Matt's Art Opening

Matt Schofield at the art gallery featuring his postcard sized paintings.

Went to a gallery located on Ossington just north of Queen street. I wasn't sure I'd make it on time as I wasn't sure how long I'd be on set and how long it would take for me to get home to drop off all my gear. As it turns out I was wrapped around 1pm, conveniently just after food on set arrived. Funny that.

Punched Up Cameo

Shawn Bruce holds my light meter as I set my flashes

Woke up at 5:30 this morning to make my way out to the burbs to be on set for 7:00am. I was hired to shoot a guy by the name of Shawn Bruce for the show "Punched Up". The show takes random people and punches up their life. For this episode that person was Shawn and to punch him up they decided to make him run for Mayor.

My job was to take pictures to be used for his campaign. Sounded simple and straight forward enough to me, that is until I realized that I would be shot on camera while taking photos. Yes, I would be in front of multiple cameras.


Pat Thornton stands in while we wait for the crew to be ready

Fear started creeping in. I'm no actor. Sure I have lots of friends that are actors and I've seen enough shooting from behind the camera that at least I knew not to look directly at the cameras pointing at me.

As the day progressed the most difficult part of the whole job was lugging all my studio gear over to the school. Four light stands, one studio light, two umbrellas, three flashes, my lenses, extension cord, laptop, and of course my camera. The being in front of all the video taping wasn't too bad at all. First, It's not like I was changing the diaper on a alligator. It was a normal photo shoot. I knew how the equipment worked. It was my stuff after all.

Second, the real actors, in this case Pat and Lauren were the center of attention and did their improving in such a big manner that no one else on the screen could screw up. Yes they were that funny. The director did do a retake because I was shot grinning. It's tough to not laugh, kind of like holding in a sneeze until you hear the director call "Cut!".


Pat hams it up.

The scene was quite short. I have a new level of appreciation for actors now. Standing on and hitting your mark, having the same expression, pose, saying the same dialogue over and over so you could be shot from different angles, it's a lot of think about.

If you get YTV you can see my debut speaking part in the episode "Shaun Bruce for Mayor". I don't know when it airs but you can check out the YTV web site for that.

Meeting at Lick's

Dave takes my picture on the second floor of Lick's

I met Dave today at Lick's to talk about, what else, camera gear. Dave was one of the select few that managed to ask Shatner a question at the sci-fi, comic book, horror convention back in september. Originally we started talking because Dave and another fan wanted some photos of Nimoy and Shatner. Since I had the longest lens of the bunch of us I told them I'd send some photos their way.

Turns out Dave lives relatively close and we share interest in Nikon camera gear, accessories, and camera gadgets in general. Meeting at Lick's was just a bonus. I don't know what they put in their burgers but they're some of the best burgers you can get in the city of Toronto. A close second would probably be Dangerous Dan's (located on Queen and Broadview). If anyone knows of any other good burger places let me know as I'm always open to trying new food at different places.

I brought my fish eye 10.5 mm, 85mm and 70-200mm lenses for him to try out on his D70.

Halloween Recycling

A Jack-o-lantern sits on a green recycling bin waiting to be picked up

Not really a lot happened today. I spent most of my time indoors vegging. At one point I did go out to see this (see picture above).

Punched Up Preview

Inside the Isabel Bader Theatre

My assignment today for GAT was to shoot a bunch of pictures at a screening followed by more pictures to be taken during the course of a small party. The audience watched a comedy "sort of based" reality TV show called "Punched Up", the same show I shot some pictures involving pillow fighting.


The cast and writers take questions from the audience

The showing of the first two episodes to be aired was followed by a short Q&A session with the actors and writers taking the stage. After the Q&A the people in the theatre emptied into the lobby for a small party with what seemed like an unlimited supply of Steam Whistle beer.

The Phone Call

A statue of Jesus at the entrance of St. Joseph’s hospital

This afternoon I got a phone call from Darryl. He told me that Laura, a friend of ours, was in the hospital and wasn't doing too well. Actually he was told she wouldn't last the week. Darryl had just found out about Laura's condition and location just a few minutes before calling me and understandably, seemed pretty shaken up by the news. He was packing for a trip to Montreal at the time and I was getting ready to attend a meeting for Juicy Stuff.

He asked if I wanted to go visit. I really hate hospitals. I'm not sure if it's the smell or the crappy florescent lighting. The idea of a clinically smelly medical building, I think, freaked me out more than seeing a patient. The idea of death and hospitals really didn't enter my mind at the time. Death is really for funeral homes. Hospitals on the other hand are where you are if you still have some sort of chance, you're in the process of getting repaired or you're being born. It wasn't until I stepped through the front door that all those shows of Emergency! started pouring into my conscious brain. People can also be in the hospital being kept alive in some uncomfortable state. That didn't sit well with me. I started feeling more uncomfortable.

Dying is not a good thing. Sure it's part the whole life cycle. We live, we die. I suppose the way we go out can be pretty depressing and even unsettling. I think the thing that affects me more is how the people around the dying make me feel. Like a big black cloud hovering over them you can't help but be sucked into being sad. That said, I wasn't going to let Darryl go by himself.

