The Beacon of Hope

Here is a multimedia piece I am quite proud of. My classmates and I had to work on a team video and decided to tell the story of a man named Marc Seguin. I don't want to say too much about it, just watch it :)

The Beacon of Hope from Amanda Cheung on Vimeo.

So I have been pretty late at updating! November has been a crazy month. It's the month with no holidays and only deadlines hahaha well, glad it's over and the semester is almost done too! I have one final video I'm shooting and editing through and then it'll be time for the holidays! :)

Here are some photos I took at the end of November when the Canadian Pacific train stopped in Belleville. They travel across Canada every year making stops in multiple cities to collect food and raise money for local food banks. They have different music performances each year too and this year, Odds, a Canadian alternative rock band performed.

BELLEVILLE, Ont. 29/11/2014 - Kids look out the window on board the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train in Belleville, Ont. on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014. Photo by Amanda Cheung.

BELLEVILLE, Ont. 29/11/2014 - Craig Northey of Odds, a Canadian alternative rock band performs on the CP Holiday Train druing its stop in Belleville, Ont. on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014. Photo by Amanda Cheung.

BELLEVILLE, Ont. 29/11/2014 - Doug Elliott, bass player with Odds, a Canadian alternative rock band, jams with Santa during the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train stop in Belleville, Ont., on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014. Photo by Amanda Cheung.

BELLEVILLE, Ont. 29/11/2014 - Murray Atkinson, guitarist with Canadian alternative rock band Odds, gets 'scolded' by Santa during the naughty or nice part of their performance of Santa Claus is Coming to Town in Belleville, Ont. on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014. Photo by Amanda Cheung.

BELLEVILLE, Ont. 29/11/2014 - Cole Kritzer, 2, licks the fence while watching Odds perform Christmas carols during the CP Holiday Train stop in Belleville, Ont. on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014. Photo by Amanda Cheung.

Here's a cover of Blue Christmas by Nicole Atkins, one of my favourite artists, just to get into the holiday spirit :)

I've been working on a social issue project about food waste and the amount of food that gets thrown out all the time. Did you know that in Canada alone, we throw out $27 BILLION worth of food EACH year?! 1/3 of food produced in the world for human consumption is thrown out every year, and according to research, those numbers are only rising.

I didn't really believe it until I saw it for myself. We live in such a culture of waste and overconsumption.

I've got to meet some really cool people who've made conscious decisions to reduce their impact of waste in the world. One of these decisions include dumpster diving. It's an intentional lifestyle and until I saw it, I didn't realize just how much good food gets wasted just because it's bruised or dented.

Today, I drove around to different dumpsters just to see what I'd find. I didn't really know what to expect but what I saw is pretty disturbing.

To quote one of the cool people I've met through this project, she says "world hunger is not a problem of quantity, it's a matter of distribution." Boy is she right.

This was all just from ONE place and on ONE day. 

In News class today we were given an option to shoot either a portrait of someone or a feature and have it filed and to our teacher within an hour and a half.

It was a bit stressful at first because I had no idea what to shoot. I wanted to do it well but I didn't know where to began.

I started driving into the county and drove by the Shelter Valley Farms on Highway 62 in Belleville. I turned around because I saw a greenhouse that sheltered some plants and looked like it gave great natural light. I asked to take a photo and although at first she was hesitant, they ended up being really friendly.

I played around a bit moving her around. I tried framing her with some plants and the doorway. They even had this cool greenhouse structure that looked a bit like a jungle gym!

I ended up using this photo of her though.

BELLEVILLE, Ont. 04/11/2014 - Lisa Elliott poses with floral decor outside of Shelter Valley Farms in Belleville, Ont., on Tuesday, Nov. 04, 2014. Shelter Valley Farms brings produce to the Belleville Market in the summer and floral arrangements during the winter and spring. Elliott has been working there since summer 2013. Photo by Amanda Cheung.

I liked that she was surrounded by the floral decor they use for arrangements in the winter time. An after thought though, I'd probably close up my aperture just a little bit so that you would be able to make out more of the floral props behind her. As well, I'd use my flash for a little bit of fill flash on her face!

