It was a pleasure spending the day at Toronto’s Connect Language School. These smiles arent faked… The students are genuinely happy to be there and the teachers are incredibly passionate and knowledgeable about their work.
You can find out more info about this school, and see the photos we took, by going HERE
Here are some of the photos they used for their web and print. Click to enlarge.
What a fun photo shoot this was!
Like many Canadians, I grew up watching Don Ferguson, Luba Goy, and the rest of this classic comedy team do their thing on CTV or on the Comedy Network. In recent years they’ve been joined by the equally talented Penelope Corrin, Arnold Pinnock, Alan Park, and Craig Ferguson, for these yearly specials that skewer contemporary Canadian culture.
Air Farce asked us, through Callback Headshots, to do two sets of photos: Traditional posed cast photographs and then also something fun and New Years-y. We came up with some options and, keeping in mind the cast being great at improv and incredibly funny, figured that it would be fun to start with a “Classy New Years” vibe and then devolve from there.
The cast is as lovely in real life as you could hope… Funny, generous, and sweet.
Hope you enjoy. Click to enlarge.
Travel Photography is what got me into photography.
I would backpack with my SLR across Europe and Asia and found that I enjoyed the trip that much more when having to stop, look around, and compose that perfect little moment.The images from those first few trips ended up in my Contact Photography Festival gallery and to this day live on my website (check out the Art section).
So imagine my delight when Travelweek contacted me asking if I would go on a Trafalgar FAM vacation to Italy and document the trip with my camera. I jumped at the apportunity and some of those photos are here below. You can see the rest, as well as the travel blog and article I wrote for them, on Travelweek’s site at http://www.travelweek.ca/index.php.
And the Trafalgar vacation? Really great fun. You can find out more about their tours at http://www.trafalgar.com/can
Im looking forward to many more trips with my SLR.
This was a fun one.
Student CarShare is available on or around 15 campuses across Ontario. Select your school, reserve the KIA vehicle of your choice via a 24-hour reservation system, and then at the time of your reservation find your car located at the designated Student CarShare lot and you’ll be ready to roll!
It was my pleasure, through Abramovici Studios and Awkward Silence Productions, to do a creative studio photo shoot for this amazing new brand. The shoot focused on the myriad of ways in which typical and not so typical students can make use of the affordable and spacious cars. From loading them with sporting gear, to dj equpipment, to groceries, to filling up the car with crazy ravers. It was a fun shoot and were looking forward to more.
On Oct. 11, 1987, half a million people participated in the March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. It was the second such demonstration in the United States’ capital and resulted in the founding of a number of LGBT organizations. From this idea National Coming Out Day was born and is now an Internationally observed civil awareness day.
It has been our pleasure to support HSSE (Heterosexuals for Same Sex Equality) in their Closets are for Clothes campaign to raise awareness for National Coming Out Day. They do a whole lot of good and you should really check out their website at http://www.straightnotnarrow.ca/
Here are the SFW pics (with text) we did for the campaign. Please click to enlarge the thumbnail and view the whole pic 🙂
IMPORTANT: Not everyone who is closeted is in a safe place or time in their life to come out. If you need help in coming out, there are countless support groups, organizations and programs to help you.
I get asked all the time: “How does the session work? Is it bad to be nervous? Do I pose? Tyra said to “smise”… What in the blue hell is that?”
Ive been working as a headshot photographer for many years, with brand new actors, comedians, successful seasoned actors, and everyone in between. Those questions always come up and im always happy to answer them (Except for the “smise” one. Sounds dangerous and/or smelly). I tried to make the website as transparent as possible but sometimes the best way to explain what goes on in a headshot session is to, well, actually show people what goes on in a headshot session. Enjoy!
For this video we teamed up with Actor’s Connective Toronto, which is an amazing resource for actors looking to connect and learn. They ran a contest on the website and the lucky actor we took from pre-shoot jitters to post-shoot awesomeness was Oldfield Management’s Allyson Pratt, a lovely and talented actor with a bright future whose IMDB page you can check out HERE. We had a lot of fun in this shoot and hopefully answered some questions. If there is anything else you would like to know about getting Headshots, Demo Reels, or Video Auditions please get in touch with Callback Headshots. To connect with other actors and learn about our industry go to Actor’s Connective Toronto.
