The Sheer Energy of Steph Tolev
Earlier this spring Netflix released Bill Burr’s Friends Who Kill Standup Special and featured on that was Steph Tolev. I’m a huge standup fan, I watch as many specials and clips as I can. I like pretty much all kinds of comedians. Storytellers, One Liners, Classic Punch liners and Energy comics. I’d put Steph in the energy comic world. She hits the stage and it’s just like a lightning bolt, she has such a unique energy and stage presence I really enjoyed being introduced to her stuff. She’s definitely an acquired taste, if you don’t like sexual or raunchy humor you may not enjoy her. Luckily, I love it. I loved her vibe as the kids say.
I reached out to Steph after seeing the special and we set up a shoot, which was great timing for her because the following week Bill Burr had her open for him at sold out shows in Toronto. Steph is Canadian so it was a huge deal for her, I’m happy we got to shoot together on the precipice of her career blossoming and caught an exciting moment in her life. She was so so funny on set, and just an all around cool gal. I dug working with her and goofing around in the studio. And I learned that she lives in my neighborhood so it’s entirely possible I’ll see her walking her dog one day. Thanks for the time and best to you Steph! Keep going!
For the photo nerds who read these:
Image 1, 7 - bare LED continuous light about ten feet from her
Images 2, 4 - Two lights, a large octa behind camera for fill and a large photek softlighter as the key - Roughly 2-1 power on key versus fill.
Image 3 - Two lights but with a chameleon window film held over the lens
Image 5 - One large octabox feathered in front of her
Image 6 - Long exposure with zoom