2017 Christmas Party Recap

The end of last year was a been a bit slower than years past, but I still had events to photograph for the holiday season. I had one new client and a longtime client that I’ve been lucky to have been covering over the last few years.
The first party that I covered was a company called Onyx Fire which is a fire protection services company. I happen to have a friend that works for the company and lucky for me, they were looking for a photographer to cover their Christmas party. This was my first year covering this event but from what I’ve been told, the 2017 version took place at The Country Club in Woodbridge, ON. As the name suggests, it was a pristine venue equipped with all the amenities to handle such an event. And if you’re into golf like my Dad is, you know that ClubLink does everything top notch.

Now, I’ve covered many events for the Christmas holidays before, but I think this was the largest group that I had covered. It’s funny because whenever I see an Onyx Fire vehicle on the road, I always take a photo and text my friend about it but I underestimated how large the company was.  There was food galore. They actually had 3 different food stations. One with meat and vegetables, one with salads and sushi and one station for pasta. After everyone ate to their heart’s content, they removed the tables from the pasta station and opened up the dance floor with music being played by DJ Dom from DJ Emporium. Myself coming from the Hip-hop world, I’ve always admired DJ’s that play at corporate events because you have to have such a vast catalogue of music to satisfy both young and old and all music tastes. The key is to keep the dance floor busy and he did just that.

The second event that I covered was for Safebridge Financial. This was my third year taking photos at their Christmas party. I used to play rep baseball with one of the Executives of the company.  One day I was shooting a charity golf tournament and we ran into each other after a few years, he took my business card and said he would give me a call. Four years later, I’ve covered multiple events for Safebridge.

The latest Christmas party took place at the opulent Duncan House in North York. I was mesmerized by the decor and furnishings of the restaurant.  The building was built in 1865 and restored to house a fine dining steakhouse.  One thing that I know about my friend Chris is when it comes to his events is, they spare no expense. Especially when it comes to quality and class. Another thing about Chris that I’m always dumbfounded by is his public speaking ability without any notes. The previous event that I covered of theirs, I asked him if he knows what he’s going to say before he speaks or if it’s all off the top of his head. He told me that he has some ideas written but he’s no Jay-z of speeches.  I thought that was hilarious but I think that he is the Jay-z of public speaking.

One great thing that Safebridge does at their party is present their annual “Be Orange” award which is awarded to the person that best exemplifies an employee at Safebridge Financial. They gave the award to their executive assistant Paula and she was shocked and emotions took over her a couple of times. The food was phenomenal, the people were inspired and the party usually coincides with Chris’ birthday and this year they rented a bus to take them out for a night on the town after dinner. I wasn’t there for that part of the night, unfortunately, but it was a great evening and I look forward to next Christmas.

Cadillac

There’s an establishment that I frequent in Mississauga on my downtime’s. One night I saw this beautiful sky blue Cadillac sitting in the front of the parking lot. I thought to myself, “Man, I’d love to do a shoot involving that car.” I went another night and the car was there again so I asked an employee if they knew the owner of the car and they said, “Yeah it’s the dude the booth over there. “ It’s funny because I’ve seen him many times before but I’ve never spoken to him. I told him that I loved his car and I’d love to do a photo shoot involving his car. Without hesitation, he wrote his name, number and the make and model of the car, 1980 Cadillac.
From going to that bar, I’ve befriended one of the bartenders there. I met her one night when the security guard said that “there’s a bartender that is requesting your services. “ I was confused because I never had any previous interaction with her. Even the bouncer, I was thinking “how did he know that I do photography?” Anyhow, she wanted to do a photo shoot but had no experience. Needless to say, everything went well and now, she always bugs me to do another photo shoot. Over time I’ve become close and oddly protective of her. I remember she liked a guy and I saw him and told him “I don’t know about that guy. You deserve better than him. Fortunately, she moved on and now she’s in a happy relationship.
In the summertime, I was asked to take party pictures for Wayne Warner. For those that know him, Warner is a Toronto party legend so I was super nervous to take pictures at his events. I saw two ladies and asked to take a photo of them. One said to me, “Warner never posts pictures of me”. I was thinking “Why not? You’re very pretty. “ We exchanged contact information and I told her that I would like to use her for a photo shoot involving an old Cadillac and she said she was down. YES!!
So I have the models, I have the car, now it’s to find the time where we are all available. It wasn’t until 3 months later where we were able to do the shoot. I originally wanted 2 models but one cancelled the morning of so I had to use only one.
The sun was going down pretty fast so I tried to work quickly using ambient light along with flash to make things pop. I was lucky to have my friend Malynne around to help me with styling and adjusting the light setup. Everything went well overall. We got some great shots, the only drawback is that I wish that we started to earlier in the day to take more advantage of the natural light.
Overall I’m pleased with how everything went and special thanks to Adil for not only providing the car but going the extra mile by showing me locations and offering to do things that I didn’t ask him to do and making sure everyone was comfortable. we were able to meet up.

