About two years ago I wrote a post about working for free, for pay. As a new photographer in Ottawa, I was looking for clients, and for some projects, I had no portfolio to show to get the work, so I did the work on spec – but still charged if the client wanted to use the images. The prospective corporate interior client was the Ottawa Marriott Hotel, and sure enough, they did select, pay for, and use several of the images I photographed two years ago.
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Steve came to me asking for help conveying an image that he had in his head, it was a visual representation of how he felt.
Scared, sexually abused, and silenced as a young boy, Steve has grown into a very capable and accomplished man. He’s a professional athlete, Iron-man competitor, and barefoot runner. You look at him and think “This guy can defend himself.” But, and this is the point, at one point he was just a young boy, and couldn’t, and nobody saved him. Nobody could, because nobody knew.
Hockey Family – Ottawa Editorial Portrait Photographer Justin Van Leeuwen
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 at areas to keep your family healthy and fit.
Nature Family – Ottawa Editorial Portrait Photographer Justin Van Leeuwen
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. So to remind you about that, I wanted to share a quick shoot I had for Capital Parent newspaper.
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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.
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