Fun afternoon portrait of Mo in the studio.  Although you can’t tell from this photo, there was lots of laughter going on as I told Mo I wanted to capture  his serious bad ass look, or his serious contemplative look or his serious melancholy look.  I thnk we got it on several photos.  Also, I don’t think I’ve ever done portraits of a guy who brought more clothes than any female fashion model that I have shot.  I mean seriously, he brought his whole closet in a boat of a suitcase.  Although we only went through several outfits, we got some great shots and this one was my favourite.

Thanks to Colette for her assistance and for capturing some great shots as well.  Thanks also for an energy boosting body rub during the shoot.  Don’t ask…

Thanks also to Marla, the one woman peanut gallery for keeping the shoot real.

Soundtrack was Frank Sinatra’s Only the Lonely album.  Got to love ol’ blue eyes.

Great day shooting the uber talented actor of many faces, Mackenzie Gray at the Factory Theatre in Toronto.  Mackenzie has not only peformed in film, television, theatre, musicals and cabarets but writes, directs and produces as well.  His look for today’s shoot was the character of The Carnival Barker from the rock opera The Black Rider (written by Tom Waits, William S. Burrows and Robert Wilson).  Mackenzie brought creative energy to every frame and these are my five favourites.

Great thanks to Colette for coordinating the shoot and taking some great shots of her own.

Special thanks to Ken Gass from the Factory Theatre for letting us shoot on the main stage of this wonderful theatre.

Music note: Although there was no music during the shoot, I had Tom Waits playing in my head.

Tech note:  This is definitely one of those days where I could have used more strobes.  I brought four with me today since we didn’t want to make a huge production at the theatre (“oh it will be only a soft box and a stand,” Colette said to Ken) and we only had about two and half hours total to shoot including set up and take down.  I had the Elinchrom beauty dish for the main light, 7″ reflector with 10 degree grid as a rim light, and two strobes without any reflector facing the seats of the theatre.  For the one close up shot, I used the 7″ reflector with the 10 degree grid as a main and the beauty dish as a fill.

After walking downtown for a couple of hours, I decided to continue shooting at one of my favourite places.  The weather was a balmy 4 degrees and the deep blue sky gave way to the warm sun.  There was a lot of gray around and I didn’t have my proper shoes to be trudging around the wet muddy ground so I decided to shoot some creatives around the greenhouse.  I played around with my focus and tried to split the focus between the flower and the glass covered with condensation.  It was a bit of a hit and miss but after a few shots I got the hang of it and came away with a couple of abstracts.  This one was my favourite.

Although there was no music I was listening to when I took this shot, Sade’s album Promise was on the iPod just before I got out of the car.

The fashion shoot that I was supposed to do today got rescheduled for next Saturday and I had an itch to shoot so off I went down to Queen Street West for some street photography.  I recognized this homeless man from last year (at exactly the same spot) and as I walked by him I shot about 10 frames in rapid succession with my camera pointed from my chest.  This one was my favourite and I liked the way the shadow added to the story and the composition (yes the shadow is me).

Candid portrait of Leo with his pet lizard Georgia.  He was kind enough to take time off from his Wii and oblige me with a picture.  I’ve got to admit I’m not a big fan of lizards but I did pet Georgia once, just to say I did, as I watched Leo cuddle and hold the lizard as if it were the softest and most fragile animal in the world.

Music for the quickest portrait shoot ever was Grand Analog’s Metropolis is Burning.  Awesome album!