Fitness Lifestyle Stock Photo Shoot

So I've been busy this summer planning my return to the stock photography game. I got started as a photographer shooting stock photos back in 2005 and truth be told I was pretty good at it. I learned so much by shooting stock and I'm so grateful for for all the experiences and friends I made along the way. I haven't shot stock in years and I'm feeling the itch to get back into it. To be perfectly honest the idea of shooting stock again feels like going home. It's a comfortable place for me. A lot has changed since the last time I was involved with iStockPhoto but I'm excited to take on the learning curve and find that success again. Don't worry I'm not going to stop shooting weddings. Stock photography is going to to be my side hustle.  

Here is the first set I uploaded in my return to stock photography. A fitness lifestyle set with the beautiful hispanic model Karli Vanessa Sal. We shot two quick looks at the beach. Nothing too fancy or overly planned. It was a good feeling to get the brain wrapped around shooting stock photos. I definitely felt rusty. It's a great start as far as I'm concerned and I'm going to keep moving forward from there.

These photos are for sale and if you need them for your project click on the images below and they will link you to the photos on iStock Photo. 

Link to my iStock Photo Portfolio

(testing to see if these keywords show up in SEO) Keywords, model, fitness, jogging, stock photography, istock photo, healthy lifestyle, outdoors, woman, woman jogging, nature, exercise, healthy, hispanic woman. 

Addisons Residence Food Shoot

Vasko Photography. I recently had the pleasure of working with the Addisons Residence on a pretty tasty project. They hired me to shoot photos photos of the new food dishes that will be appearing on their new menu. Got some fantastic shots for them. I'm really happy with the way the images came out. Below is a selection of a few of the dishes we shot. And let me tell you from first hand experience, because I got to try all of this goodness after I shot it, the food at the Addisons Residence was really good. I'd eat all of it again any time. 

Enjoy the shots and don't get too hungry. If you're in the market for a food photography don't hesitate to message me. Contact me page.  

Fitness Solutions X

Alright so the next time you are perusing through the fitness section at Walmart you might see me there. I won't physically be there but you'll see my picture there on the packaging of Fitness Solutions X Woman's Fitness Gloves. How exciting is that! And it's a picture of one of my favourite models no less. Exciting times here at the studio today. 

Flip Flops

This passed summer I got myself into product photography mode. Now that it's winter and freezing outside, well maybe not freezing, it's been a warm winter, but it's certainly not pool season. Anyway, i'm getting off topic. Now that it's cold out it's nice to sit back and edit shots taken in the summer. It's fun to relive those memories by the pool. I decided to challenge myself by taking a regular mundane object like flip flops and shoot them in such away as to make them interesting while at the same time leaving enough negative space for commercial copy. It was a fun little exercise and as soon as I was done I jumped in the pool. I'm pretty happy with the shots. These are my three favourites from the series. These photos are available for licensing upon request. 

Gardening Knee Pads By Palmate

Product photography is something I've always enjoyed shooting. A few weeks ago I got contacted by the marketing manager of Palmate. They were interested in some product photos of their knee pads to replace their existing photo set. So we setup a shoot and shot a series of very clean isolated on white product shots. They were super happy with the images which is always great to hear and they also told me sales went up 50% after they posted the new photos. Just goes to show you how important it is to have proper photos shot of your products. You could spend countless hours creating the best product you can but if you have low quality photos of your product potential buyers will never bother to read the product description. A strong visual first impression is so important. 

New Business Cards & Postcards

It's an amazing day at the studio today because my new business cards and postcards arrived. Yaaaaa!!!! And they sure do look good. Used my favourite image from last summer's wedding season for the postcard. Totally loving that image and I'm hoping that people who see the postcard feel the same way. I'm going to give all of them away!!!!!! 

If you know anybody who is getting married and in need of a wedding photographer save this picture and send it to them. Or if you're looking for an awesome wedding photographer you've come to the right place. I love shooting weddings and I'm constantly learning and improving my skills. I'm looking to take on 15 bookings for 2016!  

Vasko Photography Toronto Wedding Photographer

Platinum Cars

Recently I had the pleasure of working with Sean the owner of Platinum Cars. I was hired to shoot content for magazine submissions. Stock photos they could give to car magazines for publication. This shoot was a challenge but ultimately a lot of fun. Being around all those shiny cars was pretty cool too. 

This was a very challenging and enjoyable experience. Shooting the front lobby was a long process. With glass walls everywhere it took some time to setup the lights so that I would not see a million reflections everywhere. One light of the four was visible in the final shot and that took some time to setup. 

I don't think I've ever been so conscious of my gear before. With all those cars being packed in so close together I had to carefully navigate my way around with tripods and stands. The last thing I wanted to do was knick one of the cars. In order to shoot the high angle shot of the show room I had to engineer a makeshift tripod extension by taping my heavy metal tripod to the side of a 13 foot aluminum ladder. My ideas always work but just to be safe I had my assistant vigilantly standing at the bottom of the ladder just in case something happened. The whole setup was top heavy and the exposure was long. So I had to wait for the ladder to steady before I shot than stay perfectly still while the exposure was in action. Thirty minutes to setup and 30seconds to take the shot. Welcome to the wonderful world of photography.

The one shot of the day I was really looking forward to was a portrait of Sean standing in front of his flagship. This was a 24 shot composite. One shot to light Sean, one shot to light each rim, one shot to light underneath of the car, one shot for the interior and so on and so forth. It was the first time I had ever done such a complicated composite and to do it for a client with no room for error, it was a rush. I really enjoy those pressure situation where failure is not an option. I really had no idea how it would work out in the end but I was confident that I could get it done. 

New England Baptist Hospital

This is pretty cool. New England Baptist Hospital has licensed one of my fitness images for a YouTube video campaign for fitness awareness. Kinda neat. I'm used to my images being licensed for print so this is a bit of a new experience. I had an image used in a TV commercial a few years ago and that was cool too. It never gets old seeing my work in use. As a photographer you're always happy to see your work making money.  

Shoeless Joe's

I was hired by Shoeless Joe's to shoot some promotional content for their print and web in store event marking. When they asked me if I knew any beautiful women that would model for the project I said not a problem. I hired Canadian Playboy cover model Rachelle Wilde for the shoot. She was absolutely amazing to work with such a fun personality. Shoeless Joe's loved the photos and if the client is happy I'm happy. 

The Friendship Club

Advertisement for a special needs organization that matches up teens with special needs kids for home visits to develop friendships. It’s a popular program for teens who love the events and get recognition for their devoted work. This was the kick off party event featuring live pizza making with Stefano’s pizza baker. I shot the pizza for the advertisement and also got to eat it after. mmmmm food photography. 

My First Billboard

This was super exciting. itravel2000 had licensed a bunch of my images for a national ad campaign. My pictures were all over the internet, magazines and, the really cool part, all over billboards. It was the first time I had one of my images published on a billboard and plastered all across Toronto. I was everywhere. lol. It was pretty neat. 

lavalife Ad

If you frequented Hotmail.com back in 2007 as i'm sure you did because it was the cool place to have your email back in the day than you probably saw this ad quite a bit. My photo of this beautiful Caribbean model was plastered everywhere as lavalife was trying to take the online dating world by storm. I've talked to a few people now who remember seeing this ad back in the day. This was a totally fun shoot. We spent more time laughing than shooting. It was just a good vibe on set the whole day.