The last month or so has been very crazy for me and I'm not too embarrassed that I haven't updated here...

But that said, I do have a few slideshows that are worthy of posting.

On May 2, 3, and 4th I was "embedded" with the Canadian Forces 38th Brigade Group conducting an exercise in Winnipeg called Operation Charging Bison. It was very exciting and even though I only spent a few days with them I gained a great deal of respect for what they do and the hardships they need to endure on their missions.



My photos from those three days were narrowed down to these in my slide show. I tried to capture sound and conducted a few interviews, but when I got it all back home I realized that for a three minute slide show there would have been no focus... so I left out the interviews.

The next slide show was for the Cult concert which arrived in Winnipeg on May 23, 2006. I had lots of fun shooting it even though it was a first three songs restriction. I took a couple from the media box at MTS Centre which had a good perspective too.

After that was the 2006 Manitoba Air Show on June 3rd. I always enjoy the airshow, but it seems every time I go to shoot it I forget my sunscreen. This year was no different, and the venue was much larger, so, I was lugging my gear much further than I would have like in the scorching weather.

IKF World Muay Thai Title

I finally finished a slideshow that has been a month in the making. It is a story about a local Muay Thai kickboxer named Giuseppe DeNatale. It centers around his training in the weeks leading up to his challenge for the IKF World Muay Thai Title and the fight itself. Muay Thai is a form of martial arts that has its roots in (you guessed it) Thailand.

I had a lot of fun making this slideshow, Giuseppe was incredibly open and accommodating. He even had me over to his mom's house for Sunday dinner. His mom's cooking was fabulous, great Italian food, homemade wine and sausage... ummumm good!

Two for one

I produced a couple of soundslides in the last day or so.

I gathered and mixed the audio for one called Yappy Hour, a fundraising event for the Winnipeg Humane Society that one of our columnists covered for the paper.



Then the same night I was asked to put together a slideshow of images from one of our freelance photographers who accompanied a bunch of kids on a one-day trip to Disney World in Florida with Dreams Take Flight Winnipeg.



No audio was gathered from the assignment, so my first 'draft' of the soundslide was silent. I submitted the piece and it was posted the next day.

Also the next day, the photographer submitted more photos that the editors wanted to include in the soundslide, so I went back in. In the process of adding new photos and re-ordering the existing photos, I decided that the piece really needed sound.

So, I had to find something that was free to use off the internet. In the process I discovered something called Creative Commons licencing. From there I was able to find ccmixter.org where you can search for types of music that you are interested in.

I wound up choosing an instrumental guitar song by Andy Sullivan who also happens to be a journalist.

Very cool.

Winnipeg Arena "The Old Barn" 1955 - 2006

Yesterday, the city's love/hate relationship with the former home of the NHL's Winnipeg Jets, "The Old Barn," as many people have come to call it, was blown to smithereens.

On Friday my editor asked me to crawl out of bed before dawn on Sunday and put what little knowledge I have into making a soundslide of the demolition. It took me most of the day to make the darned thing, never mind the fact that it took the demolition crew several hours instead of minutes to destroy the building.

It was a load of fun to be there and hear all the stories from complete strangers and their connections to the arena. Many thanks to all those who let me bug them and get in their way, but special thanks to Ariel who made the whole day worthwhile.

Check out the story link at the Winnipeg Free Press if you have a subscription:

www.winnipegfreepress.com

Or, you can view just the soundslide:

On the Winnipeg Free Press website

Today my Karate soundslide was posted on the Winnipeg Free Press website with the story that was written by Martin Zeilig.

The bad news is that if you are not a subscriber to the paper you cannot read the story. The good news is I just found out that you can still see the soundslide on the site...


It is slightly different than the one I posted earlier, I took out a few images and added a credit image at the end.

I wish I could post the story here, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

As a side note, it looks like the Neighbours section of the paper is now going to be exclusively on the Free Press website. Maybe they will save enough money to hire me full-time (nudge-nudge).

Cheers!