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I’m a Wedding and Portrait photographer based in Montreal.

I like to take pictures and drink coffee.

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Vincent Lauzer

February 28th, 2012

Here’s a quick post!

Back in elementary school, I remember our music teacher would allow only the best students to choose the instrument they would play. The big marimbas, vibraphones, xylophones, cymbals and drums were gone instantly. The next students would then pick the woodblocks, the fish-shaped guïros, tambourines, and even the triangle. Finally, the last remaining students, unable to pick anything were stuck with the dreaded recorder.

Meet Vincent Lauzer. He picked up a recorder when he was 5 unlike most kids, he loved it and decided to stick with it. Fast forward two decades, he now recently graduated from McGill with a Master’s degree in music performance and was crowned with the Opus Prize “Discovery of the Year”.

When I have shoots with musicians I always try and find an excuse to have them play their instrument. That’s just me finding a way to get free shows. I never knew you could do so much with a recorder, it’s really impressive. Even two recorders at a time (both are in the mouth, not in the nostrils like that guy in the Longueuil Metro). Super cool.

Ok nerd photography talk now. The few shots here were taken inside and around McGill’s music buildings. They have huge windows and it’s fairly easy to find great light. I just put my 50mm f1.4 on and it basically did all the work. It’s great for portraits. I also had my trusty Apollo 28” softbox and a reflector for a few shots where I needed fill light.

And there you go, kudos again to Vincent for rocking this underrated instrument.

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My gear path, part 2.

February 1st, 2012

So here is the second part of my gear path. Part 1 is here, in case you missed it. Just to remind you, this was a post to answer the numerous questions about what gear I shoot with. I’m just showing you a step-by-step process of what I bought/sold to eventually get where I am gear-wise.

Okay so what did I buy next?

4. Nikon D90. I was probably tempted solely from Chase Jarvis’ video, making the camera look really badass. It was also the first DSLR with video, so that caught my eye right away. I was really happy with the low-light performance of the camera, and the ability to trigger my flashes wirelessly. Video was cool, but it was lacking fully manual controls that appeared in later cameras. To be honest I could’ve stayed with my D90 until now and I would’ve been just fine. Tons of them are going down in price rapidly, since they’ve been replaced by the D7000. You can probably find some good used ones for not too expensive too.

My sister’s cat. Nikon D90 + Nikon 85mm f1.8.

5. Then came in the Tokina 12-24mm f4.0. I THOUGHT I needed something wider than 18mm, so I bought this off B&H. To this day I still use this lens a lot in every single wedding, and it’s often the lens that I bring if I can only bring one lens (say, for a weekend trip somewhere). But I hate this lens, I don’t know why. I feel that the focus is slow in low-light, there’s too much distortion, and while it does go to very wide, I find that often have to switch lenses, since the 12-24mm range is still very limited. It’s been very useful, but I feel it could be better still, and I’m looking to upgrade soon.

Elisabeth in a field. Nikon D90 + Tokina 12-24mm f4.0.

6. Next up is the #1 lens that I would recommend for anyone with a DSLR camera. Nikon 50mm 1.8. This is the cheapest lens you can get and one of the best. It’s tiny, weighs nothing, and has a maximum aperture of 1.8 to produce really great low-light photographs with shallow depth of field. The AF-D model is the one I had (although not fully compatible with Nikon cameras without a built-in motor), and it only cost about 120$. There’s something about these 50mm lenses that just create beautiful portraits, and if I lost all my lenses today a 50 would be my first purchase.

Bride’s shoes, my first wedding. Nikon D90 + Nikon 50mm f1.8.

7. I then got a Nikon 85mm 1.8 since I was addicted with prime lenses at this point. I didn’t use it as often as the 50mm, as the focal length was a bit too long for my work, but I never had any problems with this one. It’s a sturdy compact lens that shot great portraits. I love using long lenses for landscapes.

My bio prof in Barbados. Nikon D90 + Nikon 85mm f1.8. 

