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  • Archives

  • July2nd

    Pride Inspiration

    Posted in: Articles, General, Inspiration, Performance

    Olena & JasonMany moons ago, I had the opportunity to volunteer my creative skills with Pride Toronto’s Art Direction committee. I had the most amazing co-coordinator, Jason Schneider, a superb designer, great bowler, and good dancer. Didn’t we make a fashionable team?

    Although the hours were horrible, the work was sometimes too plentiful, and the requests increasingly crazy the closer we got to the Festival, it was all worth it once the big weekend hit and we were the only committee that could really take it easy as our work was done. Over. Can’t do anything more.

    One of the perks I enjoyed the most was being able to photograph any and all of the performances throughout the weekend for Pride. It was nice to be able to use my badge to get into the press area for the concerts – and I never abused the privilege. Honest.

    Tanya CheexPride is the reason I enjoy photographing performances so much today. The festival is where I first saw a performance by Skin Tight Outta Sight and they blew my mind. I fell in love with burlesque and the confidence these women had, putting on such sexually charged striptease for an audience of thousands. I’ve been shooting burlesque ever since.

    DonnaramaI also really enjoyed the drag shows. They had as much pageantry, choreography, great music, and glam as the burlesque acts, just minus the striptease. One of my favourites at the time was Donnarama, a really creative act with fantastic music and creative ideas. They were always at the festival and I looked forward to catching their shows.

    Melanie CAnd finally, the concerts. I’ve had the opportunity to listen to, and photograph some wonderful local and international talent. It was a real honour to photograph Carol Pope, a Canadian music icon. My pop music fetish was satisfied with Melanie C (Sporty Spice). The highlight of the many festivals for me was Lady Miss Kier, of Deee-Lite, who looked exactly the same in the mid 2000s as she did back in the 80s. Her performance was energetic, colourful and she did an amazing extended mix of Groove Is In The Heart.  It was really hard to keep the camera steady and sing & dance at the same time.

    As I sit at my computer downloading photos from the wonderfully creative O Manada all-male burlesque show put on by Boylesque TO for Canada Day – a Pride Affiliated event – I think back to all these great performances that started me down this glittery path. Thank you Pride for inspiring me!

    Happy Pride Toronto! (more photos in the gallery)

  • January17th

    Outside The Comfort Zone

    Posted in: About, Articles, Inspiration, Performance, Portfolio, Projects

    Tanya Cheex

    This year, I’m embarking on a project that will take me out my comfort zone have me going against my own rules of photography. The final goals are not just to have an interesting and creative exhibit with my collective, but also to expand my horizons as a photographer. You can’t grow if you don’t constantly challenge yourself and put yourself in situations that you don’t normally shoot in.

    I’m comfortable shooting architecture and keeping within my own rules of shooting just what I see with no interaction with the environment. I don’t compose photos as I usually shoot in forgotten spaces or historical buildings and I feel that I am just a witness passing through, documenting the space and not meant to interfere. Architecture is static (somewhat) – you can take your time to set up a photo, it doesn’t complain or get tired, and most of the time nothing surprising happens to ruin your shot.

    I’m not comfortable composing a photo – moving objects around, adding items into a composition, fussing with the scene before me. I’ve always worked with the “available” – available light, available objects and available time. I’m also not comfortable working with people. They’re erratic, unpredictable, get tired, can be irritating, don’t see the vision in my mind, and worst of all – they move. I can’t spend 15 minutes setting up my camera properly or waiting for just the right light when there’s a person involved in the shot – the attention span just isn’t there and I don’t blame them for getting antsy. I’ve worked with people before, but the setting was outdoor shows and I had to shoot on the fly, there was no scene setting.

    I’m excited to blend the two zones together in this project – comfortable and uncomfortable – into what I hope will be a project that challenges me and teaches me how to work with people in my photos. What is the show about? The title is The Velvet Divide: Breaking The Burlesque Taboo – and throughout the next 7 months six other photographers and I will be shooting within our comfortable architectural spaces and learning the subtle art of working with models and performers.

    I’ve got until late October to perfect not only my photographic style, but my post-processing as well. I’ve been playing around with some previous Burlesque photos that I shot of Skin Tight Outta Sight back during Pride 2007 to get a feel for some processing techniques (above). It’s a work in progress – but who’s photography isn’t?

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