Off to Paris!

So... I haven't blogged in a while.... a good while actually.
I'll be going off to Paris very soon.  I'm leaving Sunday night and will be back on the 27th.  Very excited.  I'm going mainly because I've never been and want to.  Strange thing is the amount of people that have been congratulating me thinking I'm going there for a job.  A job would be nice, but why not just go for the sake of it?  I think Canadians are conditioned to think that one should not bother traveling unless it's vacation time.  I guess you could say I'm going on vacation, but to be honest I just feel like traveling and wanting to go to places I've always wanted to visit and explore a bit.

I'm going with a friend who randomly told me one night that she's going.  So I randomly asked 'Can I come?', she said 'Sure!!!'.  I wasn't expecting that ..... and this was just about 3 weeks ago.... so I decided why not?!  So here I am...writing to you to tell you I'll be off to Paris :D  I'm packing light and just taking a small Canon S95 camera with me.  It's a 10 megapixel camera that also shoots raw should I feel the need to photograph something.  I don't normally take pictures when I go off to somewhere.  I want to look with my own eyes and not through a viewfinder constantly.  This way I remember the actual trip and places and scents and tastes.... you get the idea.

I managed to find a flat to rent at a very short notice.  Luckily it's in Les Halles, which is pretty much a central area in Paris and almost everything is within walking distance.  My landlady seems very nice and enormously friendly!  She's gotten great reviews and after I get back from my trip I'll be blogging about my trip and what my stay there was like.  I've been fortunate enough to establish a connection there through a friend here in Toronto.  Great friends are hard to come by, but when you do have them it just makes life that much better.  Thank you friend!  I'm very much looking forward to my trip :)

I also wanted to provide other updates as I've been lacking sorely with providing news.
I was featured in May on a blog called Fusion of Effects.  Marcus Kan is the creator of the blog and does a fantastic job with showcasing up and coming photographers, illustrators, designers, etc.  All mainly related to fashion.  I recommend that you add this blog to your bookmark!  Thank you Marcus for the feature and interview :)

Through Marcus Kan I was able to get one of my photograph's featured on Swide Magazine run by Dolce & Gabbana.  The article was based on Lace in commemoration of introducing Dolce & Gabbana's Lace Sunglasses.   Here's the image that was used in the article:

Photography:  Nadia Cheema

MUA/Hair:  Greg B. @ PUSH

Stylist:  Luis Zulaykha @ PUSH

Model:  Katherine Hastings @ PUSH

I was able to muster up a quick shoot with a fantastic team provided by PUSH  agency.  Absolutely great team!  

Another shoot I had recently did was done by some old and new friends who put our heads together and came up with a vintage inspired shoot with some antiques used as props.  Here are the images:

Photography:  Nadia Cheema

 MUA:  Rhia Amio

Hair:  Keirsten Morris

Stylist:  Cisya Paramita

Model:  Gabriela Otis @ PUSH

Assistant:  Antoinette Scott

Aside from just doing creatives I also did a lookbook for a local designer named Carrie Hayes.  She's a fantastic designer and very inspirational to shoot for.  Lookbooks tend to be normally on a plain background where you have a model wear the clothing desired to be photographed.  You're basically showing off the clothing.  Well Carrie was kind enough to give me some freedom with the shoot.  She wanted the lookbook to have a slight editorial feel to be.  Yay!!!  I can do that!  Here are some of the images:

 

Photography:  Nadia Cheema

MUA/Hair:  Vanessa Jarmen @ Page One

Stylist:  Cisya Paramita

Designer:  Carrie Hayes

Model:  Jillian Kelly @ PUSH

We photographed 5 looks in total.  You can see the layout and the rest of the photographs on Carrie Hayes' site.  It's the first collection in the lookbook that will show up when you enter the site.

Another news to add on top of so many other things.... I was asked if I could present discussing Beauty photography for a local photographers all-in-one summer workshop named Rob Davidson.   He's an absolutely talented photographer and teacher!  I have learned a great deal from him and when he asked that I speak I was honored and nervous as hell.  Key is not to show it...and apparently I did well not showing it.  I hide it well I guess.   I presented both workshop nights, Tuesday and Thursday.  It was a great experience and the response was great.  This has motivated me to throw my own Beauty Workshop in August.  Once I get back from my trip I'll be planning towards that.  

Here are some quick images from the workshop.  I decided to keep everything clean since the core reason of the workshop was to display some lighting examples, tools used and providing direction to the model and how to interact during the actual shoot.  

