Joseph Michael Photography

I had the privilege again of being one of three photographers to shoot the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival from April 28-May 8 this year. It’s a busy ten days, but I love returning every year. The only disappointment was that I only got to see two films this year.


This is just a small sampling of shots, but they feature photos from the opening night gala screening of Morgan Spurlock’s new film POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Move Ever Sold, the roof top screening of Beauty Day, pitches at Hot Docs Forum, awards night with Jian Ghomeshi and other festival events.

Full gallery below.
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Tags: Event Photography, Film Festival, Hot Docs, Toronto

Despite a relatively cold and snowy winter, I did have time to photograph two engagement portraits for couples getting married in the early spring. The locations were perfect - Historic Main Street Unionville and the Distillery District in Toronto (that finally has a new webpage I just noticed). Many thanks to Rosanna & Rick and Riaz & Reeshma (and Ruby!) for being such troopers. Can’t wait for the weddings!

Many more photos below.

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Photos from the TDSSAA senior boys hockey championship at the North Toronto Memorial Arena on March 8, 2011. The Sir Oliver Mowat Mustangs defeated the Malvern Black Knights 3-1. Photos taken for Toronto Community News.

Many more photos below.

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Tags: photography, Photojournalism, TDSSAA Hockey, Toronto

Photos for the impressive Toronto Jazz group Circles. Made up of Matthew Roberts - Bass, Hayoun Lee - Piano, Alexandra Tait - Vocals, Neil Whitford - Guitar, Mackenzie Longpre - Drummer. They just finished playing three fantastic gigs in February celebrating the release of their third disc, Autumn Dance.

Thanks again to Melissa Yu for letting us use your living room.

Tags: Band Photography, Band Photography Toronto, Circles Band, Toronto

This was by far my favourite shoot of 2010 and most definitely my favourite result. I think we finished shooting at about 2am and everyone was absolutely drenched. Huge thanks to the members of Sacred Balance (left to right: Mackenzie Longpre - Drums, Kelly Lefaive - Violin, Pouya Hamidi - Keyboard/Programming, Chloe Charles - Voice, Foad Hamidi - Voice, Naomi Moon - Voice, Sammi Raine - Bass, Neil Whitford - Guitar) who were both a lot of fun and fantastic sports.

As you can see, we decided to shoot everyone two different times. The first time was with dark clothing and we danced the water in front and around their faces. The second, with a lighter change of clothes, we decided to soak each and every one in as unique a way as possible. Definitely click on each photo to see a larger version. You’ll have to wait for the promotional materials to see what they do with the rest of the photos.

For the record, this band rocks. If you get a chance to see them play, don’t miss it.

Oh, and this series below was my absolute favourite:

One more really fun shot if you keep reading.
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Tags: Band, Band Photography, Band Photography Toronto, Commercial Photography, Sacred Balance, Toronto

Executive portraits of Shirlee M. Sharkey, President and CEO of Saint Elizabeth Health Care. We did the shoot both at Shirlee’s home and the pharmacy building at the University of Toronto, a fantastic place to shoot.

For full portfolio visit Joseph Michael Photography.

Tags: Commercial Photography, Executive Portraits Toronto, Headshots Toronto, Portraits, Toronto

Some photos from tonight’s Canadian premiere of The Arbor, winner of the Best New Documentary Filmmaker award at the Tribeca Film Festival. The event was presented by Hot Docs as part of it’s March installment of the Doc Soup monthly screening.
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Photos taken of the new Agincourt Hyundai Car Dealership for Cireon (manufacturer of energy efficient, eco friendly solid state lighting products) and TEC3 Innovations who installed the interior and exterior Ultrabright LED’s.

Click on images to view larger photo.

Many more photos below.
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Tags: Architecture Photography, Car Dealership, Commercial Photography, Toronto

The winter issue of Renaissance Magazine came out last month and the cover photo is one I took of the Provincial Executive of the Retired Teachers of Ontario. It was a really fun shoot and I enjoyed working with the theme of the issue - technology.

Click through to view the original photo.

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Tags: Commercial Photography, Magazine Photography, Portrait Photography, Renaissance Magazine, Retired Teachers of Ontario, Toronto

Lots more 2010 photos to go through. These photos were part of an indoor rehearsal shoot for blackandblue dance projects newest work, The Future Memory Heartbreak Junction: Diptych. The photos feature the gorgeously talented Sasha Ivanochko and Brendan Wyatt.

I posted an earlier entry of the promotional photos I shot for the project.

Many more photos from the rehearsal below.
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Tags: Arts Photography, Black & Blue Dance, Commercial Photography, Dance Photography, Toronto