Architectural & Interior Design Photography, Corporate Commercial Photography, Advertising & Portrait Photographer | Ottawa | 613-558-7585 | justin.vanleeuwen@gmail.com
Before they won People’s Choice at the 2015 GOHBA awards, GreenMark Builders‘ president Mark Kranenburg welcomed Our Homes Magazine into his soon-to-be home for the Winter 2016 edition.
2015 wrapped as a banner year for me. I took on more commercial photography assignments than ever before, shot more photographs in the year than I had in the previous two and, in the end, had my camera equipment stolen. Two out of three ain’t bad right?
New to my interior photography portfolio this year is Just Basements Ottawa, a company that specializes in (wait for it) basements! I had the pleasure of photographing three of their properties for the GOHBA awards this year for submission into two categories (yes, they compete against themselves). See some more of their work below.
For the third year in a row I was a sponsor at the Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association Housing Design Awards. Of course, I was also the photographer for a number of finalists and, of course, winners. In this post I’ll focus on the residential photography I did for RND Construction and their partners.
I was pleased to see my photography back on the cover of the latest issue of Our Home Magazine this season. It’s a great feeling as an editorial photographer to have your work represent the entire issue. It shows a lot of trust from the publisher and, honestly, is just plain cool to see on […]
I find that Extreme Family Photography goes in waves. It’s not something everyone needs every year, and that’s fair, because it’s a lot of work. Take the Stewart/Doubt/Howell/Evraire family above. Easily my largest composite image to date: 8 adults and 3 children (no pets in this one, thankfully).
What a summer! There wasn’t a day in July that I wasn’t out shooting. Corporate headshots, custom stock, editorial photography and events all kept this photographer as busy as he’s ever been. Bu,t in that time, I put aside a critical part of what I should be doing: I didn’t share my work! Now these […]
It was my great pleasure to be assigned environmental portraits for Ottawa Magazine’s 2015 Eating & Drinking guide. For starters, I love incorporating subjects into their places of work or leisure and I take pride in carefully staging and lighting a scene. Secondly, I’m a big fan of eating. I wouldn’t say I’m a “foodie” […]
The kind folks at MediaStyle were some of my first commercial photography clients in Ottawa. In 2011 I went for a hard-edged ring-light look to their corporate headshots. While I did follow-up portraits in the following years, nothing stood out quite like that first portrait set, so I wanted to go back to a more […]
Photographing a model home was a first for my interior photography career. While many residential spaces we photograph are still staged, they still have some elements of an existing human presence, something to make it “lived in”. At Minto’s latest development, Mahogany, we worked with their largest offering named “Poplar“. With little to no cleaning […]
What a pleasure it was to walk into my local craft beer brewer – Beyond the Pale – one day and have them ask me to take updated photos for their website. “You want me to do beer photography? Yes. Yes I will.”
When Shawn at Creativision calls you up to collaborate on a project with the talented Zara of XO Velo, outside on a day where it’s -30°C you don’t hide under the warm covers of your bed; you ask “Where and when?”
It can be funny who you meet at your child’s bus stop in the morning. In my case, a couple whose children go to the same school as mine also happen to be residential builders in Ottawa and had their own custom built infill just down the street. They also needed some proper interior photography […]
On a cold winter morning earlier this year I teamed up with Ottawa Singer/Songwriter Danielle Allard and body-paint specialist May Mutter to produce the promotional and cover images for Danielle’s forthcoming album, Chameleon.
It’s en-vogue to do a retrospective of one’s favourite photographs from the year. What sort of bugs me about this is it’s usually photographers selecting their own work, and why not? We got through it, took some good photos, probably more than a few bad ones, and maybe we need a bit of a pat […]
How fortuitous that my favourite hair stylist (yes, I get a “fancy” haircut) and one of my favourite interior photography clients came together to design the new Mint Hair Studio. While Grassroots Design hasn’t done a great deal of commercial interiors, I instantly fell in love with this transformed space.
It’s a great feeling when your editorial photography is strong enough for a university magazine to call you, without any prior relationship, to photograph their cover story. Gleefully accepting this important assignment to photograph Wilfred Laurier University Alumni Carolyn Wilkins, the first female Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, I wasted no time […]
This past July my trusty Alex and I took a road-trip past Toronto to Burlington, Hamilton, and Mississauga to photograph some amazing Extreme Families. This has become a sort of annual tradition for me, but I’ve certainly never photographed so many families in such a short amount of time. Usually, I’ve gone to photograph one […]
Not all interior photography is a full-on award winning home, quite often it’s a small but important renovation. I know incremental renovations are all I can afford, and a simple update to a bathroom, kitchen, or another important room of your home could be all you need to fall-in love with your space all over […]
I’ve been a professional event photographer longer than I’ve been a professional at just about anything else. It started off as “Hey, you have a camera, take some photos at this fundraising gala.” To full fledged official event photographer status for a number of corporations and not-for-profits in Toronto and Ottawa. The Canadian Internet Registration […]
I was thrilled to photograph this exciting new project by John Donkin Architect and RND Construction which went on to become a finalist at the Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association (GOHBA) Housing Design Awards in several categories and won the prestigious “Green Custom Home of the Year” award.
Money, kids, interiors; editorial photographer needed? I’m there. I had some great assignments from Ottawa Magazine these past few months. The above image was for the most recent issue featuring on money – the kids all had their own ways of earning it (or in some cases not earning it), and they all brought out […]
The thrill of interior photography is that you often don’t know what you’re going to see inside someone’s home and, as is often the case, you can walk away completely blown away by what you encounter. This was the case for my most recent editorial assignment from Our Homes Magazine, when I walked into the […]
I was thrilled to work with my long-time clients the Canadian Internet Registration Authority on their Annual Report to Members. This is the quintessential type of work for a corporate photographer: more than just headshots and portraits, we need to convey the people that are behind the organization. We only had a morning to work, […]
