The Big Shoot – My Intro and a Teaser

Sometime back in late February or early March I stopped by Ivan’s Camera for a short visit with my friend, Denis Duquette. I’ve known Denis for a few years but we’ve become better friends over the last year or so. Lately, I’ve relied on him quite a bit for advice, constructive criticism, and motivation. He’s been a big help.

When I dropped by the store that day I was looking to haul my ass out of a serious funk. I hadn’t done much photography over the winter besides hockey. I needed something more. I explained that I was in a rut and felt uninspired and unmotivated. I had no real desire to shoot and, when I did, believed that my work was lacking both vision and creativity. I needed something new, something different, something exciting, to get the artistic juices flowing and to give me the desire to put eye to viewfinder and begin shooting again.

I told Denis there were two things that I knew I wanted to do. First, thanks to Darren Carroll – who I hadn’t quite met at a recent Aigles Bleus game (more on that to come later) – was to take on more self-assignments. If shoots weren’t going to come to me, I’d have to go to them, even if they were for purely personal purposes. Second, because I had greatly enjoyed my photo-essays on lobster fishing, I wanted to do another documentary.

So, I asked Denis if he’d mind if I tagged along for one of his fashion/portrait shoots to do some behind-the-scenes work.

“April 10th,” he responded. “Set aside April 10th.”

At first, he wouldn’t provide me with any more details. In fact, at that point, everything was still in the initial stages of planning. Eventually, though, I learned that Denis and fellow portrait and fashion photographer Sasha Onyshchenko were planning a fairly large fashion shoot. They wanted to rent a studio, bring in make-up artists, hairdressers and stylists, and photograph 15 models each over an 18-hour period. Further, they wanted it all documented with behind-the-scenes video and still photography. The video footage, the BTS stills, and Denis’ and Sasha’s images would be packaged together and submitted to various websites, magazines, agencies, etc. My role, he explained, would be to do the documentary stills.

On April 9th we all met at the rented studio. While Denis and Sasha set up their lights and backdrops, I placed my back-up 40D in the loft, tethered it to my MacBook Pro, and set it to record an image every 45 seconds. The resulting time-lapse video compiles and compresses that first evening’s effort into just a little over a minute:

(A second time-lapse was created for the Big Shoot itself, with 18 hours compressed into just 4 minutes of video. More on that in another post.)

On April 10th, we met at the studio bright and early. Our set-up began at 6:00 am, the first model shoot started at 8:00 am, and the work continued throughout the morning, afternoon and evening until just past midnight – a little more than 18 hours in total. Due to a couple of last minute cancellations, the number of models was reduced from 30 to 27. There was some disappointment in this but, regardless, everyone slogged on. Everyone did their respective jobs and fulfilled their respective roles. Sasha and Denis worked in half-hour rotations so that one or the other was shooting at all times. The make-up artists, hairdressers and stylists worked tirelessly behind the scenes to ready the models. The models, of course, looked stunning (or handsome, as the case may be) for the cameras. Anya Nesvitaylo and Amy Ross assisted Sasha and Denis. I shot the documentary stills. And Joël Culligan, Maurice Veniot, Philippe Dumas and Brad MacDonald recorded behind-the-scenes video footage and photographer interviews.

All in all, it was an amazing collaborative effort by many wonderful, talented individuals who pooled their various strengths and expertise to work towards a common goal. It was an incredible experience, and I feel honoured and privileged to have been a part of it. And, yes, it helped me to get out of my funk and get those creative juices flowing again (Thanks, Denis!).

At this point, I’m going to draw the post to a close. It is, after all, just a teaser. More information about the Big Shoot will follow over the next few days as portraits, video, and documentary footage is gradually released. Some of it will be posted here, and some of it will be posted to Denis’ and Sasha’s blogs (which I’ll link to when the time comes). Social media will also play a role as info and images are shared on Facebook and Twitter. In the meantime, though, before I go, I’d like to leave you with a handful of my documentary stills:

Sasha and Denis go over some details the night before the Big Shoot

Denis shares a laugh with one of his models.

Sasha directs one of his models during the shoot.

Model and stylist Sarah Duquette (left) gets her makeup done.

Anya shows the exhaustion all of us felt after the first 12 hours of shooting.

Sasha's monitor displays a live shot of one of his models.