Stef's Family Trip to San Francisco

MY SISTER GRADUATED FROM UNIVERSITY THIS YEAR, SO TO CELEBRATE WE WENT TO SAN FRANCISCO

To be honest I didn't plan on going on vacation this year; I had so much time off last year with Ethan's accident (I guess we’ll do a post on that soon) and I genuinely enjoy working (/can be a crazy workaholic) so I wanted to make up for lost time and shoot as much as possible. I knew my mom wanted to plan a vacation but we were all working so much we didn't think it was going to happen. Then suddenly I get a call from my mom saying 'Ok. SF in a few weeks. Flights are booked'.

We spent our first few days doing all of the touristy things- Pier 35, Painted Ladies, City Hall, Lombard Street, Westfield Mall, etc.- and then on the second leg of our trip we rented a little convertible bug (cute to drive, in theory, but not practical for 3 people but my mom was excited so #yolo) and spent a couple of days driving up and down the coast doing Napa, Muir and Armstrong Woods, Monterey, etc.

See some snaps down below (photos are a mix from an iPhone 8+ and Nikon D800)

Registered Nurse Journal November/December 2018

IN LIGHT OF BELL LET’S TALK WE THOUGHT THERE’S NO BETTER DAY LIKE TODAY TO SHARE THE MOST RECENT STORY WE SHOT FOR THE RNAO…

Lhamo Dolkar is a full time nurse in Toronto and a mother of 4 young boys, and about 10 months after having her youngest son, she began to feel depressed. She came forward to share her story in October after the RNAO announced the release of it’s second edition “Assessment and Interventions for Perinatal Depression Best Practice Guideline” in hopes that she can share her story and “help others avoid an illness that can sometimes consume the lives of mothers and children.”

Something Lhamo said to writer, Jonathan Sher, for this feature really stood out: “People expect (me) to be strong, (I’ve) always been strong… Mothers are the foundation of families.”

This could not ring more true. When we went to Lhamo’s home in Whitby to shoot last month, she was calm, friendly, warm, and incredibly inviting… all while having 4 kids running around her. She was enthusiastic when we talked about her work and even more happy and proud when she talked about her children.

We set up a small backdrop in her kitchen with a single light to shoot Lhamo and her family. The kids were a bit antsy and before we could even turn the light off to take a few naturally lit photos of everyone, they were already (somehow?) eating chocolate ice cream from the freezer haha. We then moved onto shooting a few different set ups of just Lhamo and her youngest, as that’s the main focus of the feature.

See the spread and some outtakes down below…

Kevin Patterson for Quill & Quire

ONE OF MY FAVOURITE SHOOTS WILL ALWAYS BE THIS FEATURE IN QUILL & QUIRE

Kevin Patterson was in Toronto touring his book, News From the Red Desert, and we had a very small window of opportunity to shoot with him before he left the city to continue on. We booked a studio in the east end (it was just before the bridge, but anything close to the DVP bridge is just automatically considered the ‘east end’ in our books) and I remember it being hot- that sticky, heavy, summer heat we have. For someone from Manitoba and just passing through the city, it was a great first impression to give haha.

Kevin was really warm and open to being photographed. Our stylist, Melody Du Ly pulled some great and casual pieces for him to wear to look effortlessly chic and our wonderful art director, Erin McPhee, gave us constructive and receptive feedback as we were shooting (which was so great to do in real time as opposed to after the fact), and overall- honestly- it was so much fun! If there’s one specific shoot that we want to reference, mimic, and build upon for the rest of our careers this would be it.

View more photos down below

Hardcore Renos

IF YOU’VE RENNOVATED YOUR HOUSE AND LOOKED FOR #RENOINSPO, OR EVEN HAVE LOOKED UP A CONTRACTOR I’M SURE YOU’VE HEARD OF HARDCORE RENOS…

Manny asked us to shoot a few promo photos of him at his 127 Project house and if you’ve taken a peek at his instagram you know how unique his photo style is. We wanted to honour his playful humour with fun and lighthearted posing, but also stay true to our style of shooting with bright and crisp photography (with the occasional dramatic flare). We shot in the house he was working on when it was only skin and bones and the basement was still being underpinned- it’s crazy to see these beginning stages and then when this house beings to actually look like a house!

For most of the shots we set up an umbrella with a low powered flash for an extra kick of light- a lot of the rooms were bright but overall flat because of the winter light outside and most of the windows being covered. This was a better option for us instead of using a reflector and bouncing light because it allowed us to be able to shoot wide and showcase all of the construction around us.

It was cold both inside and outside but it was great to be able to shoot in a real life construction setting for these promos!

Take a peek at some of the photos down below