Empirical Photographic Arts

D’Arcy and I headed over to the Kneale family home on Christmas Eve for a few family portraits. The holidays are always a great time for this as family members quite often travel from different areas to be together. Thanks to the Kneale family for a great start to the holidays, cheers and happy New Year!

Have a look at this face and remember it! Brandon is on his way to becoming famous and we are happy to hear that our images helped give this young artist a breakthrough into the tv/movie scene. He has built himself quite the resume, congratulations Brandon. Looking forward to the next shoot.

So as I am enjoying a quiet night and browsing through some images from the year and have realized that there is soooo much we haven’t blogged about. I hate new years resolutions so let’s just say I will try my best from now on to showcase more of our work.

Below are a few images I did a while back for Anthony Concrete Design. They are amazing concrete artists, you will definitely have to check out their website. Interior photography work has allowed us to see so many gorgeous and different places.

  Steve Strongman, Belting out his tunes at the Jason Gibson thank a client gala!

 
HAMILTON MUSIC AWARDS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED!!
Steve Strongman leads the list of Hamilton Music Awards nominees with FIVE nominations in major categories.  They are Record of the Year, Male artist of the Year, Guitarist of the Year, Blues Recording of the Year, and Male Vocalist of the Year.

To see Steve live visit his website here.

Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done. Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you. You’re better than that!”
- Movie Quote from ‘Rocky Balboa’

Now go get’m tiger!

We photographed this guys wedding a while back, before the fallout  of coarse. Now, it’s taking what you can get and dealing with it. I will keep his identity secret for know…the living dead seem to have memories. I’m not taking any chances.

At Pointe du Hoc (sometimes erroneously known as Pointe du Hoe following a typographical error by an American military cartographer^[1][2]) the Germans had built, as part of the Atlantic Wall, six casemates to house a battery of captured French 155mm guns. With Pointe Du Hoc situated between Utah Beach to the west and Omaha Beach to the east, these guns threatened Allied landings on both beaches, risking heavy casualties in the landing forces. Although there were several bombardments from the air and by naval guns, intelligence reports assumed that the fortifications were too strong, and would also require attack by ground forces. The U.S. 2nd Ranger Battalion was therefore given the task of destroying the strongpoint early on D-Day.

Prior to the attack, the guns were moved approximately 1 mile away; however, the concrete fortifications were intact, and would still present a major threat to the landings if they were occupied by artillery forward observers. The Ranger Battalion commanders and executive officers knew the guns had moved, but the rest of the Rangers were not informed prior to the attack.^[3] The popular perception that the guns were “missing” on D-Day may be attributed to this decision not to inform the troops prior to the attack.

I myself spent 9 years in the army and could not imagine what our troops have been through or are going through. Thank-you all. D

I have had the pleasure of photographing Lindsay and Jack’s children over the last couple years so it’s neat looking through old shots and seeing how they have changed. Lindsay and I go back a ways and after our little stint in the WNBA it is great to see her again back in our home town again, lol! This last Ronson family shoot I got to meet the rest of the gang….dogs included. We got lucky with the weather and had a great shoot at Mohawk Park in Brantford Ontario.

I’m including a couple shots from our first session together….the one and only time Talia was ready and willing to be photographed.  We’ll get you yet Talia!

 Our busiest year yet, but I still found the chance to take a weekend off last month and drove around Muskoka with my good friend Dan of DEW Imagery. It was the only weekend off this year (since spring). We have some big plans for the winter (photographically) so please check back.  This particular image was shot from the side of the road somewhere in Muskoka on a Canon g10 and is part of the Canon g10 art project. It’s not the gear, it’s the talent!

Last nights fundraising event at Rossini Lodge for the Aquila Earthquake Relief Fund – Brant was a huge success. Over two hundred people showed up to enjoy a night of great food, drinks, music, and dancing. I had the pleasure of photographing each and every one of these generous people and as a thank you from the committee they all received a print to take home with them. Without the great support of these people there would be no fundraising effort. The chairman of the committee, Edoardo Pace, put on a night to be remembered with food by Jason Gibson, Martini Bar by Uptown Catering, and music by the Pino Cea Band.

Once again, a huge thank you to all who came and who have supported this cause. Below is a slideshow of the images from last nights event. Please be patient while it loads. Prints may be ordered from this event and all profits will go to the Aquila Relief Fund – Brant.

To view the images click on the thumbnail icon in the lower right hand corner.

  Once and a while, Ang and I like to do some Urban Exploration. This image was made in the old MasseyFurgusson Plant and made with a Canon G10. To view more images made with this camera go here.

