We got a last minute call from Trent University when they had a sudden change of plans for their upcoming alumni magazine cover shoot— they had to pivot for their new feature with Jennilee and they needed someone to shoot with her at her Queen West home, and turnaround the session ASAP. Say no more, this is not unusual for us! After a quick brief with the editorial team we learned that Jennilee is (unsurprisingly) a Trent alumna and recently published her first novel, Reuniting with Strangers. She also still works in communications so the urgency of this shoot was not lost on her, and we were told multiple times that “she’s in comms, she knows what we’re going through”. Right from our first email Jennilee was sooo inviting and so warm, and immediately invited us to stay for dinner after our shoot! I (Stef) come from two backgrounds (Portuguese & Chinese) where food is our love language, both sharing and making it for others, so immediately being given an assortment of snacks upon arrival and then being able to share dinner together afterwards really hit right in my love language. As we were shooting, and even all of these months after, those feelings all stayed true; we have not photographed someone as light hearted, and as lovely Jennilee (and by proxy, her husband because he was there too, and both of them together are the sweetest).
My favourite part of our shoot was the beginning, for both getting to meet and play with her dog, Cheeseburger (yes, Cheeseburger!!!), and for my favourite note of all time: when Jennilee was asking for wardrobe feedback and said “I want to look as Filipino as possible”. Her text after the feature was published where she said “I look SOOO Filipino and it makes me super happy!” makes me feel like we were successful ;) Her debut novel speaks to the Filipino immigrant experience, touching on themes of “displacement, estrangement, resilience and healing that happen behind closed doors” so being able to make photograph Jennilee in a light and clothing style that both speaks to her own Filipino heritage and touches on her book makes us feel proud.
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