Shooting in Dundas Square

(please be patient as the images load)


Playfulrubberdoll and I went to Toronto in May for Torture Garden in Toronto, organized
by Subspace. This is a fairly big party that I have heard good things about and the
organizer also had made a pretty good impression on me in the past. Playfulrubberdoll
also never had gone to a big fetish party like this, so we thought that it would be a good
idea to go. I'll have a full (sort of) report on this later on, but for the moment, I
will concentrate on one fun thing we did: a shoot in Dundas Square.




Dundas Square is a large public area at the intersection of Dundas and Yonge in Toronto,
and is a bit like Toronto's Times Square. It is *very* public and features very modern
and highly commercialized architecture. Some good friends and were discussing perhaps
doing a shoot together (these plans, alas, never materialized) when we drove by the square.
At that moment, I said jokingly that it would take cojones the size of beachballs to
do a shoot in that spot. Playfulrubberdoll was rather amused by this notion.





I had recently purchased for her a long latex dress - as a replacement for one that
had broken but also specifically for TG Toronto. I decided to order it from Catalyst Latex,
in part because the dress would be chlorinated and easy to put on (the previous one was,
let's say, challenging) but also because I knew that Gord would be straight with me
and tell me if it could be done in time or not - it was, with almost a month to spare.
This dress is very neat, but it also is a bit plain (how we asked for it), so we were
keeping our eyes open for accessories. We saw a beautiful neck corset at Northbound Leather
and after some consideration decided to buy it. Back at the hotel, Playfulrubberdoll
wanted to try it on with the dress right away... and then with the corset and then
we decided, on a whim, to walk over to Dundas Square and shoot!




The walk there (15 minutes in heels) was interesting, but my camera and especially
Playfulrubberdoll very positive (almost, ah, playful ;) ) attitude resulted in a complete
lack of negative reaction - quite the contrary in fact... is that guy checking her out?
He totally is! :D




When we got there, we saw that a part of the square was occupied by a charity event to
raise money for sick children, so we decided to circle the square first and give them
space. The "ground" fountains were also turned off, which is a shame because it would
have made for some cool effects.






The very strong sunlight made for great reflection on the latex, which I knew from
previous experience, but also for somewhat harsh shadow on the face and made overexposure
(especially with glare on my LCD preview screen) easy to happen accidentally. The
complex background made for lots of composition opportunities but aslo challenges.






This is an example of a missed opportunity. Now looking at it, it is obvious to me
that I should have used the opening to the right to frame her, and put the tower to the
left, perhaps by shooting across the street... but at the time I didn't "see" it. This
capacity to notice things like that on the spot are very important for a photographer,
and I don't always "get" it. Ah well.




We then started making our way towards the middle of the square, and I took advantage of
the angles to show more of the buildings that make this rather impressive spot.






This may be the best shot - it tells the whole story no? :)




Reactions kept being positive throughout the shoot. One man said we totally made his day.
A group of young fashionable women posted their hip conversation to compliment Playfulrubberdoll,
perhaps impressed by her daring. However, one of the best reaction was from this young
woman who couldn't help but join in the shoot and whoop.




I'm adding this one because of the iconic "TD Bank Old Man" that showed up on the screen.
He perhaps was the least impressed of everyone that day. The couple beneath we aren't
sure if they didn't like our shoot or were just lost.




Of course, we weren't the only one doing "stuff" in Dundas Square. I saw this street
entertainer, a mettalic and somewhat static version of Elvis Presley. I asked him if it
was ok to take a photo and he nodded his assent. There was already a crowd around him,
but when Playful stepped forward there was a spontaneous cheer, accompanied by someone
in the background yelling "where is your whip?!?". Mr Silver Man was pretty cool about
the whole thing - I bet he's seen a few stranger things over the years




Eventually, we had to walk back to the hotel - but we didn't stop shooting! Here we
notice that although Toronto has a cleaner image than Montreal, it's not squeaky clean...




We also found this stone arch which we used as a prop of sort, although the harsh light
and perhaps tiredness stopped me from taking full advantage of it.






Eventually, we reached our hotel (the Courtyard Marriot, very friendly to kinky people)
and called it an afternoon - we still had a party to get ready for! But we were quite
pleased with ourselves for pulling this off, and very impressed with how cool the good
people of Toronto were about the whole thing. I was also impressed with how well
Playful handled the whole thing - a real trooper and a bit of an exhibitionist too!
Until next time!