Photographe Paul Galipeau Ottawa Canada | lechampiondumonde.com

Nominated

Wow. This is a nice surprise. (Seriously surprised) A photo I took last year just got nominated in the Social Issues category for a News Photographers Association of Canada National Picture of the Year award. Here it is.

OTTAWA – May 31, 2009 – Lucy Chapman (left), her partner and their daughter remain locked in a group hug during Guerilla Freeze, an event meant to desensitize passers-by to the sight of same-sex displays of affection. (Paul Galipeau / Capital Xtra!)

This is rad because I’m up against two pretty big names and the photo was also shot for Capital Xtra! There’s a video of the event the photo was taken at on Xtra.ca where you get different angles of the moment. You can also see me in the video, I think. We’ll find out what happens in a few weeks. Get the full list of categories and nominees at NPAC.ca.

Until we find out, here’s a photo of me trying to get out of New Jersey yesterday (JK…mad love to the Garden State).

Hatchmatik & news…

2nd edition of my new party/photo residency. Took a bit longer than normal to turn these around and there are fewer photos but hope people dig em.

Been a bit sick these days and gave myself a bit of a wack haircut today but otherwise, things are looking better than they have in a while. I’ll be living with a dog soon and I’m pretty pumped about that.

A lot of good things are happening to people around me too so I want to share some of it with you…

The main piece of news is that Ottawa’s Drastik recently won the RedBull Thre3Style Canadian championships in Toronto. He’ll compete for the world title in Paris later this year. Check out his winning set (it has a great ending)…

Red Bull Thre3Style Drastik Winning Set Canadian Finals from Red Bull Thre3Style on Vimeo.

Next up, one of Ottawa’s best clothing stores recently relaunched their website at normlclothing.com. So far, they’re focusing their webstore on sneakers (which I never got hugely into since a lot of leather and suede is involved) but I’ve got my eyes on these Marshall Artists jeans in the store… Congrats to Yann, Robbie, Josh and everyone else for keeping things going!

A while ago, my pal Peter Joynt released a mixtape that needs to be heard. This week, he released a video for his song Bless It Like a Baptist. Watch Watch Watch!

Over the last few days, I was posting to the blog I run for the News Photographers Association of Canada in behalf of photographer Ed Ou, who I spoke to over Skype last week, a few hours after he got arrested and put in a Djiboutian prison. Even for Skype, it was an expensive call but I think it made for an interesting week of blogging that hopefully Ed will be able to add to at some point in the future.

On another NPAC tip, from April 23-25, there will be a photojournalism conference in Toronto. There’ll be a lot happening such as presentations given by Andrea Bruce, David Burnett and a few more. A lot of the most important information is on the NPAC message board.

Finally, one of my favourite podcasts, Bande à Part, put together a whole microsite dedicated to hardcore music in Québec. It’s informative for veteran music people as well as the uninitiated. If you’re at all curious about what was going on in the Québec punk scene over the last 30 years, you need to visit Bande à part! They even mention some Ottawa bands. En français seulement, par exemple…

That’s it. It’s the weekend. I’m going to clean out my closet.

Point and click

This is a post for people who don’t take photos in that sort of obsessive compulsive way some of us do.

JE ME SOUVIENS MAINTENANT… Last year, I went to a small yet spirited party at one of my fave Ottawa restaurants, Oz Kafe (huuuge respect to my pals holding down the fort over there), and I had no camera. Others did, however, and I saw at least one mostly sitting on a table, left unused. “Blasphemy!”, I thought, so I picked up the tiny CoolPowerPixShot-whatever-it-was and got to work, thinking I’d never see any of these photos again.

Like a baby, which many people I know seem to be having these days, nine months later, the photos surfaced – apparently as much a surprise to the camera’s owner to me.

Looking at the photos, I actually feel kind of pleased with what I managed to capture with a small camera that had been so neglected.

I’m stoked about these photos because I kind of see them as the potential EVERYONE has to take interesting photos in regular environments if only they cared enough to try.

And you do need to try. You need to take photos every day and become familiar with your camera – whatever it may be. Make mistakes and learn from them. Share your photos and be open to feedback. Don’t be scared to take risk and don’t be bummed when something you like isn’t the same as what your neighbour likes. Be prepared to kill your idols too.

Then again, maybe people are wise to leave their cameras on tables for people like me to pick up and maybe they should do it more often.

Or, maybe “anyone can take these photos”!

Yes? No? Discuss…

PS: Shout outs to Victoire & Danny Deleto, members of which are seen in the above photos and help make this city a bit more interesting for me every day. Sincerely.

CANADA

Two shots I got while biking up Elgin Street last night. Ottawa was pretty calm overall.