Liam and his dad!

Liam and his dad!
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

Shot on Oct 31st at 6:45 am. Liam hasn't adjusted to Day Light Savings Time. He started talking at 5:45!

Liam's Halloween

Liam's Halloween
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

The Prestige

"USA Today Claudia Puig-A visually stunning, startlingly clever sleight of hand that will have audiences pondering well after the lights go up."
This movie was a ton of fun and we truly do want to see it again. I can't tell you too much about it as you will enjoy it more the less you know.

iDisk on a Web Browser

Just when I am getting cynical about .Mac, I read a few tips where it makes it handy again. This is one of them, as well there is another that allows other people to access your public folder within your iDisk. Why do that? Could be handy to pass along some and recieved files too big for email.

Cult of Mac-iPods Not Meant For Use on Mt. Everest

Gee all sort of people can talk themselves out of an ipod,it seems. :-)

Cult of Mac: "iPods Not Meant For Use on Mt. Everest
Topic: iPod

Ipodeverest When the best newspaper in the country gets a bunch of people to bash you, you know you've got something special. That's apparently what's happened between Apple's iPod and the Washington Post, which actually ran another anti-iPod rant over the weekend in a section they call 'iPod Jeers,' which is meant to be counter-acted by an equally none-too-tech-savvy featured called 'iPod Cheers.'

This one, though, is almost too much to believe. Neal Mueller, a first year MBA student at the Wharton School of Business goes on a rant about how his iPod died when he needed it most: On top of Mt. Everest while he was jamming out to Van Halen!

READ THAT AGAIN.

Yes, the problem with the iPod is that it won't work dozens of degrees below its recommended operating temperature and tens of thousands of feet above its optimal altitude, not that its owner and his crew were a bunch of dorks.

"

Sylvie CSI

Sylvie CSI
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

The sun glasses remind me of CSI Miami for some reason :-)

this is my client standing in while I get my lights ready. We changed a few things after this but you get the idea. Today's weather was surprising, the wind was gone, the sun was shining, it was nice and calm to be above all the din.
Both this and the TO shoot are related but I have to stick to out takes.

Manitoba Legislature

Manitoba Legislature
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

great view up here.

office glass

office glass
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

Off the roof again.

My bus shots

My bus shots
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

I shot this many years ago on film, for Manitoab Hydro. That girl on there is proabably all grown up and married now! I have read online that when it's hot out and the windows are open she turns into a cyclops.

Oh I shot this while on the roof of Colony Sqaure, waiting for my client to show up.

I always miss the 3rd

I always miss the 3rd
Originally uploaded by cherrycan.

Someone's come with a brilliant door mat. I need this mat with velcro letters for one more row to add the one other misc thing I forget

GDC 50th ann workshop

GDC2
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

last saturday I hosted one of 4 workshops the GDC put on celebrating the 50th ann. My workshop involved an update to the polaroid transfer, using a solvent and colour lasers. Particiapants then combined other elements, and meida to create some wacky collages. (Rob Peter's work is shown here) It was a lot of fun to see some creative people have fun. Everyone recieved the same set of images so it was great to see what each person did. We all sat in a circle and worked on things, it felt like a quilting bee! Excepet for the fumes from the solvent, that was nasty! I have a ton of it left over if anyone wants to try this process.

Aperture

Aperture
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

First week of Aperture, so far so good. Why did I go for it? Well my workflow currently uses 3 different apps. Upgrading 2 of them would cost as much as Aperture. Now that I have the hardware to run it, I thought this would be the time to change. I have to hand it to Apple, this one is really thought out for pro photogs. Easier to use that Lightroom, flexibility of UI that Bibble tries for, layouts similar to iPhoto, with all the tools you need to crank things out.

Only a couple quibbles so far: For web galleries it would be nice to FTP directly from the program, rather than save to disk and .mac uploading. Watching a folder that is recieving images from a tethered camera requires you to run a sepearate Applescript. It should be built into the program.

Other than those two things I am really enjoying working in this program.

