I had the great opportunity to photograph the newly crowned Mrs Pakistan World 2010.  Tahmena brought a selection of colourful and elegant dresses to wear for images to be published in the next Miss Pakistan magazine.  We had a great time shooting and this beauty definitely has all the excellent qualities that earned her the title.  Here is an article from The Star that shows her accomplishments.  Visit the website listed below as well for additional info on Tahmena.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/750548–porter-this-beauty-queen-has-brains-and-bite#article

Special thanks to Sonia Ahmed, President of Miss Pakistan World, for co-ordinating the shoot.

www.misspakistanworld.com

www.mrspakistanworld.com

Addtional thanks to Beauty Expert for the excellent make up.

Thanks also to Colette for her assistance in the shoot.

Soundtrack for the shoot was Timbaland’s Shock Value.

Awesome day of adventure and fashion at the Elora Gorge.  Anne-Marie from Orange Model Management definitely put her A game on as she toughed it out for about an hour shooting in her summer dresses in the cold snowy gorge, looking fantastic and making it seem like it was 90 degrees.   There were a couple of scary moments as Anne-Marie and I on separate occasions broke through the ice luckily without incident but it was scarey as hell.  It was also crazy getting down to the gorge as you can see there were about 70 steps covered in ice that led us down there.  After the steps there was an additional 80 foot slope to get to the frozen river.  The entourage and gear made it down without much trouble.  Going back up on the other hand was quite a work out (damn Profoto battery pack!)  and I defnitely felt it the day after. 

Thanks to Meghan for the awesome hair and make up (and body heat), Katie for her assistance (and body heat), and Colette for her assistance and usual great vibes to make these shoots super fun!

Although there was no music during the shoot, listened to Richard Hawley’s Coles Corner on the way to the gorge and Ryan Adam’s Love is Hell on the way home.  Both fantastic albums!

Lazy morning in between some gigs and had an itch to shoot but it was too damn cold outside and I was too damn lazy!  Good thing Simone was available and willing.  I snapped this picture of her atop her condo with her bear, a Christmas gift from Sheila overseas. 

Soundtrack for this morning was Richard Hawley’s Truelove’s Gutter.  Love this album!

It’s been a while since I posted a picture of Simone and as you can see, at five months old, she’s grown quite a bit.  I was testing my newest lens (Nikon 35mm f/2D) and Simone was shocked that I would have attention for anything other than her.  She follows me constantly around the home and this night was no different.  She tried to hide behind my laptop as I was fiddling around with some settings in my camera on the kitchen table. 

On a tech note, this was shot at ISO 2000 and  f/2.2 and I am quite impressed with the sharpness.  I also noticed that this lens has a little more contrast compared to some of my other lenses. 

On a side note, I love music and although I haven’t played my guitar or saxophone in a long while, I have a bit of a CD collection and listen to music almost 24/7.  Starting from New Years Eve I have decided to add in my posts the music I was listening to when I took the shot.  For this shot Simone and I were listening to James’ album Pleased to Meet You.