Michael Nash Photographer
35 Wycliffe Avenue L9A 1C8 Hamilton, ON, Canada

Today is a good day to feature cover girl Lyse Parise, because today it's her birthday. Lyse is a very accomplished and widely experienced person, a native of Hong Kong, lived in France, and now in Canada, a rock climber, hiker, canoeist and camper, an interne in architecture, a published art and photography model, and among the gentlest, most considerate people in my circle. I suppose that's not too surprising because she's also friends with Kristen Au, in many ways a simi...lar kind of person. It was Kristen who introduced us. Top Posters Magazine published one of our pictures from the shoot we did in October, 2020 at Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area, near Milton, Ontario. This one made the cover. Lyse's hair and make up were done by my friend Mina, and the lighting assistance and some of the schlepping was ably performed by my friend John-Michael Lelievre. The shoot with Lyse was my last shoot up to now, on account of legal lockdown requirements and my own concern not to catch or spread COVID-19.

Because of the pandemic, the last photoshoot I did was in mid-October, 2020. A good thing about that is that I've had the time to revisit, re-edit and submit photographs for publication from some of my past shoots. This portrait of Dane Halo as the fiery redhead Queen Elizabeth I is from one of those shoots. It was published in The Portrait Project, Vol. 2, Issue 16, February 2021, p. 54. We picked up the reproduction Elizabethan gown from the Stratford Festival Costume Warehouse. Dane did her own hair and make up according to inspiration from Elizabethan portraiture. John-Michael Lelievre provided his usual lighting expertise and the sun and sky co-operated with just the right light at the right times.

It was one year ago today that visiting UK model Donna Rhian Lloyd, who has also become a good friend, treated me to a day in Haliburton. We had a dog sled trip, a visit to the Wolf Centre, and a fairy light photoshoot at dinner, plus of course plenty of time for conversation and laughter on the drives there and back and during the day. Donna's visited this part of Canada five times since May of 2018. We've done at least one photoshoot on each of those trips, and every one of them has been a high. She's a person of fine qualities: thoughtful, generous and caring. Add to that that she's an energetic, creative, and confident model and you've got a wonderful mix for memorable times.

Today's the birthday of my friend Elle Wild. Because of the current pandemic Stay-At-Home Order in Ontario, Elle could not celebrate her birthday with an actual live party, so being the creative type that she is, she made a virtual weeklong party ending today. Elle and I got to shoot twice before photography got to be contra-indicated. Our second shoot was the end of August, 2020 when the mornings were starting to get chilly, a little too chilly in fact. But Elle is plucky..., braving the chill enough to get in a wonderful, short shoot at sunrise on Van Wagner's Beach in Hamilton. One of the publications that came out of that shoot was in Femme Rebelle, October, 2020, Book 2. The editor selected this picture for the title of the spread "The Sun Also Rises," a title of hope taken from the novel by Ernest Hemingway. As I often do, I had the valuable assistance of my friend John-Michael Lelievre.

My last model shoot for 2020 was back in October. We were outdoors at Rattlesnake Point Conservation Area near Milton, Ontario. Even then there was visiting by one hour reservations only, but we strung two reservations together and had a good little shoot, my friend Lyse Parise as model, my friend John-Michael Lelievre as assistant, and me. We were showcasing original fashion designs by Blackbird Studios, a Hamilton based fashion house which loaned me two dresses for the ...shoot. It was a bright but chilly day, so Lyse had to warm up between sets in the faux fur coat I brought along. Another friend Mina did the make up and the autumn themed hair style with maple leaves embedded at the back. Now that Hamilton is one of the lockdowned zones in Ontario, and another province-wide lockdown is starting on Boxing Day, there won't be any more shooting by me for a while. It's a shame it's come to this but my inconvenience is nothing compared to the suffering of those who get a bad case of the virus, those who lose a loved one to the virus, or those whose very livelihoods are cut off or severely reduced.

I have the privilege of taking professional headshots for people wanting to establish or upgrade their brand online. The most recent was for Peter Tupholme, owner of Hamilton's Transmission Experts. He wanted an image of a friendly, competent mechanic who can get the job done right, and with a smile. I think we got it!

