Community News
Coin 8 Studio, a gorgeous and spacious photography studio in Toronto, hosts its first ever female and non-binary only photography meet up, Queens of Coins
BY SELINA MCCALLUM
As a female photographer and videographer, most of the time I am surrounded by male photographers and videographers at events I go to cover. In most male dominated industries, women are often underestimated and overlooked for opportunities to show off their talent. So, when Nicola Yardy, the owner of a photography studio in Toronto called Coin 8 Studio, asked me to help them put together an all women and non-binary photographers and models meet up, I was super excited.
“The photography industry is really heavily dominated by men. And it may not appear like that in school because a lot of women study photography. Then going into having a career with photography, there really isn’t a lot of women, and they tend to be afraid to go to meet ups, because they’re usually a way higher level of guys. A lot of times women get asked to be models by men, even if they come as a photographer, which can be super annoying. I wanted to create a space that people can feel comfortable.” said Nicola.
The event, Queens of Coins, took place on Saturday, November 19th from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. We invited two fantastic female DJs, DJ Shannyn Hill and DJ Tangerine to spin tracks while photographers and models mingled and took photos of each other. The vibes were set, and everyone was having a great time taking photos in the huge studio that has many different set ups to choose from.
“I was super happy with it. We had like a lot of different people come out. The only thing I wanted to see was people making connections, making new friends and talking. I think that’s exactly what happened. I noticed a lot of people met each other for the first time and photographed each other for the first time. We also had some women entrepreneurs there as well. That’s what we love to see at these events, because then we can also hype their businesses by taking photos of them and of their clothing or of their products. And because that’s really what it’s about, pulling up all these women and non-binary people’s businesses.” said Nicola.
The three businesses that joined us were Chosen Design, a clothing brand, Bodied By Wens, an authentic wear brand, and TIE’s Natural Beauty, a beauty, cosmetic and personal care brand. All three businesses are also Black woman owned businesses! Bodied By Wens and Chosen Designs lent some of their clothing to models to wear for photographers. This is an awesome opportunity for the businesses to get more content to promote their items, and for the photographers and models to expand their portfolio.
Ironically, November 19th was International Men’s Day while Nicola and I had an event for women only.
“It was totally unintentional. I do not pay attention to International Men’s Day, so I did not know it was International Men’s Day. Shout out to all the strong men out there. They embrace not being a toxic man and they deserve a day too. But I didn’t know so my bad guys.” said Nicola.
The Queen of Coins Photography meet up will hopefully become a monthly event and continue to grow with more female and non-binary photographers, models and entrepreneurs coming to join.
“Going forward, I really want to branch out and open it to more vendors as I don’t just want it to be about photographers and models, I really want to bring in more women entrepreneurs and non-binary entrepreneurs, because there’s so little of us. Now we are dominating and it’s proven that women CEOs run their companies freakin’ better. They make money and I just want to support that. It’s really hard to become an entrepreneur, there’s a lot of things against you. And I would love for our events to be a way for us to showcase people’s skills, products, clothing, photography and modelling. It’s gonna get everybody together,” said Nicola.
Located at 927 Dupont St., Coin 8 Studio is great for parties, photoshoots, music videos, films, commercials and really anything creative you can think of. It’s a two-story studio with many props and set ups to choose from. Learn more and check out the rates at coin8.studio
If you’re a woman or non-binary person who would like to join our next meet up, stay up to date with when the next one is by following @coin8.stuio and @shotbyselina on Instagram.