Oh! And the shots. How did they turn out? Click the thumbnails to enlarge and view:
Headshots, Demo Reels, and Video Auditions at www.CallbackHeadshots.com
Rob Baker/Ashley Botting/Jan Caruana/Alastair Forbes/James Gangl are BONSPIEL! every month at Unit 102
This is the thought that went through my mind when I saw Bonspiel for the first time:
“This is what it must have felt like to be in the Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976!”
I’m a big music nerd you see.
That show in 1976 featured The Sex Pistols as the headliners in a tiny little hole in the wall club in Manchester. There were maybe 42 people in attendance and after that show about half went on to form bands. The show was inspiring.
And that is how I felt after my first time attending Bonspiel! I felt lucky… Lucky to have seen the very best comedians in Toronto (current and ex Second City performers, Training Centre instructors, and all badass and smart) in such an intimate punk rock environment as Unit 102. And I felt inspired to go home and write.
I wanted to carry that feeling into the photo shoot and so drew inspiration from the imagery of one of the very bands that was to be formed after attending that landmark show: Joy Division.
Black and white. Classic.
But then to mess it up a bit… It is comedy, after all.
So I needed to figure out how to translate each performer’s character and personality into an image that would be classic (these people are really friggin smart) but also have something just a bit weird and punk rock about it (they’re also hilarious).
I’ll be releasing the entire shoot bit by bit over the next few weeks. Click thumbnail to enlarge.
Media: Wanna download and post these shots? Credit me as “photography by www.CallbackHeadshots.com” wherever you post the shots. Please contact me for the high res shots.
You can check out a few members of Bonspiel! and Second City in the upcoming feature film Ben’s At Home. The film needs your support… Check out the trailer, teasers, and win awesome prizes like free photo shoots and parts in our upcoming film by clicking HERE.
If you are a comedian I now have a Comedian Package available through Callback Headshots. It’s our portrait headshot package with a bonus promo shot (the above gallery would fall under that category) touched up free of charge. Check the links.
James Gangl
I see him as a shit disturber of the group. The very funny and very smart id of the group. Always raising the stakes.
James was awarded Outstanding Performance and Production from NOW Magazine for his solo show Sex, Religion & Other Hang-ups which also won the Ed Mirvish Award for Entrepreneurship and a Canadian Comedy Award for Best One Person Show. James was also nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award as Best Male Improviser. He teaches at The Second City Training Centre and at the Bad Dog Theatre Company.
Jan Caruana
I see Jan as the sweet and lovable victim to James’ and Rob’s scheming and shenanigans. A ying to their yang. As one of the funniest people I have ever seen perform, of course she is so much more than just that, but that was the immediate hit and so that is how I did her photos. While the initial plan was to do the whole shoot in B&W, Jan’s dress begged for colour.
Jan Caruana is an actor, writer, teacher and director, but improvising is what she loves best. She is a multiple Canadian Comedy Award winner and has performed across North America in a variety of comedy shows. A mainstay of many Toronto stages, Jan is known for her work in shows like Monkey Toast, That Moment When and About An Hour (Toronto Fringe Festival – Best of the Fringe). Recently, Jan co-wrote and performed in the Second City Toronto Revue The Meme-ing of Life, which received rave critical and audience reviews. She has appeared in films and television shows including Being Erica, I, Martin Short Goes Home and Mean Girls. Jan is a Gemini/Canadian Screen Nominated writer for her work with the YTV youth sketch show That’s So Weird and recently wrote with Andrea Martin on a web campaign to raise funds for Women’s College Hospital.
Ashley Botting
Sexy and Goofy… We thought it would be fun to bring out a mix of the two with Ashley’s photos.
Ashley is a two-time Canadian Comedy Award (CCA) winner, and was nominated for Best Female Improviser in 2010, 2011, and 2013. She’s an alumna of Toronto’s Second City Mainstage, where her ensemble writing got a Dora nomination. She is one third of the sketch troupe “Punch In The Box”, whose show PICK OF THE FRINGE! was nominated for a CCA for Best Comedic Revue. Recent credits include “It’s A Wonderful Toronto: The Rob Ford Holiday Spectacular”, and improvising Sondheim(esque) musicals with The National Theatre of The World with The Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. Ashley’s writing has been published in The Toronto Star, and NOW Magazine. Her voice can be heard the animated series Let’s & Go, Paws and Tales, Z-squad, and Beywheelz. She is a regular on-air contributor to CTV News Channel. Twitter: AshleyBotting.
