Portrait Session with Fran at The Guild

it’s been such a long time since we’ve had a no pressure, casual, photo session

So when Fran approached us about shooting we were so excited! We had a few ideas of location but narrowed it down to The Guild as it was somewhere both sentimental and familiar to her. We worked on a few other logistics like outfit changes and then later popping back into her house for a few extra indoor photos, but overall it was a hang out with a camera more than an actual formal photo session. This was something that we didn’t know we needed and was a really great refresh to our creative juices.

When we planned this session we didn’t know for certain what the weather was going to be like. We had actually planned to shoot more in summer but kept (unintentionally) scheduling on days with severe heat warnings that we felt just wasn’t safe, or comfortable, to be outside in sunlight for a couple of hours. We lucked out on this day in that there wasn’t any end of summer storms happening, but it wasn’t a crystal clear day either. We worked with what we had though and shot with the ambient, sometimes overcast light. We did not have a permit to shoot around The Guild so we opted to not use any off camera lighting in case we had to pack up and quickly leave.

See more photos down below, click the photos to enlarge and browse through

Studio Test with Eunice

WE HAD A LAST MINUTE CANCELLATION FOR OUR STUDIO MARATHON AND WE DIDN’T WANT TO WASTE OUR TIME SO WE INVITED EUNICE TO COME HANG OUT AND SHOOT

It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve shot a creative but boy did it feel good for our soul! Eunice just happened to be available with only about 12hrs notice and for that we’re forever thankful :’), but on top of being the greatest she rocked it in front of the camera and brought some killer looks to shoot in!

We didn’t really have time to put together a proper moodboard so we mostly worked off of our memory of the studio from the last time we were there and then made some adjustments based off of whatever new things were around when we arrived. One of the fun parts about being a team is that we get to work off of each other; when I need a second to figure out what to do/how to do it, Ethan can shoot his set up and when I’m ready then we can rotate. Or if I’m doing something that Ethan likes but he wants to shoot in a completely different way, he can jump in and together we can build from there.

Something that’s easier said than done for us is making time for personal shoots, whether it’s a full studio day with a moodboard, concept, and team, or a one-on-one just shooting the shit. After shooting this it definitely seems like something we’ll keep on the top of our list going forward because we definitely can’t wait to do this again!

See more from this test 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

Test with Anne Sophie at Allan Gardens

A QUICK LITTLE TEST WTH MODEL ANNE-SOPHIE

It was cold out and no one wanted to be outside for long so we decided to go to Allan Gardens without realizing that you need a permit to shoot there (oops). After some playful work around and some super speedy and sneaky shooting we did what we could, given the fact that someone was on us like a hawk to leave.

Thanks to our team of badass babes who powered through and made this (quick) magic happen!

Model: Anne-Sophie at Elite / Hair and Make Up: Irina Badescu / Styling: Melody Du Ly