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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Western Sydney University Alum, Allison Hawks for WSU Gradlife

We’re so excited to find our work resonating with folks on the other side of the world, so much so that we got a call from Australia! More specifically from Western Sydney University. It’s so cool to be able to do what we do here, but for someone else on another corner of the planet. When they assigned us this project with their alum, Allison Hawks, we knew exactly what to do and how to do it! Though born and raised in Toronto, Allison spent her student days at Western Sydney University. She has been out of school and back home for some time so we connected with her one beautiful afternoon, meeting at Humber Bay, to shoot a few photos of her in her WSU gear.

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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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Portrait Session at Pitt Meadows

While our trip out to BC this past summer was more to see friends and family, and to admire the mountains, we thought if we could set up a shoot, if the timing worked out, if all of the stars aligned for this then we’d love to do it... and it did, and we did! I can’t tell you the last time that we actually had a personal shoot to ourselves, to just collaborate, hang out in a beautiful location, and have absolutely no pressure or expectations out of it. So even though this wasn’t top priority for our vacation, we were really excited to make the time for this shoot. We connected with our wonderful stylist, Jasmine Kamboj over Instagram (where else do ppl meet these days lol) and she was such an invaluable, boots on the ground, resource for this. In addition to her great styling, she also connected us with Callum’s modelling agency, Richards Models, and badda bing badda boom it all came together.

I (Stef) was eager to shoot somewhere unlike Toronto and the first thing that came to mind was the mountains. Not being from the area I wasn’t sure what the logistics of shooting in the city is (permits, special requests, what times to avoid peak crowds?) so after some quick research we opted for a public area of Pitt Meadows, starting just before the crack of dawn. I was hoping for a clear morning so we could get an epic sunrise over the mountains but 1. it was an overcast morning so there was so no sun, and 2. we were not east facing (which I didn’t realize until leaving lol). The ambience of the clouds added to the session and prompted us to use some fun flash moments I don’t think we would have otherwise done.

It was a fun morning with a fun crew, we’re so thankful for people who go along with our ‘hey call time is 5am is that ok?’ schemes, and we can’t wait to do it again next time we’re in the area! Maybe not at sunrise though haha.

We’re also really excited to have a photo from this session featured on Photo Vogue!

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Model: Callum at Richards Models / Stylist: Jasmine Kamboj