Architectural & Interior Design Photography, Corporate Commercial Photography, Advertising & Portrait Photographer | Ottawa | 613-558-7585 | justin.vanleeuwen@gmail.com
My weekend involved assignments that both involved water. The first one intentionally, a waterfight between two “competing” neighbourhoods Carlingwood and Hintonburg. Having seen it done in more extreme sports, I wanted to capture a before image of the combatants, calm, confident, with all their ammunition locked and loaded, then follow up with an after, wet, […]
My second cover assignment for Ottawa Woman, Carol Anne Chenard is a Fifa qualified referee on her way to the Olympics (marking my third Olympian photographed this year). Ottawa Woman prefers a more natural approach to the images they use, so I opt for soft light and locations on these editorial portraits with minimal post-processing […]
Actually, this was take one, but the previous image was the first to go to press – so I showed it first. Michael seems to be a natural model, along as a highly skilled athlete, he had no problem shooting off his own “blue steel” and rocking this shot. I would have loved to have […]
The latest issue of iRun magazine should be out today featuring some work I did for Canadian Olympians Dylan Wykes and Michael Tayler (Michael, you’ve seen before). Both were incredible subjects – there’s something about athletes that make them great for photography. Likely their fierce determination and resolve, but definitely their peak physical shape. While […]
I love it when a plan comes together. I worked with Nadine early last year, hers was my first planned composite family portrait outside of my own kids. This paved the way for an even more planned out shoot when she approached me to re-launch her blog “Adorkable Undies” to keep focused on her work […]
Rare is the time that I’m not assigned to take photographs of some sort of goings-on in the city. While some may take it as a sleight when iRun decided to go with their tried-and-true Ottawa Race Weekend Photographer Ian Murchison out of Toronto (fiend!), I took it as an opportunity to explore a personal […]
I lucked out on this shoot for Ottawa Woman magazine, a colleague of mine, who normally does their work, had a conflict in his schedule and needed someone to shoot some editorial photography for Ottawa Woman magazine ASAP. I quickly obliged (anything to help a friend out right?) and, since I was on a shoot […]
Featured on the cover the Kitchissippi Times today, is the young, Ottawa-based, Canadian, world champion (and soon to be Olympian) whitewater slalem kayaker Michael Tayler. It was a great morning on his home course at Ottawa’s pump station rapids. I brought in my two A-list assistants Lee & Chris knowing that, at some point, I […]
My good friend and fellow photographer Younes Bounhar recently acquired some new toys gear and we both had a free evening to put it to the test. Except. Except when I finally took out my camera from my tightly and carefully packed bag, I realized the only battery I was going to bring, was still […]
No-Post Friday The result of a few weeks straight of commercial work – which also means I can’t SHOW IT until it’s published – is not much to show on the blog right now. Of course there’s always the other thing I do: being a dad. Which meant a trip to the Children’s Hospital after […]
Part of the Mediastyle shoot was this small wall that, literally, popped out in areas, I couldn’t resist hitting it with some light and using it as a backdrop. I knew it needed to be simple, but effective, and I’d been itching to use the
I was recently commissioned to provide an Ottawa-based media consulting firm with headshots for their staff. I had worked with Mediastyle before, and I was pleasantly surprised when they offered me no direction on how they wanted their portraits to look. IE: I had complete control. A dream! Of course there were still limitations,it was […]
I photographed this family a few months back, but we kept going back and forth on which image we’d use as final (my clients get selects of how they look so they can pick and choose the image that individually works best for them) – that’s the great thing about shooting a composite – we […]
A little known fact: I also do “professional” headshots too. Now I don’t do a lot of super-dry coiffed hair & skin smoothed until you’re a barbie doll kind of stuff, I like to give all my portraits a vibe of reality that communicates my subjects; I want their character to come out. And yes, […]
Anatomy of a Shoot I may not always be able to meet my clients before I go shoot for them, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t gathered a bit of information on who’s going to be there, what their general interests are, and the potential to develop a common theme. Walking into the above shoot […]
Off to a late start on the blog am I? Whatever. I’ve been busy. My very first gig, when I moved to Ottawa, was with the front-man for a band called The Adopted. We’ve gotten together a few times a year to hash out some ideas and do some band shots, which has seen us […]
Today’s a good day, lots of new folks are coming to this site via Julie Cole’s blog post on YummyMummyClub and if you’re looking for *my* look at Julie’s family – I wrote about it here. It’s funny how some things lead to others. I was recommended to Julie by-way of a friend of hers […]
The Extreme family portrait series picks up back in Burlington Ontario, another family run business called that makes gummy vitamins, IRONKIDS & Adult Essentials. These things are delicious a great way to get your kids to take their vitamins, since they’re a candy that’s good for you; the only problem I’ve had with the boys […]
I’m a location photographer, I don’t own a studio, and I don’t much care to at this point in my career. That’s why when I’m contacted to do some professional business portraits, my mind starts spinning with potential locations near my subjects office. Why not just set up a backdrop, some lights, and have a […]
Extreme family portrait. I still have session dates available in and around Toronto as per last weeks post, so if you’ve been on the fence (we can do this literally if you like) about getting a photo get in touch with me ASAP. I’ll be in the area November 5th to 7th, and then “poof” […]
Social Media is a beautiful thing. I can probably attribute 95% of all of my business to twitter, the other 5% are almost direct referrals from friends – which I’ve likely made through twitter – or facebook. Julie Cole is a great example of both fusing together. Last year, just about this time, I did […]
This isn’t new, but I realized I hadn’t put anything up on this blog about my cover-shoot for iRun magazine with Dragon & Shark (Dragon-Shark?)
This was my third year leading Scott Kelby’s annual Worldwide photowalk in Ottawa, one of over 1100 walks worldwide, and our group of 40+ complemented over 28,000 walkers accross the globe. I decided to depart my my regular route of downtown Ottawa and bring the walk to my home-turf of Hintonburg and the nearby Ottawa […]
