I would like to start by saying – Thank you.

Festo is a new supplier at my day job and I have to say that I was incredibly surprised when I was offered a trip to join them at Hanover Fair in Germany after only working with them for a few short weeks.

Festo is the leading pneumatic control company in the world and is a completely new tangent from my usual basket of tricks in the automation world. I have to admit that even I only thought of them as valves and cylinders. To my surprise, they are also a leading automation and bionics developer and technology leader. With over 26,000 employees in Germany alone and office in virtually every country in the world, I was part of the “International” delegation, which consisted of 8 Canadians – more on that in a bit – 3 from India, 3 from Mexico, 6 from Colombia and 4 from the US. We Canadians consisted of four Festo employees and four customers, including me.

By the end of the trip, which consisted of nearly 10 days, and countless hours travelling by bus together we all got to know each other quite well and I’m happy to say I forged several new friendships on the trip.

So, I am sharing my gallery of my more “touristy” images here for all to enjoy. So far, I have only sorted through the first day in Esslingen, near Stuttgart. Home of the Festo worldwide head office. A small crew including myself, Rakesh from Festo Moncton and a couple of Festo Didactic people from Montreal took a walking tour of the small German town. Small meaning there is only a population of about 100,000 people. 😉

After walking and enjoying a local cafe and the Sunday market in the town square, we hopped on the bus and too a tour of the incredible Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart. I cannot tell you how many times I said “I want one!” during the self guided tour.

Then after nearly 42 hours of travelling, walking, touring, more walking, museums, drinking and even more walking, I finally settled in to bed for a well deserved sleep. Of about 3 hours.

Then jet lag set in. Watch for Day 2 and posts from the rest of the week coming over the next few days.

And enjoy the gallery here.

As some of you may already know, I’m travelling in Germany this week for my day job, visiting the Hanover Automation Fair – the world’s largest automation trade show. 🙂

Some might say I’m like a kid in a candy store – because I really do love my day job – and I might actually liken it to winning the lottery as I’ve only been trying to find a way to get here to the show for nearly 20 years, especially the last 8 years that I’ve been a technical specialist for Siemens Automation – but that’s another story. 😉

I’ll be posting a select few photos each day as I have internet access on my personal FB page for my family and friends, but if you’re not on my personal FB page, fret not as I’ve included a link to the gallery that I’ll be posting to and you can see the pics even if we aren’t FB friends.  I’ll be posting to the same gallery each day – assuming I’ll have internet access each day – so you’ll only have to watch one place. I’ll post a jAlbum gallery here once I get back with a broader selection of images.

So, take a look here and enjoy!

Mike’s Personal Facebook Gallery

In the meantime, here’s a sampling of images from Day 1. 🙂

I recently posted that one of the top glamour models in Halifax, Wendy Lee, and I were teaming up to present an Introduction to Glamour Modelling for Models and Photographers on May 18th.

I just wanted to post a couple of updates…

1. The photographers spots are completely sold out! Thanks for the incredible support everyone! We even have a waiting list with a name or two, just in case.

2. The model spots are 50% sold out, so make sure you sign up soon so you don’t miss out.

3. Wendy and I got together to shoot material for the workshop and booklet that all who attend will receive at the workshop

4. We’ve announced some fantastic sponsors who will be passing along a total of approx $60 worth of swag to each attendee as well. Please join me in thanking Henry’s, Allen Print and Life Salon and Spa!

Planning for the workshop has gone very well and we are going to print for the  booklet once the final proof reading has been done. It’s expanded a little and is up to 24 pages of great tips, posing examples and advise to both models and photographers. The final product looks great and I’m sure you’ll find some great material included.

Also, since we had some time left over, we decided to shoot some images for submission to a number of magazines with various looks. Wendy is incredibly versatile so choosing looks wasn’t something we had any difficulty doing, BTW.

Thanks so much to Cassandra Prince (Life Salon) and Bryana Doyscher (MUA) for the hair and MU for this set and helping out with the workshop and finally, an extra special thanks to Bella the cat. I’ve been working a lot with Charlie Plant’s space and assistance and Charlie’s room mate loved my chair so much we just had to let Bella stay for a shot or two. Thanks Charlie and Bella! 🙂

Since the images were for publication submissions, I can’t post any of them here but I can share a few of the images that we chose not to submit to give you an idea of what to expect.

The great news here is that we’ve already received acceptance from the first magazine and set of images, and are now anxiously awaiting to hear from the second magazine. More details as I can share them.

Enjoy the images and hope to see you at the workshop in May!