Rob Baker
Rob Baker is hilairious, sweet, and you always feel there’s a chance he’ll pull his dick out. He was a no brainer casting choice to play the fun loving lead character of Rob in the feature film Ben’s At Home.
Rob Baker is an actor, writer and comedian originally from Vancouver. He wrote and performed in 4 shows with the legendary comedy theatre The Second City, including the “masterpiece” (NOW Magazine) Something Wicked Awesome This Way Comes. Recent TV highlights include roles on The Firm and Dan For Mayor. Theatre highlights include About An Hour (Best of the Fringe 2008) and Ubu Roi Massacred (Best Production, NOW Magazine). Rob has been nominated for numerous Canadian Comedy Awards, a Dora and was a co-recipient of a CCA in 2008 for Show-Stopping Number: The Improvised Musical. He recently starred in the romantic comedy Ben’s At Home.
Alastair Forbes
A long time performer at the Second City Mainstage in Toronto, Alastair developed a solid background in Shakespeare and clown, spending his time on various regional stages while working on his improv skills at the Bad Dog Theatre. He has appeared on CBC’s The Ron James Show and and both wrote and appeared on YTV’s That’s So Weird. Lately, he has mixed in more series roles such as his appearance on A&E’s Breakout Kings and as a guest star on CBC’s Insecurity.
I have a man crush on Alastair Forbes. He is one of the very few comedians who are able to be both hilairious and sweet. You can’t help but root for him, especially when he is forced to give piggy back rides to Rob Baker or getting punched square in the dick by James Gangl. Whether on tv, on stage, or in real life, Alastair Forbes is a charming and funny human being.
Why I got into filmmaking
Besides being your humble photographer and videographer through this website (and Callback Headshots) and also Awkward Silence Productions, I am also an actor and filmmaker. This series of blogs will describe how I made the transition from actor to filmmaker and along the way ill share tips and helpful links. Feel free to ask any questions in the comment section below.
**This blog is all about transitioning from being exclusively an actor to creating one’s own work. All my work as a filmmaker has led me to writing, producing, and starring in the upcoming feature film Ben’s At Home. I would love for you to be a part of it by clicking this link here where we have our trailer, a new comedy short, and the rest of our campaign. It’s filled with incentives and film-y goodness**
Being an actor is crazy. Job stability is non-existant, the hours are random, people can lose their soul in the superficiality of it all, and while sometimes the cream really does rise to the top, you do have to make peace with the likely scenario of your delicious cream spoiling on the kitchen table. Wow, that sounded wrong. Not erasing it. Anyway, the point is that the only good reason there is to want to be an actor is that you LOVE to act and NEED to act to be happy. I do. I love it and want to do it well. And there’s the rub…
If you’re a great engineer or businessperson, chances are that you will be rewarded for your good work with more work. Onwards and upwards to the next promotion! Being an actor isn’t always like that. In fact, many good actors don’t get to work at all… It’s one of the lovely little quirks to being an actor that you can spend your career doing very little acting at all, instead of spending the majority of it waiting for the phone to ring with an audition.
I did that for a long time.
This muffin is delicious! And so cheap!
A a few years ago I found myself on hold for Tim Hortons for the fourth time in 2 years. Being “on hold” means that casting for the commercial is down to you and maybe one other person the director is happy with. It’s now up to the client to choose based on their complex criteria (ie “This actor looks like/is my son!”, “I would have sex with him/her! “, or “I missed the other actor’s audition because I was ordering in sushi. This one will do! “). Basically, it means that you’re really really close. Close enough that you can taste the rent money, start fantasizing about that little trip to South America, or, if you’re an asshole, get semi hard thinking about all the Likes you will get when you announce your accomplishment on Facebook. It can be quite the head trip.
