At The Junos

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 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.