 

8. And as a nature nerd, I obviously had to get a macro lens: Nikon 105mm 2.8 AF-S. This lens is often used for portraits as well, but I find it focuses a bit too slow for that. This is more of a specialty lens, I don’t use often but when I do use it it does a great job.

Golden silk orb-weaver, Panama. Nikon D7000 + Nikon 105mm f2.8.

This was my kit for about a year, and I loved it, but what became difficult for me was too much lens switching during weddings (I had a back-up camera at weddings, but I wasn’t using it as a dual camera, so I always had to switch lenses). Then, what changed my kit was just a great opportunity that popped up on Craigslist.

9. Finally, after all these years of lusting after it, I found a surprisingly cheap Nikon 70-200mm 2.8. The lens looked new and at 1200$ I would’ve bought it even if there was vomit on it. You hear everyone talking about this lens, and when you use it you understand why. The lens compression and the wide aperture blend backgrounds to a creamy blur. I often use this lens as a landscape lens as well, picking out details from vast scenes. The one downside of this lens is the size and weight. I had to buy new camera bags to accommodate this lens.

Happy Kirsten. Nikon D7000 + Nikon 70-200mm f2.8.

10. And last step to my kit today, I added a D7000, mainly for better video during my trip to Panama. I love this camera, I feel it’s one of the best cameras you can get for the price. To be honest my upgrade from the D90 wasn’t really justified, but I don’t regret it either. I’ve shot most of my weddings with this camera, going to ISOs up to 1600-2000 without too many  problems. I’m trying to go full-frame next, using this one as my back-up.

There you have it, you now know what’s in my camera kit!

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Kamalina and Steve.

December 22nd, 2011

Finally done with finals! :D
And close-ish to being done with Christmas shopping too.
And of course because of exams I’m way overdue for a blog post.

So here’s a wedding I second-shot with Vadim several months ago. I was really excited since this was the first Hindu ceremony I got to photograph. We actually received a PDF file with all the detailed steps of the ceremony (I had to google like half of the terms on that). Unlike weddings in churches with a priest, the bride and the groom, there was sometimes up to 8 people surrounding Kamalina and Steve, making it challenging to photograph them through the chaos. You basically pre-focus, wait for an opening and shoot as soon as you get an opportunity. I kinda felt like a sniper.

So it was a big, fun, colourful wedding at the Centre des Sciences in Old Port. But the highlight for me was working with Ioan Films, the best videographers I’ve worked alongside during a wedding. Robert, Cristina, Mihai and Tudor were friendly, professional and I could tell even before seeing the final result that they were producing high-quality work. (Although I may be biased because they’re Romanian. Cristina also taught me a few Romanian things to say to Claudia’s mom.)

Enjoy the pictures!








I’ll end this post by wishing everyone happy holidays. Take lots of pictures and take time to relax!

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TEDxMcGill!

November 16th, 2011

Last Sunday I had the chance of being one of the photographers for TEDxMcGill. The event took place at Bain Mathieu in a POOL. This year, the theme was Redefining Reality. They had 15 great speakers, including legendary neuroscientist Brenda Milner, whose work I’ve heard of many times in class.

Ok so a few things to talk about. First, the TED sign. My high school friend Gabriel (part of the Salvaging Activity Workshop) was in charge of creating the sign, and within a week, his team created this cool, bold, TEDx sign. They lit it from a bathtub below and had running water, creating the ripple effect you often see in reflections near pools. Super cool.

Next, we set up a photobooth in the corner where speakers and guests got photographed with these cool red X’s made by TEDx volunteers. I even bought the Eye-Fi cards and tried out the wireless transfer to iPad to display the pictures right away. Here are some of my favorite pictures from this set up. Ehhh I wish I had all the speakers on these.

Although I was the one mostly there at the photobooth, this is an idea that photographers Justin Roy, Victor Tangermann and I all discussed together. So it was a joint effort, and I enjoyed working with them. And since I’m already mentioning other people, I need to thank Chloe & Marie (for helping me get this gig), as well as Sam, Nida and Matt (for helping me out the whole day)!

