In early August 2011, Playful and I went on the Parliament Hill - specifically, in
front of the Supreme court - to take photos at night. The weather was just perfect for
this sort of activity - warm but not hot, and no rain.

To get as much light possible into the sensor, I used a fast prime 50 mm. Unfortunately
this narrowed my field of view and made some shots almost impossible - not possible
to use the entire building behind her for example. Thankfully, I was still able to find some shots.

This specific one is taken in front of the Supreme court. The light is provided by
a large floodlight to the right, which is then bouncing off a white stone pillar
that is being reflected on the suit - you can see this on the left of the image.
I'm glad I managed to capture that.




To get to the Supreme court from my place is a half a dozen block walk. Playful
had put on her catsuit, corset and hood at home, but not the rest of her outfit,
to attract less attention on the way there. This was a good idea, but I wasn't too
worried because I expected little foot traffic on the way there. I was wrong - there
was this sound and light show at the Parliament that had just ended and we must have
walked by at least 50 tourists on the way there who were mostly bemused. Ooops.




So we got to the supreme court building, and Playful started putting on her boots, gasmask
etc. A police car went by a few times, then pulls over. A policewoman (RCMP) comes
out and ask us, in a fairly friendly tone, what we are doing. We say we are just
taking photos. She then asks how hot the suit is, then how long we'll be there. We
answer as truthfully as we can - yes we are going to shoot on the grass.




Satisfied with our answers, she mutters something in her radio. I tell her "I hope
we haven't caused undue alarm or such". She then answers "oh no, I just didn't want
security inside to get worried. I wouldn't want some old guy who's never seen latex
before have a heart attack"

Seeing how we never told her what the suit was made of, she obviously knew her materials :D

This was taken besides the Justice Building. I'm not really sure what the purpose
of this little structure is, but it proved tremendously useful for framing AND lighting! :)






I'm particularly happy with this one.






After this, feeling a bit daring - we were already seen by all the tourists and the
police after all - we moved onto the street. This was shot on Wellington.




Even with the 50 mm, these shots pushed my camera to the limit. The narrow field of
view, dark color of the latex and low light made exact focusing very difficult.




We stopped by the doorsteps of St-Andrew's church. Again the light conditions were
challenging. However, note how she didn't burst into flame nor was I struck by lighting.
Baby Jesus approves!!!




We started walking home - with Playful in her full outfit. On the way, we stopped by a
sculpture "Northshore", by Noel Harding. Of course, we locals call it "the giant
teapot". Again, while this looked really cool in situ, it was rather hard for my camera to
capture it properly (but we eventually returned during the daytime... stay tuned!)




We then cut through the Minto Place building. Not only is this a handy short cut, the
atrium has a very attractive Green Wall. Of course, I had to use it for photos!

This specific shot was sort of semi-improvised - I didn't plan it per say, it just
happened, but I noted how neat it looked. This is why Playful isn't wearing any makeup
(all the shots were supposed to be with the gasmask) but I think it actually adds to the shot.






Another one I'm particularly happy with.





We had spectators at one point during this part of the shoot - a security guard and
a janitor, both silent, who seemed to consider watching us to be mildly more interesting
than talking about the weather.




And that is it for now folks. We thought that by being "sneaky" at night we would
minimize attention and this obviously didn't work out... but perhaps this was for the
best. The overwhelming majority of the public doesn't care, or is mildly curious at
most it seems. This gave us courage for bolder shoots later in the summer ;)

I hope you enjoyed it, Playful and I had a great time during the shoot. But I warn you
though, you better stay tuned... she might not be happy if you don't!



;)

Latex by Libidex, Latexa. Gasmask maker unknown.

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