Today was not exactly an ordinary Saturday for me. I had my photograph taken by a professional for an upcoming print campaign ! But it wasn’t just any professional photographer…it was Internationally renowned photographer, and all around good guy, Tony Fouhse !
A few days ago, my good friend Audrey sent me a text message asking if I was interested in doing a shoot for an upcoming awareness campaign in Toronto. Her good friend, Nancy, was casting for the shoot. I’m not sure if I am allowed to talk much more about it, so I’ll leave it at that. I said sure…why not. I was kinda nervous, but what the hell. How hard can it be. I photograph people all the time. So she got me in touch with Nancy and we got the ball rolling.
The following day, I had a conference call with the art director and two of the writers of from the ad agency to talk about the campaign. It was a go, however, I was told that I couldn’t direct the shoot though haha
This morning, I arrived at a downtown studio greeted by smiling faces. What a relief ! One of them was the photographer. Being a photographer myself, it was a big deal for me to have the photographer make me comfortable right from the beginning. I’ve met some really impersonable commercial/editorial photographers on the sets of my kids shoots and they all looked like that hated their jobs. Right away, I can sense that this photographer knew how to connect with human beings.
I pretty much got right into hair and make-up. I was having a pretty good hair day, so nothing was done there. I had my make-up done by the one of the artists from Judy Inc. – Shawna Lee. Shawna was cool to work with. She said the most flattering thing after we were introduced “You could be a model !”. WOW, what a way to make a dude blush ! If she only knew…haha. After Jeanette, she was defintiely my next favorite girl today. She did an amazing job. I was well aware of how I looked ‘au naturel’ today, given the early wake up call from Ethan. She made quick work of me. I was done in like 2 minutes and she knocked off at least 5 years off me ! Thank You !!! I would definitely recommend her to my brides (and grooms!) so if you’re looking for an amazing Hair Stylist/MUA for your event, please drop her an email here .
We were all ready and got down to business. I saw a wooden stool just a few meters behind me with a few softboxes lit up. Tony says to me, “Assume the position…” Funny enough, I use that line a lot when I photograph people haha It’s a great ice breaker for all you new photographers out there, but use carefully and sparingly ! And make sure you know your subjects can take a joke.
It was a little weird being on the other end of the camera, but Tony made me ultra comfortable during the shoot. I’m one of those types that thinks too hard about looking good in a photograph. I favor my left side and let Tony know. Well, we were shooting square today and I totally felt myself fighting it. But there was something about this guy that made me really relaxed and forget about all my insecurities and good things started to happen. It was quick and dirty and we had a lot of laughs in between takes.
Anyways, everyone has to check out his body of work. He produces some killer images ! His USER project is just beyond words. Definitely check out his blog while you’re at it.
After the shoot, I was very fortunate to have been able to spend a few minutes with him talking candidly about his work and life in general. I will forever remember what he told me in reference to the path of reaching my full potential: “…You gotta make your own sh*t and climb it !…”. Awesome !
I’m dying to see the shots they end up selecting. I’ll be sure to post the image from the campaign once it’s all said and done.
-Joee
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