In 2010, we approached the Hotel Le Germain in Toronto to see if we might be able to help out with some of the imagery on their website. National Marketing Director, Catherine Verdone confessed they were already working with a photographer they were happy with. But she was so impressed with our presentation that she revealed they were building a new hotel in Toronto at Maple Leaf Square, in conjunction with MLSE, owners of the Leafs, Raptors and Toronto FC franchises, and invited us to submit a proposal for the artwork for each room of the hotel. Then she then gave us an exciting bit of information - we would have access to the athletes.

Mike Komisarek for Hotel Le Germain at Maple Leaf Square

We got to work, and based on Matthew’s beautiful photography of pilates instructors for Merrithew Health & Fitness, Sylvia came up with the concept of working with the MLSE athletes as figure studies, with limited props, showing the “engine under the hood” - close-ups of the finely tuned bodies of each type of athlete. We hired a very fit model for some concept testing, and a few weeks later met at the hotel with Christiane Germain, Co-President and CEO of Germain Hotels. “This is very sensual” she said, thinking about how her guests would experience the work. Then quickly added, “But we must never use that word when we meet with MLSE.”

DeMar DeRozan for Hotel Le Germain at Maple Leaf Square

Luke Shen for Hotel Le Germain at Maple Leaf Square

Dan Gargan for Hotel Le Germain at Maple Leaf Square

We were commissioned to produce large scale artwork for each of the 184 rooms. The first shoot was was in August, with defencemen Mike Komisarek and Luke Shen of the Leafs. The second day of shooting featured Toronto FC defenders Adrian Cann and Dan Gargan and Raptors DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems. Though challenging, (access does not necessarily mean a lot of time), the shoots were a lot of fun- have a look at the candids after the video.

Here are selected images of the artwork in the rooms.