You Win Some, You​ Lose Some

This past weekend I was taking photos at an event and I realized that my flash wasn’t working properly and I had a boat cruise to cover the following night so I went to Vistek and rented a Nikon SB-900 Speedlight.

The event went relatively smoothly and I thought to myself, “I gotta get me one of these” I went online on Kijiji.ca to see if I can find a used SB-900 as it is now discontinued. I found someone that had one but they were in Kitchener-Waterloo area. It wasn’t the most ideal scenario but desperate times call for desperate measures. I kept looking and I found a gentleman that was in Barrie, which is closer and had the flash for a lower price.

I had to follow up with some potential clients for photo shoots. So I emailed 3 of them and just my luck, all three made alternate plans. That really ruined my morning.

The Team (missing Malynne Maloney)

Nikon SB-900

During the early afternoon, my friend and frequent collaborator Megan McDonald organized a bridal shoot with a team including a Makeup artist, hairstylist, videographer and models. We went to historic Main Street Unionville for the shoot. It was a beautiful day. I was in charge of the photos, while Shivani was heading the video portion of the project. Everything went well but I wasn’t in the best mood as the cancellations were on my mind as well as the thought that I was going to be late heading to Barrie because the shoot was running behind schedule.

After the shoot, I dropped the ladies back to the house and headed north to Barrie. The beginning of the trip was a lot of traffic but once I got outside of Markham it was a pretty smooth ride.

Once I got to my destination, I had a little trouble finding the gentleman that was selling me the flash but he was very understanding and helpful.

So with all that said, I didn’t have the best day but thankfully it was over and tomorrow is a new day.

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.