John is vice president of product development at Creative Style Composites and was in town to interview for some interns. He called me up to do an on location corporate headshot to update his profile picture. We met up at the Chateau Laurier and did some shots right in his room and in the hallways. Super fun, Super Easy and spent the rest of the time drinking beers.

Too fun and too easy. I wish every other job was like that.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Nilay Ertemur. She is a wedding officiant and needed to update her profile image, therefore she came to me for her business headshot. Nilay is a mother of two wonderful kids, and married to a Pakistani gentlemen, who to my surprise speaks fluent Cantonese.  Actually, probably a little better than me.  It turns out he was raised in Hong Kong. Nilay is fluent in Turkish and between the two of them I can’t remember how many languages were exchanged.  If you are ever in a need of an officiant, please do contact Nilay – in your language of choice

Several weeks ago I had a gig where I photographed actor headshots for some aspiring actors at Algonquin College during an open casting call with Smyth Casting. I was there all day, and I was really shocked at the large number of people who showed up to do an audition. I had a fun time working with the actors I had scheduled for that day, but it was a long day and hard on the back. I don’t want to talk negatively about anybody so I won’t get into the details. However, I just want to say I learned a hard lesson about what jobs to take and to always trust your gut. People who you think you know aren’t always what they appear. Ego is a vicious disease. It is rare to find people that will genuinely want to help you out, and when you do be careful they are not trying to screw you. Anyhow,  I have a day job that pays the bills, so I can afford to be selective on the photography jobs I take and like I am say how I truly feel and only worry a little about the consequence.  This enables me to be passionate about what I photograph and to always provide my best work. I worked hard for what little I have, and I will never let anybody treat me like I am nobody begging for scraps.  To those who are successful at what you do, remember you were once a nobody too.  So pay it forward – genuinely.

Despite all that riding over my head, I did still manage to stay professional and have a good time. I was still able to provide these actors the actor headshots they needed. Here are the men…

Some real estate pictures I did for a former client who will moving out of the city. More images can be found on the Grapevine property listing until it is sold.