Model:  Nicole Baptiste @ PUSH

Model:  Sarah Newman @ PUSH

None of these shots have been retouched except for basic work in Lightroom.  The key idea in the workshop was to shoot as if you were shooting film.  Get as much as you can in the shot and always remember what you are selling.  You're not selling the model, but the clothing, accessories, concept, etc.  You are all-in-all selling fashion!  I wanted to thank PUSH for kindly providing us with models for the workshop and Keirsten Morris for doing Makeup and Hair on set.  Response after the workshop was just phenomenal.  I couldn't have asked for anything better.  Therefore, do keep an eye out for the August workshop announcement.

Well...phew!.... I'm going to say that's it for now.   Cheers everyone :)

Dec. 14, 2010

I am now officially a freelancer.....  I no longer work as a full-time assistant to a photographer here in Toronto.  So what have I been doing since?  Sleeping and resting.  Feels bizarre because it's something that I don't do often!  Now I feel ansy though....  Which means I'd like to get back to work and do up a 'to do' list.

What did I do yesterday?  Well I asked my handsome friend Rob to help me build a glass water table.  I purchased some glass pieces cut to size to build a glass water table.  I have some ideas in mind that I'd like to bring to fruition over the holidays.  Not quite sure what yet, but I have a start to that idea and it's just a matter of following that path to see where it leads to.

A  lot has happened in a few weeks, both good and bad.  The good parts are what is needed for my future...as for the bad ones... they are best left behind.  All I'm going to say is karma's a bitch.  I didn't deserve the treatment I had received. 

As for now I'm just going to work on my creatives and call on my resources.  The shoot I'm planning on doing over the holidays will be available for print sales.  It's something I haven't done in a while and I look forward to sharing it with everyone!!  I see it very strongly in my mind, which means it needs to be executed and brought forth for all to see.

I'm going to try updating my blog on a regular basis if I can.  I have received some requests as to again '....eh!  What's up with your blog???  When are you planning on updating it???' I apologize :)  BUT here's an update!  I have some good news..... all I'm going to say for now is that a magazine got back to me regarding a submission I made a while back.  I can't say more till it's out and I see it.

For now though I'd like to share these two photographs that were taken over the weekend.  Both of these ladies are lovely at their own right and it was such a pleasure to both meet and work with them.  Makeup artist is the lovely Carly Sellen whom I love love LOVE working with!  She sees what's in my head and just brings it forth.

All images are copyright.   Nadia Cheema © 2010  www.nadiac.com

Recent Beauty Shoot - ICON Models

Did a recent beauty shoot with a great team.  I wanted to experiment using a mirror as a reflector placed at the base of the model.  Clamshell lighting or butterfly lighting method.  I've seen mirrors used before on beauty shoots to provide contrast.  It can be used in different degrees of intensity depending on the size of the actual light source (key light).  I wanted to go for a more 'blasted' look where I could really pale out the skin after in PS with very little work.  I must state that actual retouching work only took me 5-7 minutes per photograph.  Lighting, makeup and skin type were great! Made my editing work much easier.  Less editing work...the happier Nadia is.

People involved:
- Models: Sara J and Allana C (ICON Model Management)
- MUA:  Rhia Amio
- Hair:  Carlos @ Spellbound
- Assistants:  Khalid Mutlaq and Robert Boic (such great guys!!)

Yes....two assistants.  Funny how that worked out, but I have to say having both Khalid and Robert there was great!  They were so helpful and honestly made the workflow much easier for all of us.  I can't thank them enough.  They also both assisted in blowing the hair around on both models.  Two fanners for one model.  Sounds strange I know, but to have a proper movement of hair and for directionality it helped having one person using the actual electric fan and another person fanning using a foam core board.
I must say... the models never complained about how cold it became for them while shooting.  Such troopers and true professionals.  Never showed it in film either.  I did take breaks in between shoots to allow them to warm up.  I tried to shoot as quickly as I could so as not to torture poor Sara and Allana with all that fanning around.  Great work ladies!

This is also where I used the Canon 5D to shoot with and a 90mm tilt/shift lens.  Yes a true tilt/shift lens.  If you note any blur in the photographs it's caused by using the tilt/shift.  It's completely manual focus so it was tricky, but once I got the hang of it I have to say that I absolutely loved shooting with it.  Not just for the tilt/shift factor, but also because this lens is tack sharp.  I normally like to sharpen the eyes in my photographs, but I didn't have to after using this lens.  If you zoom in on a full resolution photograph you can see that even the liquid in the eyes are shown with such clarity that it's truly impressive!  Will be doing future shoots using this lens that's for sure.

Unfortunately I don't have any BTS shots from this shoot, but like before I'm going to share with you before and after shots.  Hopefully that'll sate your cravings a bit ;)  Rest of the photographs can be seen on my flickr site.  Only two shots from that shoot will be placed on my actual site.

All images are copyright.   Nadia Cheema © 2010  www.nadiac.com