whole trip was surreal. Going into it I never expected the amount of beauty I witnessed over the two weeks there. Me and my co-pilot, Lexi, were able to cover most of the shoreline of the island and were able to see various terrains from mountain ranges, cliffs dropping into the ocean and vast fields with what seemed like no ending. Canada is amazing.

I won't go into it too much on this post because I'll go into all the detail in a future post dedicated to the trip. I'm not quite done the photos yet so I'll just post a sort of "teaser"...

Newfoundland Teaser:

These are just two of a lot of images i'm very happy with. I'm excited for you to see them all.

And a few fun ones...

One of our campsites. Yes, that's the ocean and a full moon... We also enjoyed a bottle of wine on a stone beach that night.

This is me flying a kite at the top of Signal Hill in St. Johns.

And introducing my wicked co-pilot Lexi! Without her the trip would not have ran nearly as smoothly as it did. She did most of the navigating and figured out crucial things during the day... like where to camp in a campground without paying - and not get caught. Oh, and she was able to put up with me for two weeks straight! GO LEXI!

Okay, that's all about NFLD for now. Keep checking back and i'll have the official Newfoundland post up. I may be doing something pretty big before that... but stay tuned either way because i'll be posting about it as it develops.

Okkaayyy... NEXT.

Strange(r) People

I've recently started a new project that i'm super excited for called "Strange(r) People". I explain everything about it on the blog so you'll have to go over there to understand what it's about.

But... here i'll ask this... TELL YOUR FRIENDS. Strange(r) People is a project I really want to spread around. I feel that not only will I get A LOT out of it personally but other people may get something out of it as well. It IS about people. Also, it'll help my photography career so... why not?

A photo from the latest post:

I've only got one post of up so far but it gives you a good idea of what it's about. I'm also testing it with two different hosts so there's two options to check it out...

I think i'm liking Tumblr a bit more so here's that link...

http://strangerppl.tumblr.com/

And if you're into blogspot here's the link to it...

http://strangerppl.blogspot.com/

I expect to update it at least once a week with various sorts of people. I may even start theming each post. Who knows... it's still in the early stages.

So yes, I love hearing all your feedback so feel free to comment here, facebook, or any other way you can... send me a letter!

Thanks so much!

Selling my own book!

2010-08-06T19:49:00.001-07:00

As many of you may or may not know a long term goal of mine is to become a travel photographer and document the world around us. I've always been extremely captivated of the world around me and believe that the best "profession" for me is using my love of photography with my curiosity to produce images that open peoples eyes.

My intention is to capture everything about the world from war torn countries as a conflict photographer to the beauty of the earth itself as a landscape photographer. To me it's important to capture both extremes as both one can create a blind eye to the other.

So, saying that, I'm taking a trip to the east coast of Canada strictly to document and photograph the area/people/lobster... or whatever else captures my eye. For me this trip is the start to my career as a travel photographer and it will also provide me with something to show potential clients that I can do it well. I know a lot of you are thinking that the east coast may be boring or unexciting compared to the other wonders of the world but that is part of the challenge for me. It challenges me to come back with a pile of images that make you go "hey, Newfoundland actually looks pretty cool!"

During my trip there is no pre-planned places to go or places to sleep. I am going to go and seek out any area that draws my attention and than pitch a tent... I'm obsessed with the ocean so it'll probably be on the oceans shore most of the time.

Wondering where I'm going with this?

Well, with traveling comes expenses and being an artist is no glamorous lifestyle... so... I've made a book!!

The book is a hardcover, 8x10, 22 page book with full page photos from the last few years. The photos range many different areas from still life to protest photos. Here's a few images of what it looks like...

Okay, so I'm selling the book itself for 40.00$ OR you can get the book and a 10x15 print for 60.00$. Want to see an example of one of the prints???

Also...I can, and will, be switching the books up regularly so few, if any, of the books will be the same as each other. Annddd... if you ever saw a photo I've taken that you've really enjoyed I can even make an effort to include it in the book for you!

In terms of the prints it's up to you to decide what you want. There will be restrictions but if you have one in mind we can definitely discuss it. You can choose any photo from my blog or website.... or any photo you've seen of mine, really.

Also, if you find that those prices are a little too high for you we can probably discuss something. I want as many people as possible to get ahold of these but I can't lose money, ya know?

If interested shoot me an e-mail at contact@dylanleeder.com or call me at 416.668.8426.

Thank you so much for the support!! It means the world to me.
- Dylan

Big Music Update

2010-08-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

Hello!

First off I want to thank everyone for the huge amount of feedback I got from my last G20 post! I never expected the amount of feedback I got and am so grateful to all the people that took the time to read it. Receiving this amount of support has further inspired me to pursue that area of photography. The amount of emotion that was sparked by the images was amazing - one of the best feelings was realizing that my photos caused discussion... that they had made people ask questions and raise general interest towards the topic. I truly felt how much impact a photo really can make.

If you're interested in pursuing the G20 further a local newspaper "Now" has a page with up to date articles.

http://www.nowtoronto.com/guides/g20/2010/

Also, if want to see some pretty disturbing videos of the events that went down just youtube it. There's definitely a lot of them.

Annnywwaayyyss....

A while back I started shooting for an online magazine called Bring Back The Boom Box. They're an awesome group of people and have given me the privileges to shoot some pretty awesome shows!

I most recently shot Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros and it was incredible. Being one one of my favorite bands I was beyond excited to shoot them and they definitely did not let me down. Their stage presence was extremely tight and friendly to the point where it felt as if they were all family. Oh, and to my surprise they played two sets! The first being all new songs, some performed solo by the pianist, and the second set was all songs from Up from Below.

MORE OF EDWARD SHARPE AT http://bringbacktheboombox.com/main/photos/photos-edward-sharpe-the-magnetic-zeros/

The day before Edward Sharpe I shot The Stills and Molly Rankin. The Stills played well but I found myself pretty worn out from that day so I left halfway through their 17 song set.

I never heard Molly Rankin before but was impressed. She kind of reminds me of Tegan and Sara. Here's a link to her website: http://www.myspace.com/mollyrankin

MORE OF THE STILLS AND MOLLY RANKING AT http://bringbacktheboombox.com/main/photos/photos-the-still-feat-molly-rankin/

I also recently shot The Dead Weather at the Sound Academy. Incase you haven't heard of them before The Dead Weather consists Alison Mosshart (of The Kills), Jack White (of The White Stripes), Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence (of The Raconteurs). All pretty big names and I found they performed really well together!

Opening for The Dead Weather was Lullabye Arkestra.

MORE OF THE DEAD WEATHER AND LULLABYE ARKESTRA AT http://bringbacktheboombox.com/main/photos/photos-the-dead-weather-feat-lullabye-arkestra/

Back for NXNE I shot a few bands including one of my all time favorites Amos The Transparent.

Said The Whale at Dundas Square

I also caught a new band The Zolas before seeing Dylan Murray. They were awesome.

More of these NXNE bands AND some photos of Dylan Murray can all be seen here:

http://bringbacktheboombox.com/main/features/photos-nxne-photo-set-2-amos-the-transparent-said-the-whale-the-zolas-more/

The first show I shot for BBTBB was Misery Signals at the Mod Club!

Check it!

Misery Signals

Structures

Beheading Of A King

MORE OF MISERY SIGNALS AT http://bringbacktheboombox.com/main/photos/photos-misery-signals-mod-club-w-structures-behading-of-a-king/

G20 Chaos.

2010-07-01T12:00:00.001-07:00

I feel that the following post I'm about to write needs a quick disclaimer/explanation.

