Great night shooting with the sexy and super talented Pastel Supernova from Toronto.  It was one of those shoots where almost every image was fantastic and trying to choose five to put on my blog was not easy (or maybe it was if they were all good anyway).  Pastel definitely made the shoot with her funny and easy going personality and perfect poses.  After looking at 300 frames, there were no duplicates of any pose.  I kid you not.  Just amazing!!  I usually shoot only about 100 or so images per shoot but it was definitely one of those rare moments where I couldn’t stop.

Special thanks to Rina for the awesome job of make up, hair, and styling!!  She got some great outfits, shoes, and accessories that definitely captured the theme.

Thanks also to Colette for her assistance.

Soundtrack for the shoot was from Pastel’s playlist in her iPod (a great mixture of R&B, soul, funk) and her band’s album Fritz Helder and the Phantoms Greatest Hits.

I decided to take a walk around the ‘hood for a little break from editing.  After a little bit of cd shopping and lunch at The Roy, I came across this character on Queen Street East.  Apparently he had just come from Vancouver and had missed his train for Montreal, so he was stuck in Toronto.  He was looking for the nearest beer store to collect some change from the empties he had collected in the bag.  Now take a close look at this guy.  He’s got an alarm clock dangling from his neck to go with the propane lantern.  Around his left arm, was a mini keg of beer which he was holding onto for dear life.  It was close to 20 degree celsius and he was wearing this coat and boots, not to mention a hard hat.  Best of all was his luggage which he was dragging along by the handle since the wheels had long since fallen off.  Yup, some great characters minutes from my loft.  God I love this neighbourhood.

Beautiful portrait of Sonia, President of Miss Pakistan World.  I was lucky enough to do a fashion shoot with Mrs. Pakistan World several weeks back and Sonia contacted me again but this time in need of pictures of herself for her magazine.  As she is extremely busy with pageants and events around the globe, we had to make a special effort to squeeze in this portrait shoot and I’m glad we did.  This one was my favourite of the day.  Best of luck in China!!!

Thanks to Fero from Glamour Studios for the excellent make up and Darick from DMG Designz for the fantastic hair styling.

Thanks to Colette for her assistance yet again.

Music for the shoot was Remy Shand’s The Way I Feel and Morcheeba’s Big Calm.

Trying to direct kids to get the shot takes some serious patience and believe me these two were a challenge, especially Julia.  In a good way though because they are so hilarious and I can just sit there and watch them do their thing.  In fact, I did that several times.  I just looked through my viewfinder and had a good laugh knowing I wouldn’t press the shutter.  I also know that keeping their attention in order to give direction only lasts for about 30 minutes with kids unless some serious candy or chocolate bribes are at hand.  Anyway, definitely a bit different from the fashion shoots I do and after 45 minutes I was exhausted, sweating like I had just done a three hour fashion shoot.  Got some great shots though and these are my favourites.

Thanks to John and Mares for their patience and aid in getting their beautiful girls to behave with Uncle Luigi.  Special thanks to Claudia and Julia for listening to me and coming up with a lot of their own poses.  Always great to see all of you!!!

Thanks also to Colette for her assistance yet again.

Music as requested by the girls was the Soundtrack to Glee (not in my collection but not bad at all).

Last time I was at a wedding I was shooting it so this was a great day just being a guest and enjoying the ceremony.  Here are the just married couple strutting down the aisle…okay Jay was strutting giving the “That’s right, check us out, yeh I’m bad, that’s right” and for good reason.  Both looked great and I am so happy for them and their beautiful day!  The day continued to Atlantis in Ontario Place for the reception and some serious good times!!

Congratulations Jay & Joy!!!!

Great day lazing around at home listening to music and watching the Masters on tv.  It didn’t take long for Simone to grab my seat between cd changes and with a cute face like that how can you say no.  Anyway I thought it had been a while since I took a picture of her and out came the Nikon 35mm f2 which has become one of my favourite lenses of late.  I shot this at f2.0 and added some vignetting in post.

Music for our relaxing day was Kenny Burrell’s Midnight Blue album.  Simone is definitely a jazz cat!

Although it was her sister Claudia’s Birthday, looks like Julia had more of the chocolate cake judging by the endless energy of this extra funny girl.  She had this skit where she was acting out several characters and was dashing in and out of frame for several minutes.  I had a hard time keeping the camera still from laughing so hard but still managed to get a dozen or so in focus.  Julia is definitely a natural performer and her faces and one liners at six years old are totally spot on and hilarious!  I can hardly wait to photograph both her and her sister in the studio in a couple of days.  Stay tuned for those images.

A big Happy 10th Birthday to Claudia!!

Soundtrack for these shots were ironically Life in Slow Motion by David Gray.

Some amazing local talent in support for refugee students and educational programs for refugees in Kenya.  A great concert for a great cause!

There were supposed to be 19 different performers but after checking my images and the artist list there were 17 altogether.  Artists included Charmaine D’Souza, Alicia Cundall, Brandon MacDonald, Calla Paleczny, Freedom Funkers, Gaiaisi, Sean McCurdy, Veronika Fynn, Tunes Beats Awesome, Fulani, Parks and Rec, Amadou, Ibrahim Aden, Michael Barry, and Kae Sun!  Kae Sun absolutely blew me away with his acoustic set and I had to buy his cd (Lion on a Leash) the day after as his music stayed in my head all night.  The album by the way is awesome!  Go get it!!!

Included in the pictures are Gaiaisi, Parks and Rec, Tunes Beats Awesome, Sean McCurdy and Kae Sun.

More info on the event can be found at www.bandaid2010.tumblr.com

Thanks to Tiana for letting me be part of this night.

Tech note:  This is the first concert I have shot with the D700 and the images are just amazing.  All of the images were anywhere from ISO 2000 to 4000.  Slight noise and the colour held up quite well.  I can remember shooting with my D200 over a year and a half ago and struggling to keep detail and colour, let alone the noise factor at ISO 1250.  I also used my Sigma 24-70 2.8 for the first couple of acts and then switched to the Nikon 50mm 1.4G for the rest of the night as I had a clear spot anywhere by the stage.