In the end though, the person who was most inspiring and memorable for me wasn’t a speaker but rather a visual artist: Aquil Virani. He started the day off handing small pieces of paper to all guests, asking them to draw or write anything. He then collected all the papers and started his live painting, blending pieces together from everyone, while still managing to do it in a consistent style. In just a few hours, I could already see the fantastic piece of art shaping up. He also included slides and quotes from the TED speakers. Reaaallly really cool. (Btw I drew Hexapus, the 6-tentacled octopus.)

In the end, the whole day was great. I’ve always been a fan of TED so I was psyched to be able to photograph this event. I actually used to have a morning routine that consisted of coffee with a TED talk. I should get back on that.

Click here to view and download the rest of the pictures! Please give credit back to http://alextranphotography.com, I would really appreciate it! :)

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Sue & Arif. My first wedding ceremony in a mosque.

November 14th, 2011


Meet Sue & Arif, my sister’s high school friends and newlyweds. For the first time, I had a second shooter with me, my sister Tina. Since she already knew the bride and groom, and this wedding required both a male and female photographer (you’ll see why), she was the perfect choice for a second shooter in at the wedding.

2-days before the wedding, I photographed Arif’s Pithi ceremony, which is a pre-wedding Indian tradition. It basically involved Arif being bombarded with ketchup, flour, eggs, maple syrup, etc. Everyone had a great time. Hopefully he wasn’t too traumatized.

So on the wedding day, I started off at Arif’s house and I got to eat samosas. Perfect way to start a 13-hour shift. :D We then moved to the mosque where wedding ceremony took place. Shoes off! This was my first muslim wedding, so all the traditions and ceremonies were completely new to me. With men and women in separate rooms, I had absolutely no idea what went on in the other room until I uploaded my sister’s pics.

By Tina Tran!

By Tina Tran!

By Tina Tran!

 

Then, off to Old Port! They must’ve felt like celebrities because EVERYONE was staring. Even the horses.

Best wishes to Sue & Arif, and thank you for the great day!

 

 

 

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My Gear Path, Part 1.

October 18th, 2011

 

There’s nothing better than a bit of procrastination when exams are a few days away! Sorry, I’ve been a bit busy lately and haven’t been posting.

Today I’ll be talking about my gear path. I’ve had a few questions as to which cameras I recommend, what I started with, what I’m using, etc., so I figured this would answer a few of those questions. Kind of a technical blog post but it may help.

By the way my truly first camera was an old Canon Powershot. I loved it. Then I went to Mexico, tripped on a rock, broke my toe nail, and smashed the camera. R.I.P. Eventually, I went ahead and bought my first DSLR.

 

1. Nikon D40 + 18-55 kit lens. I bought this new for about 500$. It was the least expensive DSLR model from Nikon at that time and I was super happy with it. (Any new Nikon DSLR you buy now will be superior to this one). The lens covered a nice range. I used it for general photography, taking pictures of friends and family. One thing that I thought was limiting for me after a few months was the low-light performance. I had to crank up the ISO a bit too high to my liking in order to get a fast enough shutter speed, and the camera didn’t handle noise too well.

Guilin, China. Shot with the Nikon D40 + Nikon 18-55mm kit lens.

Lucia on a roof. Nikon D40 + Nikon 18-55mm kit lens.

2. Enter the Sigma 30mm f1.4. My favorite lens still to this day. Focus is super fast and quiet, and it’s a focal length that I really like. I love prime lenses and their wide aperture. One caveat for this one, and I don’t know if it was only my copy or not, is that the lens gets pretty soft at wider apertures. Despite this, it’s still a great lens.

Marc, streetlights. Nikon D40 + Sigma 30mm f1.4.

Asma flipping hair. Nikon D40 + Sigma 30mm f1.4.

