Thunder Pride 2019 + Pride Parade

The final day of Thunder Pride 2019 finished with a parade. Oh what a parade it was. My wife Anne and I arrived about 15 minutes before it was to begin at Waverley Park. We walked up Algoma to the base of the hill and by the time we got there it was just starting. Last years parade actually went through downtown. I don’t know if it was because it was a different route but it seemed twice as big this year. We were simply amazed by the amount of people participating in the parade.

A shout out should also go to all the awesome spectators who lined the street and cheered everyone on. It was a photographers paradise with all the people and colours and energy. I think I took over 1000 photos in the span of 45 minutes. The ones below are what I narrowed them down to. The best of the best.

I’m already looking forward to next years Pride. Until then ….

Loud + Proud Pride After Party - Black Pirates Pub

Thunder Pride 2019 wrapped up today with the parade, which I will be posting very soon. Before that, Black Pirates Pub played host to the Loud and Proud Pride After Party which had an amazing drag show. I made sure I got right up against the stage and braced myself for what was to come. The bar was packed and the crowd was so energized. All the performers did an amazing job, and being that close, you could really feel the energy. It was great to see so much support from everyone there.

You can check out some of the highlights below if you dare!

Davinci Cruise Night

Anyone who reads my blog posts, knows that I try and get out and photograph some of the vintage car shows throughout summer and fall. I was just out at the Kakabeka Car Show a few weeks back it was my first one of the year. Surprisingly, I had never made it out to the Davinci Nights weekly car show before. I know it has been going on each year for quite some time. Well, I finally got the chance to check it out and I’m glad I did. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot and even some I had never seen before. It was also a nice cloudy, almost gloomy day, so the lighting was perfect.

I spend about 40 minutes walking around slowly and just admiring the cars and capturing all the details that caught my eye. That was until the rain started coming down. My gears is waterproof so I wasn’t too worried, but cars started leaving so I figured it was time to head out. Plus, there will be many more shows to come in the following months.

Check out some of the photos I captured below!

Lakehead University - Indigenous Alumni Speaker Series

The Office of Aboriginal Initiatives at Lakehead University hosted a 2019 Indigenous Alumni Speaker Series on Wednesday, June 12th in the John. N. Paterson Auditorium at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law (PACI).

Ms. Sherry Abotossaway was the Keynote Speaker. She shared her story as a recent graduate from the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University. It was such a fun event to capture and it was also great to see such a good turnout.

Below are some highlights from the event!

Waverley Hill Soap Box Races - George Jeffrey Foundation

I only made it out to about 10 minutes of the races this year but I did want to share a small selection of photos I managed to capture. Hopefully next year I’ll have more time to get out and cover this awesome event!

Kite Festival 2019 - Chippewa Park

Now that it’s summer, there are all kinds of events throughout the city. One of my favourites to go to has to be the Kite Festival out at Chippewa Park. It’s an annual event, where vendors show up, kites are flown and great times are had on the amusement rides at the park. Not to mention there are a host of other activities that take place during the day. The best part for me simply all the people.

Me, my wife Anne, our son Noah and his girlfriend Baylee made the trek out to the festival this year and we weren’t disappointed. The weather was great and there were indeed ton of people out there. We even managed to hop on the bumper cars at one point. I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard. It was so much fun. Of course I brought my camera with me and captured as much of the event as I could.

You can view some of the highlights below. If you missed out this year, be sure to check it out next year if you can!

Baby Shower for Gabriel

As a present to Jamie and Cory, who are family, I took photos for their baby shower for Gabriel. It took place at the Northend Recreation Centre and it ended up being the perfect location. Apparently, the centre double booked which meant Jamie had to have the shower outside, which was perfect. There was great lighting, the kids had more room to run around, and I got lots of great shots at the playground as well.

Anytime I get the chance to take photos of family I get super excited. Of course, when kids are involved, that makes it even better! You can view all the photos from the shower below!

