Today I went out and photographed during many photographers’ nightmare: Mid-Day Sun. (Eek!) Afternoon engagement photos can be quite challenging – If you’ve ever booked a session with a photographer chances are they’ve tried to schedule the session during sunset, sunrise, or some time other than noon or 1pm. There’s good reason for this – With the sun high up in the sky during mid afternoon it’s usually super bright, causing subjects to squint and creating harsh ‘hot spots’/bright spots to appear on faces and clothes, and generally the light can be quite strong and unforgiving. So, many photographers understandably avoid shooting during this time altogether. But, as much as other times may be favourable, we can’t always choose when a photo session will happen, and so it’s important to be equipped with techniques that make you adaptable in all sorts of situations. So, though I already have some techniques up my sleeve, I wanted to learn more, and I spent some time with another awesome Toronto photographer named Hugh Whitaker who had some awesome pointers – thanks again, Hugh! It was super fun taking some time to go out and shoot for fun – bonus that I got to hang out with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while on a beautiful day. (Shoutout to Monika and Dave for being such awesome models today – thanks, guys! And happy almost 3 year anniversary!) Though Mister Sun didn’t come out to play too much, I experimented with some new techniques I definitely plan to continue using. Anywho, thought I’d share a couple of photos from today’s Professional Development/fun shoot – it’s always nice learning and trying out new stuff! Mid-day Summer sun, maybe we can be friends? 😛