You Know Those Giveaways You Never Win? I Won One!

The other day I received something real special in the mail! It’s a book by a photographer who I’ve been a fan of for several years now.

First a little back story on how I found out about this photographer. Since sometime back in 2011 I became hooked on Lürzer’s Archive Magazine. It’s a bit pricey, but it keeps you up to date in the advertising art world. Each issue features hundreds of beautifully printed pages that show all kinds of captivating art.

I often find out about new photographers through these books. It was these issues where I first came across Advertising and Portrait Photographer, Randal Ford. Below is some of his colorful imagery that first intrigued me.

Enough Said, his work is stunning! I’ve been following his social media for several years. A little while ago I saw that he was being interviewed on the Go Creative Show Podcast! He was talking about his new photo book.

Over the past 10 years Ford has been working on a series of animal portraits, and last year released them as a book titled, ‘THE ANIMAL KINGDOM: A COLLECTION OF PORTRAITS’. This is the subject he spoke about on the podcast. A few minutes in they stated that the first person to reach out on Instagram wins a personalized copy of the book! And guess who the lucky winner was!

I was ecstatic when Randal responded to my Instagram DM! It’s been really fun flipping through the book, and I’d strongly recommend it for animal lovers to pick up. He really captured a lot of personality in these creatures, it’s easy to feel a connection with them. The images are so crisp and detailed, truly beautiful. I would have loved to have a book like this when I was a child, to get a closer look and understanding of these animals.

Thanks Randal! Will have a permanent spot on my bookshelf.

Bescouted Photo Of The Day!

This morning I decided to post an image from a while back on Bescouted, and to my surprise it got promoted to be today’s ‘Photo of the Day’!

Each day they promote a different image, this is the first one that I’ve had chosen. It’s a picture I took of a dancer at VELD Music Festival a couple years back in Toronto. The first day it rained and made the event location extra muddy, so the organizers put down sand to soak up all the water. The second day it all dried up, and made for a very dusty dance floor. I ran around for about an hour as the sun was setting capturing different dancers kicking up the dirt for an atmospheric effect.

Urb-Ex In Detroit With Angela

This past weekend I had some solid plans set up, but Friday night my Saturday plans were postponed, this meant I had a car rental and no plans for a day. The next logical thing was to go to Detroit! I had some spots picked out in my head that I explore further, that I had been to before. I decided to invite my friend Angela along for the day. (She graciously took control of the camera as I drove)

On the way to the border we spontaneously did a live stream hangout with her Instagram followers, where we polled active viewers on their opinions on a variety of deep topics including but not limited to: what the best season was, and how long we would last before getting shot. I regretfully didn't take a screenshot from our stream before it expired.

Upon arriving in the city, there was a fresh reminder that the situation for the people around us was much heavier than our own. Seeing shopping carts full of peoples possessions scattered across boarded up neighborhoods will never be a sight I get used to. We were there at our leisure so it was important to be respectful of our surroundings since it is not our home.

We decided to revisit a building that I stumbled across a few months back with my friend Nathan. This time we spent way longer inside and explored the entire first floor, haunted basement, and destroyed upstairs. The building is littered with old furniture, and broken glass. The entrance is a knocked down wall, you can see Angela hiking across the pile of bricks above.

Sadly enough the inside featured several nests of furniture with blankets and makeshift beds inside. You can see the image above has some sofas on their sides with a door above for shelter. The roof is filled with holes, so this must be the next best option for the homeless.

I tried looking up what this building once was, but had no luck. Through out the different areas there are several overhead cranes, still in tact. After spending a solid 45 minutes in the building we took a quick selfie together and moved along.

Spontaneous Shoot With Ginela

Back in August I found myself back in Toronto where I have lived for several recent years. I most recently lived near a very big and very private forest in North York, and it was one of my favourite places to shoot nudes and beauty. It was completely private, could spend hours back there without ever running in to a soul. I did however encounter wild deer, snakes, rabbits, ravens, and even heard coyotes. Hard to believe such a unique forest resides only a minutes walk from busy Eglinton Ave.

On to the beauty in the photograph, this is Ginela. A good friend who I met through photography and modeling. She has an unbelievably positive attitude about life, I'm sure anyone who who knows her could agree that you leave feeling tickled with positivity after spending time together.

Ginela and I have collaborated on photo projects 4 times now. She's supported my work by paying to collaborate twice, which feels nice since most people don't. This is our second collaboration as trade, the first was a pinup shoot inspired by Gil Elvgren, often featured in my portfolio. The night before this forest shoot I messaged her out of the blue to see if she wanted to collab. She jumped at the opportunity, and we threw this together on the spot.

Was nice getting to add to our collection Ginela, looking forward to the next one. I'm also glad I got to shoot at the ol' forest studio that I've come to love so much. Surprisingly it hasn't changed too much, which is okay because there are so many spots in the area that I haven't been able to shoot in yet. I feel truly blessed to have stumbled by such an amazing and convenient space, that seems to be secret from the rest of the planet.

Fitness Shoot With Jon In Tobermory

This past Tuesday I reconnected with my old friend Jon, whom I used to work with a few years back. He as always been interested in a variety of fitness related activities, but recently has worked to become his best. We headed to the Bruce Peninsula near Tobermory, Ontario to document his achievement.

A few weeks back we met for a coffee to throw some ideas around. I happened to be wearing my Tobermory t-shirt that I picked up a few weeks earlier, and it quickly became the centre of our conversation. Jon frequently visits the area and knows it like the back of his hand. He took me to his favourite spot where we shot a variety of poses and ideas.

The weather started out decently warm with little wind and overcast clouds. I actually favor this kind of ambient lighting to stay consistent with my style. Toward the end of the shoot the sun peaked out and gave the shots some punch.

Tobermory is approximately a 3 hour drive from where we live, it made for a good opportunity to catch up with each other. We have already discussed the possibility of doing another shoot soon, possibly with imaginative costumes. Stay tuned, hopefully more on that later.