IN MY HEAD

my hair needs to be cut, its adding about 5 inches to my height right now and takes too long to style.

Can we just take a second to appreciate Claudia Stone’s transformation this year?  When I began shooting with her last year she had the sides and back on her head shaved an the top long.  This year, our first shoot, she had a burgundy mohawk (with an ponytail added in picture one and smoothed down in picture 2, both pictures taken in May).  By the time we got together in July she had shaved her head (picture 3) and by picture 4 in mid august, it was beginning to grow out.  WHen Sept rolled around she was blonde and more beautiful than ever.

I have had the pleasure of seeing this girl grow right in front on my eyes over the past 2 years.  She has given me so many amazing pictures I could make a book.  2012 was amazing for her.  She was featured in campaigns for Nowhereland and The Art of Reuse as well as her work with me for Sakhuja F/W 2012 (she also shot the lookbook for the same collection), she walked quite a few runways shows (including F.A.T. 2012) and also made an appearance in the video for Wiz Khalifa and The Weeknd’s song “Remember You”.  2013 is only going to get better with news that she will be leaving for Europe this spring to try her hand at making it big.  

I will miss her but I wish her the best of luck, I know she’s going to be a major star.

A look back at my personal best photo shoots of 2012.  This list doesn’t contain my fine art work, a separate list will be coming soon.

2. My first fashion campaign will always be a fond memory for me.  Natasha and I met through makeup artiste Tuhina (who helped us with Kiran Rai’s look in the second picture) last year.  She asked me to collaborate with her on her latest collection, Sakhuja Fall wInter 2012, which was the outcome of her grief after losing a loved one.  The amazing clothes made their debut on the runway at F.A.T. 2012 (A fashion and arts week featuring runway shows, performance art, fashion photography and other fashion related art) to an amazing response.  Once the shows were done I was given free reign to shoot them in my own interpretation.  

I spent the whole summer, from May to August shooting on select weekends every month.  Natasha was going to feature some of the work as a campaign and half of the work as part of an exhibition at her 2 year anniversary party.  This project was so amazing and rewarding, it was a big part of my year and a breakthrough for me as a professional.  The exhibition was a huge success and people loved my work.  To see it hanging in a gallery in one of Toronto’s trendiest locations (the distillery district) was a milestone in my life.

I posted about the collection earlier in today’s best of 2012 thread.  These are some of my favourite images from the summer and trust me, there are a few great ones I can’t include because I can only post 10 shots at a time.  I worked with some of the worlds best modelling and makeup talent on this project.  These are all people who have worked with me before in my career on important and defining projects.  I wanted this project to be a summary of my first 3 years as a photographer and I can confidently say it does.  It represents everything I have worked to achieve and is also just the tip of the iceberg.  2013 holds a lot of promise and this is just a taste of whats to come.

A look back at my personal best photo shoots of 2012.  This list doesn’t contain my fine art work, a separate list will be coming soon.

4.  My first wedding.  I was nervous as hell because I hate event photography.  I have never had a good experience with it, but when one of my closest friends called me and asked if I would shoot her wedding, I found it hard to say no.  It was a small wedding so I knew I could handle it alone.  I am so happy I did, shooting this event instilled a lot of confidence on my abilities as an event photographer.  I am still not convinced that event photography is for me but I am proud of my work on this assignment.  

We went to Jamaica for a week with the couple, some of our mutual friends and then the family and friends of the couple.  We stayed at the beautiful Half Moon resort in 7 bedroom villa’s with our own pool, transportation and a friendly personal staff (cook, housekeeping and concierge).  The resort itself was stunning and I was able to get so many beautiful, scenic pictures as well as great shots from the events and excusions leading up to the wedding.  

In addition to the ceremony, We did an e-shoot/trash the dress shoot that was a dream to shoot.  The above pictures are sneak peaks at what is to come and trust me when I say it’s unbelievable.  The couple was ambitious and adventurous so we got some great pictures in and out of the water!   I am still editing some pictures before I give them to the couple later this month.  It was a learning experience for sure but one that taught me a lot and gave me some of my best non fashion related pictures ever.

Another year is over, and I am looking back at my 10 best shoots from 2012. This list doesn’t include any of the fine art work, I will make a separate list for that stuff soon.

5.  I have worked with Claudia Stone for about 2 years now, in August she approached me for a shoot in collaboration with Up The Amp Girls, a styling source Claudia runs with her friend Zahra Bentham.  Claudia came up with the theme, did the makeup and provided clothes for a very glam shoot.  I have only released these two images from our work that day, the rest will be coming soon.  What made this shoot stand out for me was the story Claudia wanted.  Together, the models and I came up with a cohesive storyline that doesn’t require words to propel forward.  This was amongst my most creative work this year.  We shot from top to bottom at the location, a high end condo on the outskirts of the downtown Toronto core.  The resulting pictures will blow your mind when they’re finally released.

Another year is over, and I am looking back at my 10 best shoots from 2012. This list doesn’t include any of the fine art work, I will make a separate list for that stuff soon.

6.  Look 5 for Sakhuja F/W 2012 was so sexy that I had to give it a stand alone post.  The theme was supposed to be resistance/anger and I shot with Oumid Yaqo and the stunning Ashley Hassard at Toronto’s famous Don Valley Brickworks.  These two models got along great during the shoot, in between takes they encouraged each other and were joking around.  Their excellent chemistry translated to some beautiful photo’s.

Another year is over, and I am looking back at my 10 best shoots from 2012, this list doesn’t include any of the fine art work.  I will make a separate list for that stuff soon.