I imagined when I saw this old derelict sign in the yard of a demolition company that there were many men who grew up in Hamilton who played football as boys for whom this sign would bring back vivid memories, most positive, some sad. I imagined that the fate of the sign would be to be broken up for scrap. Even though when I was a boy growing up in Chatham, Ontario we never had a sign at all, seeing this one brought back my own vivid memories of high school football, all of which are of a halcyon time of my life.

These are the hands of two people who've seen, endured, done and loved much, who hold each other up, who comfort and nurture each other, whose love is an honour to capture by camera. Thank you for that privilege Nancy Johnson and Peter Tupholme. Oh, and they also love the yellow and black of the Chevrolet logo. They have a 1968 Camaro in those colours that Peter has in perfect running and show condition. I couldn't help but notice that yellow and black are also the colour...s of the Tiger-Cats. Nancy's nails were painted by Nails by JennyVee.

There are few photographic joys higher than capturing love, and especially the love of a parent and child. I had that privilege in September doing a family photoshoot with four generations. Here in this picture Quiana Delceia and her son share an unaffected kiss in the shade of a tree.

You are not seeing a photograph of a barn door; you are seeing a photograph of a painting whose subject is a barn door. When I'm saying that I'm reminding myself of the famous painting whose subject is a pipe by René Magritte under which he's painted the words, "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" ("This is not a pipe."). When I first saw that painting, it had me stumped for a few minutes but eventually I got it. I was asked by Hamilton artist K. Ellen Sears to photograph nine of he...r recent works to be used as prints for customers. It's a technical challenge to get the right light, colours, straight lines at the borders, and uniform focus, but I think we met it. Ellen's fascination is with doors, door handles, peeling paint, rusted fixtures. All of her works that I've seen relate to those subjects. If you like Ellen's work and want to see more, you can find her on Instagram and at her website. https://www.instagram.com/k.ellen.sears.art/ https://www.kesart.com/about-the-artist-Ellen-Sears-KESart

I'm having a big pre-Christmas sale on my mounted posters! Check out the whole album and the details on my personal Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/

Jacquline Flemmings glows at sunset at Kew Beach, Toronto in a shoot that got us published in Malvie Magazine, the Artist's Edition Vol. 3, for October, 2020. Jacque is an aspiring lawyer, the career from which I'm retiring. She cares about social justice, as do I. She has Jamaican parents and my father was Jamaican. We both love photography. We get along famously! For this shoot Suzy Tamasy provided us with three of her original fashion creations, Gabrielle Martin did the hair styling and the deft make up application, and John-Michael Lelievre once again lent me his expert lighting assistance.

There's a photographers' group called Viewbug. They're always inviting photographers to submit photos in various categories to be voted on by other photographers to win a prize. I submitted this picture for my first such contest in the category of architecture. It came in 10,379 out of 38,606, which put me in the top 30%. I guess that's fairly good for just starting. The picture shows some of the stores on Duckworth Street, the main street of St John's, Newfoundland. Many of the houses and shops in St John's are painted these vibrant colours. I suppose that the tradition started as a way of livening up what can be a lot of cloudy, foggy, or snowy weather in St John's. Gabriel and I had a wonderful holiday in Newfoundland in September of 2019. I went nuts there, photographically.

A portrait I took of Jacque Jacquline Flemmings is the cover photograph of Malvie, The Artist Edition, Vol. 3, October, 2020. It's the first time for both Jacque and me to be on a cover, so it's super exciting for both of us. The cover photo was taken at Kew Beach in Toronto just after sunset one day in July, 2020 at a time when Toronto was in pandemic Stage 3. The shoot was truly among the most collaborative efforts in which I've been privileged to participate as a phot...ographer. Suzy Tamasy of Oshawa, original fashion designer and the publisher of a fashion/photography magazine Biz & Fashion, contributed two gowns and a dress to the shoot. In the cover photo, Jacque is wearing one of them. Gabrielle Martin of Oakville is an experienced hair and make up artist who worked her magic with a deft understated but superbly elegant make up application, and fashioned an artistic style for Jacque's beautiful hair. My friend and fellow photographer John-Michael Lelievre provided his usual invaluable lighting and schlepping assistance. In this shot where Jacque is seated on a rock at the end of a rock promontory, there was no place to set the light stand. John-Michael had to find footing so he could safely hold the light stand in the air at a difficult angle so as illuminate Jacque exactly where I needed light to fall on her. The average non-photographer assistant would not do that. But John-Michael shares my passion: "Anything for the shot."