Mitchel Raphael is a Toronto  photographer specializing in memorable creatives, epic events, portraits, head shots and politics.

He has experience organizing hair/makeup teams to produce classic or edgy head shots. He also routinely coordinates additional shooters and photo editors for events to allow clients to use social media to capture their events in real time. 

Prior to focusing on photography full time, he worked extensively in a variety of media. From fetish parties to federal political parties, 24-hour raves to 24 Sussex, Mitchel has been a cultural ambassador between viewers/readers and subjects when it comes to politics, pop and alternative culture.

For 6.5 years, he was a photographer and columnist with Maclean’s magazine, producing the political scene column Capital Diary. He traveled between Ottawa and Toronto and across the country during elections photographing and covering Prime Ministers, MPs and other political figures of significance from President Barack Obama purchasing cookies in Ottawa’s ByWard Market, to Dr. Missoula Jamal, the only woman to run for president in Afghanistan in 2004.

He was Editor-in-Chief of Toronto¹s gay magazine fab where he launched one of the first ever same-sex bridal issues and was able to double advertising revenue.

At the National Post he was an Arts/Life feature writer from the paper’s inception in 1998 until 2001. He covered such topics as drug cultures, electronic music, pop culture, hip hop, politics and transgender communities.

His York University MA thesis was entitled “Drag Queens, Sissy Boys and a Virus Called HIV.” Mitchel also created Sodom, a series of Toronto dance themed parties (sodom.ca). His poster photography for the club night transformed folks into an array of creative creatures from vampires to superheroes.

He believes that people now communicate more than ever though photos. Today’s screens are like the cave walls of our ancestors, and given the ubiquity of social media, he believes it is more important than ever to have photography that stands out in a crowd.