Kevin Thom - Hamilton, Toronto, Ontario Photographer

I had a photoshoot with Lissa Hill of Lissa Hill Leathers last week. The idea was to create some commercial images that could be used to market her line of custom motorcycle leathers. We shot a few “catalog” type shots indoors in the studio at first. We kept these shots neutral so that the images would match the look of her website, and the black and red of the clothing could really pop out. We were blessed with absolutely perfect weather that day, so shooting conditions were ideal once we headed outdoors. We’d planned the shoot so we’d be out at “Golden Hour,” just before sunset. The skies were clear, giving us beautiful, warm light. Lissa had scouted out a perfect location in Ancaster, with open skies, little traffic, and a bit of twisty road. Our gorgeous models Michael and Sarah provided just enough attitude to match the leathers and bikes. In addition to being a great model, Michael also rides, so we took some lifestyle shots of him enjoying the open road on his bike.

We had to shoot quickly as the sun was going down, but I think we got lots of great results from our session. Here’s a selection of my favorite photos from the day.

I did a shoot a couple of weeks ago for my good friend Lissa Hill, who is launching her brand new line of motorcycle leathers. Lissa makes beautiful custom motorcycle and fashion leather garments, and it was great fun to find different ways to showcase them. Lissa’s made a few leather jackets for me, and I can vouch for how great it feels to have something custom made for you that fits your sense of style and your body like a glove.

We hired Sarah to model the clothes, and she did a great job. Sarah was a pleasure to work with. She’s an expressive model who is able to quickly find a pose and expression to match what needs to be communicated in the photos. Hair and makeup artist Sue Upton created a number of different looks for Sarah, so the photos would have some variety.

Sue Upton and Lissa Hill getting Sarah ready for the first photo of the day.

I went with high contrast lighting to emphasize the high contrast look of Lissa’s designs. I set up a single Alien Bees B800 strobe above Sarah on a boom, with only the standard silver reflector and nothing to diffuse it. I positioned Sarah close to the white background so she’d cast some interesting shadows.