Ontario Principals Council 2018

THE PRINCIPAL FOR THIS YEARS ONTARIO PRINCIPAL COUNCIL IS LARRY O’MALLEY…

He is kind, soft spoken, patient, and incredibly easy to talk to. We’re always thrilled when we get to shoot people for more than 10-15 minutes, honestly it’s so amazing! It’s great to be able to talk to people, learn about them and what they love about their job, and to even be able to take a walk with them and do an outfit change. It doesn’t happen often so when it does, you bet we like to take advantage and shoot lots!

We went to OPC’s HQ right by the Eaton Centre and shot in their office space; they had the most amazing panoramic window that let in the brightest but softest light into the room, even on a cloudy day, so we shot this session all in natural light.

Larry’s office was a touch darker (I mean, no panoramic window can do that to you) so we decided to play it up and shoot some moodier photos of Larry “working”.

In our final set up was a bit more casual, shooting right at City Hall in a polo and slacks… again trying to get in as much greenery as possible before the winter greys hit!

See more photos from our shoot below!

Native Women's Resource Centre of Toronto 2018

THERE’S NOTHING MORE THAT WE LOVE THAN WORKING WITH A HARDWORKING, DEDICATED, AND INCREDIBLE GROUP OF WOMEN

And that’s what we get every time we’re with the Native Women’s Resource Centre of Toronto! The NWRCT provides a safe and welcoming environment for all Aboriginal women and their children in the GTA and they support them through housing, family, advocacy, employment, education, and youth programs. Ultimately they build self-sufficiency and develop a collective capacity to make positive change though individual support, group programming, and cultural initiatives.

For this years annual report we shot a portrait session with success story, Natasha (shown here first), the NWRCT’s new executive director, Pamela Hart, and all of the wonderful teams who make things possible. In an environment where there’s always something happening it isn’t always easy to ask people to stop what their doing and come outside to shoot, but everyone was so accommodating and for that we’re very grateful!

When it’s warm out we always like to try and spend as much time as possible shooting outside, especially since our winters are so long and drab- we try and get in as much greenery and sunlight while we can!

Ok so back to this years success story, Natasha… she’s originally from Alberta but came to Toronto in 1992 after running away from a difficult childhood. In 2014 she reached out to the NWRCT to ask for help dealing with her anger and other traumas, she says, “I decided to come to Native Women’s and that is the best thing I could do because I have learned about creating healthy boundaries, about my self-worth and that I am capable of doing other things that made me grow.” Today Natasha is a volunteer at the centre, leading different programs, and through this she has gained the work experience to become an entrepreneur, running her own moving company. She is also a proud mom of 2, who continues to grow in her own culture and traditions.

You can see the 2017-2018 NWRCT Annual Report here, and more photos + outtakes from our shoot down below

Registered Nurse Journal July/August 2018

THIS ISSUE OF RNJ FEATURED TWO FEMALE POWERHOUSES…

Anne-Marie Malek (shown first) is President and CEO of West Park Healthcare and Shirlee Sharkee (shown second) is President and CEO of SE Health. Both of these women were originally slated to be photographed together but with their (understandably) busy schedules we couldn’t make the magic happened and shot them individually instead. Anne-Marie was photographed at West Park in their lush and beautiful gardens, and Shirlee was photographed at SE Health’s head office in Markham, in their newly rennovated PR room.

Both women, though short on time, were incredibly kind, warm, and open to quickly chatting with us about the work that they do!

It was such a beautiful day when we shot Anne-Marie so the first few photos were taken with natural light. We wanted to create more of a separation between her and the background in the second set of photos so we added in an umbrella with a low powered flash to create some soft dimension (a darker background and lighter foreground).

The room that we shot Shirlee in had an interesting layout in so much that there was a small walk way with different coloured boards, some with text and some with patterns. Then around the corner there was a long wall full of windows with informational panels in front of them. For some reason the lights back in the walk way were on off or on low, so we used it to our advantage; we set up 1 umbrella close to Shirlee but off centre to light her for some simple head to shoulder portraits, and then we pulled back and shot wide for the second set of photos playing up the darkness of the walk way and creating a dramatic but soft spotlight.

View a few photos from these shoots below + a couple of behind the scenes snaps!

Hi! It's Us!

NEW YEAR, NEW WEBSITE!

In the #newyearnewme spirit we decided to give ourselves a little face lift so we upgraded our galleries to feature larger photos, we switched around a few fonts, and of course added a ton of new work for you to look through!

We know that in looking through portfolio pages seeing 10 photos from the same shoot can be a little daunting which is why we wanted to spend more time focusing on blogging and having a separate section where we can dedicate posts to specific shoots where you can see tear sheets, outtakes, and some behind the scenes photos all from 1 shoot! We’re also excited to be able to share some context to photos and even some technical information, if you’re the curious type.

Since we’re also here, and this post is called Hi! It’s Us! we might as well formally introduce ourselves to anyone we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting IRL yet…

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We are (aptly named) Stef & Ethan! We’re a Toronto based portrait photography duo. Stef handles our day to day (inbox, setting up shoots, and blogging) and Ethan is the brains behind the team (the more technical one, the one that’s like here’s how we should set this up and yes, you need to use a flash in this pitch black room Stef, are you crazy?). And yes, we are both work and life partners.

When we’re on set together we typically create 3-4 set ups to shoot and then we’ll take turns shooting each one. Sometimes while one persons shooting the other person will jump in and be like let me try your set up but like this, or from this angle… We’re chatty shooters usually trying to make conversation as we’re in action, mostly because we’re curious to learn all about you but also so you can feel less focused on the camera in your face. It’s not easy being photographed, we completely understand that, so we aim to work at your pace and your comfort level.

Other than shooting, the two things we have the biggest love for are dogs and food! Both of which we’re happy to be around sunrise to sunset. Ethan loves cooking and trying out new recipes and Stef loves baking and occasionally setting off the smoke alarm in their apartment (kidding, it’s happened once and now she’s forever paranoid about it).

In his spare time you can find Ethan biking- city, long distance, mountain, you name it. If he could live in BC and bike 24/7 he would. In a heart beat. He’s an outdoor kind of guy who will never say no to a good beer or gin and soda.

Stef loves shooting so much she also handles/runs a wedding photography company (alongside Ethan and our wonderful friend, Hannah) called Rosewood Studios. Since getting their dog, Razzie, she has developed a passion for training. She also loves binge watching any TV show with more than 5 seasons, the longer the better, so feel free to send along your recommendations!

If you have any questions for us (what we shoot with, what recipe we have on rotation right now, our favourite lighting set up) feel free to leave them below!