Hybrid Shop and a trip to Toronto

The end of the year got busy for me.  I was all prepared to quietly go into the Christmas break with thoughts of marketing and maybe a print portfolio update but that was squashed by 2 assignments that dropped in the last week of December.

First up, I was contacted to shoot a portrait of Matt Curry at his Hybrid Shop for Ratchet + Wrench.  Matt was a great guy and very easy to work with.  I shot with a 24-70 and used a Speed light on a stand into an umbrella for some soft additional light.  I generally steer clear of umbrellas as they spill too much but in this case it worked great.   While the portrait was the reason I was there I couldn't help but hit him up on the niche he had created servicing Hybrid vehicles - specifically Toyota's Prius.  As a Prius owner I was surprised and ecstatic to find out the batteries could be refurbished close to 90% of factory and it was very cost effective.  New batteries from Toyota are a pretty penny and when these vehicles came on the market there was question as to longevity and repair.  Mr. Curry seems to have jumped on that with a purpose and created quite a business for himself.

Mr. Curry's location happened to be very close to Dulles Airport and I brought all my travel gear to US Customs right before our session to get the necessary paperwork for traveling to Toronto.  It was painless.  In fact, there have only been a few trips over the last 7 or so years of traveling internationally that I had to wait or was overly questioned.  Its a necessary formality for business travel and I always dread it because you just never know what is going to happen but it always seems to go fine.

I was in Toronto for Jupiter Systems, photographing a recent install of their product at the Durham Regional Traffic Management Center (DRTMC) just east of Toronto.  There, I met Dave Dankmeyer who runs the DRTMC.  He was great to work with and I was pleased I was able to take his portrait before heading out.  Otherwise it was a strait forward shoot, but the weather was a complication.  I shot the exteriors at dusk to hide the fact that the freezing rain was coming down.  I would have liked to spend more time on the outside of the building but the weather had a different agenda.  The following day I was tasked with picking up some "B-Roll" of traffic management in use around the area and while it was relatively dry and the sun even peaked out occasionally there was a winter storm bearing down on Toronto that afternoon about the time I would be departing for D.C.
  

I flew from Toronto to Montreal where the jet bridge froze in place and they had to unload the passengers through the rear of the plane onto giant busses.  I made my connection though my bags did not.  It was a crazy storm and there is no doubt I left on one of the last flights before the airports shut down.