Musical Interlude: ’90s duo LEN pays tribute to Toronto with It’s My Neighbourhood video

Happy Friday everyone! I thought we’d try something different today and take a break from photography to enjoy some Canadian music for a few minutes. Music is one my personal passions (along with photography of course) and I’ve been thinking about ways to incorporate the occasional musical interlude into this site for awhile now.

I’d love to be able to take some time every month or two to showcase some great Canadian music. However, I’m still not too sure how to make all this happen and I don’t want to post random music videos that have nothing to do with photography or video production, even if the music is great.

I’m still sorting on the details of how this might work in the future, but this week an opportunity presented itself and I’m very happy to share a video for a new song by the Toronto brother-sister duo known as LEN. The video was shot by Derek Shantz, who is a friend and colleague of mine, and the song is called “It’s My Neighbourhood”. Many of you will probably remember LEN’s ’99 hit “Steal My Sunshine” with it’s sugary-sweet melodies and memorable piano riff.

The video is a love letter to Toronto (so it also compliments the City Rising video posted this week) and features Hogtown highlights like the CN Tower, Yonge-Dundas Square, Woodbine Beach and aerial shots of the downtown core, as well as some great shots of Toronto residents lip-syncing the catchy tune in various city ‘hoods.

The video was shot with GoPro cameras and the Canon 7D with 14mm, 17-55mm and 8-15mm fish eye. Derek says he also used a monopod for most shots as well as Cinevate and Kessler sliders. All shots were direct sunlight to maximize depth of field and dynamic range. They didn’t have the budget for aerial shots, so that footage was sourced from the City of Toronto archives.

For more info please visit the LEN website lenofficial.com/ or Derek’s blog: derekforeel.wordpress.com

If you have any ideas for future CanPhoto Musical Interludes, please let me know. Some ideas I have include bringing together photographers and musicians for a photo shoot, some music, and a BTS video. It could also be a spotlight for videographers who produce videos for Canadian artists.

I’d also love to know what you think of this idea. I understand this particular video or song may not be to everyone’s taste, but would you like to see more stuff like this? Please feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below.

Marc and Sharon Costanzo are the brother and sister duo known as LEN. Copyright © Derek Shantz