The Collab Project
SANJEEV WIGNARAJAH
Josh Mankz, 23, a Toronto-based photographer, remembers collaborating with Samantha Kim Dean, a model and photographer. Mankz and Dean were on a parking garage near Church Street and The Esplanade on the sixth-floor roof waiting for an hour for the sun to set.
“It was a cloudy day,” Mankz said. “It almost looked like it was going to rain.”
Mankz insisted they hang back at the parking garage a little longer.
“I looked to her and my other friend, Kay, and I said, ‘as much as I want to chase sunsets, I think we should just stick around here simply because I know it’s going to be a good sunset.’”
After waiting an hour, Mankz had the shot with Dean in it.
“I had her stand up on a ledge probably a foot tall and I placed her right against the background with the sun and everything,” he said. “I’m 6’3” and I literally had to lie down on the floor just to get that shot looking up at her.”
Mankz says that the end goal of the portrait that he took of Dean was to blend the colours from a grey storm cloud into a warm sunset to reflect Dean’s character. Mankz also said that he was patient for the light to peak.
In an email interview, Dean recalled the rooftop photo session and the pretty and eerie sunset.
“I’m a short model and we wanted a different perspective and to really show off the sunset,” she said.
Earlier that day, the trio went downtown and found an alleyway near the Gardiner Expressway with a clear view of the CN Tower.
“We decided to go down a few extra doors that we didn’t really know where we were. I opened the door and I see this back alleyway. I told them that I know a shortcut and they followed me,” Mankz said.
Mankz said the spot has unusual angles and perspectives and a view of the CN Tower.
“It was the spot I didn’t even know of and I found it completely random. I had to make use of it while I was there and having the two of them incorporated in the photo made it better,” he said.
Collaboration makes Toronto’s photography scene thrive. Photographers and models meet up and use the city as a backdrop for their portrait sessions. Dean says that collaboration between photographers and models is essential. Dean, and her friend Gina Chung, co-founded an event called Portrait Meet T.O., where photographers and models meet and work together.
Model Samantha Kim Dean in the centre of the beautiful sunset. Photo courtesy of Josh Mankz
“We realized that the normal set-up for an Instagram meet involved walking around the Financial District with maybe 100 to one ratio of photographers to models,” she said. “It was just not working for those who wanted to expand their skills from landscape to portraiture.”
The first portrait meet was held at Underpass Park, south of King and River streets in June and the second portrait meet was held at The David Balfour Park trail in September.
Mankz, who specializes in street portraits, says he got into portrait photography when he and his father went to the Dominican Republic last year.
“All I brought with me was a 50mm and a good attitude,” he said. “I found out how many people are willing to actually let me take their picture if I can convince them that it’s for the genuine moment.”
Since then, Mankz has applied the same mindset to the streets of Toronto.
“I found out that there were a lot more people who are willing to let me take their photo,” he said.
Mankz says Toronto works as a backdrop for portrait sessions because it’s a never-ending canvas.
“There are some people that their style fits so much better in other environments than other people,” he said.
For Mike Broley, a full-time professional photographer based in Toronto says that the city works as a backdrop for portrait sessions because it can be unique to the person.
“Having the opportunity to bring either a favourite element of the city whether that’s the skyline or the CN Tower,” is what Broley likes. “If you want to make it feel like you’re in downtown New York, you can do whatever you want all in one block.”
Broley has done corporate headshots, event, and creative photography but Broley got into portrait photography once he moved to Toronto a year ago from St. Catharines.
“I started to notice that I had a skill and there was a market for portrait photography,” he said. “I started to shoot some friends and then some models and then I realized I could charge people money for it and started talking to businesses and it just goes from there.”
Broley has collaborated with Erica Vezina, a second-year Ryerson University student, on four occasions. Broley says he first met Vezina through Instagram.
“She was the first model I’ve shot with anyone in Toronto. I had posted an old photo I’d taken with a friend back in St. Catharines and asked if anybody wanted to shoot with me,” he said.
The duo used smoke bombs on one of their photo shoots at the north end of David Balfour Park in March. Vezina recalls that she wore a plain outfit and the trees were grey and brown.
“He said, ‘go for it, move around, have fun,’” she said. “It only lasts for a minute and a half to get really good shots."
Broley says that they key is to keep the model active.
“It’s about coaching the model through how she moves,” he said. “You get that dramatic movement if you have her moving her arm across, you get a really nice line with the smoke.”
Tips on collaborating with photographers and models
So you're a photographer and you want to collaborate with a model for a photo shoot but you don't know where to go from there. Vice versa for models.
This tip sheet will help you in a photo shoot from a photographer's perspective and a model's perspective on collaborating with each other.
Models
​
Erica Vezina:
-Have fun, be creative.
-Find somewhere that you want to shoot.
​
-Make most of it outdoors and see whether the photographer has in mind in terms of locations.
Samantha Kim Dean:
-Models should be confident in themselves and only collaborate with photographers they feel comfortable with.
​
-They should also not be shy to ask if they can bring a friend to sit in, as long as that friend doesn't disrupt the shoot. This is especially important if the photographer and model have never met before.
- They should also not be shy to be vocal about their limitations, no skin needs to be shown if she doesn’t want it to be, same goes for male models!
Photographers
Mike Broley:
-Ask permission to touch
-Don’t be a creep
-At the end of the day, I don’t touch the hair, move somebody without saying hey do you mind if I touch you first. I think that’s really important just to establish that trust and then don’t be a creep.
-Regardless of what you’re shooting, you’re making art. It’s not a date; it’s not a hook up. It’s art. So, you’re making sure you’re respectful of everyone involved in the process and not turning people off in the process is important in my opinion.
-Take pictures. Shoot, shoot, shoot. You can read theory all day but until you see how a body moves or a body falls or how hair falls across the face. You don’t know even when you take it the first time. Until you’ve seen it anyway, you don’t know how it could look better I guess.
Josh Mankz:
-Tell them what to expect throughout the shoot.