Muppets With Attitudes

NSFW mashup of Muppets with NWA

Toronto

InvestorsTO1
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

A quick trip to Toronto for Investors Group. This is an outtake. The shot we needed was with the CEO with the new building in the background. Sounds pretty straight forward and looks like a basic portrait. But as anyone knows the REAL work is what happens before the flashes pop.
The day before the shoot, standing on the roof of the Hilton, 36 floors above downtown TO, I had to make the call, the location sucked, and we needed a new one. It got to the point where we stood oustide the building we needed in the frame and scouted the surrounding buildings. I spot a balcony a block away about 10 floors up. We end up knocking on the door and begging the building owners to let us shoot. The problem is in TO everyone's a bit jaded to photos and film productions. They haggle for locations fees, and want insurance certificates. Eventually at the end of the day we secure the location and this portion of the shoot goes well. The other location in the lobby was also shaking due to no one alerting the security we were coming. Never a dull moment.

Cult of Mac on the past 5 years of iPod

Though Rob will never own one at this rate! His ability to buy something else he likes is due to the iPod's success. 5 years ago, seems like a life time ago in the world of tech.

Though seriously, iPod, if we're going out for drinks, I think you should pick up the tab, you rascal, you.

Has it already been five years since Steve Jobs pulled out the first iPod and told us it would change everything about music? Have four years gone by since I first believed him, two-and-a-half since I finally wrangled one? Time goes so quickly in the middle of a revolution. You blink, and the world has changed.

On the other side, it's difficult to understand that it has only been five years since the white MP3 player with the friendly face rolled off the assembly line. It has gone from one product to a family in every size, shape and color. The iTunes Music Store is the world's premier distribution center for digital audio and video. And Apple has a sustainable second business that is wholly unconnected to selling Macs."

YouTube - Star Trek vs. Star Wars

This is for the geeks in the house. Good editing puts The Enterprise up against Darth Vader. I hope Youtube doesnt kill this sort of thing, it's what's fun about the site.

Letterbox: Widescreen Plugin for Mail.app | aaron.harnly.net | Aaron

Gonna need this on the new iMac! Thanks to Scott Gillam for this one!
Letterbox is a plugin for Apple's Mail.app that takes advantage of your widescreen monitor. It rearranges the interface into three vertical columns – so the message pane is to the right of the message list, rather than below. You'll probably need at least 1280 and perhaps 1440 horizontal pixels for this layout to work well for you.

Another U of M portrait

uofm6
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

Clean space on the side for copy, suitable for thin horizontal web banner. Starting to get bored of these yet?

7and a quarter

7andaquarter
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

Shot of the chef lighting it up at Seven & a quarter. Great food!

Project Blackbox

I have a thing for shipping containers. I think their neat and more than ever they are the Lego blocks of our economy. I see them everywhere, and more and more of then with China Shipping written on the side.

I guess I not the only as Sun has designed huge datacenters that fit within a container. Check the website for the what and where. It's just a concept, but I have seen housing based on containers as well.

Dandelion Cafe

Dandelion Cafe
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

My pick from a recent shoot for Ciao! magazine. If you end up seeing a different one in the magazine, know that it's wasn't my choice! real simple set up with one box and balancing the ambient. That balancing is the real trick, but I love the way the light falls off on the top of the mural. I will probably enchance this for my final version. This image was process using Aperture BTW (more on that to come!)

More U of M location work

Uofm2
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

This time shot in the nicest place to study in the whole campus, teh Iceland reading room. New leather furinture, big fllor to ceiling windows with soft light, very quiet, oh and wifi.

The only problem is whispering " Work it! Work it!" doesn't have the same effect. Kind of tough to direct talent when shooting long in a library.

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

Local photographer David McMillan's work in the Chernobyl Exclusion zone is on display in the Iceland Reading Room of the Elizabeth Dafoe library at the UofM till Nov 15th.

I was shooting in that reading room but was distracted by these images on display. The link goes to his website, the prints on display very well done, with wonderful detail. Definitely worth a trip the UofM to see.

