Photographer Alec Watson's Blog

In the Rain

2011-07-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

I had my good friend Jay, ride his new Harley to Seattle. Apart from being boys on bikes all weekend we decided to do a shoot and try out my new Innovatronix battery pack on my Profoto D1's. I had to put the D1's in garbage bags (likely not recommended by Profoto), but they were loose large bags with plenty of air and rather than travel any distance, we went across the road from my building in Belltown to shoot against an awesome Graffiti wall. The little Innovatronix pack worked awesome. In total, I shoot around 150 shots, most of the time with two lights. One at nearly full power and the other very low. It won't run the 2 lights at full, but after this success I will definitely order another pack.

Here are a couple of the results. I posted the images in HD to my website: Alecwatson.com

Spring has Sprung

2011-05-19T14:37:00.000-07:00

Just an amazing day in Seattle today. I met a great friend for lunch and was inspired to shoot Pioneer Square. Pioneer Square is Seattle's Oldest Neighbourhood - the buildings date back to the 1890's. With the old trees, and old bricks it's a great place to shoot infrareds.

Here's a couple of highlights from today.

Breaking the Rules

2011-04-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

I often get to shoot AMAZING expensive homes for magazines like Homes and Living Victoria or Western Living. When I arrive at these shots, I have already looked at Google Earth to see what I am facing. I know the time of day I want to shoot each room and I basically plan every angle to make the most of my light hours.

Today, on a visit to Chapalla Mexico to visit my parents, I came across a wonderfully inviting little coffee shop. It was mid-day, there were harsh shadows, and because of this I wasn't even going to shoot the little place. ....Having my camera on me, I figure, what the heck, my eye is likes it.

This little venture reminded me about how, as I became a better photographer and started to forget about the "rules" - responding to what my eye saw, my photos had a much better "feel." For me, this picture shows a wonderfully inviting little place, even though there are wires hanging out, pipes all over the place, broken concrete and harsh shadows. There is also a wonderful pride shown in the plants and signs of what would be an otherwise dilapidated building.

When I look at this place, whether in Colour or BW - I see love. As a view, I can feel things, and those feelings can be at any time of day and break all the rules of staging, lighting and control.

Beautiful December

2010-12-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

...you eventually get used to the idea that it is going to be dark and grey all winter when you live in the North West. I woke up this morning and it seemed like the sky was an odd colour - it was going to be blue! An outstanding day for infrared photos. I currently have a friend's 16-35 2.8 so it seemed like a good time to try it out agains my go-to 17mm Tilt Shift. ....Well I got some great shots with it, and really liked it, but wow do you get used to having sharp corners when you shoot with primes.

Here is my favourite photo of the day shot in Gas Works Park Seattle.

You can find lots more Seattle infrareds on my website.

www.alecwatson.com

Pioneer Square Seattle

2010-11-25T12:40:00.000-08:00

..I'd heard of Pioneer Square... I Didn't know it had anything to do with this beautiful Cast Iron Pergola on 1st. Built in 1909 as a shelter for travellers waiting for a street car for the World's Fair, it's a reminder for me of how things used to be done-let's get back to doing things right.

I shot this on my newly converted Infrared Canon 5d with a tilt-shift 17mm Lens. I kind of wish I hadn't corrected optically so hard as the distortion on some of the metal work in the bottom corners is getting very heavy; that said, I shot it that way to catch the scope of the structure while keeping the way the sun was streaming through the glass as accurate to what I was seeing.

It was a beautiful fall day.

To check out more infrareds, go to my website:

www.alecwatson.com

winter-experience_hd_sig.jpg

2010-11-24T14:50:00.005-08:00

The record breaking cold snap in Seattle, left amazing photo ops when then sun came out. Leaves still left on trees and snow on the ground.

snakes-and-ladders-hd.jpg

2010-06-20T18:53:00.001-07:00

Had an amaziing social and shoot day in Victoria yesterday. Have a couple of amazing images from the relaxing day in the sun. I LOVE this one!
copyright Alec Watson www.alecwatson.com

"laser"

2010-05-26T11:50:00.001-07:00

I want one! This is the laser cutter at Wilkinson steel in Edmonton....you can cut 3/4" steel with a nice edge with light! WTF!

