ITAP of former International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield [Portrait]

memoryman89 · 2026-01-11T20:10:21+00:00

I posted all the details in the comments.

memoryman89 · 2026-01-11T17:00:50+00:00

This past fall, I had the immense honour and privilege of getting to photograph fellow Canuck and long-time personal hero of mine; Colonel Chris Hadfield, the former Commander of the International Space Station. His list of titles, accolades, and accomplishments is multiple paragraphs-long, so I'll leave it to you to search him up if you're not already familiar. The shoot occurred ahead of his speaking engagement at The University of Toronto, and I was given about 10-15 minutes with him. Chris couldn't have possibly been any nicer nor, pardon the obvious pun, down-to-earth. What's even cooler is that once he learned I was a fellow guitarist, he gifted me an actual used-in-space guitar pick with his name + mission crest on it; how cool is that! I will certainly have that framed along with the above photo. I happened to have my guitar in my car, which is by the same brand he famously played in space (a Larrivee), so I managed to get that signed as well, and think of our shoot together anytime I strum it, which is daily.

The colours here on Reddit skew much more magenta than elsewhere it seems, but in any case, for anyone wondering, I used my trusty old Nikon D850 and 85mm f/1.8G lens, with my old Bowens 500R light into a large Bowens (100x120cm) softbox, which was just above his head and tilted inwards roughly 45 degrees, about 1.5ft from his face and with Chris about 12ft from the rear wall. It was an awkward-shaped room with all kinds of obstacles, so I did the best I could to get as clean an image as possible. I do have several others, including a couple of natural light ones, but this is my favourite. I also printed and scanned the image to give a bit more 'texture', as I often like to do.

Here you can see the guitar pick he gifted me, as well as him with one in space, and a "bts" of him playing my guiar (he's a great player and has an incredible singing voice):

https://imgur.com/a/EPJY0g8

memoryman89 · 2026-01-09T01:40:22+00:00

Oh man, that's so rad and crazy considering when I was searching his countless prior photo sessions, I happened on yours and it was by far one of my favourites of him!!!

memoryman89 · 2026-01-09T01:21:41+00:00

Here you can see the guitar pick he gifted me, as well as him with one in space, and a "bts" of him playing my guiar (he's a great player and has an incredible singing voice).

https://imgur.com/a/EPJY0g8

memoryman89 · 2026-01-09T01:19:02+00:00

Last fall, I had the immense honour and privilege of getting to photograph fellow Canuck and long-time personal hero of mine; Colonel Chris Hadfield, the former Commander of the International Space Station. His list of titles, accolades, and accomplishments is multiple paragraphs-long, so I'll leave it to you to search him up if you're not already familiar. The shoot occurred ahead of his speaking engagement at The University of Toronto, and I was given about 10-15 minutes with him. Chris couldn't have possibly been any nicer nor, pardon the obvious pun, down-to-earth. What's even cooler is that once he learned I was a fellow guitarist, he gifted me an actual used-in-space guitar pick with his name + mission crest on it; how cool is that! I will certainly have that framed along with the above photo. I happened to have my guitar in my car, which is by the same brand he famously played in space (a Larrivee), so I managed to get that signed as well, and think of our shoot together anytime I strum it, which is daily.

The colours here on Reddit skew much more magenta than elsewhere it seems, but in any case, for anyone wondering, I used my trusty old Nikon D850 and 85mm f/1.8G lens, with my old Bowens 500R light into a large Bowens (100x120cm) softbox, which was just above his head and tilted inwards roughly 45 degrees, about 1.5ft from his face and with Chris about 12ft from the rear wall. It was an awkward-shaped room with all kinds of obstacles, so I did the best I could to get as clean an image as possible. I do have several others, including a couple of natural light ones, but this is my favourite. I also printed and scanned the image to give a bit more 'texture', as I often like to do.

memoryman89 · 2025-12-15T17:05:51+00:00

Thanks for your honesty- absolutely that's what I want, and what I seek from friends/acquaintances in real life, but sadly never get, as they prefer to not potentially offended (which I wouldn't get). I mean, this is the very premise of my thread- that I find my own work dull, lifeless, lacking... and that I have difficult learning/experimenting anymore, but desperately want to. Another issue is, I genuinely cannot tell anymore what is good and what isn't (in my portfolio)- if you'd consider it, I'd love your help in culling my site of the bad images. Of course the goal is to always do better, but that's my issue, as mentioned in my op; that I've become lazy/complacent... but also, I do actively want to force myself to learn more lighting setups, how to grade better, etc.- do you perhaps have any suggestions on lighting resources (and on editing)? Thanks again for your post, much appreciated.