First, I AM NOT AN ANARCHIST, nor do I believe that anarchy is a sensible form of society. To me; believing that it's beneficial for society to have an absence of government is ridiculous; people are simply too concerned with themselves to ever have a functioning society without some kind of political law and order. To me anarchy would destroy the world faster than any already destructive force. Saying that, I DO NOT believe that what the "Black Bloc" did in Toronto is justified at all. To me smashing store fronts and yelling "FUCK CONSUMERISM!" is a uneducated, attention seeking, angst filled action that is not warranted at all. I believe that 95% of the "anarchists" out on Saturday just wanted to be able to tell there fellow punkxcore friends that they are so against the system they smashed a piece of glass. What I say to them: find an outlet that will actually make a difference; get into politics and express your opinions in a matter that doesn't make you look like attention seeking assholes to the rest of the world.

Second, I attended the protests as a photographer. I attended to take photos and show the world what is happening. Awareness is very important to me. People are constantly saying that "well, you wouldn't have been arrested if you just didn't go" and to them I say this; Photographers/Media's roll are to show you what is happening without you having to risk yourself. We are here to inform you of current events in ways that make an impact and hopefully encourage you to stay informed, or even, get involved... it's always been said that a picture means a thousand words. Also, to be honest...- yes, I was attracted to the high level of energy photographing such an event and I don't believe this is wrong; it's the same reason I shoot metal shows. Shooting an event where you never know what's going to happen and the level of emotion brought out in high energy events like this make for truly unforgettable images. A fellow photographer/friend Thomas Dagg recently said "I think most photographers would be drawn to photograph an event like that; capturing raw emotion unfiltered".

As a photographer I tried my hardest to stay as neutral as possible; to let viewers of my photos decide their own perspective on the things they are seeing. BUT, after the things I saw and the way I was treated I can no longer do this. After being out for the first 45 minutes I had already found myself frustrated with the police force present. So, yes, the post you're about to get into (and it's going to be a long one) is from the perspective of a protester, because I think that any sensible person is going to get angry after seeing a mans prosthetic leg ripped off or people run over by horses.

So... Here we go.

Friday:

I initially went downtown to get photos of potential protesters but to my surprise there were none by the fences. So, I took the opportunity to photograph the security they had in place.

The government spent 5.5 million dollars erecting 3 meter, unclimbable fences protecting the Metro Toronto Convention Centre where the convention was being held. The fences blocked off most of the southern downtown region of Toronto including the extremely busy Union Station. Groups of police were stationed at every corner interrogating and searching anyone that came near the fences.

While being around the fences I was searched four times in 45 minutes. They checked my bags, checked my background by running my ID's through their system, wrote my description, including my tattoos, and generally drilled me with questions. When I asked why they were doing so they said that anyone within 5 meters of the fence was to be questioned and searched. The Toronto Police Chief recently admitted that the law did not actually exist and that "He was just trying to keep the criminals out". So, the law did not exist and they did not legally have the right to search me over and over.

More at: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/29/g20-chief-fence571.html

After getting sick of being hassled by the police I decided to go to Allen Gardens where a "Tent City" was being created after a march. The vibe was peaceful and upbeat with people playing music and dancing.

I believe these guys are called the Rhythms Of Resistance (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythms_of_resistance):

"The People's Kitchen" even offered free wraps (http://g20.torontomobilize.org/node/334):

Saturday:

Saturday was my second day photographing the G20 and was the first of two that have changed my life. To me Saturday was the day of destruction. The day that the anarchists, all dressed in black, took over the streets and rioted. Looking back I can't believe what I saw; absolute uncontrolled chaos.

At first I didn't know where things were happening, I didn't know where the protesters were and didn't even know if anything was going on. I started following the crowds in hopes of finding it and came across a few interesting situations...

And then I saw them...

And the destruction...

The following image has a story. When the people, assumed to be anarchists, were about to flip this vehicle others dressed in black immediately came running up yelling "this is not what we're about!" Explaining that damaging someone's personal property is not the message of the anarchists - so everyone left the car alone. This gave the image that some of the anarchists did not even know why they were doing what they were doing.

And the controversial destroyed police cars:

The reason that I said the destroyed police cars are controversial is that it's thought that the cars were actually left there to be destroyed. That the Toronto Police Force left them to warrant their spending of 1.1 Billion dollars for security. Having been at the front of the destructive march (It's the best place for photographic opportunities) I consider myself an eye witness to how casually the police left the cars abandoned. After seeing the mob about a 1-2 blocks away I saw them speed walk away from their cars and setting up a perimeter about a block down. They stayed there without moving while their cars were destroyed.

Now I STRONGLY recommend everyone watch Naomi Kleins extremely powerful speech infront of the police headquarters during a protest. In it she speaks of the decoy cars and the spending on security. She mentions that while the cars were burning she was getting press from the Police saying "Look what's happening!" instead of actually doing something about it:

After the mob took to the streets they finally ended up at Queen and University where the police finally decided to make a move. This was the first time I actually saw any action by the police force.

They arrive in various ways...

And of coarse the protesting remained. But, this time the police decided to actually take action - in many cases wrongfully.
During my time I was able to really experience riot squads tactics and it wasn't pretty. One of their most common tactics is to scare the crowd by smashing their shields, than shoot tear gas, than run full speed at the protesters and take them down by the neck. This was the first of three times I experience tear gas that day:

A photo I found of myself at that exact moment:

Credit: Custom Images, LLC. Huntsville, Alabama.

Photos of the protesters...

As I mentioned before I found the polices tactics very questionable. Throughout the day I saw a few things that I wish I never had to see. One man, an amputee, was even torn down by his neck (where they aimed for), beaten, and then had his prosthetic leg ripped off only to be arrested. Disgusting. Another one of their tactics was to run at the crowd on horses most likely to split the crowd into smaller groups.

There were reports of people being run over by horses.

During the protests people were hurt and a lot of tear gas was deployed. Thankfully there were "Street Medics" that took it apon themselves to care for the protesters while the police clearly didn't.

In his hand is a mix of antacid and water. I can personally say that it's really effective against tear gas burns.

The media was also extremely present and I found myself very under-dressed/under-equipped. Most photographers were wearing helmets/pads equipped with two professional DSLR bodies; one with a long lens one with a short lens. I shot everything with my 5d Mark II and a 50mm... which I found was a little too personal at times. To protect myself against tear gas I had swimming goggles and a bandana that didn't work until I covered it in the antacid/water mix.

Also, throughout the day I found myself really wishing I had a media pass of some sort to better distinguish myself from the protesters. But, I later found out it wouldn't have mattered as two National Post photographers were agressively arrested and detained. More at http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/06/26/two-post-photographers-arrested-at-g20-protest/

So, that was Saturday. Overall I found the day wreckless and unorganized on the police's side. Their tactics were questionable and overly aggressive at times.

Sunday:

With all the things that I saw on Saturday I expected Sunday to be pretty low key. I heard about a bicycle protest and thought I would check that out and than head home being tired from the day before.

I started the day off by taking photos of the boarded up shops. The black bloc tactic was selective in the business's they destroyed and only smashed the storefronts of the major corporations.

I than continued south to where the fences were located and took a few photos of them.

And than I ended up at Queen and Spadina. I'm sure many of you heard about the incident at Queen and Spadina but here I will tell my story first hand.

There was an organized march down Queen that was suddenly stopped by police at Spadina street. Protesters began to yell "Let us march!" but the police insisted on keeping everyone there. I found this odd.

To start I need to explain that the protest was completely peaceful. There was nothing thrown, nobody aggressive, everyone was just taking advantage of their democratic right to protest. Freedom of speech.

As time went on police backup started arriving.

I initially found this weird as I did not see any reason for the police to need back up. Like I said, everyone was peaceful and under-control. The bike cops already there were more than enough to keep peace.

Than they initiated the "Kettle" tactic. Wikipedia explains it as:
"Kettling, also known as containment or corralling, is a police tactic for the management of large crowds during demonstrations or protests. It involves the formation of large cordons of police officers who then move to contain a crowd within a limited area. Protesters are prevented from leaving the area for several hours; as a result, detainees can be denied access to food, water and toilet facilities for a long period."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettling

The use of this tactic was COMPLETELY uncalled for. To use such a harsh tactic on a harmless protest is absurd.

