Award winning music video director Max Montalvo of Gabana Films (www.gabanafilms.ca) brought me in to shoot some portraits of the musicians and of the characters portrayed in Miss Emily's "Land of Greed" music video. This song is from her recently released album "In Between". If you don't have a copy yet, please go buy one - it's fantastic!

Miss Emily flanked by, from left to right, Gord Sinclair, Ben Vandergaast, Rob Baker and Rob Radford

I hadn't met Miss Emily (www.themissemily.com) until the day of the shoot. For me, the story that best sums up my experience with her is that she was still with us around 4:30am (hour 18 of a long day!) lugging stuff out of our location with a smile on her face (at least I think she had a smile - it was very dark!). She is warm, kind, generous, talented - amazing. Oh, and she's not one to prematurely call the fire department if she visits you at your smoke-filled home!

Miss Emily's band on this album features two Canadian icons, Gord Sinclair (bassist extraordinaire and producer of "In Between") and the incomparable guitarist Rob Baker. Gord and Rob's talent and generosity as musicians are only eclipsed by their talent and generosity as people, as their Order of Canada appointments attest. Rob Radford, a drummer whose versatility across a wide range of styles is boundless, and Ben Vandergaast, a phenomenal young keyboardist, are the other talented musicians in her band. It was an honour and a privilege to work with them and with everyone involved in this project.

For those technically curious, this was a three light set up using Profoto D2s. One light was in a 5' softbox camera left, one was in a 3' softbox overhead and one was bounced off the floor using a large silver reflector. The backdrop was created by the incomparable Sarah Oliphant (www.oliphantstudio.com) who has been creating backdrops since the 1970s for the likes of Annie Leibovitz, Mark Seliger, etc. She is, quite simply, the best in the world at what she does.

I am eternally grateful to the wildly talented Max Montalvo for bringing me along on this unforgettable journey. Special thanks also goes out to Deb Hamilton, stylist and makeup, Sarah Fairbairn, makeup, (www.sarahfairbairn.ca), Dan Hughes (www.danielhughesart.com), Nadia, Scott and Virginia Clark.