Author Jennilee Austria-Bonifacio for Trent Magazine

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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Ralph Nigro for Ontario Principals Council

One of our favourite shoots of the year is always with the Ontario Principals Council. It is always a joy working with the same team over the years, and in this case we always have a new face to photograph. The acting President of this year is Ralph Nigro, who we photographed at OPC housing HQ in downtown Toronto. Principals come from all around the province and with OPC’s office based right beside the Eaton Centre they have a condo unit for those who spend their term working in the city.

It can be a bit difficult working in the same space year after year and finding something new to do. Our last few sessions have been on the same rooftop but I think we have lucked out with having such an amazing view of the city from that high up that using the same backdrop over and over still looks as beautiful as the first time. Ralph was warm and welcoming, and very generous with his time. It’s no secret that photographers will often say “ok just 1 more thing” and then think of one more thing to do, and one more thing, and one more thing, and Ralph was incredibly patient with this. We had a beautiful and bright morning on our shoot day which ordinarily would be great but in this case was just a biiiit too bright for anyone to open their eyes all the way so we used a scrim to diffuse as necessary.

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Junior Cadougan for Marquette University

This was, hands down, one of our favourite shoots of 2023! Junior Cadougan, is a former professional basketball player, and currently runs Cadougan Elite. This past summerJunior drove his team down to his alma mater, Marquette University in Milwaukee— “If you are looking for someone to believe in, believe in Junior Cadougan, who drove all night to show a group of ninth graders what is possible beyond what they can imagine.”

While there the team got a few phone snaps but didn’t have a chance to take better photos, which is where we came in. Julie, from 508 Creative, reached out to connect us with Junior and assigned us the task of photographing the team back in Toronto. They were looking for photos of the team, of Junior, and of the kids playing and goofing around, ‘kids being kids’. We met up with them at a practice one night at a gym for rent where music was blasting, everyone was sweaty, and in the neighbouring court a volleyball game was happening. The energy was immediately palpable. Kids are always fun to shoot and often letting them do their own thing is where the magic really happens, like during their formal group photo when we prompted ‘ok now stay in the same position, but interact with each other’ and they immediately turned things up 110%.

The action shots of everyone playing was where we felt most apprehensive of this shoot; we’re not sports photographers by any means and this felt very out of our wheelhouse, but turned out to be our absolute favourite part of the night! We set up a big light for the group shot but knew it wouldn’t be realistic to use (or to even plant in 1 optimal location) while everyone was moving around, so we opted for on camera flash. Direct flash isn’t something we always use, but something about the high energy, grit, and passion oozing out of everyone made it feel appropriate. Knowing that we weren’t going to get the kinds of photos that would best encapsulate the team from the sidelines something in my mind said, get in the way, so that’s exactly what we did. Right in the middle of the action, constantly getting someone falling on us, and occasionally a basketball right to the lens (that’s what insurance is for right lol?), but it was so worth it!

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