Here's an article about the police defending themselves for using the tactic:

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/829642--police-defend-crowd-trap-at-queen-and-spadina?bn=1

When I first saw them marching down the street I had no idea that they were or would completely block us in. At the time I never thought that they could do such a thing. So, I stuck around and did what I was there to do; take pictures.

As time went on people started to get a little freaked out. People started crying and begging the police to just let them leave. I met quite a few people that said they were there simply because they happened to be walking down the street.

In this photo you can see that the police had blocked off the last exit to the area. We were officially blocked in.

After I realized we were blocked in I decided to put my camera away to keep it safe. I could see the rain coming and It looked as if the police were about to open fire on the crowd with either tear gas or rubber bullets. I made one last video before it became about my personal well being and not my photography.

(My mom wasn't pissed. She's actually extremely supportive.)

And then I was arrested.

Clearly I was unable to take any pictures after I was arrested because they took all of my belongings but I'm going to do my best to explain the situation and what happened.

After they declared everyone was going to be arrested I didn't believe it. I didn't believe that they could ever arrest that many people for no reason. I waited around a little bit thinking that they would let people go at some point but as time went on I realized that that wasn't going to happen.

I started seeing media give themselves up to the police and assumed that they were being let go somewhere behind where I couldn't see. I realized after that that wasn't the case because I later saw them detained as well. So, I decided to give myself up. I felt that it was the best idea as I was still afraid they were going to open fire on the crowd and didn't want to have my camera gear damaged. I also thought if I gave myself up I'd have more of a chance to be let go and that maybe they wouldn't tackle me like I was watching them do to others; I was wrong.

Here is a photo I found right before I was arrested. I'm at the bottom left corner with my hands in the air, black hair and black shirt.

After that they took me down. They grabbed me by the back of the neck, kicked the back of my knees, than put their knees into my back. The whole time I was trying to explain that I was just a photographer and was not there to protest. This didn't matter as all they replied with was "You should have thought about that before you came here". Rediculous.

They then used plastic ties to secure my hands together behind my back. Very uncomfortable. As they were arresting me they declared that I was under arrest for disturbing the peace. Are they serious? When did taking pictures become "disturbing the peace"? Yes, I was yelling at them after they had us squared off because, well, I was extremely pissed off. But, at that point all they knew was that I was a photographer.

Then it started to pour rain. They grabbed me by the arm and started walking towards awnings close by; so I'm thinking that they may have the decency to keep me out of the rain... wrong again. They stood themselves under the awnings and held everyone in the rain. When I asked why they were doing that they simply said "you deserve it" and again that "I should have thought about this before". In what seemed like seconds I was completely soaked; every article of clothing I was wearing was totally drenched.

They stood us in the rain, took down all of our information, told us our rights, and then asked if I wanted to call a lawyer. Having never been in that situation before I didn't know if I should or not and they were definitely not willing to give me any advice- so I decided not to. I didn't want to make the situation any bigger than it already was.

Now, I feel that I'm obligated to tell you that the police officers that held me were generally nice. The guy that had to stand with me the longest (I was handed off to him after the line moved into the rain) admitted he was disappointed he had to meet me under such circumstances. He even agreed to buy me a beer if he ever saw me again; I told him he owed me. This really showed that a lot of the officers were just doing their jobs and following orders. Orders that I wouldn't agree to do but that's why I'm not a police officer. I always made a point to thank the police officers that were respectful towards me and they always replied with "I'm just doing my job"; and to the ones that were rude to me got the same attitude in return.

While being held there was a lot of teasing towards the "prisoners". Comments such as "Have fun where you're going!" or "not so tough now" or "look where protesting got you!". At times it seemed like they were enjoying it.

After standing in the rain for about an hour my plastic ties were switched with metal handcuffs and I was pushed onto a police bus. They took our pictures as they put us on a police bus. The bus had plastic seats and was split into sections with metal bars. At the front of the bus there were individual seats with cages around them; they placed the females in these.

When I got on the bus I met a few really good people, we shared stories and explained our reasons for being at Queen/Spadina. The man beside me explained that he lived a block down and just wanted to see what was going on in his neighbourhood. Another man said he was simply passing through on his bike.

We were already all shaking from being so cold/wet and then they decided to put the air conditioning on. It seemed like a form of torture. Everyone on the bus immediately started yelling to turn it off but they didn't for a matter of hours. They finally turned it off only to turn it back on a half hour later. Everyone on the bus was miserable and extremely pissed off.

When the bus finally started moving the tension cleared a little as everyone put a twist on one of the popular chants of the weekend. Instead of "Who's streets!? OUR STREETS!" it became "Who's bus!? OUR BUS" with a series of laughter after each one. This made everyone feel a bit better until we arrived at the detention center.

The bus sat outside the detention center for a few hours, just sitting there. During this time we all made friends and tried to keep each other distracted. At one point I was the host of a game of hangman written in the fog on the windows; I chose the word "Freedom" but realized that was a bad idea as everyone immediately guessed it... we were all thinking it.

They then moved the bus into the detention center and it seemed the whole bus gasped at the same time. It was terrible. People were caged like animals. I immediately thought of the movie "Children Of Men". They were not as packed as Children Of Men but it definitely had a resemblance with all the caged people. The port-a-potties all had their doors removed so nobody had any privacy. Females would build walls around the doors so that other females had the privacy to go to the washroom without the cops or other prisoners watching. There were cheese "sandwiches" littering the floor; and by sandwiches I mean two pieces of white bread and a single cheese slice.

They then continued to leave us on the bus for a few more hours and it only got worse. It got to the point where with the humidity off of everyones wet clothing and our breathing, the air on the bus became very sparce. People were starting to have panic attacks thinking we were not going to be able to breath. We then banged on the windows yelling "WE NEED AIR!" and we got no reaction. It took us about 2 hours to get them to finally open the doors to let air in; and that didn't help much. At one point a man on my bus declared a medical emergency as his diabetes was acting up due to not being fed for hours. The police responded again with "you should have thought about that" and "if you pass out there's a doctor somewhere in here". The diabetic was not helped until a few hours later when we were finally let off the bus.

When we left the bus they sat us on the cement floor to pair up our prisoner numbers with our "evidence" bags. My number, 5356, was finally called and I was directed into the other room. I immediately struck up conversation with the police officer asking if she'd ever saw Children Of Men and she replied with "Wait until you see the other rooms". What!? This isn't it?!

Going through the other rooms was horrible. Disgusting. Picture a 15 year old crying in the corner of a cage begging to be let out. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Endless hallways of caged people. Felt like walking through a dog kennel for people.

They then gave me my stuff, took my picture again, and made us agree that we would not participate in any more G20 protests. Luckily I was leaving the city the next day. The last prisoner I saw was about to be let go when he started yelling that they lost his stuff; he didn't have his wallet, shoes, or coat. The police officers responded with "Oh okay, we'll leave you in here for a few more hours while we look for your stuff" while laughing.

After six hours I was finally let out. I was extremely lucky that day. I did not have to sit in the cages and I was only there for six hours. Some people had been in there for over 20 hours, barely fed and barely given any water.

This is the last photo I took. The exit to the detention center:

After leaving the place I was greeted by protesters protesting the way they were holding people. They offered me free pizza and water knowing they weren't feeding anyone inside. I was even given a ride home by a stranger. I truly love how things like this bring people together.

Here is a link to photos of inside the detention center:

http://www.blogto.com/city/2010/06/inside_the_g20_eastern_avenue_detention_centre/

So, that's my rant. Thank you so much for reading/viewing it. Now, all I ask is that you tell people. Tell people what you have heard and voice your opinions. Again, this is all from my standpoint having been through the whole thing. You may think it's warranted but, personally, I don't believe the police have the rights to arrest people/treat people the way they did.

Thanks again!
- Dylan

OH, And happy Canada Day!

