Tag: junos Posts

Last year I attended the 2008 Canadian Juno awards in Calgary, AB, as a media representative for Urban Vancouver. The media accredidation is open for this year’s awards show, which are in Vancouver. I would love to attend this year as a photographer again, but am hoping to be able to go as a social media representative for another company where the coverage can potentially reach more people. I received a great deal of coverage both during and after the event, and was essentially one of the only social media people in the room who was using grass root’s technology to showcase the behind the scenes experience. I used Flickr, Blip.TV, my own personal blog, and the Urban Vancouver site to allow people to participate along. While mainstream media was packing up their gear and heading back to the station to process their video, I was drinking beer because I […]

Update – Hotwire came through for me again. We’re going to be staying at the Magnolia Luxury Boutique Hotel right in Inner Harbour. So exciting. The other day Arieanna contacted me via Twitter and asked if I wanted a photo pass for the festivities this weekend in Victoria. Since I haven’t been to Victoria in a few years, I thought it might be a good opportunity to sample some island beer and take some photos. Sometimes photo passes just let you get your camera in the door, and aren’t really anything special. However, Arieanna just got confirmation that our passes include access to the front-stage pit, as well as backstage and potentially interview access. I’m more of a photo kind of guy, but I’m sure Arieanna is anxious to get a few interviews for b5media. Shooting the Juno awards was obviously a pretty big highlight in my photography career, but […]

I’m sure many of you know already know who Leslie Feist is. She’s one of Canadian’s most recognized young musicians now, thanks to obvious talent and also having her song 1-2-3-4 included in one of Apple’s largest marketing campaigns. If I remember correctly, Feist snagged five awards at the Junos, which is as close to a landslide as you can really have at an event like that. I unfortunately didn’t get to meet her (she was rather popular that night), but I did get to hang out a few feet away from her and snap a few photos. I was doing some reading in my RSS reader this morning and came across this cute video of Feist that was recently on Sesame Street over on my friend Kasia’s blog. I used to watch that show a lot as a kid (I’m sure most of us did), and I found myself […]

I found a bunch more videos from the Junos. After the Gala on the Saturday night, a few of us headed to some after party. Here’s a shot from the Jam Room upstairs in the VIP room.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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 […]