Barnes jungle adventure

I've had this jungle explorer idea sketched out for a while, but a few things kept me from shooting it.

I needed to find somewhere in Toronto that looked like a dense jungle.  This task turned out to be pretty difficult, but after a lot of searching, I finally found a place that fit the concept.

With the location picked, I then needed someone who themselves represented an explorer, had an interesting style, could pull off this idea and have the portrait relate/represent them in some way.

Who filled those specific criteria?  Well I thought I'd ask Matt Barnes: a super talented photographer repped by Westside Studio.  I was lucky enough to have him say yes.

Now why did I choose a photographer and why Mr. Barnes specifically?  Without sounding too cheesy, I feel photographers are always exploring the craft/art/medium/whateveryouwannacallit.  I find Matt to be one who definitely excels at it, pushing himself and his work through both creatives and commercial projects.  He also has a pretty unique taste in clothing and culture, so he was really the perfect subject for this idea.

It definitely had fun shooting it.  Once the outfit was donned, it's pretty hard to not get the mindset of a badass explorer.

I have to thank Matt again for letting me photograph him, styling the shoot and being enthusiastic about the idea.  It also wouldn't have happened without Jamie Rosenthal, who helped me out on the shoot.

There are a few more photos from this shoot that didn't make the cut, but are actually hilarious, so stay tuned.  I may just end up posting them.

Jeff Z

This is Jeff.  He rides a cool bike, he's a super nice guy and a good soccer player.

I got this idea while biking around downtown late at night; I have trouble sleeping sometimes.  It's been one of those ideas that is super simple, but kept getting delayed due to weather or timing.  We finally were able to shoot it after a game this week.  It was a really quick shoot since I had a game in an hour, but I was able to get a few frames I like.  I love the cinematic feel.

 I snapped a few while we were waiting for a break in Lakeshore's traffic as well.

Some behind the scenes now, and in case you were wondering what it looked like, here's a camera test featuring Jamie Rosenthal's hand.  He was nice enough to bike over and give me a hand (ha...).  He was definitely a must when working around Lakeshore and moving cars on a Friday night.

 ...and here's our transportation.  Bonus points to anyone who knows where that giant whale mural is.