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. ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 ...

It’s 6am, and I’m currently sitting on a chair at the Vancouver International Airport waiting to get on my flight to Calgary. I was really looking forward to having a nice hot eggs benedict at the airport, but the airport decided to close Milestone’s for me, so I’m SOL I guess. My only options right now are unripe raw bananas or my favourite liquid diet, diet pepsi. If I would have had eggs benedict though, they might have looked like this: Photo by lehedonist on Flickr I didn’t get to sleep until well after 2am, so 5am came really early for me. I’m pretty beat, and can’t wait to ...

I just got back from an invite-only press conference inside the Calgary Saddledome. Inside, we got to get our first glimpse of the set for the 2008 Canadian Juno Awards. A Shot Of The Stage At The Junos To be honest, I was a bit worried about being here, given that I’m not really a mainstream media person. But after seeing how everyone else handled themselves, I no longer feel that out of my element. Ben Mulroney, The Host Of Canadian Idol In fact, watching everyone else take photos and set up huge camera equipment, I realized I’m probably one of the only people there that will be able to ...

I currently just flew past Kelowna, and according to the in-seat GPS unit, am hurtling across BC at around 32000 feet. It was raining on the ground in Vancouver, but the sun is shining way up here amongst the clouds. Latest weather report from the cockpit says it’s -6C in Calgary (I should have packed some warmer clothes), so it’s going to be a slight adjustment when I land. I spent the last 15 minutes reading all the emails I’ve been sent from the Junos media committee (something I probably should have done a few days ago). It turns out there’s a lot more going on than I originally realized, ...

I took a quick video of Russell Peters when he came out. The quality isn’t stellar, but you can get a sense of what it was like being inside. [blipit id=799742] ...

On Friday morning I’ll be flying out to the Juno awards in Calgary. There’s a press conference at noon sharp where the media will get to view the entire setup as well as talk to Russell Peters, the host of the Juno Awards. I was originally going to fly out around noon, but I just got the email about the press conference so I might take the full day off and fly out at 7am, assuming I can change my flight. I’m still waiting on a few image assets from the Juno organization, but I’ve started putting together a page that I’ll use when I’m out there. If you can, please throw some link love ...

It’s getting close. In just nine days, I’ll be getting on a plane and heading out to Calgary to attend the 2008 Juno awards. I haven’t really had time to let the whole event soak in yet, and to be honest, probably won’t figure out where I’ll be all weekend until I land in Calgary. What I really want to do is provide an insider’s view of what it’s like being at the Junos during the entire weekend. I’m not sure what that means yet, but it will most likely involve tons of photos and the odd video. To that end, I really want to go out and buy a new portable camera, something that can ...

Yesterday afternoon I placed a few calls and booked myself into the Calgary hotel where all the media are staying for the Junos. It’s right downtown and should be close to all the major events. I actually have a few friends from high school out that way, so I’m looking forward to seeing some of them again on their own turf. I went to Flickr late last night and did a search for Juno photographs. Surprisingly, I couldn’t really find any. I spent some time thinking about what that means and either a) bloggers and new-media type people typically don’t end up at the Junos or b) most photos ...

I actually took this shot about a year ago, but I felt like posting a photo today and stumbled across this one. I took it from my patio first thing one spring morning. It’s a three shot HDR with a bit of post processing. Enjoy. ...

I’ve spent most of this last week thinking about blogging and Northern Voice, so tonight I’m going to unwind a bit in front of the TV and just relax. So, while I plan to write a Northern Voice summary, I’m going to hold off on that for a day or two. One of the aspects of Northern Voice I enjoy is the opportunity to take a lot of different photos in various settings. I practiced doing the odd wide-angle shot in some of the rooms, and used my 70-200mm for a few close ups of speakers. For the most part, I took a lot of the same shots I always take. But for some reason, something’s been really ...

Wow, what’s with this weather? It’s been absolutely gorgeous this winter. I’m lucky enough to have a bedroom with basically a full-wall window view of the downtown core, and every morning the sun reflecting off buildings wakes me up. It’s been rather nice having sunshine instead of the dreary rain Vancouver is known for in the winter. I went out to Joey’s last night on Burrard Street to have some dinner with friends. It’s your typical Earl’s type restaurant with token hot girls and funky music. The food was pretty tasty though, with Cajun wings actually being served with a real hibachi ...

You know, there was a time when I actually sort of considered my blog a photo blog. Truth is I haven’t really posted many photos lately. Here’s one I took with my little Powershot camera a few days ago: ...

Image from PBase.comThat, my friends, is Canon’s biggest lens, the Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6L. For obvious reasons, they only make a handful of these every year. The cost? Approximately $10,000 $100,000 if I remember correctly. ...

This Thursday, I’ll be photographing a charity fundraiser down at the Sanafir Restaurant & Lounge in Vancouver. The event is put on by local fashion designer Roberta Cheema from Tush, and will consist of swimwear and lingeree. Lingerie by Tush, photographed during Vancouver Fashion WeekI’ve spent a bit of time hanging out and getting to know Roberta, and she’s really a dedicated person with a real passion for design. It’s what underneath that counts – hot spot’s upscale swimwear and undergarment fashion show fundraiser – February 7 Join host MC Musician and Funny Man Rick Baker ...

I set up a small photography website over at photography.duanestorey.com a while ago. I think I’m going to over haul it this weekend and make it a bit better. I also want to get a domain name for it and make it a proper stand-alone site. If anyone has any ideas for a cool name for a photography site, fire me off an email. I’ve been trying to come up with west-coast oriented names, but so far no go. I’ll give a free 8×12 print and a blog entry on the new site for the person that picks the winner! Thanks! ...

Yup, I now have proof that yours truly is in fact a published travel photographer. What does that mean? That if you have a plane, a sandy beach, and maybe a few cute locals in bikinis waiting, I’d be more than happy to come help you out by shooting some photos. Air Transat’s In Flight Magazine, Atmosphere Air Transat sent me a few hard copies of their Atmosphere in-flight magazine, since I had only heard from a friend that some of my photos made it in. Sure enough, a few of my photos from the Dominican Republic are on pages 20-21 of the Winter edition of Atmosphere. Thanks for mailing it ...

Since I’m a new Mac convert, I thought I’d give a little back to the Mac community by creating a few free desktop backgrounds based on some of my HDR work. Here’s a shot of the famous Inukshuk overlooking English Bay in Vancouver. Here’s the sun rising over Vancouver’s Granville Street Bridge. The sun setting over the ocean near English Bay, Vancouver. And a shot of downtown Vancouver from the Harbour Center at Night. if (is_single()) { ? digg_url = 'http://digg.com/apple/Free_high_res_desktop_backgrounds_for_the_Mac'; } ? Head on over here to download one. I’ll add more as time ...