Mar 06
by gregvanriel in Recent Shoots 6 comments tags: Deconstructivist style, Expo, Isle Notre Dame, Montreal, Montreal casino, Palais des Congres, Place Des Arts, Sun Life Building

Stone Cold Montreal Winter shoot

I went to see my Mom and sister in Montreal recently.  Of course I couldn’t resist going out to look for a few shots. I have a certain fondness for the old Sun Life building. In the 1930’s it was the tallest building in the British Empire.  The architects were Robert Finlay and Richard Waite.  I tried to get an interesting angle on it as you can see here.  But it was so cold I had to take refuge inside to warm up.                                                                                                           When I went back out again I used the Boer War memorial horse and soldier in the foreground.   I like the one straight on the best and didn’t do any lens correction, just warmed it up and pulled out some detail on the soldier and his horse. (It’s easy to open the same image again in camera raw.  Pull out the detail you […]
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Oct 21
by gregvanriel in Recent Shoots 2 comments tags: AerialCineMedia, Architectural Photography, Architecture videos, Bridgepoint Active Healthcare, Diamond Schmitt Architects, HDR Architecture, Helicopter, KPMB Architects, Old Don Jail, Remote controlled helicopter, Stantec Architecture, Time Lapse Photography

HELICOPTER VIDEO OF BRIDGEPOINT HOSPITAL

I’ve been watching the construction of the new Bridgepoint Active Healthcare Centre in east Toronto with keen interest.  Diamond Schmitt Architects, KPMB, Stantec, and HDR Architecture had the vision for the new facility which sits in the heart of residential Riverdale.  In February I took some initial shots of the building. Then I had the good fortune to re-connect with some old friends, Kristi McNeil and Steve Couzens owners of Big Sky Film Production. They just opened a new Flying Camera division called AerialCineMedia. Their flying camera platform is a fast and agile remote control helicopter that carries HD Cinema quality cameras to distances of 1500 feet and speeds of up to 80km/hr Since the helicopter is small it can get very close to subjects. I thought it would be cool to use this technique to shoot buildings for architects. Bridgepoint Hospital came to mind right away. Kristi and Steve were game and so was Antra Roze from Diamond Schmitt. She suggested I contact Danielle Donadio at Bridgepoint and she loved the idea. So Kristi, Steve and I did an initial scout of the building. Since Administration for the Hospital is in the renovated old Don Jail, the consensus was […]
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Jul 12
by gregvanriel in Recent Shoots 4 comments tags: BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Hindu temple Toronto, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Toronto

An Architectural Masterpiece

Recently I met with Swami Nitya at the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Toronto.  The Mandir is an exceptional Hindu temple which can been seen traveling north on HWY 427. After a very interesting discussion with Swami Nitya in which he gave me a crash course in Hinduism, I was granted the opportunity to shoot the Mandir.  Here are some images I shot.   I am so impressed with the detail.  The temple was hand carved from Italian Carrara Marble, the finest Turkish Limestone, and Indian Pink Sandstone.  Everything was hand carved in India and shipped to Canada and assembled on site.                                                                                                                                                 I was looking for the quintessential wide shot that would show the majesty and grandeur of the Mandir.  I decided on this shot. But I didn’t think […]
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Feb 06
by gregvanriel in Recent Shoots 1 comments tags: Fed Ex, Mercury Vapor Lamps

Quick Thinking at Fed Ex

I’d like to help anyone faced with shooting in a site lit with the dreaded Mercury Vapor lamps. They cast a very unflattering green light, as you can see here.                     What to do? This assignment was to shoot the interior of a large brand new Fed Ex distribution center. It would take way too many strobe lights to overpower the Mercury Vapor lamps.  However, since there were about 75 trucks in the facility, there were these giant bay doors.           So I requested that all the doors be opened up to allow the natural light from outside to overpower the vapors.           It solved the problem for the most part.  Although some shots, like the one below, still had some green areas.  You can de-saturate the green in Photoshop in Hue/Saturation.  Select green from the “Master” drop down menu.  Then click the eyedropper on green in the image and de-saturate.     The next challenge was to try and capture the essence of the place in one shot.  The Fed Ex trucks all lined up looked cool but the place was massive.  Here […]
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Nov 20
by gregvanriel in Recent Shoots 3 comments tags: Joey Restaurant

Can we clear the shot, please!

Last week I shot the new Joey Restaurant in the big expansion / renovation of Yorkdale Shopping Centre, in Toronto. What’s it like to shoot a place that’s still partially under construction?  Here’s a behind the scene peek at what was going on while we were shooting.  In this first shot below we had to clear a large hydraulic scissor lift. Turned out pretty good. How do you like the look of this new JOEY?                     In this next shot we had to hide a bunch of painting equipment under the 1st table.                       The following image was taken from the stairs that were still being painted.                     This high angle shot was a challenge.  I had to Photoshop out a person who snuck into the edge of frame.  I didn’t notice it at the time but someone had stacked chairs on the bar.  Can you tell where the bar stools were?                       For this next image I had to place the […]
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