For such a quick assignment though, I'm happy with the photo I produced :)

My school has a newspaper called The Pioneer. This past week I was editor along with two other students from my class. You can take a look at it here. The stories that I wrote got published :) We also have a photo page from the Ottawa shooting. Some students went down from Belleville.

Cpl. Nathan Cirillo Comes Home

Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, 24, was shot dead by lone gunman Michael Zehaf-Bibeau on October 22, 2014 in Ottawa, Ont., while guarding the National War Memorial.

Cirillo was a member of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada based in Hamilton.

On October 24, 2014, Cirillo's body made the journey home from Ottawa to Hamilton. Hundreds of Canadians waited along Main St. from Dundurn St. to Gage Ave. in Hamilton, to welcome the Corporal home.

Canadians joined together in singing O Canada as the hearse carrying Cpl. Nathan Cirillo's body passed by. People were clapping, cheering, taking photos and waving Canadian flags in honour of Nathan Cirillo.

Photos by Amanda Cheung.

Royal Medieval Faire

This is the second video that I've shot and produced! It was for a school assignment where we had to choose a news event and document it!

I chose to do the 17th Royal Medieval Faire located in Waterloo Park, Waterloo ON. There were lots of people who dressed up and lots of medieval activities people could indulge in for the day.

Special thanks to Dwayne who let me come in and roam around freely taking video!

There's still a lot I need to work on, still lots to learn, but I had a lot of fun doing this! Multimedia challenges me to pay attention to more details and make sure that everything in the frame is what I want. It's a lot harder to readjust your frame while doing video than photo because it interrupts the clip and the moment could be gone! Sound quality is also so important! I need to invest in a good mic!

Anyway, here it is!

First Wedding Shoot

I shot my friend's wedding in Toronto this past weekend. It was my first one! It wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be and I actually had a lot of fun doing it!

The weather was perfect too. It was supposed to rain but it held up and we had a nice overcast which gave great light for photos!

We went to the Toronto Public Library on Steeles to take some photos as well as Morbank Park.

I haven't had a chance to go through all my photos yet but here's one I took of the bride!



Congrats Joanna! I'm so happy for you and Jon :)

Beach

The thing that's so great about living in Belleville, is that Sandbanks Provincial Park is only a 30min. drive away!

I got the chance to take some family portraits at the beach and then play around with my new flash diffuser!

This is one of the photos from the family photo shoot I did at Sandbanks.
Danya plays around in the water as the sun starts to set.

SANDBANKS, On. (28/0/14)- Maggie Naylor shows off her hand stand skills at Sandbanks Beach as the sun sets behind her. Photo by Amanda Cheung

This is my final year at Loyalist College. When I reflect on how little I knew coming into first year photojournalism, I’m amazed at how much I’ve learned!

It's kind of amazing when you think about how each photo that's taken, becomes a moment in history. I'm always overcome and so honoured by the people who allow me into their lives.

I’m hoping this year will allow me to figure out more of who I am as a photographer. I love hearing people’s stories and being able to connect with them. I love learning and looking for beauty in the everyday. I’m excited for this year and the continuous journey of discovering myself and the world around me!

Here are some photos I’ve taken this past month. As you can see, it’s pretty scattered!

This was taken in Belleville, ON during one of the Belleville Lawn Bowling Club's jitneys.

WATERLOO, Ont. (20/09/14)- Arianne Bannan, 2, peeks out of the fake jail cell created at the 17th annual Royal Medieval Faire in Waterloo Park Saturday afternoon. The faire saw many participants dressing up and in different medieval personalities. Photo by Amanda Cheung.

This is my roommate Carla, enjoying a smoke on the steps of our home in Belleville, ON.

BELLEVILLE, Ont. (18/09/14)- Kenzo Dozono performs a karate move inside his studio, S.K.I. Belleville Karate School, where he has been teaching for over 30 years in Belleville on September 18, 2014. Photo by Amanda Cheung.

Lighting Effects

Here's a photo of a friend and classmate of mine. We were playing around with gels on flashes! This was shot in my basement which was completely dark and is lighted by two flashes behind which have pink gels on him and one in front.

