MADO

@emadou

People see colour differently. This, right here, is the world as I see it through my lens. Don’t be afraid to show off your colours

142 posts

Humble brag below - Ok! So let’s just get rid of the elephant in the room here… I think it’s safe to say that when it comes to this particular view point, I did it all 💁🏾‍♂️ - Here is a season change mixed with bend-gate and sprinkled with solo-cab-ride. - That being said, I genuinely want to thank everyone that joined the live stream today. Showing you the live edit of this was the perfect mess that my mental health very much needed. I hope you enjoyed watching the frustrations, the going back and forth, and the countless mistakes I’ve done throughout this edit. - I adore you. I genuinely appreciate all of your AMAZING feedbacks… quite honestly though, it gets to me sometimes. It forces to hide the imperfections that I continuously go through. It even stops me from sharing tutorials because idk if I do things using the “correct methods” so… this live stream was what I needed to not care about messing up in front of you. It’ll be the first of many to come. - ANNNNDDD BREEAAATHEE.. *vent over - With that said, I hope everyone had a wicked weekend. I love you. et voila! Saluuuuuut - #emadou _____________________________________________ Sony Alpha A7Riii | Sigma 20 F1.4 ART _____________________________________________ Much love to those that read my captions. (at Lions Gate Bridge) https://www.instagram.com/p/CM-67PojBTm/?igshid=1lvjmgsdjabe4

Rookie. - My trip to Sherbrooke was solely to shadow @emilephaneuf_photographie and learn a thing or two on how he directs and shoots his portrait sessions. - The problem started when we arrived to location. My urban, landscape mindset was engaged, and I literally started running around chasing angles.... completely forgetting what the purpose of my visit was. - It’s only when I arrived back home that I was reminded how much admiration and respect I have towards portrait photographers. - You see, in landscape/urban photography, I direct the scene by moving my camera around, change the lens... etc. The subject remains still... looks the same. - With portrait, on the other hand, as a photographer, YOU HAVE TO DIRECT THE MODEL! - To give you an idea on how out of touch I am with portrait photography... in most of old portrait shoots, the most common line used to direct someone’s pose was, “just do you” 🤦🏾‍♂️ - Huge thanks to @melolussier for “just doing her” and letting me play around with portraits. - Summary Caption: I’m different now. I promise. HMU and let’s plan a portrait session together. #emadou (at Sherbrooke, Quebec) https://www.instagram.com/p/CM2aw3TjD_R/?igshid=1wkfaa037fnnj

Minimal - I quite enjoyed creating this mood, and I can’t wait to go fence hopping again soon. @emilephaneuf_photographie hint hint. - #emadou (at Sherbrooke, Quebec) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMz6ZCaDjpK/?igshid=bpue0eid1fai

I hear Montréal has a wicked urban-ex scene. That’s something I’d definitely be down to dabble more into that because SYMMETRY... almost. Abandoned warehouses also are great for portrait sessions. Ahhh Portrait.... that’s another thing I’ll dabble into. Apparently, there’s lots of dabbling happening over at my end 💁🏾‍♂️ - How about you? What’s something that you’d wanna dabble into? - PS. Word of the day is dabble. #emadou (at Sherbrooke, Quebec) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMvl4iVjR1o/?igshid=ftt3qz98kvbf

If you’re reading this, wish my mummy a happy birthday et voila! Ok byeeee. #emadou (at Toronto, Ontario) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLSN9NqD50b/?igshid=l08pkooowsng

Longer Days = more sunset shoots - Low-key enjoying the longer days. - After a long day of work, I still have time to head out and chase sunsets. - On Sunday, it was a clear, cold day. I went to shoot a time-lapse of the sunset at Lachine Lighthouse. @artsyvisuals came out and kept me company. We stayed there, warm in the car, just over two hours. - Went back home to a not-so-terrible time-lapse, but she wasn’t screaming slice material. Ask @emilephaneuf_photographie I harassed him throughout the shooting and editing process. - Next day, It was quite the overcast day, but it had signs of clear evenings… which meant that the horizon might clear up enough to allow the sun to peak and light up the sky. It sure did! It was, sorta, terrible, as it was windy af. If you look closely, you can see the snow flying towards the camera. It was also incredibly chilly. BUT BUT BUT it was bite-the-back-of-your-hand beautiful. - More sunsets edits to come, y’all. The best thing about shooting holy-grail slices is the abundance of sunset shots you end up having. They are quite the thing to shoot and edit! I enjoy them a ton. What’s something that you never get bored of shooting? - Side note: How’s my sound design? Hehehe HashtagIfYouKnowYouKnow - #emadou _____________________________________________ Sony Alpha A7Riii | Sigma 20 F1.4 ART ISO 100 | F5.6 | 1/160 | 20mm WB: Daytime _____________________________________________ Much love to those that read my captions. (at Lachine Lighthouse) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLFPCLJjEbO/?igshid=1fylfz61u99ks