Gerrard Laumann - Interior Designer/Antique Collector

2010-06-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

As many of you may know I'm a very social person... I basically just love people. I love meeting new people, hearing new stories, and discussing different perspectives on life in general. Because of this portraits are a huge part of my photography... nobody is the same and that captivates me.

I've done a few "fashion" shoots and really enjoyed them but as time goes on I find myself more captivated in the faces of the people I shoot and not what their wearing. Therefore I've begun going more in the direction of "environmental portraits"; Pictures of people in an environment or a setting that is fitting to them.

So, my challenge to myself is to do at least one environmental portrait a week. And here is this weeks.

Gerrard Laumann

I first met Gerrard when he asked me to help him make a catalogue of his antique collection. I said yes simply because I knew I could use the extra income - but, after our first day of shooting I was happy I accepted the job.

Gerrard lives by himself in a beautiful apartment filled with impressive antiques collected from all over the world. What made me want to take his portrait wasn't his apartment or his antique collection it was purely based on his perspectives on life and the stories he's managed to bring with him.

Leaving his parents at 16 he moved to New York City and created an identity hanging out at the cities finest establishments. When I asked how he pulled it off he explained that all he had to do was "dress to impress and show confidence"; he explained that if you act as if you're important than nobody will ask, "I could have been the mayors son for all they knew!" he said laughing.

Since than Gerrard has worked for years as a respected interior designer and architectural planner here in Toronto. He's slowed down on his work when he started having heart troubles a few years back. Since than he's had two heart attacks but you'd never be able to tell with the energy he shows today.

Although Gerrard has an optimistic perspective on life, he still has very strong opinions and perspectives that he does not hesitate to tell you about. He's extremely respectful to everyone he meets but feels that most people "don't think abstract enough" implying that people are too literal... and I can agree with that.

Working with Gerrard was originally to get myself a few extra dollars but I now find myself looking forward to working with him as it always brings a new story or interesting discussion. To me good discussion is incomparable to money and in many ways holds a lot more value. Now if only good discussion could buy me some new flashes.

Kittens, Lightning and other goodies.

2010-06-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hey! So... It's been a while since I've updated this so be ready for a decent amount of photos coming your way.

Basically I've just been playing around with my 5D Mark II. Also, I've begun experimenting with flash in environmental shots. I need another flash, tho! And a softbox. Accepting donations. hah

So... the following are basically from a walk downtown Toronto.

I also picked up an umbrella for my Speedlight. Here's some examples of me practicing with it.

My roommate Brandon! One of the nicest dudes ever.

The BBQ...

SMOKEY GET OFF THE BBQ! (No cats were harmed in this shot... OBVIOUSLY.)

Now it's time for the "Awwwww!" factor. Check out my other roomates new kitten.

Introducing the house's little tiger, Ganesh.

And Bandit introducing himself to Ganesh...

AWWWW!

Okay, now to add some badass to the mix.

LIGHTNING!

And a quick shot of my really good friend Sierra. So pretty!

Uhmmm... yep.

OH! OH! I almost forgot. Since my last post I have redone my whole website! It's not perfect but it'll definitely do the job. Website design isn't my strongest point but I don't think I did too bad of a job!

Check it out at www.dylanleeder.com

THANKS SO MUCH!

And. Like always. All images are © Dylan Leeder.

Freedom Festival

2010-05-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

So, Saturday I went to the Freedom Festival held here in Toronto. Basically the festival is a gathering of like-minded people coming together to express their rights and freedoms - And to primarily protest the marijuana laws.

Writing a blog on marijuana... the ganja... the green.. reefer... Ol' Mj... or whatever is interesting because I know it's going to spark considerably more interest than most topics. Well, hey! It is a group of around 40,000 people breaking the law together! Hell yeah!

I personally found it interesting based on the pure mass of people that came out to the event. To have that many people come out and openly break a law in such a welcoming, positive manner was really nice to see.

Both the Freedom Festival and the Marijuana March have a long track record of holding arrest free events which, too me, makes the message even stronger. That marijuana doesn't actually make people psychotic lunatics (See Reefer Madness) and that the legalization of marijuana may not be such a bad thing.

With the festival comes a whole party of things to check out. Various stages playing music of many sorts, amazing food, public speakers, and "good vibes". I can say it all makes for a damn good day.

For more information you can check out both websites.

http://www.torontofreedomfestival.com/

http://globalmarijuanamarch.ca/

Okay, now about the photos.

The Marijuana March consisted of thousands of people marching downtown Toronto openly wielding the green and various smoking devices.

A big attraction to the march was having the proclaimed "Prince Of Pot" in attendance. Marc Emery is a popular "Canadian Cannabis Advocate" who is up to be extradited to the United States. In his powerful speech he discussed the various freedoms of smoking Marijuana, the extradition and how everyone needs to help fight it, discussed outlooks on if Marijuana was actually legalized... and well... got a huge group of high people really amped up.

More on Marc Emery...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Emery

His Magazine... http://www.cannabisculture.com/v2/articles/4639.html

Him...

Yep... Look! Various people having fun...

And of coarse a bunch of amazing musicians. You can check them all out at http://www.torontofreedomfestival.com/indexMain.shtml

Oh... FOOOOD!

Okay, as usual there's more photos from the day over at my flickr page....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylanleeder/sets/72157623995185316/

Yep. So, thanks for checking it all out. I'd love to hear some of your feedback!

ALL IMAGES © DYLAN LEEDER. Do not use without permission. Contact@dylanleeder.com

Gentleman Husbands/Big John Bates

2010-04-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago a friend told me of a band she manages and recommended I check them out at their next show. So, of coarse I did and of coarse brought my camera. They put on a solid southern rock set that I absolutely loved! Solid dudes playing some good rock and roll. I recommend you check them out.

http://www.myspace.com/gentlemenhusbands

After Gentleman Husband came a band called Big John Bates. Let's just say their set was definitely unique and provided a fun/theatrical show to the fast beats of punk/rockabilly. I'll just let the photos explain...

http://www.myspace.com/bigjohnbatesandthevoodoodollz

crazyness.

You can see more photos of these two bands sets at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylanleeder/sets/72157623775370179/

So yeah, that's that. I'm going to be posting another post soon of more nature/scenic shots. Check it too.

Toronto International Bike Show

2010-03-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

A few of my good friends came up to Toronto to participate in a flatland bmx competition at the Toronto Bike Show. I've posted a few photos of them previously but incase you missed it they go by the name of "Pralex", their super chill, and are always having a good time loving life. Check out their blog at pralex-pralex.blogspot.com

Due to work I only managed to be there for about an hour and half total. Lame, I know... but you have to pay the bills. hah

So, photos?

FLATLAND!

there was also a bmx competition on at the same time. Check it.

Yeeeaaahhhh.

Alright, well... that's all for now, I think.

THANKS FOR CHECKING IT OUT!

All images © Dylan Leeder. Images may only be used with permission. contact@dylanleeder.com

Amos/Hollerado/Green,Go/Magneta Lane

2010-03-19T21:01:00.001-07:00

Ah! It's been a while since I posted last! I've been busy with working and well... Toronto in general. hah.

It seems every day I'm finding something new about this city. This summer is going to be awesome. No doubt. I'm really excited to further explore the city. I feel like every day i'm scouting for possible photo shoot locations. Now just to do them!

I've been doing a lot of editorial style photos lately and I'm definitely okay with that. I'm loving having the high ISO's that the 5d can handle. Although I'm enjoying the editorial stuff I'm definitely missing my portraits, but, I can definitely see some kind of portrait shoot coming up!

Okay, so most recently I went to a show down at the Horse Shoe in Toronto. My first time being at the venue and I definitely liked it! Although the environment was good I definitely struggled with the lighting at points.

The main reason I actually went to the show was to see one of my favorite bands, Amos The Transparent. If you haven't heard of them I strongly recommend you check them out! Their music is addictive and they've never let me down live... Oh! And their from Ottawa!!

