I met Hélène Nicole through the same TFCD ad that I posted for Shak, who I shot with the day before. HN, a full-time, francophone children's entertainer, needed some photos for self-promotional purposes. She needed something that was fun and informal, but sober enough that she could market herself to a more adult clientele and not be pigeon-holed as a clown.

I showed up at Hélène Nicole's with little idea of what to expect, but quickly made use of her large white wall for a makeshift studio. While I was setting up, clearing away musical instruments and other props for floorspace, she busied herself sewing up outfits and accessories that might help the shoot along. The white wall allowed us to keep things simple and focus on her as the subject while allowing, I think, for her sweet and honest demeanour to populate the photographs.

Technical Notes on the shoot 
Positives: Shooting with HN was quite pleasant. We could keep a conversation going while we both busied ourselves with set-up. Her white wall as a backdrop was a lucky find, considering I was going in to this mostly blind.
Negatives: I had most of my gear with me, but I was NOT, repeat NOT in control of my lights for most of the shoot. Things did not start out as I expected them, and for a while it seemed to be all going downhill. I wrangled a workable set-up after a little while, but I felt a little stuck once I got there, and mostly played it safe from then on. Working with a live model with other things to do in her day, I could not let her know inwardly flustered I was getting, nor was this the time to get everything perfect while she stood and waited. As a result, I had lots and lots of post clean-up to do on the white background — something I pledge to avoid for the next shoot.

So a little while ago I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for people interested in posing for photographs, or TFCD, where a model and photographer trade their services and much magic and synergy ensues. My ad was a little on the vague side, but it did generate a few responses.

Shak was not the first answer my ad, but he was the first person I shot. I went in with little more than an open mind, and after several back and forth emails, I met Shak for coffee. We got along pretty well, and being near High Park, we soon took to the woods and wandered from leafy scene to leafy scene. Though Shak had introduced himself via email as a fairly glum individual trapped in his routines, he proved to be an energetic person with many disparate and chaotic thoughts ping-ponging in his head, as well as being a patient model. 

When I asked him why he replied to my ad, his answer was simple: "Boredom." Fair enough.

Technical Notes on the shoot 
Positives: My gear was light. Everything shot was done with one light, which kept things simple and fast. Technical problems were at a minimum.
Negatives: Shooting in Shutter Priority for most of the shoot meant my 1.4 aperture lens was defaulting to its most wide open, resulting in shallow depth of field that was sometimes interesting, sometimes distracting.