TILL WE MEET AGAIN

Have you ever met someone and you feel you’ve known them forever?

My entire career, I’ve dreamed of working on a project like this. A great team of collaborators with one goal in mind: creativity and just creating for the sake of creating.

This idea was born out of a simple conversation I had with good friend, Sharon Keller. She mentioned to me after a different photoshoot we collaborated on (she’s styled many of my favourite photoshoots) that she had a “great line” on us being able to get access to a great costume, something that I haven’t had fantastic access to over the course of my career. I was definitely intrigued, and within two or three days we found ourself not only finding that single costume, but starting down a road that would consume much of our next 30 days.

Simply put, we couldn’t decide on a costume. We walked through racks and racks of costumes that spanned over 200 years of fashion - costumes under the careful overview of the incredibly talented and professional Costume Designer, Cory Sincennes - and it was a little overwhelming, to be sure. How do you pick one “look” out for a singular photoshoot when you have access to so many great pieces.

Lightening strikes, occasionally, and I was struck with an idea: what if we went “for broke”. Instead of a single shoot with one model/subject, we find two willing subjects who were willing to commit to eight photoshoots and tell a “love story” over time. Different eras. 250 years of togetherness. A meeting, over the years, again and again and again….

It’s easy to take credit for a series as the photographer, seeing that it’s “your pictures” that get released. But the truth couldn’t be more opposite. First of all, Sharon takes way more credit than me, here….because as soon as the idea was presented, she took it and ran with it in ways I couldn’t have dreamed of. Together with Cory (so incredibly thankful he wanted in on this creative endeavour, he’s a true master), they pretty much made the entire thing happen. Figured out the eras, the stylings, the sets, even the “actors”. Gosh, I just had to show up and click a few buttons! So to Sharon, and Cory….thank you. So, so much. This is more “your” series than mine.

The actors. To Emma Rudy and Aaron Hastelow…..what can I say? You are two of the most professional, incredible humans I’ve come across in almost 20 years of doing this. Your versatility, talent, reliability, and dedication is simply beyond. I can’t wait “till we all meet again” (that goes to the entire team) and collaborate again in the future.

The other unsung heroes of this project were Jessica Gallant, who is just an incredible human and make-up artist, who dropped everything to be with us shoot after shoot - her work is truly stunning - and to the talented Colton Curtis. Not often I can have one of the most talented actors and dancers in Canada moonlight as my photographic assistant, but Colton lugged gear, served as a human lightstand, and basically just made the entire team smile with his beautiful positivity throughout the entire project. I owe you one, Colton.

Without further fanfare, here’s “a start”. Eight images, and 8 eras. One image from each. But expect many more. Each era was full of favourites, and eventually I’ll get them “out there” as they get edited.

On behalf of the entire team, we sincerely hope you enjoy this collaborative effort. Created in a pandemic when often creativity was sapped and there were more reasons to NOT create rather than create. But creating is what we all do, and life is too short not to do what you love.

THE CREATIVE TEAM:

• COSTUME DESIGN - CORY SINCENNES

• HAIR STYLIST - SHARON KELLER

• FEMALE LEAD - EMMA RUDY

• MALE LEAD - AARON HASTELOW

• MAKEUP ARTIST - JESSICA GALLANT

• PHOTOGRAPHIC ASSISTANT - COLTON CURTIS

• PHOTOGRAPHER - DAVE BROSHA