Check 'em out here... www.myspace.com/amosthetransparent

There's more of Amos over at....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylanleeder/sets/72157623648738716/

One of other bands, Hollerado, played and I was surprised to hear they were from Manotick! A little town just outside of Ottawa. They were a lot of fun to watch. Good genuine feel good rock.

Check them out at... http://www.myspace.com/hollerado

Green, Go also played that night. First time hearing Green, Go and I enjoyed them! Although they were good- I would have preferred to see them at a more suiting venue/crowd. Basically just a lot more dancing. Yeah, they make you want to dance.

http://www.myspace.com/greengomusic

And the first band of the night was a three piece band from Ottawa. I don't remember them too much - which was probably because I was playing with my camera settings while trying to find out how to best get the light.

An all female three piece by the name of Magneta Lane.

http://www.myspace.com/kissingiseasy

So Yeah! Again, you can see more of all four bands at my flickr set here...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylanleeder/sets/72157623648738716/

Also! Look back in the next few days for images from another show and a Bike competition I went to recently!

THANKS!!!
- Dylan

Oh, and like always... all images © Dylan Leeder. Images may only be used with permission. E-mail contact@dylanleeder.com

Dundas Square after a gold medal win.

2010-03-02T19:32:00.000-08:00

So, Canada won the mens hockey gold medal. Hell yes. In which helped us earn the most gold medals in the 2010 olympics. Hell yes, again.

This year I was following the olympics more than I ever had! I'm really happy I followed it as close as I did based on the fact that it was so huge for us - both because it was on Canadian soil and that we had to show the world how good we are at the whole winter thing.

Of coarse with following it with the rest of the country I was equally excited for the Mens US vs Canada hockey game. Knowing that the Womans team already won it and that well, It WAS the US we were beating I was totally stoked. So stoked.

I think one of the biggest influences on me was the level of excitement in Canada overall. All the buzz on the street and anticipation of for the big game had the whole country in in a state of jitteriness.

With my recent purchase of a Canon 5d Mark II I was looking for a good opportunity to really test it out and see what it could do. I decided that heading to Dundas Square downtown would work quite well. I also took it as a good time to practice some journalism photography as it is quite different from what I've been used to shooting in a controlled environment at the studio.

If you didn't know - Dundas square was one of the clips they would flash during intermissions showing everyone watching.

I first went during the first period to check out the vibe and although it was awesome - it wasn't really what I expected. Here are a few of the photos during the first period.

The first goal...

After enjoying the first period I decided to head over to a friends house and watch the game with some good people and a few beer. The game was awesome and the suspense in the room was through the roof. Thank you Crosby.

After the game I saw a quick clip of Dundas Square and the party chaos that was going on and was quickly reminded of my mission with my new camera.

Although I'd normally be celebrating with everyone - I decided to take the photography route venture down with photos in mind.

As soon as I arrived my heart began to pound. This is what I saw.

Some of the next photos are my favourite. During the night people were climbing on top of the stop light poles to express their excitement (and possibly the amount of drinks they've had) to the crowd below.

And of coarse the police didn't like that too much...

hahahah imagine telling that story to your kids!

I'm pretty sure the police did make some arrests but overall I found they were really well controlled. They even posed for a few photos!

Look at the horses! Notice the people taking pictures of their friends infront of them.

After I was there for a bit I realized how easy it was to get people I didn't know to pose for me. Sometimes I would just have to point at my camera and I'd get an outburst of "YEAHH!!! WOOO!!! GO CANADA!!!". Here's various shots of people having a lot of fun.

This guy had something like 500 signatures on him...

And some more photos I liked from the night...

hahah get it? Beer. Olympics. Gold medal winner?

I didn't end up staying all night because I had to work the next day but I was definitely there long enough to experience something I'm sure I won't experience for a long time. The whole downtown core was in pure happiness! I've never seen so many high fives, smiles, and canadian pride in one night. The noise was wild! From the "Crosby! Crosby! Crosby!" chants to the national anthem sung over and over again. It was all amazing.

Oh, and I'm definitely happy with the results of the camera. For all the photo people out there I shot all the photos with the 5DmkII's kit lens - 25-105 F4 all at ISO 6400. Both were amazing and I definitely do not regret my decision on buying the camera.

Thank you so much for reading and checking out my photos! I'd love to hear your feedback!

- Dylan

All photos are Copyright Dylan Leeder. And can not be used without my permission. If interested in using any of the images please e-mail me at contact@dylanleeder.com.

© Dylan Leeder. 2010.

Goodbye Ottawa, Hello Toronto.

2010-02-21T17:12:00.000-08:00

So, I've made it to Toronto.

After six days of saying my goodbyes to all my amazing friends and what seemed like almost continues packing, moving, and unpacking I finally made it. I haven't even been here for a week and I already have a good feeling about it all.

One of the worst things about leaving Ottawa was leaving the studio behind. Although I'm definitely going to miss it - I'm grateful for the fact that I did it for as long as I did. I got some decent images and was able to continue learning and practicing my studio lighting. Now it's time to work on my environmental lighting. I'm really excited for that.

I just removed my bookmark for the "OC Travel Planner". That felt good.

During the last few days with the studio I managed to do a few last minute shoots.

One of the shoots I did was with my friend Lexi. I noticed at a party of hers that she was making a corset and I thought why not photograph it!

Here she is wearing it herself!

I didn't include my signature on that one because I feel it throws off symmetrical looking photos.

We also took photos in an awesome dress she found...

I just noticed she's looking in the same place in all of the photos. hah

Prasheel stopped by the same night as the shoot with Lexi so we took a few photos.

He rides flatland and does stuff like this...

Alsssooo....

On my last night with the studio I decided to do a self portrait. I don't usually like photos of myself but this one isn't too bad.

I feel like I always look tired. hah

Okay, well that's about it for now. This week is going to be big for me - It looks like I will finally be getting my new camera. Expect a lot of photos.

photo and video!?

2010-02-02T22:04:00.001-08:00

Lately has been a very interesting time in my life. As I become closer and closer to moving to Toronto I find myself becoming so busy that days seem like minutes. I can't stop thinking about my move. I'm so excited.

I'm hoping to take advantage of the studio as much as I can before I leave. It's going to be really hard to go without a studio to shoot in. Hopefully it will encourage me to shoot more environmental stuff.

Anyways, I did a shoot of Keturah a little bit back. I'll show you some images!

Alllssoooo...

I recently borrowed a D90 and tested the video a bit. Here's two videos of the results.

I found taking video with a DSLR pretty difficult. Keeping it in focus is difficult - especially with moving subjects.

Either way hope you enjoy everything.

THANKS!

Big times ahead!

2010-01-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

So, here we go.

Lately has been... well, interesting. hah I'm moving to Toronto! I have been planning to move to Toronto since I did my field placement there. I loved the environment and have been told it was the best place for photography in Canada.

I'm taking the move as the perfect time to put all of my effort into my photography. I'm going to a whole new city, with all new opportunities. I'm meeting new people and opening more doors. I'll be networking like it's my job! hah Stoked!!!

In other news! I was on my way to the studio on Monday and when I stepped off the bus I immediately smelled smoke. So I look up and notice a large amount of smoke a few blocks down... so, of coarse I go to get as close I can. And guess what I did... I took photos!!

I also edited a few more photos of Shaun and Sarah. Here they are.

Okay! That's it. Hope you like them!

It's been too long!

2009-12-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

Hello friends!

So, I haven't updated this in quite a while. Eesh! I've been super busy. I've picked up a job at Blacks so I've been constantly busy this last month or two. I'm finding it challenging balancing my photography with work but I'm getting used to it as time passes. I'm actually starting to enjoy being so busy. More accomplished, I believe. The way I see it is that if I'm this busy for long enough I'll start seeing some good results. I can't wait to form more of a client base so I won't have to work another job - so that I can focus entirely on my photography.

