Moving!

New site is now up and running. Visit www.matthewburgio.com!

Yesterday was a crazy day. Being away for school has left me with only the weekends for shoots and this weekend I ended up having two in one day which was a first for me. Another first was shooting 2.5 year old twins. This for sure was an adventure but I managed quite a few good shots. The second shoot for the day was shooting all the cousins for the Casalanguida and Cisternino family. This was a really fun shoot and resulted in some great images.

Finally a shoot!

Photography has taken a massive backseat lately with me starting University. However, last Saturday I was able to fit in a short little shoot with Max again. This one was a lot more fun than the last as we headed outside for some shots and he was able to run around. Shots turned out great.

2010 Y108 Rock N' Roll Picnic

Today was the 5th? Annual Y108 Rock N' Roll Picnic. This year's picnic was part of the annual Festival of Friends in Hamilton. This year saw the return of a band that played 2 years ago, however under a different name (Hollowick, formerly Rides Again). Once again they put on a great show and their new songs are solid. Look for their new album to arrive in September, it's going to be a good one. Another solid performance was Fozzy, featuring the WWE Superstar Chris Jericho. Going into this I thought it was just some gimmick but as far as metal goes it definitely holds its own. And, it's also hard to hate Chris Jericho who looked like he genuinely enjoyed being up on stage and even took the time to poke fun at his band's marginal success. A surprising but good performance.

Worldwide Photo Walk

Back in July I participated in the Hamilton location for the Worldwide Photo Walk put on annually by Scott Kelby. Today I found out that this image that submitted was selected as the winner for the Hamilton walk. I am completely excited about this and looking forward to how it fares up against some of the other amazing winners from the other cities.

My first Wedding shoot...sort of

Yesterday someone very close to me who I grew up with got married. This was my Godparent's daughter. It's weird to see someone that you've spent so much time with growing up get married to say the least. Can't believe how fast time has gone. Anyway, the wedding was absolutely beautiful and was a great night. The hired photographer left after the first dance so I took the liberty to snap a few shots of the rest of the reception. I've never done anything like this before so it was a good experience and I got a few keepers.

2010 Burlington Sound of Music Festival

Today and yesterday I went over to the 2010 Burlington Sound of Music Festival. This is one event I look forward to every year. It's one of the best music festivals in Southern Ontario and the best part is, it's always free. This year I went to go see The Trews, who never disappoint, on the Friday and on Saturday I went to go check out Elliott Brood. However, the first artist of the day was Jay Sparrow. What a surprise, this turned out to be my favourite performance of the entire weekend and he sure is one talented dude. Great, great music.

Joshua

On Saturday I had a shoot with this little guy. The cousin of Max, Joshua was really fun to shoot, he's a really happy kid with a great personality. I was a little nervous for this shoot since it was the first one I've had in a while where I did not have any relationship with the people I was shooting for. The shots turned out very well I think. Don't forget to head on over to flickr for more pictures from the shoot!

Max

Yesterday I was asked to shoot some portraits of a teacher's kid from the school that I am currently placed with. It was the first time I've ever tried to shoot a baby and it was definitely a learning experience. The family were really pleased with the shots and I'll be working with them again in the future. Hop on over to my flickr page to see a few more shots from this shoot.

On Friday I ventured downtown to the Freeway Cafe to check out my friend's new band, Out for Glory. The drummer and bassist of the band were both members of the now defunct Carrion, a hardcore band from Hamilton that I have done promos for in the past. This new band is a definite departure from that and works really well. They've shifted to a more pop-punk sound similar to that of Acceptance. These guys are going to be huge and as soon as they record I will be putting up a link with some music. Also expect some promo shots of these guys soon!

Welcome 2010...

Happy New Year! Hopefully this year will be a good one. This is definitely going to be an interesting and busy year. I graduate from college this year (finally!) and might be going back to University. There are also a few changes I'll be making this year and I'm very excited at the prospects. I am also very determined to actually keep this thing updated for once...we'll see how well that goes!

Siblings and a significant other...

So from now on I will be paying much more attention to this site and updating it a lot more frequently. It's been a ridiculously busy few months and things are starting to calm down.

On another note...On Tuesday I did a quick portrait session for a co-worker. It was just a quick shoot as everyone was pretty busy that day and we had been having trouble organizing a time to meet.

Blackie Jackett Jr.

Last night I had the pleasure of checking out Blackie Jackett Jr., Rick and James from Finger Eleven's side project, at the Red Rooster Cafe in Burlington, ON. As expected they put on a fantastic set, but if you're expecting anything remotely like their main band's sound you'll be very surprised (and rather pleasantly). Blackie Jackett is a great blend of country and folk. Another surprise that evening was that of the openers, Dead Etiquette. They put on a flat out amazing, energetic set that got me hooked almost instantly. Definitely looking forward to hearing more from both these groups with both having releases in the near future. Here's a couple shots from the show with more on flickr :

Welcome to 2009...