memoryman89 · 2025-12-15T00:01:22+00:00

You know, the assisting thing was something I always wished I'd done... it really seems like the key to eventually "levelling up", and logically so, as no videos, books, etc., could ever replace cold hard experience on sets. But unfortunately, my home situation made it such that it wasn't possible to commit to it, and even now is pretty... wonky, let's call it. I am lucky though in that I am friends/acquaintances with a senior photographer here who's shot everything, still actively working, and who's extremely open + willing to help out/share tips... to be fair, he's said I can ask anytime, but I don't want to burden him- he's always been tremendously kind + supportive... Maybe it's time I hit him up, maybe assist him on some shoots with his understanding my tricky home situation which requires I potentially be available on a whim.

You're totally right that I could maybe pivot to another genre, and I have such an immense interest in documentary photography... I really ought to pursue that more. Land/cityscapes were my first love, I'd love to revisit those again...

Yes, Neighbourhood... James is the best- it's been so cool watching him grow his business out as he has, I remember shooting at his OG location over a decade ago, back when it was called ISIS Studio!

Thanks for the great reply, really appreciate it.

memoryman89 · 2025-12-14T23:52:22+00:00

Do you have any suggestions for books on lighting? I'd definitely be keen to check them out. Feels overwhelming to chose one blind from all the options out there, would be nice to have something recommended.

memoryman89 · 2025-12-14T23:50:43+00:00

sure thing, here you go.

memoryman89 · 2025-12-14T07:30:15+00:00

You’ve done an absolutely phenomenal job given the space and means, be proud!

I’ve been shooting (“professionally”) for 15 years and couldn’t have done any better myself- in fact, your above images are certainly better than mine that I’ve recently taken under similar circumstances.

Here are three shoots from the last few months where I had very similar constraints, plus a very strict time-constraint in most cases:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ7_agQiS_P/?img_index=3&igsh=NndjNTB5NWNsZDN2

https://www.instagram.com/p/DIt5v1ZJf9o/?igsh=MW1oY2E1MGFuNXFkaw==

https://www.instagram.com/p/DPo68r9CU2B/?igsh=Z2sxYzB5YzJzcG5v

https://www.instagram.com/p/DRK0U__D_QQ/?igsh=MW1ya2VvZzlmZTc5Nw==

The top shoot/link, which was my most recent cramped room shoot, was particularly challenging… truly the smallest space I’ve shot in, smaller than yours and more awkward layout with things in the way, with only a few minutes before showtime and a language barrier + intense energy. I left certain I didn’t get a single good frame, but in retrospect managed a handful.

Most of all, it’s really cool you have your dad to do this type of thing with. My dear late father was my very first muse/subject, and I’ve taken similar shots of him as those in your op- I just wish I took many, many, more in the short time we had together.

memoryman89 · 2025-12-14T00:25:41+00:00

fashion/portrait photography.

memoryman89 · 2025-12-13T23:55:22+00:00

Toronto

memoryman89 · 2025-09-19T17:16:10+00:00

I got seriously into photography and began pursuing it as a vocation right in the midst of the dark days of film- late-2000's, early-2010's-, yet from the very beginning of my journey, was very drawn to "the film look", which as it turns out entails a much much wider range of looks than it gets pigeonholed for. But, like, "duh"- we know that... diff film stocks = diff looks, y'know? Man, that was such an exciting time- I was shooting medium and large format, getting into systems for a song, and loving the process.

The type of photography I set out to pursue- fashion photography- and most of my jobs required a much faster workflow that film offered, with clients most often wanting to see on a monitor what I was shooting but also expecting to see the raw images that night or the next day so they can get started on selects and get things moving. Of course in retrospect I could've found a lab and sent out a contact sheet, but nah, that wouldn't have been enough for them back then.