It’s always great when you get a chance to see old friends as was the case at Mark and Krystina’s wedding. It was a nice surprise upon arrival at La Bella Donna hair salon to see some friends from school…..you know, from a whole 5 years ago, right, yeah that’s it! Krystina was quick to point out that they were up for anything…always a dangerous thing to say to a photographer! So without getting too crazy we took them to a wild little spot that we had found earlier this year.  If you’re planning your wedding keep in mind that if you leave extra time for photography you get the chance to explore different locations. It really does make for a great mix.

Thanks guys, it was a great day. Hope you had fun in Greece!

Had a lot of fun with these two. Have fun in Hawaii!

Yet again the rain broke and the skies cooperated with us for Sean and Nicoles wedding in August. Growing up on a farm I have a little soft spot for farm weddings! What better background than old barns, tractors, and hilly side roads. The old cars were an awesome touch guys. Nicole’s dad actually picked up her mom for their first date in the GTO below, how cool is that!

Just a little something I picked-up at the super market!

The Celeriac was photographed by D’Arcy  with a Hasselblad on ilford film…D’Arcys’ flickr  photostream can be viewed here!

While he was bound we fed him his medication…the fixation with what might possibly be the greatest Christmas album of all time slowly subsided.

Mark Ridout was photographed by D’Arcy McNeil of empiricalphotographicarts.com for His personal g10 art project. http://g10art.wordpress.com/  this image can also be viewed on D’arcys’ flickr page. No photographers were injured, only slightly abused in this blog entry.

The best damn Chef around and a personal friend! We work together this weekend at the same wedding. You will see more! And Hopefully Ang and I come back with a lot of toothpicks in our Pockets!  Visit his Website here!

Ang and I had a great time with some very cool people this past Saturday! Joni and Mike got themselves hitched at the Caledonia Presbyterian church. We had a wee bit of rain(it’s only rain if the cameras have to come in) Everyone was a trooper! We did a little work at the Caledonia train station and later on at the abandoned mill. We did have one more stop that was a first for us. Miller Funeral Chapel Ltd‎  in Caledonia is apparently the new “in” spot for discerning Brides and Grooms. Just for you hunters out there, they do have a camouflage casket available…now you know! We rounded off the night with the stellar service of Carmens, always a good time there!

We go out sometimes and find some rather interesting places. All in a good Sundays drive.

This is don and Tara…they are cool! We had so much fun at this wedding it would be rude to tell you about it! Thanks guys for being patient with us.  You will see more of these guys soon.

We met up with Nicole and Sean at their new house to start off their engagement shoot. An amazing, beautiful old house with lots of character and love put into it. It even comes with a cute Italian neighbour that gives out flowers! Our session ventured into downtown Hamilton, Dundas Conservation Area, and finished off at Nicoles family farm where the wedding will take place on August 29, 2009. Thanks for the panini guys! Looking forward to the wedding.

Click Play below to view a slideshow of Nicole and Sean’s engagement shoot. Be patient…it’s worth it!

This is part of a new project…the g10art project!  You see, I bought me a new camera and this is the story!  We traveled to Buffalo a week ago for a little  “urban infiltration” and I shot the whole day on the “small camera”  A  Canon powershot g10. I love it and with it’s help have spawned a new blog dedicated to this “small camera”. www.g10art.wordpress.com  Feel free to leeave any comments and the updates will be frequent! I want to touch it now!

Anne and Jordan were married on June 13, 2009 at the Hamilton Art Gallery. We had an awesome, hot spring day for an outdoor wedding. Anne and Jordan chose to go to Whitehern Museum for photographs, a beautiful old estate located in downtown Hamilton. The reception was absolutely gorgeous and the music rocked!
Congratulations guys! It was a wonderful day and it was great to see some old class mates too!

Lisa and Murray tied the knot at the Best Western Beacon in St.Catherines, Ontario on June 6, 2009. The spring rain took a break and we had a spectacular day for an outdoor wedding. Here are a few images from the day, stay tuned for a complete show coming soon.
Congratulations guys!

We met with Prisilla and Marco in Hamilton, Ontario for their engagement shoot last week. This camera shy couple (ha!) met us at Dundurn Castle to start off an amazing shoot. It quickly became apparent that Marco looooves the camera and Prisilla is no nubie either.
We then scoured around town looking for some grafitti, we didn’t have to go very far! Grafitti seems to be hot this year so I think D’Arcy and I will buy some spray paint this week and go nuts! Press play below to see them in action…enjoy.