“So Whatcha Been Up To?” – Summer Photography Update 2010

Static Photography has been very busy these past summer months. Every day is a constant hustle at our studio in Vancouver, BC but we get shoot some really awesome gigs. Photographer Kris Krug has the ability to transform his photography and capture vital elements within vastly different experiences, from photojournalism to weddings, from flowers to live concerts. Here is a photo recap of some of the highlights that have come along our way in Summer 2010.

In April the team at Static Photography had the opportunity to head down to Bolivia to document the World People’s Conference on Climate Change. This revolutionary conference was spearhead by Bolivian President Evo Morales after the astonishing let down of th United Nations Conference on Climate Change, otherwise known as COP15, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Over 15,000 people gathered in Bolivia to create a documents around the rights of Mother Earth and systemic effects with action based policies around the global issue of climate change.

While in Bolivia, photographer Kris Krug and studio manager Danielle Sipple stayed an extra week to check out the world’s largest salt desert in southern Bolivia named the Salar de Uyuni, this 10,500 km sq. salt desert is a surreal sight of nature. Bright sunsets, empty island full of cactus, and white crystal salt as far as the eye can see, are just some of the breath-taking elements that make up this sacred space.

Vancouver-based ION Magazine is a culture, music and fashion print publication that taps into the vein of the newest and brightest. Photographer Kris Krug has been shooting photos for them since they started printing. One of their spring issues showcased three Vancouver bands, Petroleum By-Products, Junior Major and the Sun Wizards. Each band was colorful, bright and was featured in the same studios that they make music in.

Getting a bunch of geeks together and throwing them on a plane for a technology/internet tour through Asia? Why that must be the official Asia tour of Geeks on a Plane, otherwise known as GOAP. This sensational event has been going steady strong for the last year and half, with tours through Asia, Europe and Hawaii. Kris has be en on most of the tours and joined the geek patrol for a five city, four country whirlwind explosion of geekery, technology and friends.

Vancouver is very lucky to have some of the best original cuisine in all of British Columbia, with some of it being literally right around the corner from the Static Photography studio in Gastown. Such is that with the vegan-friendly Lebanese restaurant Nuba. There location in Gastown is one of three in the city, and they are continuing to expand. Yumminess!

The yearly Vancouver blogging geek conference Northern Voice was pushed back to later in the year due to the untimeliness of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. Yet this year’s conference was far bigger than previous years and attended by all the likely Vancouver geeks. Kris presented Photocamp, an afternoon workshops on photography related topics, as well as an overview of new media journalism from the Olympic Games. Danielle presented a panel around sexuality and technology, as related to the blogosphere.

Geek love was all around the city of Vancouver in June. Just shortly after Northern Voice, Wordcamp Vancouver was held for all the WordPress loving bloggers in the city. This full day event was full of all the tips and tricks from seasoned bloggers. The most notable presentation was by Static Photography’s good friend Dave Olson. Presented in the theatrical story-telling fashion, Dave’s talk gave insight to what he had learned from his journeys in life and how that has applied to his blog’s digital presentation. Dave is a masterful storyteller with one of his best presentations being his ‘Fuck Stats, Make Art‘ discussion at 2009 SXSW Festival.

When the Deepwater Horizon oil well sprang a leak this year, the world suddenly had all of its eyes and ears on the news that was coming out of the Gulf Coast. A few geeks came together and organized a TEDx event around the crisis in the gulf, called TEDx Oil Spill which was held in Washington, DC. A TEDx Oil Spill expedition team was pulled together to gather media for the DC event. Kris Krug and Danielle Sipple were part of the team that spent five days on the Gulf Coast documenting the community, culture and wildlife that was being affected by this disaster. Static Photography published multiple photo essays that were picked up by other media outlets including National Geographic and TED.

Poptech is a conference that happens every year in Camden, ME that showcases some of the best and brightest in the communities of innovation, social change and world leadership. Kris has been the official photographer of this event for the last few years. The conference has started to expand into smaller salon events that will take place throughout the year, around the US. Kris had the chance to photograph their salon titled ‘Science, Living Systems and the Edge of Change‘ which took place in Washington, DC in June.

In July Kris had the opportunity to photograph the musical artist Matisyahu at his most recent show in Vancouver, BC. This is the third time that Matisyahu has performed in Vancouver, the last two times being at the Commodore and at Livecity Yaletown for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Matisyahu is an amazing vocalist who specializes in reggae/hip-hop who had one of his songs chosen as an official 2010 Vancouver Olympic song.

