hi, i'm aaron yeo. find me on twitter, on the facebooks
august 14, 2011
After a bit of speculation, I finally get the go-ahead to shoot Jefferson Starhip, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Sweet, Country Joe, Carson Cole, Canned Heat, and a bunch of other great talent. The crowd was your typical Blues on Whyte audience; i.e. the best people ever. Tattooed grannies tryin' to steal my hat. A well-run festival for its first iteration, and I can't wait to see what they bring back next year.
june 16, 2011
I was there. Nothing else to say 'bout that. Click on the picture for more.
april 2, 2011
Oontz vs unce. Oontz oontz vs unce unce. Massive party at Edmonton Event Centre last night—the closest thing to an actual rave in Edmonton I've seen. Glitch Mob, Drop the Lime, Knight Riderz, A Skillz, a shit ton of more amazing talent, and, of course, P-Rex. Waddup. Just a wicked jam all night long, 'til 5:30 in the early morn. I'll be putting together a video for Tuesday's issue, so keep posted for that when it comes! Also featuring an original mix, maybe, if I get around to it. Oontz oontz unce unce.
february 1, 2011
Despite the fact that the first-ever Freezing Man Festival expected 8,000 guests but only received 3,000, it still turned out to be a pretty badass show. Shout Out Out Out Out, Dragonette, Stars, k-os, Broken Social Scene, Chromeo, and Major Lazer really ripped up the mainstage while DJs kept the B-stage raving. Unfortunately Kaskade couldn't make it. Brought my D7000 and did some VIDAYOOOOOO, too. Che-che-che-check it out.
I also shot stills (what are those?). On a related note, my 100 Strangers project will be put on hold. Very, very busy with no foreseeable end in sight, and combined with the abysmal Edmontonian weather, means I can't afford the time nor effort to pursue it. As such, the project is currently on indefinite hiatus. Kinda like the music portion of this website...except I do actually have plans for that, which are slowly being formulated. Stay tuned.
january 12, 2011 - fort mac
"Some people still like to treat flying as an occasion." - Glenn Quagmire. Smart words from a smart man. I agree with Quagizzlr there - flying is an occasion, and therefore I decided to pre drink for it. Had a couple of pints at Chili's at YEG where I met Anna the bartender and... a dude. Once again, I screwed it up. I didn't even get the guy's name. He looks like a Mark. I'm gonna call him Mark. E-mail me your name, bro. He's a Newfie, living in Toronto and working up in Fort Mac. One o' those guys. He makes good money though.
january 3, 2011 - stranger than fiction
And with 2011 comes a new project: 100 Strangers. Watch the vid for the meaty details, but it's pretty straightforward. I'm also experimenting with different 720/30p video instead of 1080/24p, if that means anything at all to you. After much deliberation with myself, I have decided to NOT upload my photos to facebook, unlike the 365. While it does get a lot more viewership there, I'm sure, I can't invade my strangers' privacy like that. I know, it's strange, but that's literally the name of my game now. I will be heading up a mini-redesign to accomodate the project, and have a 100 strangers page, etc, but I'll let you know when that happens.
So, without further ado: my first stranger.
This is Sarah. A beautiful day calls for beautiful people. I caught her walking her miniature pinscher named... something Sancho? She owns a... business... called... Good Times? I think? Aw crap. I was too excited I completely forgot what she said :(. Sorry! Note to self: bring your recorder so you won't forget all the details. If you're reading this, Sarah, please please please shoot me an e-mail and help me out here! Little did she know she was my first subject, but I've got to start somewhere. Let's hope next time goes a little more smoothly.
january 1, 2011 - nappy yew hear!
TWENNY ELEVEN! (Because no one says twenty anymore, especially people from Toronno) So, I've finally finished my Project 365, and I can say what a relief it is. I was looking forward to a day of no-photo-taking, but unfortunately for me there was an epic sunset tonight. Beautiful. The colours are a tiny bit poppified in the panorama above, but it was really quite breathtaking.
So what can you, my faithful readership (hah), expect from me this year? Well, hopefully getting this music section running. Interactive panoramas. Wedding gallery. More videos. I've already done a much needed update on the galleries (meaning taking out around 15 photos and putting newer, better ones in) but this website is still rather archaically designed. I'm retro like that. Look out 2011, here I come. I'm here already, rather, but I'm gonna keep coming anyway. Get your mind out of the gutter.
december 24, 2010 - quoi faire?
Happy holidays! I made a fancy schmancy video last year with me playing a bunch of instruments at the same time, and I thought I'd do another one. Just watch, it's all in there. Hopefully one day I'll finish the rest of this, and make it an actual song. Have a good vacation everyone!
P.S. This does not mean the music section of this website will be up anytime soon. That would require me to work.
november 29, 2010 - Coupe Grey Cup
So, last weekend was crazy, to say the least. Because almost all the photos I took were on borrowed memory cards, I don't have much to show, so say hello to big block o' text. I can write, too, ya know. But pictured above is a li'l panorama I took from the north end. Nothing special, just kinda purdy. I am just exhausted after being on my feet running around and being pumped up for the crowds.