Anyways, what have I been up to other than Blacks? I've done a few shoots with the people of the Canadian Electricity Association. It was interesting to do because it was some what different from what I normally shoot. First shoot was a posed photo of 14 business men/woman and the second shoot was of their safety award ceremony. It was interesting to get a glimpse in the business world. I found it hard to picture myself working in an environment like theirs. I'm so have chosen photography as a profession.

You now may have to stretch your browser because some of these may be a little wide.

In the world of my studio photography I've shot a few friends. First was my friend Paige, it was a last minute shoot but it went well!

Here's a photo from that shoot...

And another...

I also did a shoot with two good friends Sarah and Shaun. The shoot went awesome! We even had some flying guests!

So yeah, I hope you guys like them! It's bed time for me.

- Dylan.

P.s. Please don't steal them. All © Dylan Leeder. Thanks.

Quinton one year later.

2009-10-29T13:37:00.000-07:00

So I recently did another shoot of little Quinton! I took his photo's about a year ago. The shoot went awesome! He's such a funny kid and seemed to dig the whole photo thing hah.

Here's a photo of him from the first shoot like a year ago...

And here are a few from the most recent shoot

Yep, that's it for now.

Ohhhh... I've really been into Amos The Transparent lately... check them out!

Mooorreee pppeeeopppleeee.

2009-10-21T19:38:00.000-07:00

Hey! I edited some more photos.

They were both from the same day as the shot of Shamus and Danielle in my other posts.

Another one of Jaden.

Here's another of Danielle from the shoot. It's so genuine! ahah awesome.

Also, I was looking through my Deviant Art (a website that I love) and noticed my progression since I joined the website 3 years ago.

This is around when I started first becoming really interested in photography.

http://itsdylan.deviantart.com/gallery/#_featured--7

And this is todays page.

http://http://itsdylan.deviantart.com/gallery/

You can see the way I went almost 100% portraits. Kind of funny. I think my interest in people drives my loving for portraiture. I still feel that I should venture into some other areas. Possibly some still life and more environmental shots.

Hey, I haven't really posted any of my still life on here. Want to see one?

K, cool.

Bye!

Adventures.

2009-10-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

Nature adventures!

Okay. So me and one of my best pals Justin have a tendency of heading into the forest after a good night with friends. We wake up, chug some water, do our classic "recaps", than decide where we're going to "poke around" that day. Once we get there we usually start openly proclaiming how good of a day we're having and how it's "THE BEST WEEKEND EVER!".

Something about being out in nature and having no goals but well... walking farther in. Exploring! Feels great.

Basically i'll just tell about these adventures with pictures.

One of our first adventures was after a big night partying with friends. We woke up and decided that our destination for the day would be Gatineau Hills. I first found out about Gatineau Hills when I went on a field trip during first year of college. Such a beautiful place.

In this is my roomate Jaden, Beav, and Justin. Notice Justin's pose... you'll see it again hahahah.

Next adventure we went on was to camp fortune north of Ottawa to take mountain biking photos (See last blog update for photos). It was SO awesome! We ended up tailgating for a while here and there and just climbing the mountain watching the bikers rip down like it's their job. It was cool to be opened up to a whole new sports scene.

Here's a photo from on top of the mountain.

There's his pose again. Also in the image is two friends Harry and Beach. Beach is "pretending to chainsaw Harry".

Another popular place we like to go is Mac Johnson which is north of Brockville. Recently we woke up one morning and one of our first conversations was about how were were going to head to the beaver pond. I don't know why we chose that specific place that day but well... I like to think it was fate. When we arrived we found this little sign right beside the beaver pond.

After reading it Justin asks "What's the date today?". Yep, it was October 10th, 2009. That means the pond was made that exact day 93 years before. SO cool.

Here's a photo of the walkway over the beaver dam.

Yeah, cool.

The next day we decided to hit up Lyn Falls. Woo for waterfalls. At one point Justin and my other friend Mike decided they wanted to get to the other side of the waterfall. I thought this was a bad idea (especially with my bag and equipment) so I decided to stay on the safe sidel. Here's a little series of them getting over it. They could have been really hurt hahah.

Getting down to it...

Mike jumps and almost goes off the other side of the landing...

Justin jumps...

They make it... (notice the pose)

Yeah... their idiots.

So, here are just a few random other shots from Lyn Falls...

Yeah, we like to take some brews with us when we go.

The pose in the woods...

And I edited a version of that... his beard makes him look right at home in the woods...

And climbing falls...

Oh, waterfalls? Here's a nice picture of a waterfall..

Apparently I have a good time too...

Okay, that's all.

I encourage you all to go take a walk in the woods ASAP. It's getting winter! Go enjoy the weather before it gets too cold!

Bicycle sports.

2009-10-12T12:41:00.000-07:00

So, what's new?

I finished re-reading the last harry potter book? It was better the second time I read it. I'm SOOO amped for the movie to come out.

Okay, well I recently went to Camp Fortune with a few good friends to photograph some mountain biking. Saying that I bet you can guess what I'm about to post.

PHOTOS FROM THE DAY!

Big thanks to my friend JD for letting me borrow his camera for the day!!

If you like those photos you can go to my website www.dylanleeder.com than go to the people > Sports section and check out some more from the day! There's equally as awesome photos - some of other people and sports too!

I also changed the background photo of my website to the photo of Danielle. I think it may be the best background yet.

uhm... the video of the guys playing through the school was a big hit! Everyone seems to enjoy it. It makes me want to do more video. Hopefully expect another one in the next month. Probably something else that has to do with music.

Okay. Check this out. It's one of my favorite videos ever...

So yeah! Don't forget to check out the changes on my website! The new background and even more awesome biking photos under the sports section. www.dylanleeder.com

BYE!

2009-10-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

So... what's new?

I'm working at Blacks photography part-time now. It's interesting teaching old people about cameras. I met a really nice lady the other day and sat with her for an hour showing her the Nikon D5000. She was so excited about the "Macro setting".

I don't have too much to say.

This is a quick portrait I did of our friend Shamus. It was done right before I shot Danielle. He recently moved to Toronto - another reason I want to take a trip to Toronto.

Here he is.

[
By DylanLeeder

There should be an Image of Jaden with the same feel up soon.

Also, I did a video of him, Jaden and Thomas playing some music walking through Algonquin College. I've been getting more and more interested in video making. It isss moving pictures. hah

Check it out...

Uhmm... maybe i'll update again soon. ENJOY!

Photo-graphs?

2009-09-23T21:12:00.000-07:00

So, thanks for the feedback on the abs! The more I've looked at it the more I've noticed how the abs are very over done in that image of Adam. I've fixed the shot now. I must have been very tired when I posted that.

So, what's new? We recently got two new photographers in the studio! I'm excited to have them in the studio! I think with their addition the studio is going to head in a more professional manner. So yeah, welcome Alex (http://www.alexlukey.com/) and Christine!

I edited a few more photo's of Christine from our last shoot. I like the way they're similar.

Also, I recently shot a good friend Danielle in the studio. I was able to use Andrews newly purchased umbrella - it's super big so was able to produce a nice soft light! Also, Christine provided us with some nice black roll paper. I think shooting on black roll paper is my favorite.

Check the first edited shot... it's wide so you may have to stretch your browser. Or click it.

So, who want's to buy me a new camera?

Eh?

2009-09-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, quick update.

I recently edited a photo of Adam from our shoot a while back.

I edited more than I usually do but I think I like it. There's some things I don't know if i'm happy with it yet, tho. So... I thought I would set up a Before and After and show a few people to see what they think. I'm concerned about it.

I'm mostly concerned about two things:

- I don't know if I dodge and burned his abs too much or not.

- I don't know if I like the vignetting in the background. I feel it gives the image more edge - which I like. Buttt I don't know if I want to get into the habit of doing that to all my images.

I still don't know if i'll change it or not but i'm interested if there's any feedback? Maybe something else I could do with the background?

Here is the before and after.

Cooooool.

Guy And Girl Fashion.

2009-09-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

Blog.