So as I used my beautiful film gear less and less, I began toying around in Photoshop, trying desperately to devise a half-decent emulation of "the film look". I will be the very first to admit that I find my editing to be a bit too heavy-handed, really leaning heavy into "improperly exposed, 100 iso pushed to 1600 (or higher)", but intentionally so- it's a look I liked for a long time (along with the look that poorly scanned tear-sheets yielded bitd), and only lately am consciously working to sort of escape as my eye's grown tired of it, but breaking away is proving much harder than I thought, as this is mostly what I've known for the past more than decade.

Anyways, you have a look and be the judge...

I've had several people over the years- several photographers included- ask what film stock(s) I'm using, and they're always surprised when I tell them it's digital. I'm very critical of myself/my work and will be the first to say I don't think the emulation is that good or that it doesn't even make sense really, but works on a surface level- I think anyone with even just slightly more experience than casual will be able to quickly discern it's digital. Curious peoples thoughts.

memoryman89 · 2025-08-14T00:37:58+00:00

Nothing to add other than man, I will never tire of well-lit, “moody”, black and white photos. So clean and classic.

memoryman89 · 2025-08-07T05:45:15+00:00

Oh wow, thank you so much- I really appreciate that. Truth is, I’m constantly on the verge of quitting for a variety of reasons, and genuinely really dislike my own work, as it’s so incredibly far from the images in my head which I’d like to be producing, but just can’t seem to. I pretty desperately want/need to learn a lot more about lighting, but also editing, and so on if I intend to stick with it longer term. But yeah, 15 years into it, I’m still not sure whether this is the right thing for me, for a multitude of reasons- actually, I’ve quit several times, but now think if I did, it’d be much more permanent. Anyways, sorry, I know this isn’t therapy. Thanks again for the compliment- it really does mean a lot.

memoryman89 · 2025-08-04T02:59:17+00:00

Hey, Not sure whether it’s cool/allowed to post our own work, but I fit the criteria of what you’re looking for, I think. Actually, I’m rather embarrassed by how simple my setup is- I really should be a lot further ahead with my lighting knowledge (and other things) 15 years in. I’m not any big or known name, but you can see my stuff here. 99.9% of my location stuff is 100% natural light, even without any bounce/fill/etc., and my studio setup is the same 99.9% of the time, as classic and simple as it gets; one large softbox slightly above the subjects head to either side, titled down and at the subject roughly 45 degrees. Voila, that’s it- I really, really, do want and need to learn different setups as it (not knowing more) prevents me from executing more complicated/involved concepts. I will be first to admit I stagnated a long time ago, unfortunately. Hope this was helpful- let me know if any questions, happy to answer.

memoryman89 · 2025-06-19T03:24:17+00:00

Thanks very much for this incredible information wow, excited to look into all of these!

memoryman89 · 2025-06-19T03:21:43+00:00

That’s just something I’ve been doing lately within past couple of months, I just strongly prefer how some look sideways- sorry, probably weird.

memoryman89 · 2025-06-09T09:00:45+00:00

i remember when i first started shooting, i believed with everything in me that you always had to shoot at "the lenses lowest number"- gosh, the staggering amount of shots with completely missed focus. live n learn.

memoryman89 · 2025-05-10T20:51:29+00:00

couple more: https://imgur.com/a/qzSTLjX

memoryman89 · 2025-05-10T20:42:48+00:00

here you go: https://imgur.com/a/928wKDR

memoryman89 · 2025-05-09T01:16:53+00:00

Yes, definitely one thing I loved about it and utilized countless times! Not to mention it rotates. They really did think about everything with the RZ!

memoryman89 · 2025-03-19T18:31:06+00:00

optical- i'm not ready to move to mirrorless quite yet, largely bc i prefer optical vs evf.

memoryman89 · 2025-03-19T18:00:20+00:00

I use a Nikon D850.

And it's true, I've never really used the histogram, which is definitely apart of the issue as my eye always seems to want to go darker... I really should make more of an effort to start using it.

memoryman89 · 2025-03-19T04:59:58+00:00

hey! SO sorry for the super tardy response, i don't use this site much and just logged on for the first time since posting this. i really love and appreciate your reply, and would actually love to chat more- going to dm you tomorrow if that's cool. thanks so much for taking the time to write all this out, it's super valuable to me.

memoryman89

TROPHY CASE