3. Then I got a Nikon 55-200mm 4.0-5.6 VR to expand my focal length range. If you just have a kit lens and are thinking of buying a 55-200mm to expand, make sure you really do need it. Try testing the lens out at a camera store or borrowing from someone. I didn’t find too many uses for mine when I first got it and mostly bought it to be able to cover a wide focal range, but this was kind of an impulsive purchase.

Bumblebee. Nikon D40 + Nikon 55-200 f4.0-5.6.

Mélissa is disappointed from my impulsive lens purchase. Nikon D40 + Nikon 55-200mm f4.0-5.6.

A year later, I was working (not weddings) and had a few clients from time to time so I felt the need to upgrade. I decided to upgrade my camera body for 3 main reasons. 1) Nikon D40 was not fully compatible with old AF-D lenses that I wanted. 2) I started getting into flash photography, and wanted to be able to have the commander CLS mode. 3) I wanted better noise control in higher ISOs.

So I decided to sell everything.

Part 2 here.

P.S. Make sure you have good reasons to upgrade your camera body. Don’t just buy a new one thinking it will get you better images. Also, note that megapixels were not a reason in the upgrade at all. And in 99% of the cases, it shouldn’t be. Unless you’re printing huge pictures, megapixels won’t matter.

 

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Terry Fox Run.

September 20th, 2011

On September 18th, I had the chance to go help out my friend Michele, who organized the Kirkland Terry Fox Run along with her friends Elena, Katie and Paloma. With a budget of 0 dollars, they managed to raise over 8000$ for cancer research. Awesome.

It was great seeing a whole community come together for a good cause, and there were many volunteers including The Comedy, VillaView Cinema and folks from The Beat 92.5.

I was sick like a dog but still ended having a good time. :)

Thanks again Michele, Elena, Katie and Paloma for organizing this cool event!

P.S. If Michele looks familiar to you, it may be because she’s also in my Lifestyle & Portrait portfolio!

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Photographing the Dalai Lama.

September 7th, 2011

So here’s how and why it happened.

For those who don’t know, when I was a kid my dad used to be the person in charge of organizing all the Montreal Tours for Tibetan Monks visiting Canada. About 2-3 times every year, I’d have a group of about 12 monks sleeping in my basement. 

Then about 10 years ago they converted an old Tiki Sun restaurant on Chemin Chambly in Longueuil to become the Manjushri Temple. My parents/uncles/aunts/cousins and I all helped in the whole renovation of the restaurant into the temple. So we know the monks who stay there very well and visit them several times a year.

Now, the Dalai Lama was about to tour in Montreal to give a few talks, and was asked by the monk from Manjushri to come visit. It wasn’t a big conference or anything, but it was still packed with people, press and security. I was asked by our local monk to come take photographs on behalf of the temple, since the only other photographers allowed were press photographers. So I got my fancy credential badge thing that said STAFF on it. Turns out I still had a hard time with security letting me stay, and I didn’t know until the car arrived where I’d be standing to take pictures.

That’s my grandma, waiting outside with flowers.

So anyway the Dalai Lama arrived and the press photographers unleashed their inner aggressive paparazzi bulldogs and were all over the place, pushing people, standing in the way and being disrespectful and super intrusive. (One was even using a pop-up flash to photograph his Holiness! For those who don’t know, the pop-up flash is evil and horrible).

So I’m just a wedding photographer haha. The Dalai Lama walking down the carpet is just like a bride walking down the aisle right? And since I’m not used, nor am not interested, in going crazy and fighting over taking pictures, I just waited patiently for my turn. I ended up only getting this single shot as he walked in the temple.

I knew I didn’t want to battle with the other paparazzi outside and so instead of following him (and probably get shots of his back anyway), I went to get a spot inside right away from another entrance and got to see him speaking from up close, and came away with these. He kinda has a sense of humor. I wasn’t really expecting that. No offense.  Oh and I saw him for the first time without his hipster glasses. To be honest I’d never recognize him without the glasses.