It seems like it has been a busy last while.

I did a shoot with Adam recently. He's a model from Barrett Palmer (http://www.barrettpalmermodels.com/). It went really well! I don't usually shoot male models so it was cool to switch it up. He brought everything and did his hair himself so that was easy, and we enjoy the same music so we rocked out to breakdowns the whole time.

Here are his shots:

If you want to see before and after just ask me.

I also shot Chrissi. She contacted me over modelmayhem.com and asked to do a shoot with a local clothing artist. Everything ran smoothly and we were able to get a few outfits done in a minimal amount of time Although the shoot went well - it made me realize I need to practice more lighting schematics at the studio. Here are some photo's from that shoot. I didn't put my signature on the one with the yellow shirt because I felt it'd throw off the symmetry of the photo too much, just don't take it hah.

What else?

I updated my website! There's a photo from the shoot with sarah a while back as the background now. You guys can check that one out there.

http://www.dylanleeder.com

I also did a shoot with two of my good friends. They wanted to get some photo's for their myspace. We decided to just head over to the Algonquin garden area. Such a beautiful place. It'd be such a cool program to take.

Here is a shot from the shoot... but again, all the colors are off and it looks really dark. Full view the image at this link to see it correctly

http://itsdylan.deviantart.com/art/Jaden-and-Shamus-135708693.

Gah. I need a new camera. Damn money.

I also finished my first album for Baz. It was frustrating at times but I feel that after doing it more it'll become more of a second nature. I think it will be good practice for the design aspect of photography.

I wanted to mention a website. Ted.com. It's a website full of amazing speech's that cover a large variety of topics. I recently watched one on motivation - it was really interesting. There's also some speech's by photographers as well.

http://www.ted.com

Also here is the link to the speech on motivation:

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html

A few other photographers that are going to the same college I went to are putting on an exhibition called Face and Film. It should be interesting. The images are all shot on film so it'll be nice to be reintroduced to the beauty of film. So, if you're in the Ottawa area you should go check it out!

Okay, I think that's good for now.

You guys should check out the song Candy by Paolo Nutini and if you're into heavier stuff check out August Burns Red's new CD.

Have a good day!

It's late.

2009-08-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

Hello.

So, I am very tired so I don't know how much i'm going to put on this.
I
I recently started working for a photography named Baz. I am building digital photo albums of his wedding photo's and I'm pretty excited about this - I feel like it'll improve my wedding photo's as I will see a lot of wonderful examples. I'm happy to be working with such a talented photographer. You can check his stuff out at http://www.fiveriversstudio.com/.

Also, I recently uploaded my website. I'm really excited to have it finally up. I designed and built it myself. Took a long time and is not completely done yet - I feel like I'll be constantly working on it. But, that's okay with me. It will only get better. You can check it out at www.dylanleeder.com. I built the whole thing with Adobe Flash and tried to maintain a simple easy flowing design. Before I finished it I forgot how to use masks... which is frustrating because it would have made it a lot easier/smoother. Oh well. For anyone interested I decided to do a print screen of the building process.

And you can see the "after" at the actual link.

What else is new...

I shot a wedding on Saturday for Diane and Dustin. It went really well! The weather was perfect and the location was amazing. The ceremony was held at a beautiful home on the top of a hill overlooking the water. It was my first wedding I had an assistant for and everything ran very smoothly. I huge thanks to Jaden for sticking through the day with me - with no previous camera training or experience shooting such a large event he pulled it off very well! Thanks Jaden! Also, a huge thanks to Christian Mackie for allowing me to borrow his D300 and to Andrew Cottingham for letting me borrow his equipment as well! I'll have some photos from the day later this week.

Recently I also took some photo's for a family. They were all very nice and we got lucky with some nice weather and a very short distance from the river to take photo's.

Both the kids had a lot of energy and were really fun to work with! As you can see here:

For some reason the photo's look a bit darker/saturated on here. But you can get the general idea.

Also, I recently went and took photos of a few friends bands. All played well. The Roaring Frog is very dark so getting well lit pictures was kind of difficult. Lighting conditions such as this make me want a better camera so bad. I need a camera that produces little amount of noise in a high ISO.

Here are some examples:

... and more.

okay. Uhmm I probably have more so maybe i'll update again in the next few days.

Also, everyone should check out Said The Whale, Fever Ray, and August Burns Red. Check em out.

Have a good day.

First Personal Studio Shoot

2009-07-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

Last week I did a photo shoot with Sarah Sheldrick. It was pretty exciting to have finally done a shoot of my own in the studio. It inspired me to do more of them... more frequently.

You can check out her Model Mayhem at http://www.modelmayhem.com/sarahsheldrick.

...

So, this week has been a pretty stressful one. I recently had 300 dollars stolen from me (by someone I hope I don't trust). The most frustrating thing about it is that I finally felt like I was gaining some lead way in terms of supporting myself with my photography. This has set me back, it sucks.

Also, tomorrow I have an interview with a photographer that I hope to work with in the future. I'm pretty excited about this. He wanted some examples of my digital imaging so I made him some before and after examples. I think i'll post them on here for anyone that may be interested.

Picture time...

Here are the shots from the recent shoot I did in the studio. All images are saturated on here for some reason. So, you can also check them out at http://ItsDylan.deviantart.com - click them then full view them (by clicking the picture) to see the correct colors/saturation.

All images are shot in Studio 77.

2009-07-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

Uppddatteee

Where are we?

Okay, so nothing really exciting has happened in the area of photography.

I've been doing shoot's for Stock Foundry - today I did a shoot in the studio with a karate theme. It was pretty neat! The model worked really well for us and everything went smoothly.

And... I'm still trying to get my friggin website up. It's been overly frustrating. Once I think I have everything in order... it just doesn't work. So I call them, and now i'm waiting for a response. I'm about to give up on this company. Let it be known that I do not recommend Webserve to anyone as a web host.

Well, lately I went to Montreal with a few friends and climbed to the top of Mount Royal. Here are a few pictures of it.

And the cross at the top:

Also, I recently went and saw The National the same night as Kiss. Here are some photos from The National.

Alright. That's all I've got for now.

There's a cow in this one.

2009-07-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

Ah! It's been too long since I've done this!!

Well, what has happened.

We had our Studio opening! It went really well! A decent amount of people came out and had a grand ol' time! Drinks were had, people were met... and people were impressed :D. Pretty exciting.

Heres a picture later in the night when it started to become more of a party:

What else! Oh! I got my business cards! Except the host of my website has been screwing me around. It's been almost two weeks and they havn't given me a host! And i've called them 4 times - each time they say the next step will fix the problem. DOUBLE YOU TEE EFF.

I decided to go extremely simple with the design of the card. I used the Eurostile font. (which I use for most of my business stuff). I also chose to not put a picture on it because I get sick of my photo's really quick; so seeing the same one over and over would drive me insane and i'd be frustrated it's on there.

here they are:

... So I just got the website host. Now it's a matter of getting it online. It's more confusing than I thought it would be. I'm hoping I can get it up tomorrow night. I'm excited. I think this will be a good step in getting things going. Now my business cards will actually link to something. hah oh man.

Things seem to be getting more busy. I kind of like that. Bring it.

Some pictures.

I forgot to put my signature on them... but please don't take them.
©DylanLeeder2009

2009-06-16T10:56:00.001-07:00

BLLOOGGGEEERRR!!

Ah, i've been meaning to do this for a while now.

Lately I've just been trying to get shit together. I'm going for my first shoot with Stock Foundry Images today at 5:00. I'm excited to get the ball rolling. I'm hoping this job will have lot's of potential and it's seeming to look like it's going to.

Where am I going with this?

I think i'm going to try and get more structure in my life. Today I was contemplating getting up early every morning, go ride my little bike (Which i have named MJ) for an hour, get back and shower/eat and then continue my day by getting as much done possible. I want to start doing atleast 3 shoots a week - two for Stock Foundry and one for my personal portfolio. Should keep me busy.

