Rockin' Out At The Star

Richard Lautens - Staff Photographer - @rlautens

It's funny how assignments can work out.  I hadn't shot a lot of sports this year so far and last week I shot the TFC one day, the Raptors the next shift and the Jays home opener the next day.

This week I shot the band Muse at the ACC one night and my next shift was Green Day.  Muse had a much cooler stage but Green Day had way more energy and fun about them.

Typically the photogs get the first three songs to shoot with no flash from a pit at the foot of the stage and then the security guys kick us out although for Green Day we only got 2 songs.  It's amazing how many frames you can shoot in just a couple of songs.

Here's a couple of pix from Muse:

Cool stage

Classic rock pose from Matthew Bellamy

It's hard to get the whole band in one frame when they don't get together

Matthew Bellamy under the spotlight

Now a couple from Green Day:

Drunk Bunny comes out to warm up the crowd before the band

The crowd loves the bunny.  The quality is a little rough as I had to shoot at about 50,000 iso and still only got 1/60 sec at f2.8.

It used to be that there would be 4 or 5 photogs at these things and now occasionally you get up to 20 or 30 (as we had for Green Day)-I guess they're bloggers.

Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong does his thing on stage.

Billie Joe with the crowd.

Billie Joe-I loved the Green behind him.

Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong (left) poses for a photo with a fan who he brought on stage, to the right is bassist Mike Dirnt running in for the photo.

Rock On Toronto!

Richard Lautens-Toronto Star

No Fooling, we had a great March!

 

DAVID COOPER - Leafs  Frazer McLaren decks Senators Dave Dizurzynski during the game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators  at the Air Canada Centre.

Swedish House Mafia at Rogers Centre

Steve Russell - Staff Photographer - @RussellPhotos

 

Glow sticks was on the fashion list as the Swedish House Mafia plays at the Rogers Centre.

 

Rene Johnston's 2012 favourites

Rene Johnston - Staff Photographer - @ReneJohnston1

Montage of Chris Mazza as he testifies at Queens Park. The long-waited, and much-delayed, testimony before a legislative committee, Mazza said Wednesday he "always acted with the best interests of Ontario residents in mind."

Merry Christmas from the Photo Department!

We take a break for our collection of year end blogs.

Here is a collection of some of our Christmas and Holiday pictures leading into this season.

DAVID COOPER - Gorgeous holiday window displays are one of the first signs of the season, these windows are at Holt Renfrew on Bloor Street were up November 1, 2012.

David Cooper 2012 favourites

David Cooper - Chief Photographer - @whatzname07

Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista playfully sticks his tongue out at photographers during photo day at spring training in Dunedin March 2, 2012.

Colin McConnell's 2012

Colin McConnell - Staff Photographer

Lionel Richie, taken at the Four Seasons Hotel, was in town promoting his new comeback country music album called Tuksegee.

Rick Madonik - 2012 year ender

Rick Madonik - Staff Photographer - @Rmadonik

 

Its that time of year again, when we each search out the pictures of the last year and revisit what we liked best, or had the most impact, from stories we've been involved with throughout the year.

Please remember to vote for your favorite picture in order to qualify for a prize offer.

 

 NIAGRA FALLS, ONTARIO -  Nik Wallenda, of the famous Willenda family, attempts to cross Niagra Falls on a tight rope (cable) from Goat Island, New York, to Niagra Falls, Ontario as seen from atop the Skylon Tower, on June 15, 2012.

 

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Four of the famed Canadian Snowbirds pass each other in opposing directions, two headed east, two headed west. The 63rd annual Canadian International Air Show, a featured act of the annual CNE, took off Saturday, September 1, 2012 with three solid hours of air demonstrations. The show featured the Royal Canadian Air Forces Snowbird demonstration team.

 

Best of July

 

        Richard Lautens              

 When it came to finding this month's collection of work, I couldn't resist offering up Richard Lauten's portrait taken on the last day of the month - today! At first, I thought it was an illustration (a picture designed, or conceived, or art directed, and a paid model) and pleasantly surprised to find a portrait (a picture which depicts something about the person). I'll let Lauten's caption speak for itself" Trish is one of more than 186,000 women in the US and Canada have logged on to find their own version of Christian Grey, the character from the book Fifty Shades of Grey. By mid-July 4,931 women from Toronto had altered their profiles on the site seakingarrangements.com indicating they were looking for a Mr. Grey, in other words, a dominant/submissive relationship with BDSM.

What follows is a more day-to-day representation of the types of assignments the staff find themselves up against. Steve Russell is only 4 days in the London 2012 Games, but already working around the clock getting to numerous events, so this is just a tease to the Best of August, when he will be featured prominently.

Best of June 2012

 

RICHARD LAUTENS - 95 year-old Ida Herbert (she turns 96 in August) teaches her first ever yoga class in Toronto.  She held a class for the 30 or so students at Breeze studio in the Junction.