For me, it was night photography. - I remember. I was in Stanley park with Ness’s Nikon D3100. It was in Aperature Priority (I had no idea what that meant). I was in front of a small water stream with no goal but to get a long exposure of the water stream. Mind you, I didn’t even know what a long exposure was at the time either. All that was running through my head was that I had a “professional” camera right, and I wanted immediate RESULTS like those I saw on the ernstergermz. - Needless to say, all of the photographs that I captured of that stream were… kaka, and I never ended up getting, what any photographer would consider, a long exposure shot of the stream. - Sam day, I’m out shooting. It’s now nighttime, but I still had my camera in Aperature Priority. I had my camera on the ICBC staircase across from City hall. A car drove by in front of my camera, but my sensor failed to capture the moving car because it was a fast moving object. Instead, it was able to only capture the light from the headlights and taillights… resulting in this weird creamy, juicy, magical, halo, eye-gasmic, dreamy white lines that cut my frame in half. - BRUH, Guuurrrlll, my guy, brother man, bro, EVERYONE!!! Let me tell you! I LOST IT! I literally yelled YOOOOO as I covered my lips with my own hands and started jumping around like an idiot. I was AMAZED. It felt like I figured had it all figured out, when in reality it was just a fluke. Needless to say though, I was hooked. Since then, I shot nighttime religiously. I switched to shutter priority, and became a slave to it. - Anyhow, my point is… Let’s go down memory lane together. I’d love to know how you started your creative journey or what got you hooked onto it. - I hope y’all had a wicked start to your week. - #emadou _____________________________________________ Sony Alpha A7Riii | Sony FE 50mm F1.8 ISO 100 | F7.1 | 4s | 50mm WB: Auto _____________________________________________ Much love to those that read my captions. (at Montreal, Quebec) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKxN9C8jRSk/?igshid=1h192y2qbk1xa

Weekend Blues. - Over the summer, I took my nephew @hicallmekevin to, IMO, the best view point that showcases the entirety of the Montréal island. - We’ve set up a picnic blanket, had some breakfast, edited some photos on the MacBook, then I helped nephew with his Tinder Profile photos. Whilst we were doing all of that, my camera was snapping a timelapse. - Enough about Kev, let’s talk slices. I had to force myself to edit this. In fact, I restored this from my trash bin. - I know many of you have requested a timeslice tutorial. I promise you that I really am working on one. The problem I’m having with these tutorials is that I, myself, am learning how to properly do these slices. - Every time I work on these new slices, my workflow just keeps getting faster and faster. Let’s be honest here, as much as you might enjoy reading my incredibly long captions, you wouldn’t wanna spend 30 min watching a video when you can do it in 10. - Good news though, for me at least, what used to take me 3 hours now takes me 45 min! So we really are getting somewhere. - Until then, whilst I build up my confidence and skill, I hope y’all are having a blast of a weekend. - #emadou (at Champlain Bridge, Montreal) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKryJiTDn9i/?igshid=o27v18cwrgm2

