The media room here is fairly nuts. There are about twice as many photographers as last night, but they are stuffed in about half of the space. I went down and looked at the photo pit in the stadium, but I think it’s just going to be too crowded, and I’m not going to bother. I’ve even a bit concerned getting photos in the media room since they are just so many people here, all trying to get shots.

While I like taking photos, I’m not a big fan of having to fight to take a photo. But we’ll see what happens. The actual event doesn’t start until 6pm, which is two hours away. So for now I’m just going to surf the internet and work on some photos from last night.

The thing is, I was invited to shoot photos on the red carpet for some all inclusive event. Unfortunately, even though it was sponsored by a company and they wanted lots of publicity, as a photographer most of us weren’t allowed inside. So after about 20 minutes of taking photographs in the cold, I figured I had better uses for my time, and headed down to this other party downtown (thanks to a girl we met during the night).

Anyways, despite not being on the guest list, we all somehow get ourselves into the hotel. For the rest of the night I hung out with Juno nominees and winners in a special section of the bar, drinking, laughing and having a great time. At one point, I ended up in guitar jam room full of people that lacked a guitarist, so I grabbed the nearest Les Paul and joined the crowd. Later Arieanna told me that I was basically rocking with all the Juno nominees or winners in a crowd of people. So, that was a fairly big highlight of my weekend. I think Arieanna too a video of it, so I’ll try and post it at later. I am, at best, a mediocre guitar player, but thankfully everyone was pretty tipsy and I managed to keep up for five minutes or so.

I also got free shoes from Adidas. Upstairs was a room full of those people, and I went into a room where Adidas replaced my shoes with cooler items, for free. What an evening. I even have this new leather bag that says “Adidas Super Star.”

Tonight is the awards show, so I’m going to head on over to that shortly. And the later I’m going to come back to my hotel and relax. I have an early morning flight back to Vancouver tomorrow, and then it’s back to being software engineer Duane again. But that’s ok — he’s a fun guy too.

Right after winning his Juno.

I just got back from a full behind-the-scenes look at the Junos setup for tonight (it’s fairly unreal). Unfortunately, the two photo booths are basically so far away as to render most shots impossible (every photographer here is amazingly upset about them). I’m a little more optimistic, since I can do wonders with photoshop, but it’s a hard shot, even with expensive gear, so I have no idea what’s going to happen.

I’m stuck in a back room at the Telus Convention Center, and soon I’ll be able to get a runner to take me downstairs to the Junos and shoot some photos. I met a really great photographer named Barry, and I gave him my perspective on New Media (things like Flickr etc), that he whole heartedly agreed with. I commented that a shitty cell-phone photo published within 30 minutes of an event was sometimes worth more than an award winning shot published days later, and he agreed. Which makes it kind of sad that none of the photographers here are happy with the setup for taking photographs.

But whatever. I’m here, I’ve had free beer, and I have my camera. I’ll do the best I can, and then go drinking later at the bar. This town is on fire with pride, and it’s amazing to be a part of it all.

I’ll post some more shots later.

I cabbed down to the University this morning to check out the Juno Fan Fare. It’s basically a huge event where the fans can line up and get autographs from their favourite groups. Media access to this event wasn’t that great. They had set up two photo pits on either side of the autographing areas, but due to the location of them, the angles on the shots were fairly horrible. A few photographers were going “out of bounds” and attempting to get better shots, which made for a few encounters between them and security.

I took the high ride and simply shot where I was told. I don’t really get the mass appeal of photographing celebrities, so I mostly spent my time walking around. I actually went beside some fans and took a few photos, only to be told by security that the media wasn’t allowed to photograph there. To which I commented “by these other 100 people are allowed to?”

The event lasts four hours, but I bailed after 45 minutes. I’m just relaxing for a few minutes, and then heading out to the Penthouse at the Fairmont for a gathering related to the 2009 Junos in Vancouver.

The Gala starts around 4:30pm for the media. I’m really not sure what to expect at all, or where I’ll be positioned to take photographs. I’m also heading to some club later to shoot some Red Carpet action (although, I’m less excited about this since learning that the media isn’t actually allowed inside the club). That reminds me of this Cuban architect I met once who designed fancy vacation resorts, but wasn’t actually allowed to step foot inside of them.

And while they were all awesome, God Made Me Funky was pretty unbelievable. They are a group of eight members from the Toronto area, and their show is this amazing mix of funk and dance. I had the opportunity to talk to Danny from the band after the show:

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Also, head on over to Danny’s MySpace Page for some more information.

There are some more shots on my Flickr if anyone is interested.

I uploaded a pile of photos to my Flickr account, but here are a few teasers. First, the lovely Miss Lindsay Ell:

Daniel, from God Made Me Funky:

The Dudes:

It’s only 9:50pm, and I’m beat. I’ve taken 1GB worth of movies and 4GB worth of photos already, and it’s only day one. I’ll post more later — I gotta go see about a girl. In a cowboy hat.