Golden Gate IR

2010-05-25T18:45:00.001-07:00

I can't take full credit for the angle of this shot. Suzanne Teresa www.suzanneteresa.com shot this same shot of the Lions Gate...I loved it so I ripped it off at Sunrise from the top deck of a cruise ship on my birthday. Happy Birthday!

perfect balls

2010-05-25T17:38:00.003-07:00

....things u don't expect to see when u google your name....
What they are saying about Alec Watsons balls:
the most perfect balls made!
once tried always used!
....who am I to disagree?

chain textures

2010-05-24T13:08:00.001-07:00

shooting at wilkinson steel... so many great shapes and textures

Yowtv Cabo Nadia and Dana Bruna - Glamour photographer Suzanne Teresa

2009-03-26T07:59:00.001-07:00

We've just arrived back from some fantastic travel shoots! Suzanne and I just got back from shoots that took us to L.A., Cabos, and San Francisco. We shot most of it and video'd in hd for Yowtv. Here's a teaser of our shoot with Nadia and Dana Bruna in Cabo San Lucas. Nadia and Dana are twins, originally from Argentina. They have become fast friends of ours - they are beautiful and tons of fun!

2009-03-03T14:24:00.000-08:00

. . . running behind!!! We just got to L.A. and are going to be shooting up a storm this week . . . however! Last week we spent a great day at Bryan Adam's studio "the Warehouse" putting together new promo for Artist Eliza Smith- Wendy Cook showed up with tons of fantastic clothing, Natalie Wong did some awesome makeup , Edwin Johnston flew over to do hair, I, Alec Watson juggled with the lighting and daylight setups as the light changed every 2 minutes and , Suzanne Teresa, got to shoot a great model!
We caught up with Producer/engineer Mike Fraser, who is riding high on his success with the latest AC/DC record and hung out with Winnipeg Band Quinzy being recorded by Spirit of the West member and Producer Vince Ditrich.
It was a LONG day - but it was fun!!!

Pacific Shores takes delivery of art

2008-10-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

In other news, Pacific Shores, just took delivery of the largest canvas piece of artwork I have ever done - 4x9 ft. It's a panoramic shot of the light streaming on on a sunny (and foggy day) at Cathedral Grove. I'll have pictures to follow; it is currently featured as the backdrop to the front desk at the checkin.

I meant to get pictures of me with it before delivery - you'd think we would be able to find a camera!

You can see a much higher res version on Alecwatson.com in the landscape section. I shot it on one of the first days that I had my new Hasselblad H3D 39. It is a vertical stitch of 6 shots - there is a LOT of resolution! The file is about 700 megs.

Moraine Lake

2008-10-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

Suzanne (Photographer Suzanne Teresa) and I travel a Lot, but, of course, most of that travel has to do with commercial clients; I always try to take some time out at these destinations and take some pictures for me. We recently returned from Lake Louise, actually it was Moraine Lake that I shot; I have ALWAYS wanted to go there. We spent an entire afternoon on a fantastic sunny fall day at the top of the moraine, waiting for the the light to be just right. LOL - it never did get just right - I was waiting to sunset to sweep the sun around and light the mountains . . . now I know why no one has ever taken that picture - it just doesn't quite scoot far enough - TOO BAD! Anyway, I have posted some of my favourite shots on the infrared section of alecwatson.com. You can see this one in much higher res there.

Alecwatson.com is up!

2008-10-21T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well it sure took long enough! . . . I guess that's the down side of being the tech. First comes computer maintenance, but since stphotoworks.com changed ALL computers over to new Macs, there has been a LOT less tech to deal with . . . it's okay, Microsoft isn't a client.

I have finally posted the mkI version of Alecwatson.com.

It's a little in consistent still, but it sure is nice to see my work on monitors at a little higher res, than 800x600 - no one actually uses dial-up anymore do they?

Over the next while, between shooting, maintaining Suzanneteresa.com . . . or maybe I should say teaching Suzanne to run Suzanneteresa.com and all the post work that goes on around here, I am going to do my best to start up the teaching thing again with ramblings about our photographic workflow, tech problems (and fixes) and techniques.

So check back often to read about current projects, travels, and trials ;-0

Cheers, Alec