I love working with wild animals and children. Toronto’s Raptor is a strange combination of both. The Raptor is a cheeky, fast-moving, furry dinosaur wild animal with youthful energy and a little bit of flirtation. We were asked to tail the Raptor and his wingman, Devo, after a game in Toronto to showcase how the Raptor stays fresh with Dove Whole Body Deodorant. It was a sprint keeping up with him—through the city, then to Real Canadian Sports, and finally riding the TTC. We chose to shoot everything on iPhone Pros so we could move quickly and post just as fast. We also had a great team who helped get model releases signed from all the people the Raptor and Devo met along the way. Thanks to the team at Edelman for inviting us to hang out with the Raptor!
The Cape for Kids campaign is on now. We worked with the team Weaymouth Creative and Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation to show this years hero’s in Capes. We donated our photo services and made a financial donation to Cape for kids. In a time where the disbelief in the sincerity or goodness of human motives and actions is taking over the world. We are choosing push back with joy and kindness, and what could be more fun than putting on a cape and wiggling / running / jumping around for the camera or at any time of the day.
Becoming a Superhero
During Capes Week, participants wear red superhero capes everywhere to spark conversations about accessibility and inclusion. Every dollar raised supports life-changing programs like music therapy, independence training, and groundbreaking research.
Capes for Kids runs from Feb. 28 to March 7. Visit capesforkids.ca to register, donate and learn more.
I love Mayo on on almost anything and i was stoked to find out the Raptor does too. So when I was asked to photograph the elusive raptor in the wild I grabbed the biggest wild life lens and headed to aisle 5 and waited.
The Raptor ransacked the Mayo section and we had to run to keep up with him it was the moments of genuine surprise and joy that unfolded as he interacted with the shoppers around him.
The raptor is random and bounces around so this is a awesome way to work, you never know where it is going.
Big thanks to everyone who made this shoot a success, and to the Raptor for filling his cart—and our hearts—with so much fun!
It was great to work with Fall For Dance North. Toronto’s Premier International Dance Festival who hosted the Tkaronto Open II. Tkaronto Open II celebrates and honours indigenous dance forms.
Tkaronto Open II, is a Powwow style competition. Dancers dance at the same time in front of a set of judges. The music is live from Drummers singing and drumming one single drum. The sound shakes your whole body. The dancers move forward round by round until the last two dancers battle it out to win the cash prizes and title.
It is epic to see the speed and physical stamina of the dances mixed with regalia and the crowed cheering.
The event was produced by Freddy Gipp and Thunder Jack for the second year.
For many years, Indigenous dance was illegal in Canada. To experience a multigenerational Indigenous community of dancers coming together to dance openly is a symbol of the strength of many generations.
Thanks so much to dancers for taking a moment to be photographed after rounds and rounds of dance battle.
It’s great to see the TD Women in Enterprise images out in the world.
I have always been proud to be part of the FUZE team, a Women owned and operated production company here in Toronto. We worked with Ogilvy & TD to feature TD Women in Enterprise. Classical Music Conservatory CMC’s Lusiana and Wanda, partners in business and life. Arnold St Agency’s Emily Silverman and Kids Physio clinic owners Jennifer Halfin and Hillary Abramsky. Their business are super inspiring.
Birds see a wider spectrum of light than humans can , Birds can see UV light, because their lenses and other ocular media transmit UV light. They have special photoreceptors that vary by species and are sensitive to deep violet and UV light.
How do birds detect ultraviolet (UV) light? The human retina has three kinds of cone cells (receptors used for color vision): red, green and blue. By contrast, birds have four kinds, including one that’s specifically sensitive to UV wavelengths. There’s also another difference: In birds, each cone cell contains a tiny drop of colored oil that human cells lack. The oil drop functions much like a filter on a camera lens. The result is that birds not only see UV light, they are much better than humans at detecting differences between two similar colors.
We have worked out how to photograph live moving squawking animals with our “Bridvision” set up. We are shooting with two cameras at the same instant so we have matching / overlaying files. One camera see the spectrum a bird sees the other the human vision
Keel-billed toucans have zygodactyl feet (or feet with toes 2 and 3 facing forwards, and toes 1 and 4 facing backwards) – two toes face forward and two face back. Because toucans spend a large portion of time in the trees, this helps the birds to stay on the branches of the trees and jump from one branch to another.
Thanks so much to @ravengalleryto for the space to work in keeping and and Hands-on exotics for great models
I love love. Most of all I love to work people who love each other. We are often asked to photograph couples and great moments with friends. So we cast real best friends and lovers for these rolls when McCain’s needed a bunch of besties to hang out and chill with fries. We worked with Milo Casting and found a bunch of real best friends, Storm & Daniel and Taehyun & Nick…. then spent a day hanging out with them as they giggled and trash talked each other every which way….
Thank you to the awesome McCain team – Matt, Nita and Liza for making it all happen…
We worked over the summer with CAA magazineto produce a set of inspiring stories about people across Canada who are doing great things in their communities.
Anishiative, is a Winnipeg-based youth organization founded by Rylee Nepinak, Kristyn Boubard and Justine James, a new generation of leaders. We’re prepping for the winter “We were created to support Indigenous youth, to reconnect them to their culture and to their community,” says Nepinak. This winter Anishiative have set up a teepees and warming fire out side Thunderbird house in downtown Winnipeg. Fire keepers work to keep the fire 24 / 7 for community members who need a safe place to warm up, get some food provided.
“Being a good relative means you do the best you can to be good to all living things, and to think of your community as a family. If you can think of your community in that way, then it makes you feel not so alone. And it makes you want to take care of [each other],” says Nepinak.
Hamin Lee – still life photographer at FUZE REPS made a lovely set of photos of a paper world for the photos to live in online.
Anishiative posted “Miigwetch to @sabepeacewalkers for helping us with the fire keep for community members who need a safe place to warm up, get some food provided by @wegotchu_wpg ❤️
Each night our skaabe do everything they can to assist community members with warmth, prayers, tobacco, songs, food, water, winter gear and helping find a safe place for the night.
GEM’s mission is “When girls know their power, they can live their purpose. We believe that women mentoring girls is essential in fostering the success of the next generation, and critical to creating gender equity in Canada. Young women with socioeconomic barriers face a proven disadvantage in their future prosperity. GEM was founded in 2012 from a vision that all young women should have the opportunity to succeed despite where they’ve come from or what barriers they’ve faced.”
We had a very tight budget, which often leads to some of the most creative solutions, shot in one day at in the studio / office of @localeverything. The talent were all mentees and mentors that are part of the Girls-E-Mentorship program.
What we learnt: A staggering 45% of teenage girls are quitting sports – and body dissatisfaction is the #1 reason why.
Dove campaigns only feature real women, not models, showcasing diverse ages, sizes, ethnicities, and styles, emphasizing beauty for everyone – following Dove’s lead, we worked on keeping the look authentic while focusing on the message of strength and confidence.
We wanted the shots to be inspiring and hopeful as the girls stared bravely into the camera and feel like the end of day, an after school practice.
We were super happy to work with the team from Ogilvy and of course the amaaazing FUZE Reps who made it all happen!