Here’s a quick video from The Dudes while I’m out hitting on cute girls.

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Oh what the heck, here’s some Justin Rutledge too:

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Seriously, this is so awesome, there aren’t enough words to describe it.

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A Shot Of The Stage At The Junos

To be honest, I was a bit worried about being here, given that I’m not really a mainstream media person. But after seeing how everyone else handled themselves, I no longer feel that out of my element.

Ben Mulroney, The Host Of Canadian Idol

In fact, watching everyone else take photos and set up huge camera equipment, I realized I’m probably one of the only people there that will be able to post stuff within a few hours of being at an event out here.

Russell Peters, The Host Of The Juno Awards

In fact, even as I type this I have two movies uploading, one that gives a live demonstration of the lights and effects at the Juno awards, and another of Russell Peters doing what he does best.

The Set From The 2008 Juno Awards

It was pretty cool standing beside some of the media celebrities out here in Calgary. After I picked up my media pass this morning, I ran into some kids who were like “wow, you’re photographing at the Junos? So cool!” I thought it was totally cute, and made my morning.

The next function I have is around 6pm I think, but I might go out and buy a new memory card for my camera, since 1GB of SD just isn’t enough for videos.

I spent the last 15 minutes reading all the emails I’ve been sent from the Junos media committee (something I probably should have done a few days ago). It turns out there’s a lot more going on than I originally realized, and I think I’m going to be fairly busy in the next 72 hours.

The press conference starts around noon today and will feature Russell Peters as well as a live performance or two. The event is sponsored by CTV, and we’ll get to see the entire setup for the Juno ceremonies, which should be a pretty cool photo opportunity. That goes until around 2pm or so, and then I’ll have a bit of time to unwind and regain my bearings. At 6pm tonight is the welcome reception in the imperial ballroom of the Hyatt Regency hotel. According to my media briefing, The Dudes, Lindsay Ell, Justin Rutledge, Bill Manzar and God Made Me Funky will all be performing. I’ll spend some time during the break this afternoon reading up on all of them. If anyone is a fan drop me a comment and let me know.

I’ve re-read everything I have a few times already, and I find I’m still struggling to figure out just what it means to be a photographer during the two main events tomorrow and Sunday. It seems like there are a few photo pits available for guys like me, but they are fairly far (95ft and 135ft respectively) from the stage. It also seems like that I can just hang out in the media room and take photos from there, which I might end up doing. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what it looks like in person.

The person next to me on the plane was easily the most computer-addicted person I’ve ever seen. The moment he sat down in his seat he pulled his laptop out and started fiddling with it. He then asked the stewardess how soon after take off he could open it up and use it. The moment the wheels went up the guy was frantically trying to start up. And when it was finally up, know what he did? He moved icons around his desktop for an hour. When the plane landed and everyone was disembarking, I literally had to ask him to pack his laptop up so I could get by him and exit the plane. Time to unplug pal.

Photo by lehedonist on Flickr

I didn’t get to sleep until well after 2am, so 5am came really early for me. I’m pretty beat, and can’t wait to get on the plane so I can try and get 30 minutes of sleep. I’m pretty much guaranteed to be going non-stop once I land in Calgary, at least until the early afternoon, at which point I’ll probably head back to the hotel and have a nice nap before tonight. I think there’s some welcome reception later in the evening, but I’m really not sure.

Normally going through security with a bag full of electronics is a major hassle for me, but this time nobody seemed to care at all. In fact, they seemed more interested in some purse belonging to this little old lady than they did any of my camera gear or computer equipment.

While I’m not a big fan of hotels, I”m definitely looking forward to getting a good night’s sleep somewhere it’s quiet. That’s the one part of my apartment in Vancouver that’s been bothering me lately — it’s really loud being sandwiched between two bridges, and the noise often keeps me up at night. One of the best sleeps I had all of last year was in Las Vegas, partially because I was so tired, but mostly because the room was so well insulated.

I’m going to chug down the rest of this pop, and then spend the next 15 minutes surfing the internet until the plane boards. Most likely the next post will be after the press conference in Calgary, at which point I should have my first batch of photos to post (I haven’t touched my camera in over a month, I hope I can remember how to take photos).

** this post was brought to you by Vancouver Airport’s generous $12/hour wireless internet

I picked up a few new clothes today, including that fun black shirt I’m wearing in the photo. All my camera equipment is charging in the other room, and I’m slowly adding stuff to a suitcase (and having a hard time deciding how big of a suitcase to bring).

I’m heading over to Miss604’s house in a sec for some quick Thai food, and to borrow some podcasting equipment from John, who unfortunately isn’t feeling well. I actually really feel like having a beer for some reason, so I might stop and pick one up on the way over. Part of me feels like I’m on vacation I guess.

