First Personal Studio Shoot

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.

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.

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

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

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)

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.

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!