Jenna

Strong people are the ones that can smile for others happiness. – Veronica Purcell.

If I had to choose between photographing a genuine smile and a beautiful sunset, I’d pick the smile.

Jenna is truly amazing; (IG: @jennavictorias) and I could tell that she was really cool the from the first phone call after she contacted me about a shoot and brought up a couple ideas. She knew exactly what she wanted and explained it with friendly but professional competence that was very reassuring, and she had uncommon confidence and control well beyond what I assumed was her young adult age.

She suggested shooting at Spadina House Museum; it was a great selection and I’ll definitely do some more work there.

The first spot we picked was a low brick wall towards the south end of the property. Nestled away from the moderately busy main house it was a perfect setting to get a couple different looks. The mid afternoon sun was was tough, but the dappled shade under the tree gave us a a few lighting options.

Jenna’s hair colour and headband sparkled beautifully whenever we picked a spot where an errant splinter of sunlight could spotlight her to produce some amazing backlight. In addition there was enough shade from the huge trees to get an even light across the background to create the almost perfect setup to have her stand out. I could have shot there all day, but we had to move on. I also wanted to get a flash to cast even better light on her, but it was taking longer to set up than it should and I thought it better to keep the momentum going and abandon that idea. So this was going to be an all natural light shoot.

I’m always unsure about the flash on some of these shoots. I actually want to try it out, but people who aren’t regularly part of shoots don’t always understand that there is process around getting it just right and it takes some patience, and I find keeping my connection with them is so much more important than fiddling with equipment. Maybe an assistant would be ideal for this so I could move in and out of natural light very quickly. In studio it is easier because the lighting is 90% configured before the session starts.

She’s got a way about her – Billy Joel

Next stop was a cream coloured staircase that Jenna identified. At first I thought it matched her hair too closely, but after after the first frame I was convinced that she was right. Photographing Jenna easy. She is a dancer, and she poses with an elegance and grace that befits her career choice; I expected that. What I didn’t expect was a face that was so expressive and camera friendly, really a photographers dream.

Last stop was a brown ivy covered door behind the gardeners house, we took a couple quick shots there and called it a day. The entire session took about 2 hours and gave some great shots. I’m really excited about our next shoot where we get to work with some studio lighting setups. I’ll post remaining pictures as soon as I am done culling and post processing.