This weekend will go fast, and I really have no idea how it will unfold. I’m assuming the role of photographer, writer, and possibly interviewer, which is a bold effort for one lone Chilliwack guy. Thankfully there will be a few Vancouver people out that way, and I have lots of friends with great technical know-how back home here to help me out if I get in a bind.

In terms of following what’s going on, here’s where you can keep track:

• My 2008 Canadian Juno Awards page
• My Flickr Photos
• My Twitter Feed
• The Urban Vancouver Juno Aggregator
• My Blip.Tv page

The aggregator is a good bet if you’re looking for information, since it has most of the above links sucked into it. But, feel free to add me on Twitter or whatever if you want to keep up to date in real-time.

The next post I do will most likely be around 6am at Vancouver International Airport tomorrow. It’s sort of a tradition of mine to have breakfast at the Milestone’s over there. Thanks to everyone who has lent a hand this week – I’ll try and give proper thanks as the weekend rolls out.

Photo from Russell Peter’s Website

My flight is at 7am in the morning, and I hope to have a few minutes in the airport relaxing with a coffee and an eggs benedict. I’m pretty excited about going to the Junos, and really have no idea what to expect. Russell Peters will be at the press conference tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll get to chat with him a bit — I’m a big fan of some of his comedy skits.

Also, make sure you bookmark my Juno Awards Page which I’ll update while I’m out there. Also, check out Urban Vancouver, where I’ll also be doing the odd posting as well.

I’m still waiting on a few image assets from the Juno organization, but I’ve started putting together a page that I’ll use when I’m out there. If you can, please throw some link love at my 2008 Canadian Juno Awards Coverage page so that people can find it, and I don’t feel like an idiot writing entirely for myself.

I’ll probably promote it to the front page (something I’ve never done in Wordpress before, although the option exists) during the event, but I’m hoping to flesh out my page with a few cool surprises before I get on the plane.

I’ll also be doing the odd post over at Urban Vancouver, and probably a guest post over at Miss604.com. John Bollwitt is also going to lend me his iPod podcasting setup, so hopefully there will be an interview or two, should the opportunity arise.

To that end, I really want to go out and buy a new portable camera, something that can do fairly decent video. I really am looking for portability here, and would just go out and get the new Canon Digital Elph, had I not had a pile of bad experiences with them before. So, any recommendations on something small that takes decent movies?

In terms of my camera gear, I’m also completely at a blank for what to bring. Switching lenses and bodies on the fly is a pain in the butt, so I’ll probably just use my 24-70mm f/2.8L the majority of the time if I can. I might rent the 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens as well (I have the non IS version), since that would probably be the best one for the indoor shots at the ceremony (assuming I am allowed into that one). I’ll bring a speed light, but don’t really feel like hauling a bracket out there, so I’ll just deal with it on camera or possibly bring my flash extension. So many decisions to be made. Maybe I’ll even rent a 5D for a few days, who knows.

It also sounds like I’ll be meeting up with some high school friends in Calgary for a few drinks (I think one of them is taking the floor of my hotel room for a night), so that should be a good time. I’m going to refactor my blog a bit this weekend and see if I can get some Google ranking going before the event starts.

I went to Flickr late last night and did a search for Juno photographs. Surprisingly, I couldn’t really find any. I spent some time thinking about what that means and either a) bloggers and new-media type people typically don’t end up at the Junos or b) most photos end up entirely in the hands of corporate publications.

Either way, I think I have an interesting opportunity to present a pretty awesome overview of what it’s like to be at the Junos for three days, sort of a photojournalistic approach to being inside. I plan on writing as much as I can over on Urban Vancouver, as well as my own site.

I’ve actually been thinking hard about how to restructure my website when the event comes to make finding and reading about the Junos straightforward (as well as help people find my website when the event is taking place). I’ve gone over a few different ways in my head, and I’m fairly convinced that I’ll have to make changes to my theme to pull it off, at least if I want Google to take notice.

Giddy Up – Me with a cowboy hat +1

I’ll be flying out of Vancouver on the afternoon of Friday the 4th, which puts me in Calgary early enough to pick up my media pass, and check out the opening night gala. Saturday is pretty much filled with music, autographing and drinking events, so I’ll think I’ll have no shortage of things to photograph. I’m definitely getting a cowboy hat, and when not formally dressed, will be walking around taking photos with it on. Very exciting.

Sunday is the actually award ceremony, and I’m not entirely sure what my access will be like to that — the red carpet event is pretty elite, and most photographers don’t have access to it. So we’ll see. Monday is April 7th, which is of course my birthday, and I’ll be flying home early in the morning, landing in Vancouver just in time for some nachos.