Sara Aliko (Model, Producer)

I met Sara at the first photoshoot we held for our university runway show back in 2020. Having Sara as a dear friend now, I can only attribute our friendship to the creative and personal growth that occurred for the both of us between that shoot and this writing. She was studying nutrition at the time but had a passion for performance and the camera which led her to volunteer with us. When I first photographed her that day she would crack jokes frequently to ease tension she was feeling in front of the camera. I too was learning to better connect with my subjects at the time so our interactions were somewhat rough around the edges.

As the years progressed Sara came by the university studio whenever I reached out to her with a photoshoot idea I wanted to try. Her willingness to show up helped expedite her learning process as we practiced our crafts (photography and modelling), together. Fast forward to 2023- When Sara walks into a room, heads are always turning. Her confidence isn’t second-guessed. Her approach to runway is bold and rehearsed. When the camera points at her, she’s at WORK. We learned to bounce creativity, play and ideas around as artists without harsh criticism, only the desire to grow, which has been humbling while teaching me the value of true character. She is a fantastic artist and one I want to be around.

This leads to my final point: Sara is a model inside and out. While our artistic paths crossed frequently throughout the years, we made it a point to reach beyond the art and invest in each other’s lives. We shared a similar value: art comes second, people come first. Sara has an innate capacity to form genuine connections with everyone she meets which is why she became a go-to point of contact within Toronto’s fashion scene. On her initiative, she started FA Co., a fashion-based production services collaborative made to connect artists and create quality content. I’m extremely grateful to have met the artist and person that is Sara and look forward to seeing all the BIG things she’ll be working on in the future!

Keisha Bell-Kovacs (Composer)

“I like weird,” she says to me as I stand with arms crossed looking down at her keyboard. We had already shot Keisha playing the keyboard and walking around her keyboard but we needed a fresh, non-cliche take to these music-themed portraits. Dealing with a composer, I felt the need to play with the composition as much as a musician might play around with a melody.

“What if I get down on the floor, UNDER it?” she asked. That was our ticket, our new perspective. Placing her on the ground, and later her keyboard, would bring a sense of child-like wonder and play (and perhaps a more abstract aesthetic), something that I really sensed from Keisha the short amount of time I’d known her. We took some formal standing poses for the sake of it but the real winners were always the ones that involved play.

Rashira Musisi (Model)

I first heard from Rashira in September of 2022. A mutual friend and model had passed on my contact info as I was always searching for models throughout my time in university. My senior year was incredibly packed and I didn’t meet Rashira until the opening night of our senior project exhibition. I’d remembered her willingness to model and showing up to see my thesis work meant for me so naturally I added her to a list of artists I wanted to photograph. 

Months later, we managed to set a date and meet by the waterfront. It’s there I learned how great of a hero Rashira is. From her numerous studies in Uganda, a modelling career in her youth, moving alone to Canada to complete her education and her plans for working with the UN, there was no obstacle too great to conquer.

While we tried various compositions with numerous urban backdrops, the ones that stood out most in the end were the ones where SHE stood out the most. A prominent figure deserves to pop off the page. Coupled with the timelessness of black and white, her portraits reflect both the great artist and human she is.

Natalia Cza (Model)

I met and photographed Natalia (TFP) on such a beautiful Saturday morning in the summer. She was easy to relate to as an artist: she recently finished her studies in biology when Covid threw a wrench in the job market (and global economy). She wanted to try modelling as a pastime until life picks up again. I respect the artists that create when there’s nothing to gain but art itself and this shoot was exactly that: a small break from daily mundanity and a tap into the creative. If I took anything away from this shoot it was how character makes all the difference. She had a great deal of sarcasm that had to break through the facade of stiff professionalism before it showed on camera. I truly believe it was the banter that allowed her to open up by the end to show emphasized gestures and facial expressions that made her image set. We joked how she would be a great hand model; she was very comfortable with her hand on/near her head, which we made the most of, and I’m sure as she continues modelling we’ll see strong use of hand/arm gestures in her poses!

Welcome to the Blog

People Of My Time has been an idea on the back burner for some time; a way of cataloguing, remembering and celebrating artists I’ve come across throughout my career. The initial project was approaching this formally and technically: photographing the subjects on a white background, similar to Avedon. However the idea has developed into using this blog as the backdrop for my catalogue of artists.

Throughout the numerous posts, you’ll see representations of people, mostly artists, I’ve spent time talking to and photographing along with a brief paragraph summarizing some of their experiences, often in paraphrases. My approach to the blog is less formal and more of how we interacted, my interpretation on each sitter, and their various life and art-related experiences.

To all my fellow artists- May your careers be an inspiration to many for generations to come!