Thursday Archives. - My first week spent in Montréal was spent in Saint Henri. Upon arrival, I was told about this hill that I just had to check out. - Honestly, this hill has been on my mind since. I’ve gone there almost every other week. Each time was better than the other. Then, finally, the weather was perfect for a slice. A little bit of haze but mostly clear skies. - My camera was mounted and started snapping while the sun was out. Like a little kid, I was giggling because everything was just perfect! - Like all good things, it had to come to an end. A truck arrived and this young, handsome fella gets out of it and starts erecting this massive light post. I didn’t care if the light wasn’t pointed DIRECTLY towards my lens. I did what any reasonable person would do. I cursed him, his mother and his cat, whilst I packed up and left. - The construction is now over, but I’m scared of going there. What if it’s not as dope as I think it is? What if it still doesn’t meet my expectations? What if, this time around, a dog man comes and ruins it again? I don’t wanna curse his dog. - I, therefore, decided to slice the first frame with the last frame... hiding the street lamp that would be on the bottom left if it was just the nighttime shot. - Let me know your thoughts on it. Oh! and I’ll work on the frozen slice over the weekend... weekdays have been quite the mess with work and the slice isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. - Summary caption: I think we should have a meet-up at that hill for sunrise. TRUST! Comment below if you’re down to cuddle up and shoot together. That is... cuddle up in blankets whilst social distancing.. Gosh, you guys.. COVID is happening FFS. Summary ain’t no summary no more. Voilà! Ok byyyyeeeee - #emadou _____________________________________________ Sony Alpha A7Riii | Sigma 70-200 F2.8 ISO 50 | F5.6 | 104mm WB: Manual _____________________________________________ Much love to those that read my captions. (at Saint-Henri) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKpLmo7jzT0/?igshid=sk31yyotjkdq

Sunday Story Time - Let’s just get this outta the way, I’m stubborn af y’all. I’m sure many of you are just as stubborn, if not, maybe even more stubborn than I am. - I’m, therefore, sure you can relate to the feeling of having something set on your mind and nothing can come between you and that particular thing… let’s call it a vision. Like you don’t care how big of an obstacle comes between you and that “vision.” You’re willing to go all in, ape sh!t crazy for it. - I REALLY wanted to go to Parc Dieppe and slice the frozen ice on the Lachine (previous post perspective). Like I REALLY REALLY wanted to do it. Like, I went and scouted and calculated everything knowing how beautiful of a slice it’ll be ESPECIALLY considering the clear sunny forecast. Everyone and their uncle told me that I shouldn’t be an idiot because of how cold it is.. Stubborn self, I explained that I’m used to sitting outside for 2-3 hours in cold weather. I even went as far as looking for a tent to camp in whilst my camera shutter fires away. - Mother Nature had other plans. Queen has spoken and blew -25°C towards me. I bowed and turned the f0ck around. Guuurrll, I’ve never ran the opposite direction as fast as I did when I arrived to location. It was cold. Like I’m told I’m a hybrid of an Egyptian being acclimatised to the cold weather than most here… but NAH bruh! This hit different.. like a sativa when you were expecting an indica. - That being said, I did learn something from capturing this particular slice. It’s absolutely amazing to chill in your car whilst your camera clicks. I also learned that I could just drive to Parc Dieppe, mount my camera, start the shutter, and just run back to the parking lot. I shouldn’t worry about anyone being out there around sunrise in this weather, right? Food for thought. - @sam.abadi thinks I suck at story telling. With the type of slang I used here, My English prof and I was definitely not disagree. - Summary Caption: I don’t trust y’all, so I ain’t telling ya when I’m heading to Parc Dieppe for my GENUIS plan. - #emadou Much love to those that read my captions. (at Mont Royal Lookout) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKcTgmaDyEI/?igshid=1duuaiu4e7lpt

INSTAGRAM CROP - Touchy subject, but y’all know me. I love dipping my toes (often I go knees deep) into “touchy subjects” - I’ll keep it simple this time around. Do you shoot for Instagram or do you shoot for how you see the frame? Be honest. I won’t judge... at first. - I’ll start. I used to shoot for instagram especially after I saw an influencer say, “if you don’t shoot vertical, you’re doing it wrong.” I, therefore, got so fixated, like I tend to, and on only started shooting like so. - Don’t get me wrong, I still crop for Instagram 4x5, and I often catch myself shooting almost always vertically. - That being said, there’s something about editing horizontal images that is incredibly satisfying. Maybe it’s how it just fills up the screen... I just find it more pleasing to the eye. - Idk... I’m starting to fill up this caption too much now. I’ll end my word vomit with this. I tend to always change all of my devices wallpapers every time I edit a landscape image. They are that type of special, and I really like how this came to life. - Summary caption: @sanilll and @_memyselfandmai were both at this spot when I shot this. Check out their perspective and show them some love. #emadou _____________________________________________ Sony Alpha A7Riii | Sigma 20mm F1.4 ART ISO 100 | F7.1 | 5s | 20mm WB: Auto _____________________________________________ Much love to those that read my captions. (at Parc de Dieppe) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKZu0QIDVM8/?igshid=1nwewsoeioiia