Well, It's been quite a long time since my last blog post, but life is getting in the way unfortunately. My co-op placement has been taking up most of my time recently and this blog has taken the biggest hit due to its wrath. But here I am, finally, making another post (gotta love procrastination).

Now on to the post!

For the past two years I've been learning the art of photography with a trusty old Olympus E-500. It's been a fantastic camera; I couldn't imagine myself starting off with anything else. It has great image quality for an "entry level" DSLR and has helped me produce some excellent shots. However, there comes a point where an upgrade becomes necessary and that point came about rather quickly when I was able to get a great deal on a new Olympus E-30. Finally being able to use IS0 400 and above without worrying about noise levels is something that seemed incredibly tempting as well as being a bigger camera in general (the E-500 is just so damned small). So a couple weeks ago I went up to the local Henry's store after placement and picked up the new camera and I have been not disappointed in it in the least. The E-30 is an improvement over the E-500 in every respect. The image stabilization is fantastic and I've even found live-view to be beneficial in certain situations. Image quality is SUPERB and, contrary to popular belief, is great in the High-ISO realm up to ISO1600. I truly never realized just how much difference a couple of years makes with technology, but Olympus really has come a long way in the four years between the two cameras. But enough of my rambling...here's a couple more shots from my first couple weeks with this fantastic camera. Keep checking the flickr page for more pictures as I take them!

New Carrion Promo Shoot

Today I had another promo shoot for the hardcore band, Carrion . The shoot had two parts to it. For the first part of the shoot we went off to the Burlington Bay and set up underneath the Skyway bridge. I'm going to have to head back that way once the warmer weather hits as there was some great photo opportunities over there, which are much more enjoyable when not battling freezing temperatures.


For the second part of the shoot we decided to do something a little more fun and head off to the bowling alley. If the couple and the group of girls that were stuck on either lane beside us today are reading this I am truly sorry and hope we didn't bother you too much but we did our best not to fire the flashes as you were making a shot :).

And remember as always, more pictures over at the flickr! page.

Circular Polarizer vs. Sunset

I finally went and got my self a circular polarizer. After months of wanting to go out and get one. I wish I would have picked one up a long time ago because these things are incredible. This is definitely one accessory every photographer should own. These shots were taken over at my favourite spot for photos, Van Wagner's Beach Strip in Hamilton, ON (go check out the Van Wagner's set, as well as the rest of the pictures from this shoot over on my flickr page)It was a great sunset yesterday night, but was crazy cold. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Dundas Valley Conservation Area

Well, I haven't posted anything in well over a month and that's mainly due to school being busy as hell! Ever since the Carrion shoot I've been meaning to get back to the Dundas Valley and finally on Thanksgiving Day I was finally able to do just that. What an amazing trail and forest there is over there. Absolutely stunning! Go check out flickr for more shots!

Carrion Promo Shoot

So on Labour Day me and the hardcore band, Carrion , hopped into a car and made the trek over to The Hermitage in Ancaster for the first promo shoot for both of us. If you've never been to The Hermitage or the Dundas Valley Conservation Area it is well worth the trip out there as it is one of the most beautiful conservation areas in Southern Ontario. Moving on, for my first promo shoot (and shoot with models for that matter) I think the shots turned out very well. It was definitely a learning experience for both of us, but a great time was had by all. As always check out my flickr page to check out more pictures from the shoot.

P.S. Oh and by the way if anyone knows how to prevent my pictures from being cut off on the right hand side on this thing if you could send me a message and tell me how to fix it it would be MUCH appreciated. I suck at this stuff.

Carrion - The Casbah - Hamilton, ON

So tonight I went and saw my buddy Matt's band, Carrion , open up for the Burlington, ON based Hardcore band Dead and Divine. They are a great up and coming band and if you're into that genre of music you should definitely give them a listen. Check out my flickr for some more shots!

Y108 Rock N' Roll Picnic 2008

So my first post on my brand spankin' new photoblog will be the aftermath of the Y108 picnic. This free festival is in its third year and always attracts some good talent, and anyway whats better than free music? Not much. Regretfully I wasn't able to stick around for the final two bands (Teenage Head and The Trews) but still witnessed some great performances put on by
Age of Daze, Rides Again, and Pride Tiger. Pride Tiger was really fun to be able to shoot, the drummer/singer really enjoys himself on stage and has some of the best fan interaction I've seen in a while (like running out from his drum kit lying down on the catwalk and high-fiving fans mid song). Here's a small sampling of some shots, more shots can be seen on my flickr page, so go check it out! Enjoy! - Matthew