Giovanni Capriotti

We recently put up our current portfolio on the Loyalist Photojournalism blog. Check mine out here. This may just be a temporary link though because I know they're working to finalize the site and the link may change after. Let me know what you think! Any feedback is good! :)

I recently started a project on a woodworker! I'll be doing a video for it too which is a little nerve-wracking but also super exciting!

Here's one photo from it!

Warkworth Maple Syrup Festival

I went out to Warkworth last weekend to their 28th maple syrup festival. It was a beautiful day to be out and I had a lot of fun taking photos...as well as eating maple syrup! There were also a lot of cute kids :)

    In December I met a family and helped them do some family portraits. It was a ton of fun!

    This past weekend, it was their daughter's birthday party and I got the privilege to take pictures with       them again!

This past weekend I went to Ottawa with some friends. During brunch we pulled out our cameras and I just had to post this picture (despite the table mess...you can see we devoured the food!) because of the beautiful natural light that was inside!

This is my beautiful friend, also a fellow photoj!

I tried experimenting with news and feature hunting and found this! It was a polar plunge to raise money for Special Olympics Ontario!

Words of wisdom from one of my teachers:

There are four steps to learning:
1. Unconscious incompetence
2. Conscious incompetence
3. Conscious competence
4. Unconscious competence

The first two steps are always the hardest and easiest to give up at and we strive for unconscious competence where everything becomes natural for us. It makes it a little easier to have this said so that when we are struggling in step one and two, we can believe it doesn't last forever. If we keep going at it, we will make it to steps three and four!

This is the first time I've been to a dog sled race. It was so much fun and I learned a lot about taking photos of it too. It's too bad that just as I was getting the hang of it the race would be over...guess I'll have to wait for the next one!

I was playing around with trying to pan the dogs as they went by so there would be some motion in my photo, what do you think

 

The kids were cute. I thought at first that the "little nippers" event would be little puppies pulling kids...that would've been really cute too!

This is Kenzi! Hello! :) I love huskies!!

Sports is fun!

Sports is surprisingly fun to shoot! I'm not that great at it but I've been practising with the college games at school and shooting the Belleville Bulls...my conclusion: I love basketball and I suck at shooting hockey!! Must practise more!

Have you ever heard of Little Free Libraries? I recently discovered them and had a chance to meet with a family that started one. It's a super cool concept...it's literally a mini library where people come to take or donate books. It's a wonderful chance to meet neighbours and bring the community together.

On my way back from this interview, there was a two vehicle motor vehicle accident...my first time at doing spot news. Some of my fears for it are lessened just by how nice the firefighters and police are. I'd always thought they'd yell at us and tell us to get lost but I guess that's only if we get in the way. I'm glad this wasn't a super serious accident and no one was hurt. I know spot news is important in telling a larger community (to driver safer in the example of road accidents) but I'd hate to witness a really bad accident.

Like I said in my previous post, winter can be so beautiful but please be safe!! We're expecting another storm!

What a winter we've been experiencing this season! Despite the frigid cold, it is a good opportunity to look for feature photos :)

I was supposed to take photos at an Ice Fishing Derby that was happening nearby. Unfortunately, the events got cancelled but I got to snap a photo of an ice fisherman making his way across the frozen bay!

Stay warm! We're expecting another storm this weekend!

A general overview of some work I did last semester :)

I've decided to switch back to blogger from tumblr...much easier to use for me. Here's my last post from my tumblr account.

This is an overview of some work I did last semester :) Looking forward to learning so much more this semester!

Being able to meet Shirley and her two sons was such a privilege for me. I am thankful they allowed me to be apart of their lives for a time and to be able to witness such intimate and loving moments. 

Marina owns a vintage shop in downtown Belleville. She was kind enough to let me come in and take a portrait of her for my first flash assignment!

This was the candlelight vigil in Trenton on the eve of Remembrance Day to remember those who lost their lives.

Queens University vs. Trent University. This was the first sports event I had ever shot. It was challenging but fun!

This is Vic. He fly fishes in the Moira river. This was my very first assignment of this program. Thanks for being a kind stranger and letting me take your photo! It helped me be less shy as the semester progressed to photograph people!