I'm also beginning to get more clients for various jobs - which I am VERY thankful for. It's reassuring that I'm getting jobs and yet still don't have business cards or a website. Once I start getting money I will get those for sure. Well... definitely before the end of the month because Studio 77's grand opening is at the end of the month... need 'em for then.

Also, I wanted to share this story that I fell in love with and really touched my heart:

My parents divorced a bit more than a year ago and things are still trying to get settled. There is still stuff of my dads in my moms garage. So - being as curious as I am, I was in the garage simply looking around and I found a mixed tape. The mix tape had the songs and bands written with effort past just scribbling them down... and the tape was titled "Happy Birthday, tunes for a westbound trooper of adventure". So I continued to ask my mom the story behind it and this is it:

My dad once had a best friend named Morgan. Apparently they were the best of friends. I'm sure if you're reading this you can compare to a best friend of your own - the one your life wouldn't be the same without. This Morgan man apparently was a huge influence on my parents marriage and when I was born he gave me a tie dyed shirt. So cool. I've always had an interest in this man.

Morgan was also a "Dead head" meaning he used to tour around following the band The Grateful Dead (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadhead). I thought this was amazing for I have a huge interest and love of the 60's and 70's music culture. So, during his travels it is believed he was killed in Mexico.

People are skeptical of his death in that during that time the mexican police were known for pulling over people and robbing them. The police told the family/friends back home that he was killed in a car accident and that they found him on the side of the road. Apparently for some reason people are skeptical (I believe it's because there story was so unbelievable... for some reason) and they think that Morgan was killed by the mexican police. Nothing was ever really solved.

... so... this tape was a birthday gift for my dad from Morgan. For me the tape became almost magical. It represents to me a man that I have never known and always wanted to. A man that my dad was able to build a very strong friendship with, which I feel is particularly difficult for him. A man that lived a dream I would die to live. A man that lived a free spirited... a westbound trooper of adventure.

So, I HAD to listen to it. I've listened to it around four times since I found it on Saturday and I truly believe that I know more about this man based on the music I hear. I feel that it's the closest I will ever be to him, and the closest i'll ever get to knowing who he was. The music truly speaks.

Here is a picture of the tape:

Also, here are some images I took over the weekend. Nothing really interesting just the places I visited:

This is a Maggie style photo. hahah

Jaden in a tree!!

Waattteerrr

creepy.

ALSO REMEMBER YOU CAN CLICK THE PICTURES TO SEEM THEM BIGGER!! PLEASE DONT STEAL!! ALL © DYLAN LEEDER '09

2009-06-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

Upppdddaatttee!!

So, I got hired with Stock Foundry Images as a "Shoot Coordinator". Basically I just plan the shoots... conceptualize, find models, find locations, get everyone together... then the photographer shoots it. They were talking about getting me shooting quickly, tho. I'm happy about this I just hope it's enough money to live off of.

I'll hopefully have my website up by the end of this month. And business cards. Agh, money.

I recently edited another picture of a good friend, Sam.

I also posted it on my deviant art (http://ItsDylan.deviantart.com/art/Sam-3-125180810) and am frustrated in the fact that it's had the most views of any picture i've posted in the last three months. And, yet still has no comments or favorites; I don't care about getting them... it's just the fact that it's the most viewed because she's in her bra. I wish people would appreciate the photo and not take it as another photo to see a partly dressed girl in. It's art.

Annnywwayyss...

Uhmm... the studio is basically done!! Just have to put a few more pictures on the wall! It looks SO good! I just wanted to take a second to give a huge thanks to JD Wienecke and Andrew Cottingham for all the help and for the opportunity of opening a studio with them! I'm lucky to be working with such awesome dudes! We've decided to call it Studio 77 and it's located on Fifth St. just off the corner of Bank and Fifth; such an amazing location. We'll be having a grand opening for photographers/models/agents in the Ottawa photography field. That should be an interesting night!

Heres JD's website: http://jdwienecke.com
and
here's Andrews website: http://www.andrewcottingham.com/

anndd... here is a photo of the finished studio. Andrew took a full panorama. Look closely and you can see the photo meets on the left and right side of the photo. Complete 360 view!

(Click the photo to see it bigger)

2009-06-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

So, lately life has mostly been based on getting the studio together. It's it's in it's final stages now! We've painting most everything now and we're just getting the furniture and stuff together now. I'm getting more and more excited for it. I feel that once the studio is done my photography life is going to become more apparent. I'm kind of nervous to work another job because I want to give as much effort as I can into my photography. Buttttt - Need money. hahah Oh well.

So yeah, what else... I may be booking two more weddings this week. That's good. I'm so excited for the time where I can make enough money off of photography that I can just do it for the rest of my life. A life taking pictures, hell yeah.

Hah, all I can think to write about is the studio.

Alright, i'll just post some pictures now.

2009-05-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

Blog blog blog.

Things are starting to speed up when it comes to "Dylan Leeder Photography"... I may have to put it on a halt for a while until I make some more money tho. It's frustrating... "Spend money to make money". I just want to be able to do incredible shoots.

*sigh*

So, what have I been up to...

Spent a day on the St. Lawrence river (I'll add a few pictures at the end). Went and saw an amazing castle and such. I love the river.

Last night I had some sort of panic attack while watching UFC. It may have actually been too much. It bothered me seeing someone get knocked out.

What else... I don't know. Busy week ahead I think.

Time for pictures:

This shot was from me and my good friend Andrew Cottinghams shoot. We were just practicing with flashes and asked Deo to sit in. Randomly found it.

Andrew is also one of the guys opening the studio with me. Check out his work: http://www.andrewcottingham.com/

Please click on it to see a better version:

You can also see it here:

http://ItsDylan.deviantart.com/art/Deo-Silvederio-123626469

Here are some shots of where I spent today:

This is a castle we boated by... It was built by a man for his wife. The island is in the shape of a heart. The wife died so the building is unfinished. Beautiful story.

Really into Mad Caddies live cd.

Really liked the Star Trek movie.

I'm appreciating summer.

Life is going to get more intense quick.

Peace out friends!

2009-05-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

Yo!

Okay, so first off a bit about a recent world event...

They recently found a new fossil that apparently is the "missing link" in the evolution process. This means that there's even more evidence of the evolution theory... therefore making it even harder for me to understand how people can deny it. It's science man...

Here's a link to the story:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/05/090519-missing-link-found.html

Pretty damn cool.

So what has been up in my life?

I've finished the structure of my website and now it's just about adding photo's and finding a good host for it. Also, when I put my website online i'll be ordering my business cards. They're going to be pretty plain and simple; but it's what I want.

Also today I paid my first months rent and got my key for my studio. I'm pretty amped about it. We talked a lot about the interior and how we're going to make it. It's going to be all white with black furniture/tables. It's going to be classy. It's got a full bathroom, garage, kitchenette, and a high roof. Hell yeah. It's right off of bank street too! Such a good location.

Uhmm... I think that's all for now.

Have some pictures:

Here's a shot I took of Jaden yesterday:

2009-05-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

So... i've been meaning to do this for a while. I'm just curious as to how much I will actually update it. It's basically going to be about my life - mostly my photography.

Life's been pretty busy lately... got back from a trip to Toronto for the filming of the commercial of the international bicycle film festival. (http://bicyclefilmfestival.com/ the commercial should be up soon). The trip was good - partied, broke up a fight between a 60 year old and a 25 year old, bailed off my bike (I have named MJ) onto my face... and I actually ended up being one of the talents for the commercial. I was wearing a Y and an I - I believe.

What else... I shot a wedding on Saturday. The wedding went really well, everything ran smoothly and I got some nice photos.

Getting my business cards this week, job hunting, getting my website up... etc. Ride my little bike...

Whaaattt eelllseeee

That can be it for now. I'm watching a movie.

Goodnight.

I'm going to post some pictures each post.

Here you go:

2009-02-23T07:27:00.001-08:00