Architectural & Interior Design Photography, Corporate Commercial Photography, Advertising & Portrait Photographer | Ottawa | 613-558-7585 | justin.vanleeuwen@gmail.com
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to work with the Ottawa-branch of one of the largest Architecture firms in the world on a corporate office interior they designed. Located in downtown Ottawa, Perkins+Will created an open and collaborative mixed use environment for a fortune-500 tech company.
Q: How many lights did I use to take this portrait? A: Just two, and you can learn how to do this simply and effectively too – even if you’ve never use a light before. Get over your fear of speedlights and strobes: sign up for my workshop taking place Sunday October 26th. The Learn […]
A product photo for my review of the Canon 40mm ƒ/2.8 “Pancake” lens for Canonrumors.com. It was a fun thing to do, honestly, 90% of my product photography is against a white backdrop. It makes sense, most websites have white backgrounds, white sits well as an image into them highlighting the product but it just […]
Saturday’s Photowalk has come and gone. I was pleasantly surprised to find over 30 folks turn out (and many of them I didn’t know yet!). It’s the first walk that the main group walked WAY ahead of me, so far I had to tweet them to slow down. It was a beautiful day, full of […]
Hey there! Perhaps you’ve heard of photowalk I’ll be leading in Beechwood Village this Saturday July 21st. (if not, you can read about it on
The past few months have been the busiest of my relatively short career. This is good, it means I’m growing and building new things, finding new clients, and pleasing old ones as they return. The above photos are of my new bathroom. Nice, yes? We had the reno’s done by Ottawa’s RND Construction, who I […]
You can catch even more me over at CanvasPop’s blog this week talking about protecting your images online (if you choose) don’t miss it! My friends at CanvasPop called me up a few months ago to take the product photographs for their upcoming Facebook print launch. They had tapped the Facebook API so that users […]
I’m not here today, not really, apparently I’ve had a few beers and you can find me writing about them on LTOttawa, drinking them while playing games on Macgasm or writing off-the-cuff remarks after having a few on G+. Enjoy – and happy weekend!
I mentioned it last week when I showed off Julie’s extreme family portrait session: I am now offering a limited number of portrait sessions in the Toronto area. Timing is tight, I understand that a lot of you will want images in time for the Holidays (yes, despite best efforts they have, again, come our […]
Persistence is key, in everything you do. I don’t know why I keep having to re-learn this lesson. Anything you want, you can probably get, if you persist at it. It might take hard work, it might take a lot of hustle, but if you’re willing to do more than the other guy, do it […]
So we got one of these. I’ve been busy lately, busy is good; indeed, busy pays the bills. But busy can also mean I neglect other things I take pride in, like this blog. I made a commitment to myself to update weekly this year, and even though I haven’t quite met that challenge (sadly), […]
Did I skip a week between posts? oops – my bad. I was contacted this week by my local (like, neighbourhood local) paper, the Kitchissippi Times, to cover the Hintonburg 5K for my first editorial photography assignment. I jumped at the chance, of course, since I love being associated with my neighbourhood, but it’s not […]
I’ve been living in layers for a while now, two kids, from Toronto to Ottawa. A retailer to fundraiser to full-time photographer and, often, daddy-day-care. I skipped a few steps along the way, so last week Mel & I finally went and got married. It was small, just a few closest friends, some family (who […]
I’ve been a contributor to the Spacing Ottawa blog since it was launched a few years ago, I’ve had a great working relationship and friendship with it’s editor Evan Thornton too. He has been my proponant and a fan, which always makes it easier when working on assignment for them. I’ve even been fortunate to […]
Last week I had the pleasure to photograph a very special cheque presentation here in Ottawa. A local fundraising group, on behalf of the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF), had raised money for local women’s shelters. This kicked off the CWF’s Shelter from the Storm campaign, which aims to raise awareness AND money for women’s homes, […]
As creatives, and importantly, as professionals, we should all take a workshop, if you live in Ottawa, you should take THIS workshop specifically. In 2009 I had learned my camera, all the lenses, f-stops, buttons, and settings and whatever other douchery I could handle. But I was strugling with a fundamentally “noob” issue, a weak-point […]
Fortune favours the prepared. I was asked to complete a special project for iPolitics.ca last week, budget day, a bit out of what you normally see me display on the blog. While I was there taking pictures, the quantity asked of me far exceeded any shoot I had previously undertaken. I was to document the […]
Just popping in here to thank everyone for all the positive feedback, comments, tweets, and emails from last weeks post. The site got almost 500 visits that day which, for me, is quite good. It made me realize (and correct me if I’m wrong) that content is, truly, king, and that If I could maintain […]
Went wreath shopping with the family today – the Parkdale market is very much within walking distance of where I live – and they have scores of cut trees and branches all smelling pine-ey and Christmasey. The light in the sky today was beautiful, so I wanted to capture SOMETHING with my G11 while walking […]
What a crazy week! Thank you everyone who came out to the event on Monday – that night left me on my ass both humbled and slightly drunk. The next few weeks are also going to be great – intense even – coffee with a client tomorrow, Friday afternoon band shoot, Saturday Wedding, Monday night […]
I’m going to put this simply: If you live in Ottawa, or specifically Hintonburg, come by Hino Restaurant on Monday October 25th. Doors open at 7pm, there’ll be a bit of food to much on, some prints I’ve made special with the boys and girls at Canvaspop. There’s gonna be some good people there, Photographers, […]
I’ve been showing a lot of abstract stuff lately, likely because it’s what I’ve been shooting. Usually, when I walk by a location, I think “oh, I want to put a PERSON in there” for a portrait, so I have to force myself to rethink and look at the details that drew me to a […]
Ottawa’s 95 bus. Takes people accross the city, on a journey… …A stinky, cramped journey.
For a few years you (my readers) have steadily come to this site in search of, well, I’m not quite sure what. At first it couldn’t have been good photography, though I hope to have relieved you, mostly , of that burden, by producing some work that I’ve come to be proud of. Over that […]
