Keepin' it smiley while desperately trying to prevent photographer Mike Ford's photography equipment from blowing over.

Behind the scenes with Mike Ford on the Bee Scene shoot

by Chelsea LaVecchia

Photos by Tammy Thorne and Mike Ford

Bellwoods was bloomin', rain clouds were loomin' and us dandies were out to capture Toronto's park vibe on film (but actually digital) on a May afternoon.

The park was buzzing with folks jumping on that early spring sun, despite it looking as though it would rain in a few hours. We were there with the beauty bee dress from Twiss & Weber, sweet Public bike and questionable foot wear, ready to promote pollinators - and pedal power - in print!

The result - as it always is when working with photographer Mike Ford - was this great shot, seen below, for our new print issue (which you can pick up in better bike shops, TODAY!)

The main message is: Please stay ON the grass. We don't want pesticides in our parks and neither do our bees!

Mike shows us some poses in the first shoot location.

I was tasked with the difficult job of holding the light diffuser stand while the wind beat down on it. Our model Jehan Hashim practiced her slow, lazy walk (which we dubbed "the Coachella walk") while Mike snapped away.

Jehan poses for dandy photographer extraordinaire, Mike Ford on the Trinity Bellwoods set of our fashion shoot featuring a bee-print dress by Twiss&Weber. 

Jehan wore the dress by Twiss and Weber that we picked up at Freedom Collective here in Toronto. We paired the funky bee-print dress with gold and black accessories, but the main aim of the game was to show off the Public Bike from Cycle Couture. This bike will be raffled off at our launch party later this summer.

Jehan sitting pretty on the Public Bike. The bike will be raffled off at dandyhorse's launch party happening in tandem with the installation of the new Bloor Street bike lanes!

Halfway through the day we switched locations to get our overhead shot, as seen in our print issue in better bike shops TODAY and independent book stores next week. We moved on over to a park bench. And stole a puppy. No big deal.

Photo above by Mike Ford.

Puppy Molson made a good model, with his black and gold fur. After about ten minutes and alotta shots we returned him to his owner.

Mike getting a different angle from the park bench, while Jehan tried to make her folded legs look natural.

We wrapped up about an hour before the rain began.

Another great outtake by Mike Ford, below.

Our new issue of dandyhorse has arrived! dandyhorse is available for FREE at Urbane Cyclist, Bikes on Wheels, Cycle Couture, Sweet Pete's, Hoopdriver, Batemans, Velofix, and Steamwhistle. Our new issue of dandyhorse includes cover art by Kent Monkman, interviews with Catherine McKenna and the women behind Toronto's first feminist bike zine, lots of news and views on Bloor, Under Gardiner and the West Toronto Railpath and much, much more! Get dandy at your door or at better bike and book shops in Toronto.

Related on the dandyBLOG:

Shooting the nun: Behind the scenes

Behind the scenes with firefighters on bikes

Behind the scenes of our dandy fashion shoot: Lock ‘n’ Roll