At the hospital we met up with Rob Pincomb and the three of us gathered the courage to go find Laura's room after visiting the local coffee shop. Somewhere on one of the upper floors we found the room number. Darryl walked in then walked right back out. After a short pause he walked back in to ask the guy sitting in the room next to the bed if the woman in the bed was Laura. It was.

It took a second glance to realize that it really was Laura. She had turned pretty yellow thanks to her liver not working properly plus she had tubes sticking out of her. I really wasn't prepared to see her in that state. The last time I saw her was years ago. She was one of those people that could make other people light up by joking around being all animated while doing a goofy voice that she thought she had to use while talking to guinea-pigs.

Darryl, Rob, Laura, and me all in the same room. We haven't been in the same room since Bruce's wedding (2002?) and before that working on the interactive NHL hockey rulebook CD-rom (around 1994 or so). In a way it was nice to be in the same room. I started visualizing Laura barking commands at Darryl and Rob, flapping her arms and squealing with glee at some of Bruce's drawings.

Laura was unconscious. It made it difficult to talk to her. I read somewhere that the last sense to go is hearing so I greeted her out loud and introduced Darryl and Rob. She started breathing hard. Maybe the joke that Rob was hitting on her mom didn't go over well. Rob tried to up people's spirits with a bit of his own levity. Unfortunately the whole being in a hospital under these circumstances nulled whatever attempt he made. Kind of like joking about drowning a bag of kittens.

Laura had more visitors show up. I felt uncomfortable when they started talking to Laura's mom about Laura while Laura was lying just a few feet away. It's hard to include a semi-unconscious person in a conversation but I thought they could take the conversation outside the room at least. Afterall she was still alive.

There was a dark somber feel to the room. When we met Chris, Laura's mom, she was glad that we showed up and that we finally got to meet. Laura is originally from British Columbia so I never actually met her parents prior to this. After about 40 minutes of looking around the room, watching Darryl and Rob try interact with Laura, her mother and her boyfriend I had to go. I leaned over to Laura and said "Good bye" then did the good-bye circuit to all that were there and made my way to the elevator.

As a paramedic you're supposed to treat the patient with a positive attitude saying that everything will be alright. It gives the patient hope and maybe some encouragement. Hope is sometimes the small thing that tips the scales in the patients favour between living and not.

I'm not good at bluffing and at the time found it difficult to talk to Laura. Saying "Good bye" had a finality to it. In my mind, there was no happy outcome or miracle to be happening anytime soon. Tubes were stuck into her, her arms had what looked like lacerations and she had a hard time breathing. I knew I wasn't going to see her again after this visit.

Ghost Trackers

The Ghost Trackers truck parked outside in front of the Ontario Science Centre

A truck parked in front of the science centre was used to promote the Ghost Trackers TV show to visitors. More specifically there was an exhibit that featured the host signing autographs, some computer simulations, and actual kid trackers showing the visitors that were interested how the tracking equipment worked.


Joe MacLeod signs a photo to Kate, one of the shows biggest fans

My job was to take random photos of the event as the day unfolded. Kids getting their autographs from their TV host/idle, Joe MacLeod, kids watching the show on a large screen backdrop, kids playing the ghost tracking simulator, kids looking at the ghost tracking equipment from the show. Lots of kids.

Ghost Trackers is a show on YTV that places kids with real working ghost tracking equipment intohaunted houses, real haunted houses. The kids explore around while Joe, who sits in the truck parked outside the house, monitors them via a video audio link. The kids record and react to the things in the house. Did I mention that it's all real? There's no staged doors slamming or things falling off shelves. The locations are actually haunted.

As a kid I used to be fascinated with ghosts, UFOs and other strange phenomena. I suppose I still am to a certain degree. The local island lighthouse on Hanlan's Point and the stories of the light house keeper, although a bit morbid, seemed to always hold my attention.


Ghost Trackers with Joe

One of the things about the show is that they use real terminology for the various types of phenomena. If you don't get YTV you can check out the official TV website and even play a simulation. (www.ghosttrackers.tv)

For other interesting ghost related blog entries Ghost hunters, haunted house

Back to the Art Gallery

Christine Cheung: artist.

That same art gallery that I went to last month had another showing today with a new artist. The paintings this time around were more cheerful than last month or maybe they were just more abstract. The lack of zombie like bodies helped plus the brighter use of color.

As I looked at these paintings my mind wondered what makes a painting great or better yet what motivates people into buying art be it paintings or photos or any art for that matter. The talent of the artist? The technical use of color, brush strokes, subject matter, composition? Or maybe it's how the buyer feels about the artwork. Perhaps it brings the buyer to a happier place, reminiscing value if you will, a love long lost. Or maybe the piece of work matches their couch and living room setting.

