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Typically I like to send out a newsletter once every quarter but I had to forego a summer update this year. 6 months, minimum 16 hour days, 7 days a week in a whirlwind of photographic fury. Love it! Unfortunately, it makes for a rather lengthy update…

I’m not one to brag but as it turns out, this summer was a big season for awards. One year ago we were contracted by Maclean Group Advertising to help them develop and shoot a new campaign for the Food Bank. The ads featured children describing what they wanted to be when they grew up but that right now what they really wanted was something to eat. We shot both still photography and HD video and it went on to become a hugely successful national campaign. At the 2010 Summit International Advertising Awards the television ads won “Best in Show” amongst tens of thousands of international competitors. It also won two gold medals for outstanding print creative.

Earlier this year we were contracted by Gene Brown of Valley Pool & Spa to photograph his luxury custom-designed pools. Gene is a master at his craft and is world-renowned as one of the top pool designers and builders. His work is nothing short of stunning.  We had the pleasure of photographing a number of his projects this year and were excited to hear last week that our images helped him to win three gold and two silver medals at the International APSP Awards. Congratulations Gene!

Several times this summer Think Marketing had us shooting for Ingrid Jarrett and her team at Watermark Beach Resort in Osoyoos. If you have not yet stayed at this resort or enjoyed a dinner there, it truly is a must. It is a beautiful resort right on the beach with a laundry list of luxury amenities. Part of our assignment was to capture aerial images of the resort. Unfortunately the nearest helipad is quite a distance from the property. As luck would have it, there was a parasailing company nearby that offered to take us up. It could reach an altitude of 100 feet which is what we needed the helicopter to be at. So we went for it. The only problem was that this was one of the only parasailing outfits in Canada that requires a ground landing. To further complicate the matter, the landing pad was at the tip of a small peninsula. One wrong move and you are either eating rocks or water. So after some ground training and a very successful aerial photoshoot with my rather expensive camera around my neck, I’m getting ready for my final decent. Target is in sight, a slight pull on the left cable flares me a little to the left, a gentle tug right to adjust, I’m all lined up. Everything is perfect for a nice gentle landing. Suddenly, at the final moment, a gust of wind grabs my chute, throws me up into the air and drops me like a rock into Lake Osoyoos. As I struggle to keep my camera above the water I can see a few dozen onlookers from the beach running towards me. After being dragged out of the lake (soaked jeans and dress shoes are heavy!) I dried off my camera and made sure the photos were OK. The shots looked perfect so I was happy.

This summer Powerboat Television came out from Toronto and hired our team to produce a new episode for them. We were featuring a gorgeous new Campion Explorer. We had a fantastic time putting the boat through its paces and we look forward to seeing this episode air as part of the new season in the spring.

Speaking of boats, we had the extreme pleasure of shooting for Infinyte Marine this summer. This company has created the world’s first electric boat of its kind. This cruiser was designed by world-renowned boat designer Neil Gilbert and utilizes an extremely intuitive 360 degree joystick control. For the purposes of cruising around in comfort and style, this boat delivers everything it promises and more. Best of all – it requires no gas and produces zero pollution. We were all extremely impressed by this product and know it will be a huge success.

As it always does for us at this time of year, things begin to slow down a little. It is a great time to catch our breath and gear up for next season. I will be leaving on a solo assignment to Iceland for January and February. In addition to various glaciers, volcanoes, geysers and waterfalls, I will be photographing the Aurora Borealis. It is supposed to be a big year for solar activity and with only six hours of daylight in January, I should have plenty of opportunities to capture these northern lights. I will throw a sleeping bag into the back of my rented 4×4 and head inland to freeze my ass off. Good times.

Finally, another assignment that I am very excited for will be traveling to rural Japan in early April to spend two weeks photographing the cherry blossoms. Hanami is a spectacular annual occurrence and the Japanese celebrate this time with plenty of sake and karaoke. Hopefully I can get some work done!

Thank you for reading and hopefully we will have the opportunity to work with you in 2011. We recently updated the website so to see some of our latest work please check out www.shawntalbot.com

All the best to you and your family!

Shawn and The Team (David, Nicole and Aaron)