Back to back shows in July, Kris also had the opportunity to photograph South African musical group Die Antwoord. Defined as a ‘zef-sound’ rap group, Die Antwoord is a mixture of dirty beats and unmistakable lyrics. It is always great to photography live shows where the energy of the artists’ onstage is unmistakable. Photos from this show were featured in ION magazine this month.

Toronto is a great city all around, whether it is a professional or personal visit. Photographer Kris Krug had the chance to spend some time out there while shooting some photos for Anthony Williams and Don Tapscott for their new book MACRO Wikinomics. This book is a feature followup to their book Wikinomics and addresses world crisis from a practical business point of view.

Collaborating with other artists is a great way to expand your creative perspective. It is also a great way to have alot of fun! Kris had the chance to photo-assist and second shoot a creative for Toronto-based photographer Maxwell Lander. Max’ style and aesthetic is very particular and extremely detailed, so it was bound to be a lot of fun with a bunch of models’ dressed as sailors. The sunset was a perfect backdrop.

Each event has its own special energy that must be captured in the resulting photos. Weddings tend to be laced with the high intense energy of passion, family and celebration. It is a rarity for Static Photography to have the opportunity to document a couple’s special day but when we do, it is always a fun-filled event. Photographer Kris Krug had the pleasure of documenting the rock n’ roll styles of Dean Hudson and Lauren Ray‘s ceremony on the beautiful Whidbey Island, WA.

While documenting the wonderful nuptials of Dean Hudson and Lauren Ray, Static Photography had the chance to convene with nature at the wonderful Fireseed Catering on Whidbey Island in the state of Washington. Fireseed hosts an extensive flower garden that was in full bloom during this rock n’ roll wedding. Photographer Kris Krug had the chance to do some macrophotography and capture the essence of these beautiful flowers.

Professional portraits can be used for a variety of things. Sometimes someone needs a new headshot for film/tv or they simply need to update their personal website. Whatever the situation, Kris has the ability to capture a quality essence in people that makes their photos spark. In July Static Photography shot some new head shots for Maria, a young Vancouver actress. The neighborhood of Gastown was the perfect backdrop for this photo session.

A slightly different type of photo shoot, Static Photography also had the chance to work with local Vancouver radio station CKNW to shoot new head shots for all of the online hosts/personalities. This photo shoot spanned a couple of days and including over 20 different hosts. Each of them had a very dynamic visual persona which created excellent portraits. Though not used to being in front of the camera, each host was personable and worked well with the downtown Vancouver backdrop.

For the past two decades a summer staple in Vancouver has been the Under the Volcano festival. This day long event is a mixture of activism, music and community all spun together into a family atmosphere in North Vancouver. This year was its last year of festivities but all the attendees were in high spirits. Kris checked out the scene and snapped some photos of the Carla Bergman and Sylvia from the Purple Thistle.

Reel Youth is an international organization that facilitates claymation and filmmaking workshops for youth. Kris had the opportunity to accompany Mark Vonesch from Reel Youth on a three day film-making workshop in Terrace, BC. Reelyouth workshops are focused around issues that the youth want to give a voice to and range from personal, to environmental to social. One of the main issues in Terrace is the creation of an oil pipeline that would connect all the way to the Alberta Tar Sands, which was a huge influence to the three films that were made that week.

Freshmedia is an organizational event in Vancouver that brings together engaging speakers with delectable topics to share with new media audiences in the city. They just started up their new series called Remixology which had its debut in August with Kris Krug speaking about the possibility of collaboration between old media makers and new media makers. Kris spoke about his experiences in the Gulf Coast as well as its close ties to the work he did with Reelyouth in Terrace, BC. Overall, the night was a stellar success and a great final chapter to the many months of work that had just happened.

During the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics the city of Vancouver had some major changes applied to its landscape in anticipation of the large event. Some of these changes included the destruction of long-standing cultural pieces in the inner city. Unfortunately an art mural that spanned a block and half of Beatty Street in the downtown core was destroyed. This mural has been in the process of being repainted and reclaimed as a cultural presence. Photographer Kris Krug has been documenting the process of the reclaiming of this mural space by Vancouver artists, starting with the cover of the Georgia Strait and lately, with the actual re-painting of the mural.

So we have been super busy this summer of 2010 but the warm months have well worth the work. Keep Static Photography in mind for any of your upcoming creative photography projects and make sure to check out Kris Krüg’s flickr photostream and this website for more photography updates.Â

 

For more photos:

Music Photography

Portrait Photography

Event Photography

Wedding Photography