Halloween Production

A jack-o-lantern drawn with chalk near Kensington Market

After friday I my "cold" resurfaced, this time different symptoms, stuffed up sinus, crap in the lungs, goop in the eyes, flipped sleep schedule. My friend Andrew blames my sickness on chemical trails mainly due to the fact that the symptoms are in greater numbers then when I was a kid and that I've been getting sick a lot. Personally I still think it's from over working and keeping odd hours.

After another weekend of burying myself under a ton of blankets, today the cold had gotten down to a point where it was just a reoccurring cough, maybe one every two hours or so. The big thing today was meeting my parents and Dave (cousin) for dinner. An appointment I almost forgot if it weren't for my calendar.

I forgot it was Halloween. Kate and Lisa, my two upstairs neighbours were on the porch giving candies out to the local ghouls. Mostly little tiny spider-men, angels, devils, ghosts, and cartoon characters being escorted by their parents.

I thought up some quick ideas for Halloween get ups if you're in a pinch (WARNING some bordering on lame)

• duct tape a flashing red bike light to your right hand = instant runner from Logan's run


• glue smarties to a pair of shorts and wearing them = Mr. Smartie pants (I can't take credit for this one)


• grab your bathroom plunger = Mario, Luigi of Nintendo fame, or Roger Wilco from Space Quest (it's Halloween use your freakin' imagination)

After dinner with the parents we ending up on a street in Riverdale. My parents were blabbing about some kind of Halloween production going on the neighborhood. My cousin and I looked at each other and shrugged. The thought of some over zealous parent jumping out from behind a styrofoam tombstone came to mind. "Production value... yeah whatever". Dave thought the same thing.

As we walked up Howland toward the "big production" we started hearing amplified voices. Squinting into the distance I noticed a movie screen attached to one of the houses with video playing. Holy cow! It is a big production! There was a stage built in front of the house with people enacting some kind of play all dressed in costumes. Flood lights were attached to a tree across the street. There were even benches for small audience members on the sidewalk. We couldn't get to the stage as the street was packed with kids and adults alike.


The big production on some street in Riverdale.

As we managed to see the last five, ten minutes of the play and video extravaganza I managed to snap a few pictures. I'll have to make a note of going back next year. Supposedly this is an annual thing.

Dating at the ROM

The highlight of my day would be to meet up with this girl. To bring you readers up to speed, for the last two weeks or so I've been emailing this girl. I'll refer to her as "the girl" to keep her identity secret as she likes her privacy. For those that know the girl please keep this to yourselves. Anyways, A few weeks ago I met this girl and we've kept in touch via email. We've both been busy. Me shooting fashion week and being sick and her being out of town for a while attending a wedding (not hers).

So as luck would have it, mine specifically, we made plans to meet up and today was the day. We ended up at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). To start off with it was her idea. In a lot of ways it's a great idea. You can casually look at things, talk, and in doing so get to know the other person. This is much better than going to see a movie as you don't really talk in a theatre and if you do you are shunned to the movie talker hell in a later life. It's the same hell that you go to when your cell phone goes off, a hell that's slightly better than the one you'd go to if you were to talk on your cell phone in the theatre while the movie is playing.

The big problem for me with the ROM is the fact that I never know how much time to spend looking at something. Am I looking at something too long or too little? Is the person with me getting bored while waiting for me to look at something? Are we even in an interesting section of the museum? Maybe spending time looking in the bat cave freaks them out.

Perhaps this uber-sensitiveness is a bit crazy but I've been around people like that... you could sense their boredom as you checked out stuff that interested you and in the end you couldn't really spend time looking at stuff to your satisfaction and keep the other person entertained long enough to not have them have their eyes glazing over. So for me the ROM was pretty intimating.

Surprisingly the date, can I call this a date, er... the meeting went rather well. I suppose I was just so into the girl that I didn't seem to notice the time being spent in front of anything or everything. Any objects we looked at or stood in front of seemed interesting in some odd way, they became a conversation piece. From the dinosaur skeletons on the main floor to some weird ass vase from the ming dynasty.

There was a point where we sat in a room with a lot of stuffed birds and just talked while watching kids open a drawer of bird poop, it was part of the exhibit. In the end I think it was her. There was definitely something about the girl because not once did I reach for my non-existent camera from my non-existent camera bag.

Yes, I left the camera bag and all the stuff inside it at home. This from a guy who's motto could be "Not from my cold dead hand..." or "If you see me without a camera then Hell's frozen over." or "If I don't have a camera some thing's wrong... the camera is busted or I am". It kind of gives you an idea how much I wanted to concentrate on the girl I suppose.

Come to think of it, I can't remember not having a camera on me since 2003, with the exception of being sick or my camera breaking that is. How crazy is that? When I fried the mother board on my camera all those years ago and had to bring my camera in for repairs, all month (before my replacement camera arrived from Ebay) I kept checking my bag to see if I lost something or where my non-existent Nikon 990 went to.

Kind of like when I forget my watch, another thing I rarely do, hence the perpetual white stripe around my un-tanned left wrist, every now and then I'll look at my bare arm for the time realizing the watch is at home on a table. Not having a camera on my person bugs me or bugged me until today. All because of a girl, well this one at least. In the end I can't say that's a bad thing.