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.

Click the photos below to enlarge and browse through

Studio Marathon

EARLIER THIS MONTH WE HAD A LITTLE STUDIO MARATHON

It was just 30 minute slots to shoot portraits for whatever people needed- headshots, creative branding, lifestyle promo, etc. Cameron (pictured first) was looking for a few professional headshots and also a few more casual- but still chic- promotional photos for his new side hustle. Drasko (pictured second) was in and out only needing a few photos for his LinkedIn profile, and lastly, Szymon was looking for the same as Drasko but also with a few “workout stretching” photos to kick start his new personal training business.

We obviously couldn’t leave out Rex- who was arguably the best looking of the bunch?- because we are obsessed!

We can’t thank these guys enough for coming out, it was an incredibly fun studio day that kept us on our toes all day long! We’ll hopefully be planning another marathon for sometime in the summer so if you’re interested shoot us a message here.

 

Headshots for Square One Shopping Centre

THE LAST JOB I (stef) HAD BEFORE DIVING FULL TIME INTO PHOTOGRAPHY WAS WORKING AT SQUARE ONE…

So getting a call from one of my old co-workers asking to come back and shoot some of the staff felt like a full circle moment. Oxford (the parent company of Square One) has an online directory of all of its staff, headshot included, and I remember getting mine taken once or twice in my time there. Turns out this year was the year of getting photos updated so when Suzie, the marketing assistant, caught wind she immediately thought of us and reached out. It was almost surreal going back to work at the mall but not quite for the mall in the same way as before. It was also so nice to see so many familiar faces and catch up in between shooting!

Since we were shooting everyone employed by Oxford (management, housekeeping, guest services, maintenance staff, security, etc.) we embarked on a multi-day shoot to try and get in as many people as possible. We had a little studio set up (either in the boardroom or whatever office space was available) with a large softbox for some soft even light, and staff came during or between their shift while we were there.

While we can’t share all of the staff (there’d be way too many photos) check out a handful of them down below…

Portrait Session with Toronto Actor, Neel Nash

YOU KNOW THOSE PEOPLE WHO YOU INSTANTLY VIBE AND FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH?

Neel’s one of them! The week that we were trying to shoot was a complete mess (for me) and I honestly didn’t think that we were going to make things work, but Neel had an audition coming up and needed new portraits ASAP.

Neel is so open and charismatic, he started off our session telling me all about himself and then asking about me… he more specifically said ‘who is Stef?’ which made me feel like that meme or tweet that’s says “that feeling when someone says ‘tell me about yourself’ and you suddenly don’t know who you are”.

We don’t often get the chance to sit and talk with people before we start shooting. Our subjects are usually on the go and only have a limited amount of time to spare, and sometimes don’t even really want to get their photo taken so they can be quiet and antsy for everything to be over. It’s refreshing when we have people who are eager to shoot, who are talkative, and who genuinely want to go in depth about who we are and what we do.

Despite this week being hectic I’m so happy to have met Neel and spent time getting to know him, even just for a bit, because he really reminded me about how much photography/shooting puts me at ease and makes me feel calm (more often than not haha).

We definitely spent more time talking than we did shooting, but when we did shoot we walked around both inside and outside of his condo, and even went down the common/event space area of the building- which believe you me, in this building is insanely beautiful!- using all natural light to create a few different portraits of him that he could use for his audition and even general self-promotion.

See a few photos from our shoot down below