salomé

This was the photoshoot that almost didn't happen.

I went to high school with Sharla*, and through the wonders of Facebook, reconnected over a shared love of photography. Now that her daughter is a little bit older, Sharla was moving into doing photography more seriously and was looking for some portraits of herself for her own website.

First we talked about it, then let it sit for several (read: many) weeks before finally setting a time to do it.

Then I got the date wrong, and sat waiting in the Blenz downtown, a week early.

Then the next week, Sharla's car wouldn't start.

Rather than cancel again, we changed the location and went up to Mission Hill Winery, right above her house. The only other time I'd been up there, we'd gotten kicked...rather, 'politely escorted out'...for taking pictures, but I guess they relax a bit in the off season.

Most of my favourites from this shoot ended up in black and white, which wasn't really my intention going in. Milanna's little houndstooth coat had a lot to do with it; the textures and patterns just looked so much better in b&w.

I'd purposefully avoided shooting kids thus far, simply because I think they're done much better by other photographers. Milanna was a breeze though; she's obviously spent much time in front of her mother's lens.

I was really happy this shoot actually happened. I'd gone through a bit of a dry spell, and it felt great to be shooting again. And Sharla was stoked with the results, which is always a boost to the ego.

Oh, and Sharla also shot some of me. I'll be getting those soon, and you can guaranteed they'll be plastered all over the Interwebs. I am looking f-i-n-e.

1.3.09. Slightly increased contrast and black clipping.
1.3.09. Cropped to 3X5, slightly increased contrast and black clipping.

*fun factoid: Sharla and I were co-emcees for our grad formal*.

**this has nothing to do with photography, yet seemed important for context.