U of M Location

uofm3
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

As many kids and teachers walked by they asked "Why are you doing this photoshoot right inthe middle of a busy hallway?" How else can you get that natural background of out of focus students milling about?

What the duck?

A pretty funny 3 panel comic strip about a duck who is a struggling photographer. Plenty in the archives, dig around!

Doodle

Need to schedule a lunch meeting? How about a winter-camping weekend with your buddies? Doodle promises to tackle these and other scheduling challenges by creating simple polls: Everyone 'votes' on the dates and/or times they're available. This Web-based app is a snap: After you set up your poll, you're given a link to e-mail to the participants. After they vote, you can see which dates/times are the 'winners.' Doodle is fast, free, and easy--just the way we like things around here. — Rick Broida

Dove commerical

'boards - Screening Room: "Reginald Pike's Yael Staav takes us from model to billboard in under 60 seconds in this impressive new spot from Dove."

The Science of Sleep

Rob and I saw this film this weekend. Fun stuff, very inventive, a little weak on story, but hey you have enuff fun while watching you kinda don't mind. I don't know how many movies have an art show based on the props used, but the link is to a flickr set from the showing of Science's props! Very Cool!

Our European Driving Experience

The Lada
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

We did some driving while in Hungary. Our town is at the base of the Maecek hills, so we went for a cool drive in the hills. Winding roads throught these forrests, I strated to understand why Europeans love cars. Even this car, Lynda's uncle's 1979 Lada had it's charm. Armstrong steering, and lots of anaolog switches, it's from another era!

Church

Church
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

Pipes

ducts
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

These run all over the town of Pecs. I saw them in a few other towns as well. I never really got a straight answer as to what they carry. I think it's water. They remind me of the movie Brazil. If you've seen it as many times as I have, you'll understand. Makes sense in this former communist country.

Ladies on the street

Ladies on the street
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

Liam and his clothes pins

Liam and his clothes pins
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

he loves those colourful plastic clothes pins. So we just kept pinning them on him.

Rooster Stew

Rooster Stew
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

One of Lynda's uncles cooked up rooster stew the tradional way, over a fire with one of these big kettles. They cook the entire rooster, feet and all. Everything is eaten. At one point I notice one of her other uncle's cracking the skull opent o get at the brains. No one blinks, everyone agree's it's one of the best parts, right up there with the balls..

Paprika

Paprika
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

This is how it's made. You hang it up in long strings on the sunny of your house. You see this all over the place on many houses.Dry it out and then grind it up!

Pepper Mix

Pepper Mix
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

This is kinda a response to Jeope's post on peppers. One of Lynda's Aunt's makes paprika.The smaller ones are the hot ones!

Lover's Gate

Lover's Gate
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

In the city of Pecs (PAY-chuh) there is a gate where lovers attach a lock to symbolize their love for each other. As you can see it's been happening for years, and there is a lot of love in town!

More Photobooth Fun!

More Photobooth Fun!
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

I know it's silly but it's addictive!

FRONTLINE: North Korea - Suspicious Minds . Index Page | PBS

With recent tensions, Frontline replayed this doc. Two journalists poses tourists and travel within North Korea.
As riveting as the first time I saw it, it's full of some amazing footage. Traffic police directly imaginary traffic on near empty streets, thousands of children practicing for one of those huge rallies, 6 hrs in the rain, opulent museums and exhibits all empty, waiting for tourists that never come. If you can find it, well worth catching.

Poor Penny

CBGB Online - Home of Underground Rock

The battle is over, CBGB's is finally closing. I did a pilgrmage to it when in NY back in the 90's. Stood there listening to som shitty band and realized that Joey Ramone was standing right next to me! If you know ANYTHING about punk rock you'll know this it can't get any better than that!... After that I ended up at the Village Vanguard, the jazz club.

Anyway, CBGB's is gone. Punk is dead. Long Live Punk!

Battlestar Galactica - Reviews from Metacritic

The only show on TV I will make efforts to watch without fail. It's not that cheesy show from the 70's, just read the reviews.

