Lawyers, Yorkville, Pho and more Pho!

Yesterday I had to wake up at such an ungodly time of 6:45am hahaha Oh, and I laugh because I know the majority of people out there wake up around this time daily.  I had a shoot scheduled for 9:30am downtown at Dale & Lessman, a well-known law firm in Toronto.  Even though these were headshot-type images, I always approach even the simplest headshots as portraits.  My goal is to try and get some sort of personality and character into the photo.  I knew lighting this was going to be simple because I had talked with the creative director and they wanted a really simple, standard photo for four of their lawyers.

This guy was SO easy going and so easy to work with! Such a cute old man :)

I went with one light source, a big umbrella and had in mind to shoot the subjects against a glass window or even in their office e.g. by a book shelf.  Like any typical day at work, there’s always some kind of wrench that gets thrown into your plans and it’s up to you, amidst the panic you feel inside, to appear calm and come up with a new idea.  I had some trouble with my very first subject of the day- he didn’t feel he was looking his best which already makes my job harder and his father is a seasoned photo hobbyist so he was quite keen on how and where we shot the image.  The window set up was a no-go.  In the end, we used a dark wooden door as the background which turned out half decent.  If you look at the image I shot above, it’s really simple.  I mean, one light source, a wireless trigger and a camera could get you this.  However, I credit my people skills and ability to think on my toes more for achieving the photo more than anything.  It goes to show that the majority of what makes a good people-photographer isn’t so much their equipment or even how good their are at snapping a photo (composition, lighting etc.).  These things can either be purchased or learned.  It has more to do with how the photographer manages their set, manages situations and interacts with the subject(s) in order to still execute and get the image they need.

Second shoot on the day was in upscale Yorkville.  I was shooting Augustina Boutique for Fashion magazine.  Augustina is actually located in that allyway in Yorkville that I always walk through but ignore all the stores.  Actually, I ignore all the stores when I’m walking in Yorkville haha (not my cup o’ tea).  To illustrate this, I usually wear old sneakers, jeans and a hoodie to most of my shoots just to make a point hehe I can’t post the images because they’re for editorial so I won’t be able to post til it’s published.  Shooting stores and/or products are always fun because they don’t talk back or have a bad hair day :)

After Yorkville I met up with Janey and had some pho vietnamese noodles at Ginger.  The pho there was OK (not the greatest but not the worst I’ve had) and their watered-down hoisin sauce was questionable.  The food came out super quick though!  In the evening I went to buy a new rolling backpack for my gear (more on that later) and then off two volleyball.  After two hours of playing, I peppered intensely with one of my friends, MQ, for about 20-30 minutes and I was so exhausted and sweaty! Gross! Nothing a little more pho couldn’t fix hahahaha Yup.  Pho after volleyball is tradition!  This time, Pho 88 in Scarborough is THE place to get yummy pho.
I never thought I’d say this but pho is starting to lose its novelty with me, boo.  I had it on Friday night after our 6-hour volleyball tournament, Sunday at a client lunch meeting, yesterday for lunch and dinner haha Man! That’s a lot of pho.

Welp, off to another day of shooting.  I’ll be meeting up with the folks from Lug Travel today and getting some images shot.

c.