Bay Street Hoops 2017

I was honoured to be asked to be a photographer for a local charity basketball tournament at the University of Toronto called “Bay St. Hoops“. This is my second time covering this great charity and being a part of two things that I love, Photography and basketball.

When I did this event last year, I wasn’t really prepared since it was pretty last minute. Also, the tournament took place at 5 different ball courts and 3 different lighting conditions which made it a bit of a challenge. This year, I covered two days of the tournament and got used to the lighting and was more prepared and I think the photos from this year compared to last year show that.

What makes this tournament interesting to me is the skill level. You had novices in a division participating up to the highly competitive player that you can tell have experience playing at high levels competitively and are active ballplayers. Sometimes I would have to put down my camera and just watch because some of the games were captivating. I even covered a buzzer beater shot to win a critical semi-final game.

It was a tremendous event once again. This year was better than last year in my opinion and I bet it’ll only get better. I’ve met some amazing people over the two years that I’ve covered this event and some I still keep in contact with. Thanks to Desmond Rampersaud and Emma Truax for having me once again and I’ll see you next year.

Play for Hope

This is a great time to be a sports fan. You have the football season finishing their first month, the NHL season is starting up, the NBA is starting their training camps and the Major League Baseball season is about to start their playoffs. Unfortunately, this also means that the golf season is winding down.

With all the recent natural disasters happening, as bad as it is, it is good to know that many people have come together to help out those that are less fortunate.  Thanks to my friend Asif Khan, I have taken pictures at the 4th annual Play 4 Hope golf tournament at Royal Ontario Golf club in Milton, ON.

This is my second year participating in this event. The weather has been very unpredictable the last few days. The beginning of the week was summer weather but the last couple days have been quite chilly. I was nervous at first and wasn’t sure what to wear but it’s turned out to be a perfect day for golfing.

There were many great sponsors present from all over the GTA.  Just like last year at the registration table, there was great food provided by Island Mix and quality cigars from Havana Castle. I can say that this year is already better than when I was here last year and many great sponsors came out to support the Play 4 Hope tournament this year.

This year we are raising money for The Chenga House which provides support for marginalized youth.  Another beneficiary is the Canadian Cancer Society. I’d like to thank Asif Kasim for having me cover this event and I look forward to covering more in the future.

Asif Kasim

Nice Putt

Birdie

Closest to the Pin

Royal Ontario GC

Havana Castle

Island Mix

Back in Business

 

As September marks back to school for kids, September also marked a new beginning for me as well. In July the tiles in my basement started to pop up from the floor. To this day, we’re not sure what caused that to happen. So some tiles had to be removed and replaced. It was a very dirty job the whole basement was covered in dust but after 6 about weeks of re-tiling, painting, and cleaning, the basement is functional again.

During the time where my home studio was out of service, I had to adapt. It’s like that saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” I had to adapt to my situation so I focused more on doing events such as baby showers and birthdays and doing more jobs on location.

My first client for my grand re-opening was Sharifah Weir of Love Thick Apparel. Now, this isn’t the first time working with Sharifah we did a product shoot a couple years ago when she was starting out. She’s doing quite well and I like the campaign that she’s running with her “Women are Dope” line and inspiring women of all shapes and sizes to be self-confident and role models.

The next client was from a new clothing line called Totally African. Here in Toronto where there are so many cultures and we embrace and borrow from each other, this line is great for people that love the colours and designs of African fashion. We just started working together but I hope that we can grow together and I always try to support young businesses.

