April 2016 -- the Juno Awards came back to Calgary. Since I missed everything the first time they were in this city I applied to volunteer as a photographer for the 2016 awards. After some confusing email, one rejection and one acceptance, I was initially given 3 assignments to photograph for the Juno Awards Host Committee: Playing Our City, Listen to Our City, and the Host Committee After Party. In the middle of Juno Week I was given a list of required shots to pick from. I chose: Juno banners, Juno Hub, the fan Red Carpet event, and the Calgary International Airport departure waiting room for Juno nominees. I don't know much about the actual Juno Awards. I wasn't one of the official Juno photographers. Which was fine, because it gave me a chance to dash home to download images and to free up SD card space for the After Party.
Playing Our City
People passing by at the Genesis Centre were asked to make stomping, slapping, and pop bottle whacking noise in the main entrance area -- in sync with people doing the same thing at the downtown Central Library.
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| Playing Our City - Genesis Centre and a TV view of the downtown Central Library. |
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| Playing Our City - Genesis Centre |
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| Playing Our City - Juno volunteer shirts. |
Listen to Our City
Think kids' concert with professional musicians thrown in. That was the Listen to Our City evening at the new Mount Royal University Bella Concert Hall. I arrived a few hours early to catch the performer's rehearsing, which turned out to be my best photos, I think.
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| Listen to Our City - rehearsal time |
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| Listen to Our City - Michael Bernard Fitzgerald & chorus rehearsing |
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| Listen to Our City - Juno Week banner |
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| Listen to Our City - dancers and my best shot of the night. |
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| Listen to Our City - Michael Bernard Fitzgerald applauding chorus and grand finale. |
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| Listen to Our City - little fan hamming it up at the red carpet wall. There was no special lighting for the wall and I was wishing I had a proper flash. |
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Juno Hub & Banners
In the middle of the week I received a list of required photos. Which was a bit of a shocker, because I thought I was only doing three things during the Junos. So, I gamely tried to do some of the photos within a couple of days; the Juno Hub (in the downtown Core) and street banners.
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| Juno Hub @ the Core. |
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| Juno Hub @ the Core. |
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| Juno banner on Stephen Avenue & 1st Street SW |
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| Juno banner on 16th Avenue NW, near Motel Village. |
Pre-Juno Fun
Before the Juno Awards the Calgary Stampede Show Band performed for in-coming attendees. There was also a red carpet wall where a couple Green Fools Theatre performers inspired some fun photos with Juno fans. After struggling with low light at the Listen to Our City event, I bought a proper flash for the fan red carpet wall. Which I didn't need. The wall was set up on the +15 leading to the Saddledome -- so, lots of ambient light.
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| Juno Awards - Calgary Stampede Show Band shout out |
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| Juno Awards - Fan Red Carpet |
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| Juno Awards - Fan Red Carpet - some Drake look-a-likes |
After Party @ Cowboys
The last time I was at Cowboys it was as a chip-runner for a non-profit fund raising event. Never saw the concert area, which was where the Juno Host Committee After Party was held. It was smaller than I expected.
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| Juno Host Committee After Party - Calgary Mayor Nenshi and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson said a few words. Next year, to commemorate Canada's 150th birthday, the Junos will be held in Ottawa. |
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| Juno Host Committee After Party - Lemon Bucket Orchestra |
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| Juno Host Committee After Party - Tom Wilson, who gave a little rant about being a several times Juno nominee, but never a winner. |
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| Juno Host Committee After Party - sorry, I don't remember the name of the band, but the lead singer kinda reminded me of a big salamander-like alien, like you would see in Heavy Metal magazine. |
Calgary International Airport Departure Lounge
On the Monday after the Juno Awards I was asked to take photos of the departure lounge at the Calgary International Airport. When I got there, though, I'm told that I cannot take photos of any of the musicians by recording agency request. Interesting conundrum. So I had fun taking photos of the White Hat Greeter and food shots. So, while shooting a candy dish I managed at the same time not to shoot a reggae musician crashed in front of his laptop.
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| YYC Airport Departure Lounge - musician watching a Bob Marley video. |
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| YYC Airport Departure Lounge - White Hat Greeter checking a name. Musicians were encouraged to autograph the YYC guy. |
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| YYC Departures Lounge - No Media, No Mirrors, No Makeup. |
Juno Extras
There were a few shots I did on my own, because, hey I took the week off to shoot photos. So, I took photos while riding a C-Train with a busker, feasted at the Volunteer Orientation party, and bounced at the Juno Jam at Flames Central.
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| Busker doing a noon hour gig on the Tuscany/Somerset C-Train. |
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| Organizing at the volunteer orientation. |
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| A scene outside the Juno Jam held at Flames Central (Palace Theatre). |
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