There’s this crazy cycling race called the Mount Washington Bicycle Hill Climb in New Hampshire. Basically all you do is go uphill for 12 kms (7.6 miles). How crazy is that! I like flat or downhill surfaces, and the wind at my back please. Especially when the average gradient is 12% with some parts at 22%. No thank you.

But I have one of my good friends, Marc Mongeau, who’s nutty enough to do this race. And last weekend was the practice run before Continue Reading »

If you’re following me on Twitter, you’re probably aware of my car accident 2 days ago. It was pretty major but thank goodness I’m still in one piece.

I was stopped at a red light when a big truck decided to use me as a break. It worked! And the 4 vehicles in front helped out too. A little domino effect. Needless to say I got sandwiched.

Once I got my bearings back, I palpated my neck for pain and wiggled my toes. Ok, nothing major. I proceeded to slowly Continue Reading »

If you want to make it as a pro photographer (or anything else for that matter), you got to take it seriously. Riiiiight… You know what I love about my job? Most of the time I don’t see it as a job. My motto is: “if I’m not having fun doing something, stop doing it.” And I can tell you that I’m having a blast as a photographer! This post is all about letting your hair down. Keeping things light during a big shoot with the added pressure of producing cover shots. Continue Reading »

Now that I’ve moved to beautiful Montreal I got myself a cell phone! I didn’t have one before because I lived so deep in the woods that none of the phone carriers reached me. That’s all in the past now. Welcome to my IPhone world!

I’ve already started taking lots of photos with it and I find it fun. But what I like best is that I now have a camera with me ALL THE TIME. What that means is that the IPhone will make me a better photographer. And that makes me all giddy inside.

If you follow Chase Jarvis, you already know he’s an IPhone guy and takes tons of pics every day. And trust me, it’s no effort to do this… it’s FUN! Well, I’ll also be tweeting Continue Reading »

Before I announce the winner of the first bi-annual YPS Scholarship Award, I would like to thank all who took the time to spread the word about the contest and most importantly, all who took the time to enter.

To all who entered, thank you for submitting your tips.

Ok, now to announce the winner. Drum roll please… drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. And the winner is… Continue Reading »

To celebrate Yanik’s Photo School’s 1 year anniversary, I’m launching the YPS Scholarship Award! I had given you hints about the award a while back and now it’s here! Any self respecting school has a scholarship program, right? YPS is no exception.

Before I go any further, I would like to thank Scott Kelby and Kelby Training for sponsoring the YPS Scholarship Award. I was willing to pay for the award myself but Scott was generous Continue Reading »

I just can’t believe it.  Yanik’s Photo School is already 1 year old! How time flies when you’re having fun.

I would like to start by saying thank you to all who have spent time on YPS learning from my tutorial ramblings. You are  my motivation. You keep the flame of my teaching passion lit. You push me to better myself in my art and my profession. This will sound cliché but without you, YPS would have died a long time ago. A special thank you goes out to Darren Rowse over at Digital-Photography-School.com and Udi Tirosh at DIYPhotography.net for generously offering Continue Reading »

Many of you might have heard of “The Best Job in the World” advertised by Tourism Queensland. Some of you might have even applied!

Well, I have to let you in on a little secret…. I applied as well! Today was the announcement of the short list and… I didn’t make the cut. But that’s alright. I had such a blast filming it and putting it all together with my good friend and Continue Reading »

Hello fellow YPS readers!

I’m still in beautiful Miami just finishing up the Spa book photo shoot. I tell ya, I had a blast even though it was hard work. I’m flying back to Montreal tomorrow, Friday the 13th! I’m not a superstitious guy or else I would’ve picked another day but it makes me smile to see people around me think I’m some crazy “fate” dare devil. I also have a black cat and I do walk under ladders without really thinking about it. I have broken several mirrors Continue Reading »

February and March are gonna be busy, busy, busy!

I’m leaving tomorrow for Cancun on a 5 day photo shoot for a new book. I have to say that I’m ecstatic that my client chose somewhere warm with palm trees and blue water, not to mention the 5 star resort! It’s that time of year where I start going all “bah, hum bug” about winter. I was never a big fan of winter; the cold, shoveling snow, -30 degrees, car that won’t start, climbing on my roof to get the snow off my Internet satellite, did I mention the cold? So this is a great gift. I really love my job!

After that? Another book shoot in Albany, NY and a video shoot in beautiful Jamaica; both in March. This means lots of fun and close to 1000 images to post process in a very short amount of Continue Reading »