So this by the way is not the first time I see him. When I was a little kid my cousins and I were part of the welcoming ceremony when he came to give a talk. I had a basket and would throw flower petals on the carpet before he walked. BADASS. Anyway, enjoy the rest!

Rendu là j’avais déjà manqué un cours, et j’ai du quitter un peu plus tôt pour ne pas manquer mon lab. En sortant, il y avait d’autres paparazzi à l’extérieur de la clôture de sécurité qui n’avaient pas de passes pour entrer comme moi. Ils avaient l’air frustrés de me voir à l’intérieur et en sortant ils me demandaient pourquoi le Dalai Lama n’avait pas annoncé cette visite au public et pourquoi eux, ils n’avaient pas le droit d’entrer, tandis que moi j’avais le droit. 

 

Hehehe :)

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Post-Wedding fun in QC.

September 6th, 2011

So initially, my plan for Mélanie & Nic’s wedding was to go photograph the wedding in Quebec and drive back to Montreal the same night. With most weddings finishing at about 1AM, that probably would’ve resulted in me falling asleep in the drive back and then dying.

Fortunately, we changed plans and decided to do a roadtrip at the same time. So my girlfriend Claudia and our friend Carina stayed in QC for the weekend doing some touristy things like getting lost and pointing at things. We ended up staying in a bunk bed dorm room at the Auberge de la Paix, which had the weird showers where you have to press the button every 10 seconds to get some water.

It was a fun weekend, despite the pouring rain. And fortunately the hostel was next door to a pub. That’s where I got my post-wedding victory beer.

I always drink a post-wedding victory beer. That’s my secret.

On est allé au Marché du Vieux-Port. Miam. On est allé à la Fudgerie. Miam. On a eu une poutine à 2AM de Chez Ashton. Miam. Je me suis fait suivre par un sans-abri dans un parking sousterrain à 1AM. Pas miam. 

Bon. Parlons de photographie un peu. J’ai pu re-jouer avec mon objectif préféré (que j’ai vendu à ma soeur). Toutes les photos ci-dessus viennent du Sigma 30mm f/1.4 HSM.  Oui, Sigma. Les objectifs third-party comme Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, etc. ont toujours eu une mauvaise réputation. Mais pour cet objectif-là, il y a quelque chose de différent que j’adore. J’ai même essayé l’objectif Nikon 35mm f/1.8 AF-S, qui a reçu des millers de bons reviews, mais je l’ai détesté et revendu. Le focus est rapide, la longueur focale est parfaite pour mon style, la grande ouverture et le flou sont délicieux. MIAM. 

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Mélanie & Nic. Wedding in Quebec City!

August 30th, 2011

I met Mélanie and Nic through my friend Vanessa when they were looking for a wedding photographer. A few months and a three-hour drive later, there I was at the amazing Manoir du Lac Delage near downtown Quebec City. Nice chalet-style hotel. Huge lake. Basketball and beach volleyball courts. Terasses, big fields, several reception rooms, etc. No wonder it’s a popular destination for weddings. There was a total of 5 weddings the same day!

As the other weddings were going on, Mélanie and Nic were preparing for their big day. As usual, the bride’s preparation room was blasting music and hair dryers, whereas the groom’s room was much more relaxed and mellow. Everything was going smoothly until about an hour before walking down the aisle, we get the message that the wedding ceremony set up has changed because of the announced thunderstorms. Uh oh. Big dark menacing clouds were lurking over the manoir.

Thoughts started running through my head. I hope Mélanie isn’t freaking out. Is the Nikon D7000 weather-sealed? I hope I don’t toast camera gear in the rain. Wouldn’t the pictures kinda look cool? What if there’s lightning during the first kiss. That’s kinda cool. Is my hair gonna get ruined? Why aren’t you on my side today Mother Nature?  Maybe this last thought helped, because everything cleared out by the time we went out, and we didn’t get a single raindrop *cue applause*. Yay.

P.S. Food was great. I ate stuff I couldn’t even name.

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