More Photobooth Phun

photobooth2
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

My Jack Nicholson

Photobooth Fun

Photobooth1
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

The new imac has an isight camera and Photobooth with the funhouse mirror effects

Wendy Despins

In order to pay pennance,for screwing up I wish to encourage ALL of to visit my friend's website. Wendy self-taught herself iWeb and put this site together. Always nice photography!

24 inch iMac

DSC_6890.jpg
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

Love it... shot with my new D2Xs in B&W mode. Why does a pro camera have B&W mode? I don't know either but it's kinda neat. Only in sRGB Jpeg though

Apple claims 30 inch cinema display boosts productivity - Lifehacker

I can tell you my new 24 inch iMac is makeing me FEEL more productive. But really I am procrastinating

MOO | Share your contact info and your flickr photos

This is fun. 100 cards from your flickr account for $20US.

Canadian Lutheran World Relief

Canadian Lutheran World Relief
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) works with partners around the world in providing emergency relief, refugee resettlement, and community development to those in need.

They were preparing a material goods shipment (approx. 200 bales of kits) that will be loaded in a 20 foot container to be shipped by sea to Jerusalem where it will then be distributed to needy Palestinians in the West Bank.

These bales are assembled by hand and then crammed into the container.

Canadian Lutheran World Relief

Canadian Lutheran World Relief
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

partners in crime

partners in crime
Originally uploaded by ianmcc.

Liam and Edee enjoy a drink

Lightfoot Concert

As part of my "tuning forty" I asked to see Gordon Lightfoot live. He's been at it as long as I have been alive, and I wanted to say I had seen him live in any capacity.

There we were in the second row,... from the back, in the balcony. If the guy working the spotlight needed a break, I could sit in. The woman next to me was trying to console her husband that at least we're here. I tried my best to make light of our seats:"Hey we're in the room, that's all that matters. We're in the room." And really that was all that mattered with Lightfoot as well. Back from a visit at Death's Door a few years ago, people were just glad to see he was still here. His voice not as full as it once was, but still bang on the notes, he was doing his damnedest, and at 68 years old, that's all you can ask.

A couple rows down from us were 4 hosers. You know the type, ball caps, plaid shirts, and soul patches, probably found Lightfoot through Tragically Hip. Kind of guys who back in my day could sing Stan Rodger's Barrret's Privateers in it's entirety, after 5 pints. These guys were probably expecting the kind of raucous sing along you get at a stomping' Tom concert. They tried to get something going, saving their whooping and hollerin' for their fave The Canadian Raiload Trilogy. But it didn't happen. Instead, the band played at a hush volume, trying not to overpower the remainder of Lightfoot's voice. The crowd remained respectful, and quiet, collectively whispering along with the songs, most noticeably on If You Could Read My Mind. But he was too proud, and rightly so, of these songs to let anyone help him sing them.

UPDATE: latest news on a fan site mentioned he had recently suffered a small stroke that left his right hand somewhat hindered. That would expalain why they couldn't play some of the songs at the original tempo. Oh and his tour schedule around North America takes him into 2007!

Horse n buggy and a pink house

This isn't for show. People in the town still use horse and buggy. With gas at close to $2 a litre, maybe next trip we'll see even more people using them!

Stork nest Pears and Salami

More Hungary Pics

If I had more time and energy I'd do up some of those grids Jeope does so well. But Alas you're gonna get em one at a time.

More Bibble Babble

Seems since I last mentioned Bibble they've added Cloning and Healing tools. Perhaps even giving you another reason not to visit Photoshop. Free trial, so whats not to try? I haven't switched to it for all my conversions but will continue to keep trying it.

Lens Baby with Melancholytron filter

Link goes to flaming pear makers of the Melancholytron filter, which gives any pic that old school feel, which in fact this was, an old school.

Pecs Scooter

Magyar SUnset

5 years ago In Minni

Rob's dusted off this great account of our road trip to Minnieapolis 5 years ago. I thought the Sigur Ros show was amazing!
Check out Rob's blog for more pics.