vancouver fashion and portrait photography

Whether it is for the freshly baked goods or the stunning historical artifacts, Vancouver's Chinatown neighborhood has enough nostalgia to spread for its visitors and residents. Nestled in near the edge of the downtown core, this particular Chinatown is blessed with some stunning architecture as well as waterfront scenery. Static Photography photographer Kris Krug had the chance to wander around his local neighborhood with his camera in tow. He was even able to catch some rare Vancouver sunlight while wandering the streets.

The weather is dropping quicker than the leaves can fall in Vancouver, BC but that hasn't stopped Static Photography from venturing out into the cold for awesome events. Photographer Kris Krüg has literally been everywhere this past year including Bolivia for the World People's Conference on Climate Change, Louisiana to document the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and even Manchester, UK for the AND Festival. This late in the year Kris has been spending some quality time in Vancouver, BC which has given him the chance to capture some really interesting events that have happened around town.

With the return of the fall cold weather and the brightly changing colors of the leaves, there is also the annual return of the PopTech conference in Camden, Maine. This three day event connects some of the brightest and most innovative social change individuals from around the world for realtime sharing of ideas, problems and active solutions.

Weddings can be a whirlwind of excitement for any new couple. When it comes to the planning of the special event, many details come into play from out of town family, outfits, location, food, vows and especially wedding photography. Having photos that capture the ceremony and events surrounding it can be very memorable for everyone involved in the wedding. Static Photography had the chance to capture four special ceremonies this past summer and early fall.

It is always great to get a chance to be a part of revolutionary art shows that combine the creative community with the aspect of social change. The Timeraiser art show is just this type of event. Set for the evening of September 23rd this highly curated art show will auction off art from international artists not for money but for volunteer hours at selected charities. This will be the third year that Vancouver has hosted Timeraiser in its city and the second time that Static Photography photographer Kris Krüg has had the opportunity of being a selected artist for the show.

The world has watched with wide eyes as the Deepwater Horizon oil well has spilled millions of barrels of crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico for the last 75 days. News reports of threatened wildlife, coastal destruction, media blackouts and the end of fisherfolk communities have plagued the news feeds of many concerned residents and citizens. Deciding this situation, with its saturation of misinformation, was a call to action, Dave Troy and Nate Mook decided it was  time to organize an event that would bring together the eyes, the ears and the minds of people involved. On June 28th, TEDx Oil Spill took place in Washington, DC.

This past week the TEDx Oil Spill Expedition team spent time in the Southern states that line the Gulf of the Mexico documenting the disaster that is slowly unfolding in Gulf waters. Exactly two months ago the Deepwater Horizon oil well owned by British Petroleum sprung a terrible leak thousands of miles under the water's surface. The oil well has consistently leak millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf on a daily basis, with little to no stopping it . This catastrophe has effected so many areas of the Gulf Coast, not just touching upon the beaches and devastating the fisherfolk communities but also displacing hundreds of birds from their homes. Overall the amount of damage is infuriating.

The last few days have been a non-stop journey through the coastal area of New Orleans and the Southern Louisiana Marshlands for the TEDx Oil Spill Expedition team. The team of photographers, videographer and writer have been exploring the land and the sky in order to understand the story of the Oil Crisis here in the Gulf. A couple thousands photos and multiple blog posts later, the team is gathering media coverage from a witnessing POV for the June 28th TEDx Oil Spill event in Washington, DC. 

Currently the entire world has their eyes and ears glued to the media that is coming out of the Gulf of Mexico, depicting the travesty and devastation around the BP Oil Spill.

It was a geek blogging heaven this past weekend in Vancouver when the annual Northern Voice blogging conference stormed the campus of the UBC. Highlighting its sixth year of existence Northern Voice came back bigger and better than ever. Two days with multiple tracks and over 500 attendees, this conference showcased some of the best and brightest in the blogosphere of Vancouver.

The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth  wrapped up its four days of non-stop working activism a little over a week ago. Located in the small Bolivian town of Tiquipaya, right on the outskirts of Cochabamba, the WPCCC was a collective effort to gather the voices of activists, indigenous people and the global community at large into a collective document. This document titled Submission from the Plurinational State of Bolivia to UNFCCC would include the People's Declaration Agreement on Climate Change and the Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. Static Photography had the chance to head down to South America to photograph this event which sparked a strengthened voice in the people's movement around climate change. 

Spring has sprung and nothing screams warm weather like the idea of a perfect afternoon riding your bike!

Our friends at Speciaity Color Services Photo Lab  in Santa Barbara, CA are starting off the new year with their 2nd annual Photo

(cross-posted from Kris' personal blog )

Darren Rowse interviewed me this week about taking photos of people - portrait photography specifically - for a new book he has coming out on the topic. Thanks a lot for including me Darren. You do great work and it's an honor to be a part of it! :)

Here's a rough transcript of the interview:

Static Photography has had the opportunity to travel to many different conferences for awesome photographic opportunities! Whether it is shooting portraits at Microsoft Tech Days , or giving a photo recap talk at Gnomedex 2009 , or even heading back to Pop!Tech to be their official photographer, Kris Krug is definitely busy at conferences. Come this November Kris will have the awesome opportunity to lead a PhotoCamp at the first annual [Re]Think Hawaii conference .

Since the last time we were there, the Microsoft Tech Days conference has continued across Canada, all the way to Toronto. Following just a few weeks behind the Microsoft Tech Days Conference in Vancouver , the Toronto leg of the Microsoft Canadian Tour was September 28-29. Static Photography was present for the all action and to capture many lively and candid portraits of some of Microsoft Canada's employees.

As an artist it is always exciting when you are given the opportunity to showcase you are in a public format. Kris Krug from Static Photography was given this opportunity last week when he was asked to be part of a live concert photography art show titled Front Row at the Fifth Gallery in Austin, TX. The beautiful thing about Austin is that every year Kris attends the SXSW festival that happens there every spring. The tail end of the festival is filled with four days of nonstop live performances in venues all over the city of Austin. A large chunk of Kris' live concert photography is shot at the SXSW music festival every year.

Arson clothing is a rad international clothing company that specializes in outerwear for the athletic community. Their style ranges from surf clothing to snowboard clothing to all around comfortable summer clothing. Static Photography has had the opportunity to shoot the last ten catalogs for the international clothing company Arson. All of them have been really different and fun and showcases the clothing in fun, creative environments that reflect the style of the season.

For the last two years Kris Krug has had the opportunity to be the official photographer of Pop!Tech , a 4 day fall conference that happens in Camden, ME. Over the past two years he has shot dozens of speakers while they were presenting on a wide range of topics, including inner-city violence , the fate of the oceans , musical possibility , linguistic theory and emotional robot technology . From musicians to leaders to the change makers of the present world, Pop!Tech has hosted them and Kris has photographed them.

So Static Photography has been very busy since we got back from Shanghai, China. We were in Shanghai for two weeks with a schedule booked very full! Kris was shooting photos for his book Chinameme Vol. 1 Shanghai which he is co-authoring with Christine Lu. While in China Kris also spoke at TEDxShanghai and attended BarcampShanghai , which he helped start back in 2006. We also attended Shanghai's and China's first ever Gay Pride Celebration , a Ghostface Killah concert that was promoted by Splitworks Production as well as a few other events. We met new friends, shots hundreds of photos and explored many parts of the 25 million person city, under the burgeoning heat of Shanghai's summer.