Community vs. Competition - Yesterday, I was working on this particular concept (using different images), but I wasn’t happy with the edit. - What triggered me was that fact that I couldn’t fully narrow down all of the things that were wrong with the composition. I was too attached. As a result, I posted the draft on my story and asked y’all for your opinions and feedback. - I was BLOWN AWAY! You guys helped me see things that I wasn’t noticing initially. - Here are my biggest takeaways from your feedbacks: - Lack of subject. The image I initially was editing was great on its own. For this concept, however, the subject was super far and didn’t emphasise the effect. - The leading lines/tire tracks were fully aligned. Although it’s not perfect here, I tried to match tire tracks to match the tire tracks on both sides to help emphasise the effect. - Less smoother of a division. I was so focused on making a smooth blend that it wasn’t benefiting the composition as much as I thought it would. Therefore, I made it a tad bit tougher. - An equal division. Pretty self explanatory lol. - I genuinely enjoyed your, the community’s, opinion and feedbacks with this edit. Thank you so much for that. I think I’ll do more of those… maybe even a live stream, where I’ll get y’all to edit along with me. - That being said, I hope everyone is having a wicked and productive week. - Look after one another. - #emadou (at Montreal, Quebec) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKSPJ_Dj3Y5/?igshid=1ehxox0qi1bst

STUFFY NOSE - After shooting the concept for my previous post, I had plans to meet up with a mate. - There was a bit of a time between when my shoot had ended and when he had arrived, so I walked around and started shooting some street. This is one of the shots I got. - That’s besides the point though. I met up with my mate. We walked around for a bit, caught up on life events and had some Chinese buns from China town. They were delicious. - Because I’m a good mate, I decided to walk him to his car. Little did I know, he forced his way into a parking spot in the midst of a massive snow bank. - Because I’m a good mate (v2), I offered to help him out of his parking spot. Little did I know (v2), he did not have a shovel, so we had to get creative. - The idea was simple. I’d apply downwards force on the front tire to help with the grip, as he SLOWLY and INTERMITTENTLY applies some pressure on the gas pedal. - Because I’ve been walking around in the freezing weather for 4 hours, my brain cells were fried. That or it’s just an excuse rather than admitting that I completely forgot that the tire would only just splash snow EVERYWHERE, but more specifically, a boatload of it into my nostril. - Fam, J’ai un grand nez. CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW MUCH SNOW WENT UP THERE? - Summary caption: My mate was @yheikel Please tag him in the comments to help boost my ego and remind him that I’m a good mate.. or not. My ego is boosted as it is. - Summary caption v2: I’m told I look “like a dummy” giggling at myself while I typed this caption. - #emadou _____________________________________________ Sony Alpha A7Riii | Sony FE 50mm F1.8 ISO 640 | F3.2 | 1/500 | 50mm WB: Daytime _____________________________________________ Much love to those that read my captions. (at Montreal, Quebec) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKM_G1QjsGA/?igshid=d07stt04yv8q

Sunday Story Time - Scouting day: I head to a parking lot. As I walk up the ramp, a security guard stops me… Alexandre: Salut.. sth sth sth. Me: (takes headphones off). Salut, how’s it going? Alex: Did you park upstairs? Me: No, I’m just heading up to take a photo. Alex: You can’t take a photo here. Me: REALLY? Come on, man. Just one photo. Alex: Yeah, I’m sorry, but you can’t take a photo of the boats. Me: boats? Nah, I don’t care for that. I care about the city. I don’t even know if I will take a photo. You can come with me. We both walk up the ramp together. I scout the view for two seconds. Me: I’m good. Alex: WOW! ok… you really know what you’re looking for. Me: smirks - sometimes. - Shooting day. Day 1: Timeslice attempt. I’m at this spot before sunrise; 6:30am. It was foggy af, but I was super excited, as it was supposedly clearing up right after sunrise (7:30) and a nice little slice with fog movement would’ve been wicked. Around 8am, when the view hasn’t changed much. It had occurred to me that it’s foggier by the water than it is in the city. Oh! It was FREEZING! - Day 2: SNOW STORM. When I tell you that I couldn’t see my entire boot, I’m not exaggerating. It was ridiculous how much snow we got in just one day. That being said, shooting conditions were much better, but I still wasn’t able to see the outlines for the buildings so this concept wasn’t gonna work out. - Day 3: Slight Snowy conditions. Well.. this is the result. It was snowing enough that it created some depth but not hard enough that I couldn’t see the outlines of the buildings. I think I lucked out. - Let’s talk about what Alex said. I know what I’m looking for. See that’s a curse and a blessing. I’m determined to capture that one shot that I want. I’d go for it day after day after day. It’s nonetheless a curse because that stubbornness… the dedication.. the w/e you wanna call it, feeds that imperfection-ist side that can really hurt sometimes. Can you relate? Share you stories down below. - @sam.abadi says I suck at story telling. After reading this, I think y’all can agree when I say that I don’t disagree. - Summary caption: my toes were bleeding! #emadou (at Vieux-Montréal) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKKWvmZjm_a/?igshid=ga726m9ct9cj

