Last Sunday I had the chance of being one of the photographers for TEDxMcGill. The event took place in Montreal at Bain Mathieu. In a POOL. This year, the theme was Redefining Reality. They had 15 great speakers, including legendary scientist Brenda Milner. Ok so a few things to talk about. First, the TED sign. My high school friend Gabriel (part of the Salvaging Activity Workshop) was in charge of creating the sign, and within a week, his team created this cool, bold, TEDx sign. They lit it from a bathtub below and had running water, creating the ripple effect you often see in reflections near pools. Really cool.

Next, we set up a photobooth in the corner where speakers and guests got photographed with these cool red X’s made by TEDx volunteers. I even bought the Eye-Fi cards and tried out the wireless transfer to iPad to display the pictures right away. Here are some of my favorite pictures from this set up. Ehhh I wish I had all the speakers on these.

I need to thank Chloe & Marie (for helping me get this gig), as well as Sam, Nida and Matt (for helping me out the whole day)!

In the end though, the person who was most inspiring and memorable for me wasn’t a speaker but rather a visual artist: Aquil Virani. He started the day off handing small pieces of paper to all guests, asking them to draw or write anything. He then collected all the papers and started his live painting, blending pieces together from everyone, while still managing to do it in a consistent style. In just a few hours, I could already see the fantastic piece of art shaping up. He also included slides and quotes from the TED speakers. Reaaallly really cool. (Btw I drew Hexapus, the 6-tentacled octopus.)

In the end, the whole day was great. I’ve always been a fan of TED so I was psyched to be able to photograph this event. I actually used to have a morning routine that consisted of coffee with a TED talk. I should get back on that.