Three times I found myself waiting by the phone for that happy call from my agent. Tim Hortons had become my Moby Dick… The last great Canadian brand I felt I needed to represent, and after three failed holds I felt like I deserved this booking.
When the call came it was with the regret that I’ve been released. Someone else, someone who looks a lot like me but slightly different, would get the 3 grand for being endearing while talking about how reasonably priced and moist the new muffin tops are in a conversational way that is also full of marketing points. Then another actor would say something hilarious about how the hero (main actor) is eating the muffin upside down. Or something. I mostly watch nature doc DVD’s.
I was upset. And then I started getting angry at myself for letting it bother me. It made absolutely no sense. I knew logically that not booking a commercial doesn’t make me a bad actor but in that moment it felt like a big failure.
But why? I mean, it’s important to care about every audition you go on and I’m glad I do, but why let myself get upset? Well, it’s because at the time auditioning was all I had. And I wasn’t going out for much else besides commercials so not getting one meant not getting to do what I loved to do. At all. So much of my validity as an actor depended on me being convincing as someone who appreciates the value and moistness of muffins.
And that’s fucking insane.
To make things wierder, I realized then that I wasn’t even that excited by booking commercials anymore. I enjoyed the day on set and the pay but I was seldom proud of the work and, after all, money wasn’t why I got into acting. That was a big deal… Because it caused me to take a step back and ask myself “what would make me happy?”
Making my own stuff = Happy
The answer was and still is that I would only really be happy if I got to act in something truly good. Something that I myself would watch. Something that would stand the test of time. You know, something like Breaking Bad.
Unfortunately, shows like Breaking Bad don’t usually cast their leads in Canada. I looked around me and my realistic options at the time were more commercials, one liners in films that made believe Toronto was New York, and maybe a supporting role on a show like Corner Gas. Not much that would make me proud and happy.
That’s when it hit me: If I want to be happy and be in something im really proud of, im going to have to create that for myself.
I was already writing sketches and having a lot of fun onstage so I decided to take that experience of writing short and to the point sketches, draw on the deep pool of talent I knew through the comedy scene and doing headshots for actors for years, and transition into short films. The next blog will discuss just how that happened, and provide some tips on doing the same.
Ill say this: Starting to make my own work has saved my sanity. Now, without having EVERYTHING riding on every audition, I feel much happier auditioning and enjoy the process way more. Because I am actively creating my own work, whether it be web content, film festival shorts, or my upcoming feature film Ben’s At Home, I once again feel a measure of control over my acting career.
Here are a few of the places Awkward Silence Productions films have been to:
ps – This is just about my own experience. Im sure there were other ways for me to be acting in awesome stuff… Options like taking more acting classes with casting directors, network more, or, well, being a much better actor than I am. All would have likely resulted in more acting work. These blogs are just me sharing my own journey. Not prescriptive.
pps – I still would like to book a Tim Horton’s commercial. Papa needs a brand new laptop.
Jay Arzadon, a very respected personal trainer in Toronto, approached me to take promotional photos for his website. I decided to do a mix of colour and more dramatic grainy B&W using natural light with very little fill. If youre looking for a great personal trainer you can contact Jay through his website at
To view the pics properly please click on the thumbnail.
Its always very exciting working with opera singers. Tamara Wilson was especially a thrill as she has such a strong look and presence. When we saw her with her classic looking red opera dress we knew the look we wanted to go for. The result is “Red Dress” a collaboration between myself and my frequent collaborator Kurt Firla. He went for a sort of Monty Python meet Alice in Wonderland meets Salvador Dali look. That mixed media final product is the first shot here, but I also included the untouched (straight from camera) proofs. See if you can spot the original image!
To view the pics properly please click on the thumbnail.
Media: If posting these photos remember to credit as “photography by www.DanAbramoviciPhotography.com”
On this shoot I worked with makeup artist Anne Marie.
Graphic design by Kurt Firla.
In the 2012 – 2013 season, Ms. Wilson returned to the Canadian Opera Company as Rosalinde in a new Christopher Alden production of ‘Die Fledermaus’ conducted by Johannes Debus, Théâtre du Capitole as Lady Billows in a new production of ‘Albert Herring’, and Houston Grand Opera as Leonora in ‘Il trovatore’.