Cosbey Quintet Portraits - Trinity United Church

Over the years I have don’t so many family portrait sessions but my latest one with Michelle and her family was probably one of the most unique ones yet. Their family happens to be the Cosbey Quintet and they wanted formal (and casual) portraits of their entire group, which obviously consisted of 5 total people.

They decided to do the session at Trinity United Church which ended up being the perfect location. As much as I love photographing people, adding instruments into the mix, make it even more exciting. I have photographed a lot of bands before and local artists but I haven’t done too many formal portrait sessions with many so I was super excited for this one.

Luckily for me, Michelle and the rest of her family were great in front of the camera. We ended up getting a good mix of photos that they can eventually use for promotional purposes and their website. Hopefully some day in the near future I’m able to get out to one of their actual performances and capture them in action.

For anyone looking to find out more about the Cosbey Quintet, head on over to their Facebook Page.

Elliot Brood @ Crocks Thunder Bay

Last week I was happy to finally see Elliot Brood live at Crocks here in Thunder Bay. I had heard quite a few of their songs over the years so it was great to finally witness their music live. It was an intimate show at Crocks, and if I’m being honest, those are my favourite kind. I photographed the concert for the local newspaper The Walleye, so if you live in Thunder Bay, watch out for some of these photos in next months issue which should be out by next week.

Even though I was hired to capture the event, I made sure to also sit down for a while and enjoy it as well. It’s easy to just go go go when photographing but I’ve been trying to force myself to ‘take it all in’ as they say.

I have always preferred black and white for concert photography as I personally feel it has more emotion. At least for me. Thanks for viewing!

Hillsburn at the Foundry

In a spur of the moment kind of evening, Anne and I decided to check out a band coming through Thunder Bay called Hillsburn. While I was doing work earlier in the day I saw that the Foundry was hosting them so I checked out some of the music on YouTube and really liked some of their songs. So, once 10:00pm rolled around we headed out to go see them live.

The Foundry is always a great place to see live music, and surprisingly, it has been a while since I've seen a band there. So it was good to get out. Even though we couldn't stay long we still were able to see about 5 songs. All I can say is they sounded amazing. They had so much energy and you could really feel the emotion in their music. 

During their performance they even joked that most of the people in the crowd had never even heard about them but thanked everyone for coming out anyways. From what I can tell from the few songs we heard tonight, I'm confident they gained a few more fans. 

To learn more about this Canadian band check out their website and be sure to watch some of their videos or even grab some of their music. It's always great to learn about yet another awesome Canadian talent.

Hometown Hockey - Thunder Bay

What a great weekend it was here in Thunder Bay as our city played host to the Hometown Hockey event travelling across Canada. This was my first time attending this event, let along taking photos, and I was so excited to do so. The event took place this past Saturday and Sunday at the Thunder Bay Marina. I was able to make it down on the Saturday near the tail end of the day but I was still able to get some great photos of the last band of the day, which was Canada's own, Poor Young Things. 

Another first for me was seeing them perform live and they did an amazing job. Even though it was a cold evening, all the fans there were very supportive, and the fantastic music helped keep everyone moving. Another thing that took place during my time there was a rehearsal broadcast by Sportsbet with Wendel Clark and Thunder Bay native, Greg Johnson. After the Poor Young Things were done performing it was time for the fireworks. 

Wow, the fireworks. What more is there to say other than that they were simply awesome. From what I hear, they condensed about 20 minutes worth of fireworks into approximately 7 minutes. It  seemed like we had the best seats in the house because all we had to do was sit back on the bench and look up. The fireworks were literally right above us. And they just didn't stop. Overall, it was a very fun evening, even though we were only there for a couple hours. 

I planned on going for most of the day on Sunday but in the end I only managed to get to the event for about 1.5 hours. With that being said, I got some really good photos of the first band of the day. While they were playing another show took place called the Hockey Circus Show. It's a one man who put on by PAZ, who is is an award winning acrobat who has been in the Cirque du Soleil talent pool since 2003. He had the crowd cheering and laughing the whole time. 

After a few more photos, my day was done. I would have loved to see Coleman Hell perform but I'll have to catch him next time he passes through. From what I hear, the rest of the event just got better and better and by the end of the night, it was a crowded house rocking into the cold winter evening. I can't wait until Hometown Hockey comes to Thunder Bay again as it was such a wonderful family experience.