So the home studio is back up and running. I still have to put the pictures back on the wall but I’M BACK!! So contact me at Degrey Photography for your family portraits, headshots, and photo shoots.

Love Thick Apparel-Women are Dope

Love Thick Apparel

Totally African Men

Totally African Women

Totally African Men

Totally African Accessories

 

New Families

Last weekend I had the pleasure of covering two events that celebrate life. First was a first birthday party. It’s always nice to cover kids parties because of the energy of the room. The ability of children to get along and play without prejudices or knowing each other beforehand always amazes me. It’s too bad adults don’t always do the same.

The birthday boy is too young to fully understand what’s going on, but he was in good spirits and stayed awake the whole time. I learned that he loves music and dancing. To me, two things I love with babies are listening to them laugh and watching them dance.

The second event I photographed was a baby shower. The way that people are excited to see the mommy to be’s belly and just the general feeling of love in the room is a great thing. What stood out to me about this shower was the chemistry between the parents to be. You can tell that their future daughter is going to have a lot of love around her. I was happy to be a part of it and best wishes to both families that asked me to capture milestones in their lives.

Hey DJ

The last couple of years, I’ve had the privilege to photograph many events of Canada’s best DJ Starting from Scratch. In that time I’ve met all different types of people from all walks of life. One thing that I’ve always admired about Scratch is despite being idolised and worshipped by different audiences, he’s just a regular guy and shrugs away the accolades that his fans bestow upon him. I’ve been around DJ’s with one tenth of Scratch’s skill but ten times the attitude.

One of the people that I always saw at the events was a guy named DJ Andis. I didn’t know what he did, I just thought that he was a guy that liked Old School music. Later I found out that he was a DJ.

After a night of taking photos, Andis asked me for my business card and said that he wanted to do a photoshoot. Originally we wanted to do the pictures at Play de Record but our schedules didn’t allow that to happen. So he came to my home photo studio and we got to work.

I think it was a great situation being that we both love music albeit from different ends of the spectrum. He plays the music and I consume it, but music is a universal language. First, I started with an up and coming MC named Nick Grant then I changed the vibe a bit with some New Edition which brought us back to our youth and I just told him to dance and have fun. After all, in my opinion, the best DJ’s are the ones that feel the music and connect with their audience. I’ve seen Andis has been using some of these photos to promote his gigs and his radio show on Carib 101. Check him out and if you need a DJ to rock your party, he’s the guy.

Thinkin’ of a Masterplan

Music to my Ears

Que up

Tools of the Trade

Join us for Shopping & Champagne!

Ladies in the Toronto area check it out.

No Muslim Ban on Stolen Land

This weekend, I woke up on Saturday morning and turned on CP24 as I usually do to check the weather for the day. I saw that there was a rally scheduled outside the US Embassy so I automatically perked up and saw an opportunity to take photos.

I intended to take the TTC but I was afraid of being late so I drove downtown and walked to the protest location.

I was surprised at the vast number of people that attended of all walks of life that were all united against the US travel ban. There were members of Black Lives Matter, Leaders of the Chinese community, the Muslim community, a Holocaust survivor and others all united against Donald Trump’s foreign policies. I saw people of all races, sexual orientation, young and elderly all against the Travel Ban. The dissent that I have noticed in the last few weeks is definitely eye-opening, not just here in North America but worldwide. I watch TV sometimes and think “Is this really happening?” I see people on social media obsessed with selfies and filters on Snapchat and wonder if they are aware or care about the things happening around us. But I digress, everyone needs an escape and luckily for me, photography has become mine.

I hope you enjoy these images from Yesterdays Muslim Ban protest in Toronto

A New Chapter Begins

This week I got some USB flash keys in the mail from Vistaprint. I’ve always wanted to have my own USB’s but they were always out of my price range. I’ve always admired some of my counterparts such as http://www.derrelhoshing.com/ for having not only amazing work but the great presentation to their clients of the finished product.

As I continue to learn and grow in this photography business, hopefully, this is a step forward to not only make myself look more professional but also satisfy my future wedding clients for the foreseeable future.