Saturday saw me party with the Grey Cup parade, and then later with the hardcore fans at the Spirit of Edmonton bash, where everyone was hammered by six o'clock. Sunday was host to a couple "official" tailgate parties before the game, which of course was fantastic. Running up and down the stands, finding the most dressed up fans (and sometimes having them find you), getting tipped with beer and "Saskatchewan Car Bombs," doing some volunteer recruitment for the Gateway (no joke), and snapping some 1080 video with ma new D7000. One of my D200s froze up in the cold, too. We ran out of cards to hand out by halftime, so I retired to an empty seat to watch the rest of the game. Too bad I didn't bring a tele with me or else I would've gotten down to the sidelines (which were surprisingly empty) for some sure-to-be keepers.
After the Canadian Finals Rodeo two weeks ago, I must say Riders fans are a lot friendlier than cowboys. That is, until they lose, and then they become twice as bad - some Saskie just about punched me for accidentally bumping into him in a crowd of 60,000 people heading towards public transit. During the game I got threatened a couple times for cheering for the Alouettes, once with words and once with a can of beer to the face. Still, it was a wicked time. Grey Cup 2011 in Vancouver? I think so.
november 16, 2010 - see eff arr
Last weekend was the U of A's fall break, apparently. And so I celebrated by shooting the Canadian Finals Rodeo at Rexall. Yes, unfortunately I did miss the bull jumping into the crowd, but I still managed to snap off somewhere in the neighbourhood of 2400 photos. Lots of raging bulls, buckin' broncs, and flying hats. Tons of fun, and some of the toughest cowboys from across the continent made their eight-second appearances. Lookin' forward to perhaps doing it again next year. Look out for a feature in The Gateway (La Gateweaux en français), on the newsstands today!
september 28, 2010 - primus sucks
So last week our Arts & Entertainment editor asked if I would like to shoot them on Monday. I told him Primus sucks. He turned away, dejected, so instead of explaining the old slogan, I made him feel better by "reluctantly" taking the assignment. Actually, that's not how it went at all. I'm not that witty; I just jumped up and said "HELL YES." Either way, it was an exciting concert. Not sure what to think of opening act by Split Lip Rayfield, but Portugal. The Man were pretty kickass. Security also misconstrued the first two songs by Primus to be three, and shoved me along to the side. Assholes. Either way, Les didn't whip out the whamola and gorilla mask until way after I was gone. Sadface. And for whatever reason I felt pretty badass chilling stage right with my laptop on EEC wireless filing my photos halfway through the concert. Whamola? Whamola.
september 12, 2010 - week of welcome mainstage show
Last night's show was a lot better than I was expecting. Christian Hansen & the Autistics followed by Tupelo Honey, then illScarlett and topped off with Thornley. Hot damn is Ian Thornley good at what he does. Lots of beer and burgers and green onion cakes went along with the show, and grabbed some great photos along the way. The turnout wasn't as great as the SU was expecting, but the weather was tame and the people who were there made the most out of it—being in the front row felt like there were 2000 people around you. Kept myself at or below ISO 800 for most of the time, and that made me happy. Getting locked out of SUB with full cards and a full bladder, however, did not. Photo below is straight out of camera, too.
july 13, 2010 - coupe du canada
Canada Cup was awesome. I wish I had a (working) bike so I could take a stab at the course. My territory was the first quarter, to the west of the High Level, which was chock-full of twists and turns, steep runs and mischievously placed logs. Rented myself another SB-900 from Vistek, along with a 10.5 fisheye just for the hell of it. Yongnuo YN-04 II triggers were put to some pretty rough stress testing, both electronically and physically. One stand, trigger and SB-600 got thrown down about 10 feet by a stray, riderless bicycle (I kid you not) and survived without a scratch. Just lots of mud.
Be sure to check out the rest of the photos at RJ Hidson's blog, Breaking the Light...when he posts them!
june 29, 2010 - cycling season
In preparation for Canada Cup, I decided to try my hand at the Road Nationals on Sunday. Got some great pans and wide angle shots, although the light left much to be desired. I swear the sun was pummeling down at like 20 EV, and so I couldn't fill shadows at all. Still a good time, got a good workout myself biking around for 15 km following these guys, but nowhere near the 180 km they did. Excited about tonight, though—going storm chasing.
june 2, 2010 - what's next, kicking puppies?
Summer. Lost a job, got a job. Currently I'm working at the Canadian Paraplegic Association (Alberta) office in Edmonton, writing, photographing, editing and designing their magazine, titled "Spinal Columns." In unrelated news, I attended the rally yesterday evening protesting Israel's actions on the convoy (not flotilla) that was sent to the Gaza strip. Check back soon for a link to a slideshow (if we get it uploaded in time).
Update: Slideshow wasn't uploaded in time. Slideshow was never made. I mean, Simon's, like, got a real job now, you can't expect him to be on top of his shit.
april 29, 2010 - whoa
Exams are over, and now it's time to once again step into the real world... temporarily. Filed my taxes, and then went to Oil City for Red Bull's End of Exam Madness thing. Not as packed as usual, due to torrential (well, no, not really torrential, just inconviencing) rain, but still an awesome time.