companions on the journey
companions on the journey
This photo is from our fifth shoot, spring 2007, and was taken at sunset on the Leslie Street Spit in Toronto.
Our story outline dictated that Meera would find some travelling companions and we enlisted some wonderful performers from the Toronto clown community to act as characters in the book. Pictured here are Dave MacKay and Erin Bouvy as their clown alter-egos Omi and Flam (who became Olly and Von in the book). Dave and Erin were involved in at least six shoots over two years, mainly around the Leslie Street Spit, its inner harbour, and in the ravine behind the Toronto Brickworks. We ended up using photos from only four of these sessions for the final layout of the book.
It was fun to have a couple of clowns to "play" with while we took photos, especially after so many shots where Meera was alone. And it was lovely to shoot in the warmth of spring and summer for a change (note to self: set the next book in warm seasons only).
Most of our shooting was done around sunset - the 'magic hour' for photography lighting. We would usually gather at Kathleen's house to complete costume and make-up, and then pile into my car to go to the location (insert clowns-in-a-car joke here). At the exterior locations, all public spaces, the joggers, cyclists and pedestrians using the parks and paths would largely just pass by without comment, although a few people did stop and ask us what we were doing. I guess Torontonians are used to having clowns wandering around their city!