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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 sort of connections and being a teen also made her the subject of many pieces of original art. Many of these pieces (though certainly not all) adorn her modest 700 sq ft (literally squared) flat, attached to her Son’s family home.
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Jan 24, 2013 | Categories: Editorial, Interiors, Portraits | Tags: Editorial, Environmental Portrait, Exterior, Interiors, Ottawa Magazine, Portraits, Print | 1 Comment »
One of my best clients, Ottawa’s boutique media-management firm MediaStyle have been incredible clients and creative partners with me for the past two years. Last year, I came in and produced which were (and still are) some of my favourite business portraits for the team. While I certainly know how to re-create the images, it becomes a bit of a chore when you’re a hot startup with a constantly expanding and changing talent pool. It was just too expensive to come in every time they had a new staff member join and set up all the equipment for a single profile pic.
Something they also needed was some web content, more than just smiley twitter or LinkedIn Profile photo, but some “at work” themed photos that create a bit of customized stock imagery for them to use on blog posts, about pages, and other potential publications (not limited to coverage in fancy magazines). So we decided to have me come in during a regular work day, shoot them at work, then finish up with a one-man portrait setup, simple enough to pop in and replicate… which I already have to do since there’s someone new already working there (see you tomorrow guys!).
It’s always a pleasure working with other creatives, they hire you (me) because my skill-set is something they want, but also give me the freedom to create images as I choose, since they know the better product that can come from some creative freedom. I like the new profile images, they’re quite different from the hard look I shot last year, and hopefully give their team a bit of a more approachable online presence.
You can see a few of these bigger over on flickr.
Jan 21, 2013 | Categories: Commercial, Portraits | Tags: Business, Commercial, Headshots, Ian Capstick, Mediastyle, Ottawa, Portraits, Social_Media, Softlighter | 2 Comments »
There’s a few things going on for me outside of regular work and this here blog, so I figured I’d give my readers a quick update as to what’s going on.
First off, the above portrait is of Tom, the father of a groom at a reception I recently shot. I don’t often shoot weddings, they’re not even in my portfolio, but when the right client approaches me and our visions meet up I’m happy to come out; I love meeting new people.
Tom was sitting in a fairly dark corner of a lovely wood-panelled room enjoying his Guiness – he had so much character I knew I had to capture that moment. I quickly set up my softbox (even though I was packed up for the night) and asked if I could take a portrait – he obliged. I didn’t ask him to change a thing he was doing, just stay seated, enjoy the hard earned beer: he was perfect just the way he was.
The photo was taken with a 50mm ƒ/1.2 lens. Which I normally wouldn’t mention, except I was reviewing it for CanonRumors and that review is now available for your reading pleasure here. It’s not my first review, and hopefully not my last, keep an eye over there for more in the next few weeks and months.
It’s also possible, if you’re a photographer who likes to read, you’ve seen the latest offering from Craft & Vision, maybe you even noticed it has my face on the cover. Don’t worry, that cover image is the extent of my involvement and Corwin has a great list of photographers lined up in there giving you some solid tips on how to run your business as a photographer. Save a buck and get it for just $4 if you use the coupon code MONGER4, or you can grab both Corwin’s books for $8 here.
I think that’s enough reading for you this Monday, enjoy!
Jan 14, 2013 | Categories: Portraits, Review | Tags: Craft & Vision, Ottawa, Portraits, Reception, Reviews, Update, Westcott Apollo. | Comments Off on Status Update: Portrait, Review, Recommended Reading
Over the summer I was contracted to produce the portraits for a new Ottawa law firm McNally Gervan LLP. They knew their logo branding was going to have a simple red and white design – any hint of direction is helpful when creating commercial images – so we opted to work with a seamless white backdrop for maximum versatility. The images you see above certainly have a consistent look and theme, we tried a number of different poses – the client seemed to like the *tough* arms crossed look – including full length (setup with stand-in Quinn below)
A larger version of this setup shot, with lighting details, is available on Flickr.
You can see we were working in a pretty tight space, an office/boardroom where we pushed all the boxes and tables out of the way just to maximize the depth we could shoot with. While our setup was geared towards the portraits, we went with a full-seamless in case the client wanted to show themselves as a team, grouped together against the white – I only did one of the principles, Matt, this way to show you what I mean
In the end I had to come back to shoot a new hire and one-do over, I simplified the setup (now knowing they weren’t going to select the full-body images) and, aside from the stronger rim lights at the side, the look carries through. I’m happy with the sharp, professional, yet modern look to their images, something that represents their sharp new business.
Jan 07, 2013 | Categories: Commercial, Portraits | Tags: Business_Portrait, Commercial, Commercial, Law Firm, Lawers, McNally Gervan, Ottawa, Portraits, Seamless White | 2 Comments »
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 home, out of the trunk of her car, and into doctors offices (which there was no way we’d be able to shoot in).
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Jan 02, 2013 | Categories: Editorial, Portraits | Tags: Editorial, Ottawa, portrait, Woman | Comments Off on Ottawa Editorial Portrait Photographer: Kristin Shannon for Ottawa Woman