7.  I had the opportunity to work with up and coming model, Sim Sandhu 3 times this year.  2012 was a big year for her and I was happy to be a part of it.  I posted back in March (after my first shoot with her for Rav Brar) that I knew she was going to be a star.  With spreads in Kismet, Suhaag and Lavish Dulhan she became a known face in 2012.  Somewhere in the middle of the year I was approached to shoot with her for Mika Shoes (she had already worked with them for their launch) and I was excited to work with her again.  She has a great face and an ability to always take interesting pictures.  The were 2 of my favourites from our collaboration with Mika Shoes.

Another year is over, and I am looking back at my 10 best shoots from 2012, this list doesn’t include any of the fine art work.  I will make a separate list for that stuff soon.

8.  The Natasha Sakhuja collection was the defining point of my 2012 career.  Her Fall wInter 2012 collection made its runway debut in April 2012 at Fashion Arts Toronto.  Then I spent the summer shooting 12 pieces in an unforgettable campaign (which you will see plenty of coming up on this list).  It all culminated in a fashion exhibition which took place on Sept 8th 2012 at Arta Gallery in the trendy distillery district of Toronto.  For one night my photography was on display during Sakhuja’s 2 year  anniversary party alongside a motion editorial shot by model Kiran Rai (model from the previous post).  I helped co-direct and did all the behind the scenes shots for the day and here are 4 favourites.  We shot the collection over one day at the beautiful Pier Palace building rooftop with Tuhina Hillaire as makeup artiste.  Kiran Rai (who was also a model in the campaign for Sakhuja F/W12) is a multi-talented philanthropist, she put her video making skills to amazing use on a motion editorial that blew everyone away.  I hope to be able to post the video soon, but for now enjoy these pics from a landmark career experience.

Another year is over, and I am looking back at my 10 best shoots from 2012, this list doesn’t include any of the fine art work.  I will make a separate list for that stuff soon.

9.  I got to work with makeup artiste Ruman Mehat again after 2 years this summer.  She was in town for a weekend and wanted to update her port before she left.  We booked 3 models for a daylong marathon shoot.  Kiran Rai was the first model for the day and i loved the red bridal amongst the green background.  I also think Ruman outdid herself with the hair.  Unfortunately I never got edit this shot at the time and still haven’t come back to it yet, but it’s still a stunning portrait!  I haven’t done a bridal shoot in a long time, this was one of three I did this year.  I have worked with Kiran Rai so many times over 3 years, but this is definitely one of my best shots of her.

Another year is over, and I am looking back at my 10 best shoots from 2012, this list doesn’t include any of the fine art work.  I will make a separate list for that stuff soon.

10.  When my cousin told me she was getting married and wanted me to do an eshoot for them, I jumped at the chance.  I knew Imi would want to do something very ambitious.  We decided, since the summer was hot, a water based shoot would be great.  Imi lives in Hamilton which is is the waterfall capital of the world with 51 unique waterfalls in the city alone.  We picked the accessible Tiffany Falls for a shoot with her fiancee (now husband) Puneet.  I think the results were outstanding.  I am unhappy with some of the editing because I only shot JPEG that day (not RAW), but I think the romance still shines through and this shoot got a lot of attention.

ravbbeautyconcepts:

I absolutely LOVE this picture. This photo was taken as part of an exhibition for Toronto fashion designer, Natasha Sakhuja. I had so much fun working with this model as well as doing his make up. Hats off to the photographer, Narbir Gosal for capturing this! 

www.facebook.com/ravbbeautyconcepts 

I shot this over the past summer for designer Natasha Sakhuja.  It wasn’t even supposed to be part of the overall project but look at this picture?  Pietro just killed it.  Natasha is a women’s wear designer and her clothes aren’t featured in this picture at all.  But despite that she loved the shot so much that she used it for her online campaign.  Rav Brar killed it with the makeup, her work is subtle here but very creative. 

So a couple of months ago (which on this blog means maybe a page ago…i know i fell off for a while) I uploaded the previews of my first five shoots for Natasha Sakhuja’s fall/winter 2012 collection.  Earlier this month I finally finished shooting the collection.  Here is what the final 4 previews look like.

If you live in the Toronto area, you can come check out the exhibition on Sept 8th in Toronto’s trendy Distillery District.  The never before seen exclusive best shots from this project will be hanging in Arta Gallery for one night only (9pm till 12:30am).  There are a tonne of reasons to come check out this amazing event.  Tickets are on sale now, if you’re interested in a one of a kind event and one memorable night, then check out this link below and buy your tickets now.

I will be doing some heavy promoting on here, my facebook and my twitter over the next two weeks…so stay tuned for some awesome info on whats to come.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/268637649914353/

So I am halfway through the shoots for the Sakhuja Fall/Winter 2012 shoots…well just about halfway.  She finished 2 more pieces that we are adding to the campaign, so after next week I will be halfway.  For now, we are done with the male models invovled in the shoot.  Both Ony and Pietro were awesome to work with. 

From next week forward its the ladies only, including one awesome S&M themed shoot planned for July.  Other than this, I have been swamped with photography porjects left, right and centre.  MY weekends are also workdays now…but I love it!

Enjoy this preview of the Sakhuja Fall/Winter 2012 collection.  Next week we go and talk to the gallery regarding the exibhition to launch everything!!!

p.s. these are not in any particular order yet.  I need to shoot everything to present it as a story to you guys, so stay tuned…