Architectural & Interior Design Photography, Corporate Commercial Photography, Advertising & Portrait Photographer | Ottawa | 613-558-7585 | justin.vanleeuwen@gmail.com
Knowing your subjects always helps. Often getting to know your subjects means doing some research, google, a bit of social media stalking, to get a feel for who they are, what they’ve accomplished, so that you have a familiarity going into the shoot. Of course, actually previously knowing your subject makes it all that much […]
When the editor of Centre Ice Magazine proposing a two-page editorial spread I jumped at the chance. Every photographer wants their images printed big, and usually interior images are cropped down to make room for text and copy. In this case, the image was a function of the story, with text to be overlayed pointing […]
Spring is in the air here in Ottawa. Which is basically the familiar musk of rotting leaves and the leftovers of many a dog-walker from the winter, I swear, it’s worse than Paris in my Hintonburg neighbourhood. That said, I don’t think Winter is quite done yet, there’s always some sort of snowfall come April. […]
One of the problems I encounter as an editorial photographer is that the medium can dictate how we’re supposed to shoot. Newsprint, for example, doesn’t reproduce details well, and prints “wet” which can lead to ink transfers when the images contain too many black or dark colours.
A few portraits today. Typically, the new year starts of pretty slow for me, my clients rub off their hungover weary holiday eyes, realize they’ve spent all their money on egg-nog and iPads and need to hold off a bit until February to start booking me again. Thankfully, the Kitchissippi Times wanted the first issue […]
Working with Margot Johnston on an editorial photography shoot for Ottawa Magazine’s 2013 Interiors issue was a real treat. Mrs. Johnston’s father was the director of the National Gallery of Canada during a period that many consider an artistic Canadian renaissance. She had interactions with Prime Ministers, and many, now, famous artists. Apparently, having these […]
My first work to go to print in the new year is an Ottawa Woman feature with Kristin Shannon, a pharmaceuticals sales rep, who also happens to be an accomplished fundraiser and outspoken advocate for woman’s mental health. Essentially a traveling sales-woman, there weren’t a lot of location choices for our shoot. She works from […]
I photographed Sarah to help showcase her new play, one she’s co-written and staring in, based on the lives of civil servants. There’s few better representations of the brutalist architecture our indentured servants than Tunney’s Pasture – the place should have a perimeter fence. You can now read full Kitchissippi Times articles online, which isn’t […]
Harriet is was the Chef du Cuisine at Navarra Ottawa, a lovely restaurant in the market I personally had never been to before this assignment. Harriet is a hard worker, and while she wasn’t reluctant to have her photo taken, she’s certainly more used to operating behind the scenes. I took this image before opening, […]
I received an incredible editorial portrait assigment with these two incredible young athletes for Centre Ice a few weeks ago. We worked out of the busy “Sens Sportsplex” which houses 4 rinks, 8 teams at a time, and several hundred hockey parents chatting it up. It was hard to find any out-of-the-way spots to make […]
When you’re assigned to photograph someone who is to be addressed as “His Excellency” you expect a certain level of regency and pomp to come along with that individual. Of course none of that turned out to be true, as His Excellency was incredibly friendly, down to earth, regaling us with tales of his youth, […]
I was tapped by iRun magazine to do an editorial lifestyle photography spread on some new running gear for the fall, winter, and spring season – basically stuff to keep runners warm when it’s cool. The assignment didn’t call for much more than some headshots with the hats, which I accommodated, but I felt they […]
Ottawa Magazine brought me on to photograph the Zellers Family Diner or, at least, what was left of it. Zellers (a Canadian national retail chain) has had some turbulent times lately, and it’s final resting place seems to be a corporate takeover by U.S. big-box retailer Target. But, as you can see, not much has […]
Dr. Haykal isn’t my doctor, but she was awesome to work with on her day off a few weeks ago on my latest editorial portrait for Ottawa Woman. I went really simple with these portraits, I’ve been trying to get my location kit down to something very manageable, which forces me to be a bit […]
If you’re a hockey fan, you probably have mixed feelings about Ron Tugnutt’s career performance. Despite some incredible games and seasons, he had a rough go at others. That said, he’s a hell of a guy, and was great to shoot on this editorial photography assignment for Centre Ice. He’s taken on some vested interest […]
David Whellans Part 6 of 6 David was how I introduced the series, and I’ll finish it off with him too. David was one of the few I shot for this editorial series who, when I walked into the location (his home), I had two spots to use. The first you saw last week, his […]
Part 5 of 6 Dave and I went to see Peggy on a particularly rainy day. I hadn’t been to her expansive barn in Manotick before, but I did have an idea in my head of how I wanted a light and airy image taken from a high vantage showing the depth of the location. […]
Part 4 of 6 Nancy is a successful Ottawa realtor, but her claim to fame nowadays is chairing “Women for Mental Health” at the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health. Struck by the closeness of a local teenage suicide in age to her two daughters, she took to fundraising to raise awareness. Nancy was a […]
Part 3 of 6 We worked with Darryl on the last day of shooting for this assignment – the first subject of two in that day. I had to switch up assistants on this gig because Dave went and got himself a real job. My good friend Chris stepped up for this day which was […]
Part 2 of 6 After a few too many drinks one night, Paige Cutland decided to start a brewery: Hogsback. The first subject of my series produced for Ottawa Magazine, we were to meet with Paige at the “Keggerator” which, unlike a home one, holds *all* the kegs for the market. This location was a […]
Part 1 of 6 This was my first project undertaken for Ottawa Magazine and I really wanted it to show as my best work to date. It would serve to impress my new client (hopefully), and challenge myself to push my work ahead. I had recently read on David Hobby’s Strobist blog about Gregory Heisler […]
While I always try to shoot for the medium the images will be used in, sometimes I can’t help myself when a good portrait opportunity comes along. Ottawa Woman is newsprint, which means an excess of dark, or black, will smudge the paper (and fingers) around it. So it’s best to shoot lighter coloured, white, […]
I was excited to be contacted by Ottawa’s Great River Media to do some editorial photography work on the lead story for their brand new Hockey magazine “Centre Ice” with The Ottawa Senators latest draft Cody Ceci. It was a tight schedule, figuring out when to shoot Cody only a few days before deadline… he […]
The latest issue of Ottawa Woman should be hitting your local free newspaper shelves around the city. The feature story was with Kathy Cameron, a wonderful hair stylist up in the Market. We had a fun time during the editorial shoot, taking care of some basic and necessary cover portraits before she opened up, and […]