Thunder Pride 2019 – Flag Raising & Media Event

Today marked the first day of Thunder Pride 2019. To open the event there was a Flag Raising and Media Launch down at City Hall here in Thunder Bay. Mayor Bill Mauro, Chief Peter Collins and Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler helped raise the flag with members of Thunder Pride, and June 5-16 will be proclaimed as Pride Week in Thunder Bay.

I was there to capture the event and it was hard to come away with good photos. It was awesome seeing such an amazing turnout and so much community support. The hardest part for me is trying to make it out to all the wonderful events planned. Make sure you stay tuned to this blog for new posts!

2019 Lakehead University Convocation Ceremony

Lakehead University Aboriginal Cultural & Support Services hired me to photograph today’s Lakehead University Convocation Ceremony and I had a blast doing so. It’s hard not to come away with great photos in such a joyous atmosphere. I’m right at home at these types of events because they are lot like weddings. I thoroughly enjoy capturing candid moments and that is exactly what I did.

There were to sessions today and I was able to make it to both of them. I don’t know the exact number, but there were so many happy graduates, and it shows through in some of the highlights below. For anyone interested in learning more about Lakehead University or this years graduation click on the following link.

Congratulations to all of this years graduates!

Classic Car Country Cruiser Night - Kakabeka Falls

This won’t be a long write up by any means, I simply wanted to share some photos from the first Classic Car show of the year in Kakabeka Falls. I love classic cars. One day I hope to own one. Until then, I will continue to photograph them and live vicariously through their owners. There are quite a few more shows coming up this summer and I’m very much looking forward to photographing some of them if I’m available.

For this show in particular, a lot of cars showed up which is always awesome. It also meant that I couldn’t always get a clean photo of a single car without something else in the frame. What I did instead for a lot of the photos, and something I do anyways, was focus more on the finer details of each car. I got in close and peered into the inside as well to see what caught my eye. Stay tuned for future posts covering other events throughout the summer. When I have more time, I’m going to try my best to do some video as well.

K.I.H.S. Graduation Ceremony 2019 - Valhalla Inn

This was my third year photographing the Keewaytinook Internet Highschool (K.I.H.S) Graduation. It’s always such an amazing and rewarding experience. Each year I have photographed the event, the number has graduates has gone up. This years event was no exception, with a graduating class of 32. Just like last year, Valhalla Inn played host to the graduation.

As soon as I arrived I worked with the organizers to get all the graduates outside for their formal portraits. It actually went pretty smoothly seeing as how last year we tried it at the end of the event and it was definitely a lot harder. I also managed to get some create candids outside and of course some family and friends photos too.

Once we were done outside, the rest of the evening was spent inside in the ballroom. There was of course a delicious 4 course meal, a couple presentations and even some live entertainment. The evening went by extremely quick for me, but I still came away with a lot of great photos. It helped that everyone was super excited and happy to be there.

For those of you who would like to learn more about what K.I.H.S does, I encourage you to visit their website. I’m already looking forward to next years graduation. I heard that there are going to be even more graduates than 2019!

Lakehead University - Material Witness - The Outpost

The Office Of Aboriginal Initiatives hosted a special production of “Material Witness this evening at the Lakehead University Outpost. I was lucky enough to photograph some of it.

Material Witness was inspired by Spiderwoman Theater's 1976 production of Women in Violence. Irreverent, sometimes surprising, the show is rooted in powerful storytelling, with a twist of humor and an uplifting musical beat. It is a multigenerational exploration of violence, healing and renewal in the lives of Indigenous women in urban and rural communities on Turtle Island.

I actually don’t do a lot of theatre photography these days but that isn’t because I don’t enjoy it. I just haven’t had many opportunities to do so. It can be a bit challenging being restricted to the sides of the stage but I think I came away with a few good ones. It also helped that it was an amazing production to capture.

Hopefully I’ll get a chance to photograph a few more performances this summer and fall. Check out some of the highlights from the show below!