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| This is the fuzziest photo (or grid of photos) I have ever uploaded and that's on purpose! Sorry. These photos were created to be shared internally by the organization, so I can show you kind of what they looked like, but not who's in them. I wish I could. But, privacy. |
In the fall of 2024 something wonderful happened. I received
an e-mail I almost didn't think was legitimate as it began with "Good
Afternoon". But the sender did refer to some specific work on my website that
gave them the idea I might be a good fit for their project so I replied.
What followed was the commencement of one of the most
interesting and creative projects I have done in a while, thanks, to some extent,
to a series of fake book covers I did in 2023.
The project -- a calendar to feature a series of creative,
whimsical and maybe humorous images of twelve Tour de Bleu cyclists and their
bikes. The calendar pages would be auctioned off at the Tour de Bleu gala
fundraiser; the models would be the
winning bidders. Between 2023 and 2024 the Tour de Bleu raised 11.9 million
dollars for the William Osler Health System’s Adolescent Intensive Day Program
for youth struggling with self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Here's more about
the event and the organization: https://www.petergilganfoundation.org/tour-de-bleu/
Particularly given the target charities it took me zero
seconds to want to be involved.
All I had to do was collaborate, organize and execute twelve
photo shoots with some of the busiest people I have ever met.
What was so great about this job?
I had a lot of creative control. I was allowed to create
each image as a stand-alone piece with no stylistic limitations or
restrictions...the final set of shots didn't have to match. I got to bump brains with some very fun
and creative people. I got to see and
explore a number of interesting places I would otherwise never have had a
chance to see. I got to work with a great new photo assistant, my son (as well
as my usual, awesome assistant, Ashley).
What were the challenges?
In some cases I got to scout the locations prior to the
shoot dates, which I always like to do. But even then there were challenges.
Logistically and budget-wise we just didn't have the capacity to deal with
getting (and paying for) location permits, so where that might have been a
thing we knew we'd have to shoot fast. Since we had no time for weather days (ie.
postponements) we'd have to shoot rain or shine. Despite my advising that we
have back-up inside locations, we were pretty committed to shooting in the
various outdoor locations the "models" came up with because they were
much more interesting and varied. Thankfully, with seven out of twelve
locations being outside, we did not get rained out once. It came close, but
you'd never know because I brought the sun with me in my light cases.
It was also increasingly cold. We shot way later into the fall than
originally intended due to people's schedules, thus the sparsely leaved trees
in at least one of the shots. Another week and we'd have been out of luck at that
last location.
And I did have to Photoshop in a couple of skies.
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| We went to this park during off-hours, set up and shot very quickly. I
had fully pre-visualized what the set-up would be so we were very
efficient. We used a fishing rod and fishing line with a safety pin to
make the scarf fly. |
In the case of the red scarf shot (top left in the grid) I
knew the way it "flew" in the park would be no good, so it was always
my plan to reshoot the scarf in studio (on green screen) where I'd have more control, and composite it
into the final shot. I had to do still more in Photoshop to tweak the flying
effect. What I didn't want to have to do in-studio or in Photoshop was create
the part of the scarf that went around the model's neck, which is why we also had
to shoot the scarf actually on the model on location.
Did I mention how busy these people are? To make planning
even more of a challenge some of the models were basically voluntold to
participate by their bidding "associates". So, one person would bid
on a calendar page but assign the photo shoot to someone else. This made for
some lengthy and, shall we say, erratic e-mail threads. And instead of
photographing twelve people, we ended up photographing twenty-two (because
there were groups...surprise!)
What else?
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| Hilariously, although it did not feel hilarious at the time, following
the desire of our model I had selected a spot at this location that on the shoot
date was totally taken over by this giant window cleaning apparatus. The
operator kindly shared with me that they were scheduled to be there for
four days. Luckily our model had access to another even better location nearby so we still got a great shot. |
At one spot downtown our model had requested a certain spot
for their shoot. I scouted it in advance so I'd know which angles would work if
it was sunny or rainy on the day. We arrive to find an enormous window washing
apparatus ensconced in the middle of the space. The operator tells us it will be
anchored there for four days. Excellent. There is nowhere in that space we can
shoot. This location is unusable. Luckily, our model had some pull and showed
us to an even better space. Still outdoors, but not there. Fantastic!