When the world is black and white, add some colour to it in post. - I blame Lions Gate traffic for my high shutter count. - I worked in North Vancouver, but lived on Broadway and Oak. If you’ve ever done the commute, you’d know that between 3-6pm, traffic can be quite the thing. - You hear people complain about traffic hear in Montréal, but quite honestly, IMO, it doesn’t compare to that in Vancouver. - Anyway, every time I got off work around traffic time, I’d usually head to Lonsdale, set up the tripod, hook up the intervalometer to the camera and start shooting some cityscape lapses. - Shooting timelapses is quite fun and relaxing because you can just let the camera be, while you sit back and enjoy some BC greenery alongside some Vancity views (when it isn’t obnoxiously overcast). - That being said, I hope y’all have been enjoying this ernstegerm grid change lately. I know it’s quite colourful in comparison to the older mood. - Here’s the 9th instalment to the series. Same but different, this is a diagonal slice of Vancity. - #emadou _____________________________________________ Sony Alpha A7Riii | Sony 70-200 F4 ISO 50 | F9 | variable | 70mm WB: Daytime _____________________________________________ Much love to those that read my captions. Although photography is subjective, I welcome the feedback. I enjoy reading all types of criticism as it helps me understand a different perspective to mine. Don’t be afraid to share it. It might just help me become better at this craft. (at Lonsdale Quay) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKC5GEpjtOI/?igshid=5r5na5fvflez

When does one call it quits? - Cityscapes are a ton of fun to shoot. When I moved Montréal, I biked all around the island in hopes to find a good spot to timelapse from. - Doing so, I’ve revisited the same spot over and over again trying to capture that “perfect” timelapse to slice. - Doing so, I ended up shooting a lot of timelapses of the same spot. However, every time I headed back home to edit them, they never “spoke” to me. - Now, I’m realising that we just weren’t speaking the same language. - Over the past few days, I’ve been trying to decipher this one. I initially didn’t enjoy the amount of clouds it had. Idk why I got incredibly fixated on slicing clear skies.. it’s as if I’ve forced myself to think simpler the better. - Now, I’m just all-out orangutan with it! Splash of colour, non-symmetrical, and high off of psychedelics. - I hope y’all vibe with it. If you don’t, I’d love to know your honest feedback on this one. - Summary caption: no psychedelics were used in the making of this image. - #emadou (at Parc de Dieppe) https://www.instagram.com/p/CKALGugD_1M/?igshid=1tcj60cl4haqi

Montreal, here is a friendly reminder that it’s time to make your way back home for tonight’s curfew. - I’m starting to get cross-eyed from how much I’ve been focusing on my screen creating these recent edits, but, GAWD DAYUM, I’m having a blast trying to figure out different ways to bring life to all of the timelapses I shot last year (especially those I claimed to be “garbage”). - On the other hand, I’m currently working on setting up a new print shop online featuring some of my favourite images, composites and, of course, slices. If there is something that’s speaking to you more than the rest, please feel free to DM and let me know. I’ll definitely consider having it available for you. - Summary caption: looking for an optometrist. #emadou _____________________________________________ Sony Alpha A7Riii | Sony 50mm f1.8 ISO 100 | F5.6 | variable | 50mm WB: Daytime _____________________________________________ Much love to those that read my captions. (at Montreal Clock Tower) https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ9s5_5D0M6/?igshid=6w09cupwll2p

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