I love it when someone gets caught trying to scam the rest of us. It happened this week when China’s official news agency was forced to apologize for awarding a “photo of the year” award to a Photoshopped image of antelopes migrating peacefully beneath a high-speed rail line. At the awards ceremony, the photographer claimed that he had waited for eight days in a pit for the antelopes to run by at the same time as the train. When an anonymous photography buff noticed that there was a weird line that looked like Photoshop splicing in the image, and posted his discovery on a Chinese photography forum, it was open season on the antelope photo. Antelope experts chipped in on the strangeness of seeing pregnant antelopes in an image taken at that time of year, and also their calm formation, despite the noisy train roaring along ahead. Photography experts noticed the inconsistency of motion blur and other image flaws. It was an obvious propaganda play, and for the fraud to be discovered from within China makes it even more delicious. Score one for a free press!

I’m back from DSIF8. What a blast. Zach and the rest of the DSI crew know how to run a festival, and it ran smooth as silk. I think that every time I go to one of these festivals, I see the quality of improv get better and better. The festival regulars, like Bassprov and UCB’s Death by Roo Roo just keep getting better and better. I see the effect on lesser-known teams too, as they are inspired and learn from the greats.

My festival favorites this year were One Night Stand, a group from L.A. that does full-out improvised Broadway musicals. I saw them perform twice, and they blew me away both times. Death by Roo Roo also threw down some incredibly aggressive and funny improv, attacking the stage with energy and play that left everyone in awe.

Big in Japan didn’t make it to the festival this year, and plenty of people told me they were disappointed about that. I think we put on a decent set last year, and people were looking forward to seeing us again. Plus, we’re just real nice Canadian folk. But, not having Big in Japan opened up an opportunity for me. KPR arranged that he and I would play with Jeff Griggs, who’s one of my all-time favorite improvisers. He also wrote the book Guru, about the time he spent with legendary improv teacher Del Close. Griggs is a modest guy and a generous player, making everyone on stage with him look good. Anyway, I barely remember the set, because I was quite nervous about playing with Griggs, but we got good feedback on it. Also, because I was sharing shooting duties with another photographer, there are pictures of me on stage with KPR and Griggs!

There were some technical challenges for shooting this festival. There were three different venues, with vastly different light between them all. I had to really work the manual white balance to get consistent color, and in the earlier photos, I didn’t quite succeed. I got better at it towards the end though.Here are some of my favorite photos from the festival. In the photos, you can see the final beat from the One Night Stand set, which was an arm wrestling match between the main character and his love interest, in which he wins her over with his poetry.

For other photos, check out the Tumblr for the festival. Everyone got the address to submit to the Tumblr, which I think is a great way to share images among a group.

It wasn’t all sunshine and roses down there though. Everyone seemed to have this hacking cough and sneezing, achy cold. Guess what? I got it too. I’m hoping I can kick this thing fast, because it sucks being sick.

I’m off to the Dirty South Improv Festival again tomorrow, shooting and performing. My photos from last year are on this year’s site. Cool! My flight leaves at 8:45am, which means I’ll have to leave here around 6am tomorrow morning to beat the traffic. Not cool! It should be a good time though, hooking up with old friends, meeting new people, taking pictures, seeing awesome improv, etc.

It’s been busy around here lately, with Montreal work and photography taking up a lot of time. I’ve been shooting mainly headshots, but also some more interesting stuff, like pregnancy photos. Here’s a sample.

Now I’m off to watch the lunar eclipse.

I just watched Cloverfield. All I can say is OMFG holy shit awesome.

Well, I finally got off the ground. My flight this morning made it to Montreal without any unexpected delays or cancellations. It was packed too. Every seat on the plane was filled, probably because of all the canceled flights yesterday.

There was a new issue of enRoute Magazine on the plane this morning. I look forward to the beginning of the month, because that’s when the new issue appears in the seat-back pocket ahead of me. enRoute is probably my favorite magazine right now, full of leisure-inspired stories and photos from around the world. I have to find a way to contribute photos to enRoute.

Anyway, I read this fascinating story about cities that have made an effort to focus on the happiness of their citizens. I think it’s a promising trend in urban design. As cities become bigger, and more of the world’s population moves to them, a move to making them better places to live is certainly welcome. When I was in Paris, I really got the feeling that the city was built on a very human level, to allow people to interact with it and move around it easily. With its many parks and public spaces, it made the city feel like a very welcoming place. It felt small-scale, even though it was not. Beijing was similar in many ways. Guangzhou was the extreme opposite. Setting foot on the street in Guangzhou meant you stood a very high chance of being run down by a speeding car or bus, as clouds of noxious fumes spewed everywhere. The entire city was made of concrete, and I don’t think a single living tree exists within Guangzhou’s city limits. I’m fortunate that I’ve had the chance to travel, to see how things are done differently in different places, which gives me a better vantage point from which to decide what I want from my community and my life.