And talking about being lucky, after all these years of
dreading something like this happening
it finally did. We were on our way out of Toronto to Burlington and as I am
pulling away from the pick-up spot for my assistant near Exhibition Place a
driver hops out of his car, comes up to my window, and tells me I have a flat
tire.
Thank goodness I am fanatical about leaving early for
shoots. Of course this is the day we have one shoot in the morning in
Burlington, requiring the most complicated lighting of any shoot in the project
followed by another shoot in Brampton, both on tight schedules. The one in
Burlington is at a restaurant that opens at 11:00 so there is no going
over...we are supposed to be out of there by 10:30 and absolutely must be out
of there by 11:00 a.m. And it was incredibly difficult to even get this shoot
booked...rescheduling is not an option.
So, by some miracle I am able to limp my car a few yards to
the last parking spot in the only parking lot I can see in the area. And I call
CAA, while I get my assistant to call a cargo cab. I call my husband who
drops everything (thank goodness it was
a day he was in town and could even do that) and picks up my spare key from
home on the way. I tell CAA my husband will drive over and meet them at my car.
They say no go; their memberships are with people, not their cars. So I buy my
husband a CAA membership and Bob's your uncle! We unload my car into the cargo van
and head to Burlington. The driver says we have to pay $45 cash and it's $20
extra for the cargo. Who carries that kind of cash these days? Miracle, I had
it! We're only half an hour late. We set up like lightning and we get the shot.
Everyone is happy. We call another cargo cab who lets us pay by credit card and
quietly says it's $10 extra for the cargo, as if we might have a problem with
this (so looks like they make up the cargo rate on the spot based on what they
think people will pay), and we go back to my car. It's all fixed. We drive to
Brampton. After shoot #2 I drop my assistant at her home and buy my husband a
bottle of his favourite scotch. How lucky were we?
Originally we thought we'd schedule the twelve shoots over six
shoot dates...two per day over three weekends. So cute we thought we could make
that happen. We ended up shooting on ten different dates, weekdays and weekends.
I had also been under the impression everyone to be photographed was in
Toronto. If you count Burlington, Brampton, Milton and Peterborough as Toronto
then yes, we shot in Toronto. I spent fifteen hours location scouting and that
wasn't even all the locations. The fastest shoot was probably less than half an
hour...good thing I'd scouted that one. But on average they were maybe two
hours all in including set-up and tear down.
I don't even know how many hours I spent on post-production.
In several of the shots I wanted the bikes to look as if they were moving but
we had to shoot them standing still. As
an example, in one shot a family of three kids on bikes and a scooter was to
appear to be winning a race with their competitive racer parent. It would have
been virtually impossible to photograph them in the park with the background I
wanted, with artificial light (assistant holding my flash) if I had allowed them to actually ride, so on
my count they all hopped up onto their bikes and the little guy on the scooter
shot his foot out behind him, over and over until I had the shot. They did a
great acting job. But, if I hadn't added motion blur in post (not as quick and
easy as one might think) it would have looked boring and static.
I also learned that cleats and clip-in pedals are not
conducive to balancing on an unsupported, stationary bike. Noted!
So those are the highlights of my 2024 dream job. Overall, a
very challenging job, but worth it in so many ways. They will almost certainly never
read this, but a huge thanks to the people who helped herd the cats including
executive assistants whose job I would never want. This project took over much
of my mind, and many chunks of time for the better part of two months. Thank-you
to the donors for allowing me into their busy lives to create art with, and out
of them, including one major collaborator who lent me his studio, his
creativity and his considerable energy for our shoot together...he knows who he
is.
It's not often a job like this comes along. I met some of
the nicest and most inspiring people. I'm proud of the images we created
together. And next time, now that the first calendar has been distributed to
the group, at least donors will know what they're signing up for!
kathryn@hollinrake.com
hollinrake.com
corporateportraits.ca
