Saturday, February 24, 2007

Pear Photo Challenge

A few weeks ago the Lakeshore Camera Club had a photo challenge where members were invited to photograph pears (the fruit). No props were allowed, just the pears, with a simple backdrop and lighting. I entered a series of images and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that one of them took second place. The title of the image is "The Happy Couple 2"
Two other entries included "The Happy Couple"

and "The Dancers'

This was real learning experience on still life composition and lighting. A winning image may appear to be simple in composition but the path to get there may have had many roadblocks as well as twists and turns.

Having done these, a friend, Wayne (also a member of the Lakeshore Camera Club) is a "Master" woodworker and creates incredible pieces of furniture. He made a cutting board that was being given to friend, so I wanted to present an image of this master piece for his workshop. The following is the image called "Wayne's Board"

I will be posting more of my photographs on a regular basis.

Cheers

Sunday, February 18, 2007

A Little Background Info…

For those whom do not know me, let me introduce myself. My name is Morrie Portnoff and live in Pierrefonds, Quebec (a suburb in Montreal, okay actually it is NOW part of the city of Montreal). Professionally I am a graphic designer with a passion for design and photography. For the past 20 years I have been running my own design "studio" called Nunavik Graphics. Presently we are located in Pointe-Claire. The reason it is called Nunavik Graphics is due to the fact that I started the venture while living and working in northern Quebec which is called Nunavik. This area should not be confused with Nunavut which is the former eastern part of the Norhwest Territories. For five years I lived in the great Quebec north. The first three years in a great community called Kangiqsujuaq and the last two in the administrative centre called Kuujjuaq. While there I worked as the cartographer/graphic designer for Makivik Corporation. Makivik Corporation is the Inuit owned company that administers the James Bay Agreement. However while in Kuujjuaq I saw a need for graphic design services for the local businesses and organizations.

At this time desktop publishing was just getting going. In fact my first Mac was close to $10,000!

Today we service large and small business. We pride ourselves on the personal attention and respect which we bestow on our clients. Projects range from corporate identity projects such as logo design to the designing of brochures, catalogues, posters, etc… We can also coordinate the printing needs of any project, whether it be digital or offset.

Photography has always (since the age of 13, when I had my first wet darkroom) been a passion of mine. Today, my photography is digitally based using Canon equipment. As a source of photographic inspiration, I joined the Lakeshore Camera Club http://www.lccphoto.org
Please visit their site and view the great images created by the members. Drop by our meetings on Monday evenings at Stewart Hall in Pointe-Claire. Details are on their web site. Naturally I will be posting my images on a regular basis and look forward to your critiques.

I am also involved with the West Island Amateur Radio Club. Yes, I am a HAM! My call sign is VE2BWS. I am the editor of the club's monthly news bulletin. (Any surprise???) I will post any public service events the club may be involved in. I invite anyone interest in this interesting "hobby" to visit the club's web site http://shell.pubnix.net/~wiarc/ In fact drop by our monthly meetings, the third Monday of every month, except July. Details are on their web site.

Finally, I must introduce my faithful side kick, Farley. Farley is a rescued Greyhound named after the first dog in the comic strip "For Better or For Worse" by Lynn Johnson (http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/). He recently turned 7. I am lucky in that I can bring Farley to work most days. (After all, I am the boss.) Farley is a gentle giant! Information on rescuing Greyhounds can be found at Greyhound Rescue Quebec's web site, http://www.soslevriersquebec.com Greyhounds make "greyt" pets and friends. They are often referred to as "big/little" dogs. Big in size when they stand up but quite small when they roll up in a ball on the floor. They are easy to take care of and require little exercise. This fact surprises most people!

That's it for now…

Morrie

Welcome...

Welcome to my little space in cyber space.

This blog is being created to highlight my passion in photography and graphic design. However I reserve the right to post comments on any other matter that may be of interest. After all it is my blog!

I invite you to add your comments on the images posted.

Let the fun begin!

Morrie