Canon Imaging Academy and Expo 2010

Last Saturday, November 27, 2010 I was privileged to attend the Canon Imaging Academy and Expo 2010 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. It had talented photographers in the industry speaking, new technologies about the 60D, a trade show booth, among others. To me, however the event can be summarized in two words: Vincent LaForet.

I had a chance to listen to his two presentations, one in still photography and another in video. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer at The New York Times, on top of the long list of achievements that fill his resume. At such a young age he has definitely influenced and changed how the industry has been and is like for photographers. The turning point of his career can be stemmed from Reverie, the short video he made using the prototype 5DMarkII which you can find on his blog: http://blog.vincentlaforet.com. And from there, his career took off. I definitely could say that he had a great eye to begin with in stills - his aerial and sports photography is breathtaking. I was so impressed with his use of the tilt shift lens; it gave me a new perspective to using that lens altogether. Using his technical knowledge in photography, he was able to pick up a lot of things that helped him in taking videos using dSLR cameras. “Photography,” as he said, “is the capture of light. Video is the capture of motion.” In his presentation, he showed a series of short clips, and you can definitely see the transition of his career and what he learned in every step. His camera gear grew exponentially and so did his technical expertise. “It’s not for everyone,” he said. And I can definitely see that - it takes so much more than just a vision, a still image, it takes a story.

Photo by: Albert Law

Aside from that, I took some photos of the convention, saw some familiar faces, met some new people. It was indeed a great experience. An eye-opener. For the creative industry, or the photography industry to be specific, it’s not good to stand and wait for the next camera / technology to come out. It’s best to be up to date and to learn on a daily basis. If that seems to be a problem, then perhaps it isn’t your passion and it’s not something you sincerely want to pursue (and hope to survive in this industry) for a lifetime.

Also, thank you to Jeremy Lim (http://www.jeremylim.ca) for the opportunity to attend the event!