Tag: 2008 Juno Awards Posts

Inside The Media Room At The Junos

Photography

I picked up a cab and headed down to the Saddledome to attend the Junos tonight. However, as soon as I got to the front door, I was told that I wasn’t allowed inside by some lady. Of course, I received countless emails that said I had access to this event, which of course I tried to explain to her. Her argument was that those emails didn’t mean anything, and that they were limited by space. Eventually she let me in, but it was a rather big hassle. 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 […]

Great Night In Calgary

 Journal

So, I really don’t know how to describe the last few hours. It was pretty amazing. 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 […]

At The Junos

 Journal

First, the Penthouse Party at the Fairmont in Calgary. It was awesome. I put my camera down the entire time and just enjoyed myself, which was cool because almost every Juno nominee at the Juno Fan Fare came and hung out. I sat down and put myself next to this really cute girl (Nadine) from a Toronto Media Company. While chatting with her, the guys from State Of Shock swung by and I chatted with them for a while (great guys). There were Juno nominees everywhere, but I was too busy mingling and drinking free beer to notice. 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 […]

Juno Fan Fare

Photography

I woke up this morning at around 10am, close to being rested, but not 100%. The stupid alarm clock in my hotel room started going off at 4:30am, and it took me like 10 minutes to figure out how to shut it off. No matter. 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 […]

Interview With God Made Me Funky

Photography

So there were five bands that played tonight, and to be honest, they were all awesome in their own way. I’m not a big country fan, but standing three feet away from Justin Rutledge listening to the guy pour his heart out in a southern drawl is enough to rope anyone in. Lindsay Ell was an absolute cutey, and I even got a chance to talk to her briefly after the show. 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: [blipit id=800792] 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.

The Welcome Reception

Photography

Wow. That’s all I can say. I really had no idea what to expect, but the event so far has completely blown away all my expectations. Sometimes when you get a media pass you can’t really do anything. Contrast that with my pass, where I can basically do whatever I want. I literally have walked into any room I’ve wanted and photographed whatever I have wanted. I was up front, literally three feet from the stage, using both my SLR and my video camera during the whole night, all while drinking free beer and chatting with cute girls in cowboy hats. I’m not coming home. 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 […]