may the fourth be with you

Well, today is May The Fourth. And as most people will see all over the internet, that means it's Star Wars Day. For over a year, I've been trying to put together this shoot to be specially released today. After many setbacks and work-arounds, I am extremely pleased to say it finally came together, just in time.

I guess this just goes to show, it really doesn't matter who you are, a cardboard tube is still a lightsaber.

carly rae jepsen portrait and a website overhaul

As most of you probably know, the Juno Awards were held on Sunday, April 1st. Two days before, I got a call from MAC makeup artist (and amazing painter) Matthew King. He told me a senior artist from Toronto doing makeup for the Juno's is looking for a photographer. The details were fuzzy on what was needed, but I was definitely interested so I told him to have them contact me.

Soon enough, Jade from Artist Relations emails me about 'the Carly Rae Jepsen shoot'. Well, my eyes widened a little more at that line. If you don't know who she is, you'll probably recognize her song 'Call Me Maybe' - that massive pop song that gets stuck in everyone's heads. She recently signed to Justin Beiber's label. And was on Ellen a couple weeks ago. No big deal.

So Jade and I chat via phone and email about the details to work it all out. I was to contact Carly's manager and meet them at their hotel the day of the Juno's. Melissa Gibson, the MAC Senior Artist doing her makeup, would finish up and then I would have a few minutes to get a shot of the finished look.

The room I was set up with was less than ideal (no windows, no sweet furniture, actually not much of anything) but it would do for what was needed. So I call the manager to let them know I'm there, she says it will be 'quite a while' as they're way behind schedule. That's cool, I do have an iPhone to amuse myself with after getting a few setups figured out.

A couple hours later they come down. Because it's getting late at this point, I only have time for one setup. We meet and greet, I get super jealous of admire her makeup and dress, and we get started. I shoot for about a minute, we go through the pics, take a few more, we look again, and that was that. Carly and her manager were both extremely pleasant and I'm really happy I had this opportunity.

It was so weird watching the Juno's that night while editing the photos when she came on the screen to present an award. I had to take a pic. Really weird double vision kinda feeling.

A HUGE shout out to everyone involved: Matt, Jade, Melissa, Jess, Dayna, and Carly. And anyone else behind the scenes.

You can find the photo along with articles on the great makeup over at:

Fashion Magazine
Ottawa Citizen
Huffington Post
Ottawa Life

Another exciting update for me, I have a brand spankin' new website thanks to the folks over at A Photo Folio. I tried out their free demo, basically making my site exactly how I would want. By the end it was a no brainer for me to go ahead and purchase it. Too many amazing features. Especially compared to my old site that was a bitch to update, couldn't be viewed on mobile devices, and looked really small and bad on large screens. Here's the run down on the new features:

- Images scale to your browser/screen size
- Hovering next/prev/thumbnail cursors
- Those buttons also appear at the bottom
- Keyboard arrow keys can be used to advance photos
- Thumbnails can be shown/hidden
- Captions can be shown/hidden
- Fullscreen button
- Video page
- PDF Creator - make your own reference PDF of images you select yourself!
- Site viewable on iPhone an iPad (FYI different layouts than computer version, for best viewing on each device)

I also can't publish this post without mentioning A Photo Folio's incredible customer service. I'm all for giving credit where credit is due, and they really deserve it. For example, at 11:50 pm one night I emailed them with a minor issue I couldn't fix at my end. They're in Virginia, so same time zone. I assumed I would get a reply the next day, probably in the afternoon, with instructions on what to do. Get this: they emailed me back IN 5 MINUTES, with the problem FIXED. Like, done. No more issue. Problem go bye bye. Another day (at a more reasonable time, but still after normal working hours, about 6:30 pm) I emailed with a different minor problem. Again, within 5 minutes they email back with the issue solved. That alone is worth it. I guess that's why they have clients like Dan Winters, Chris Crisman, etc. etc. If you're looking for a new site that's easy to customize and update, check A Photo Folio out for sure.

Oh, duh, also check out my damn site! www.jessicadeeks.com

As for other work, check out interior designer Sonya Kinkade's website. Portfolios 1-4 are all my work I did for her a little while ago. She also was the lead designer in Extreme Home Makeover - Kindness Edition, which you can read a blurb about in...

...Our Homes Ottawa Spring 2012! See what I did there? I have some work in here too, I shot the Home & Builder feature, as well as their People Feature. Pick it up at Sobey's (and other places that I can't remember) or read it online here.

applied arts!

Just a quick post to mention that I've been chosen as one of the Young Blood winners for the 2012 Applied Arts Photography and Illustration Awards Annual! Can't say which photos won, but look out for them in the May/June issue! Congrats to all the amazing winners.