Architectural & Interior Design Photography, Corporate Commercial Photography, Advertising & Portrait Photographer | Ottawa | 613-558-7585 | justin.vanleeuwen@gmail.com
2015 wrapped as a banner year for me. I took on more commercial photography assignments than ever before, shot more photographs in the year than I had in the previous two and, in the end, had my camera equipment stolen. Two out of three ain’t bad right?
New to my interior photography portfolio this year is Just Basements Ottawa, a company that specializes in (wait for it) basements! I had the pleasure of photographing three of their properties for the GOHBA awards this year for submission into two categories (yes, they compete against themselves). See some more of their work below.
For the third year in a row I was a sponsor at the Greater Ottawa Home Builders Association Housing Design Awards. Of course, I was also the photographer for a number of finalists and, of course, winners. In this post I’ll focus on the residential photography I did for RND Construction and their partners.
I find that Extreme Family Photography goes in waves. It’s not something everyone needs every year, and that’s fair, because it’s a lot of work. Take the Stewart/Doubt/Howell/Evraire family above. Easily my largest composite image to date: 8 adults and 3 children (no pets in this one, thankfully).
It was my great pleasure to be assigned environmental portraits for Ottawa Magazine’s 2015 Eating & Drinking guide. For starters, I love incorporating subjects into their places of work or leisure and I take pride in carefully staging and lighting a scene. Secondly, I’m a big fan of eating. I wouldn’t say I’m a “foodie” […]
The kind folks at MediaStyle were some of my first commercial photography clients in Ottawa. In 2011 I went for a hard-edged ring-light look to their corporate headshots. While I did follow-up portraits in the following years, nothing stood out quite like that first portrait set, so I wanted to go back to a more […]
Photographing a model home was a first for my interior photography career. While many residential spaces we photograph are still staged, they still have some elements of an existing human presence, something to make it “lived in”. At Minto’s latest development, Mahogany, we worked with their largest offering named “Poplar“. With little to no cleaning […]
What a pleasure it was to walk into my local craft beer brewer – Beyond the Pale – one day and have them ask me to take updated photos for their website. “You want me to do beer photography? Yes. Yes I will.”
When Shawn at Creativision calls you up to collaborate on a project with the talented Zara of XO Velo, outside on a day where it’s -30°C you don’t hide under the warm covers of your bed; you ask “Where and when?”
On a cold winter morning earlier this year I teamed up with Ottawa Singer/Songwriter Danielle Allard and body-paint specialist May Mutter to produce the promotional and cover images for Danielle’s forthcoming album, Chameleon.
It’s en-vogue to do a retrospective of one’s favourite photographs from the year. What sort of bugs me about this is it’s usually photographers selecting their own work, and why not? We got through it, took some good photos, probably more than a few bad ones, and maybe we need a bit of a pat […]
How fortuitous that my favourite hair stylist (yes, I get a “fancy” haircut) and one of my favourite interior photography clients came together to design the new Mint Hair Studio. While Grassroots Design hasn’t done a great deal of commercial interiors, I instantly fell in love with this transformed space.
It’s a great feeling when your editorial photography is strong enough for a university magazine to call you, without any prior relationship, to photograph their cover story. Gleefully accepting this important assignment to photograph Wilfred Laurier University Alumni Carolyn Wilkins, the first female Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, I wasted no time […]
This past July my trusty Alex and I took a road-trip past Toronto to Burlington, Hamilton, and Mississauga to photograph some amazing Extreme Families. This has become a sort of annual tradition for me, but I’ve certainly never photographed so many families in such a short amount of time. Usually, I’ve gone to photograph one […]
I’ve been a professional event photographer longer than I’ve been a professional at just about anything else. It started off as “Hey, you have a camera, take some photos at this fundraising gala.” To full fledged official event photographer status for a number of corporations and not-for-profits in Toronto and Ottawa. The Canadian Internet Registration […]
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 […]
I have been greatly honoured by my friends at CanvasPop by being chosen by them to do the product photography for their launch of their Instagram-to-canvas launch. For those who don’t know, instagram is a free app for the iPhone that allows you to quickly take photos add a number of preset filters and, most […]
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 […]
My inspiration of this series is Jason Lee, or “jwlphotography” on Flickr. I first heard of him when the Strobist blog featured his work – doing amazing setups with his two little girls – I’ve been hooked ever since. His own work has taken a bit of a departure from the surreal and comical – […]
Since starting my SAHD series I’ve received loads of positive feedback, in the form of direct image views on Flickr, and being approached by clients and families to photograph their own “Extreme” family portrait. I’m grateful for all the attention, it certainly helps boost my ego on these dark winter days. I took a break […]
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 […]
