Architectural & Interior Design Photography, Corporate Commercial Photography, Advertising & Portrait Photographer | Ottawa | 613-558-7585 | justin.vanleeuwen@gmail.com
In 2006 I purchased what would be my first of many SLR cameras. I needed a creative outlet and found a happy balance between creativity and tech-geek with a digital photographic medium. My friend Aaron helped set up my site and I ran with it as I went from a Fundraiser in Toronto, to a […]
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 […]
I’m very pleased to announce that, from October 18th to 28th I’ll be opening a PopUp photo studio right in my own Ottawa neighbourhood: Hintonburg. 1089 Sommerset is a great space, that in-no way could I afford on a permanent basis, but it’s there, it’s empty, and I said I’d be willing to clean it […]
I was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call from Sarah Hoy, editor of Our Homes for the City of Ottawa and they had a great project for me: a home by renowned Ottawa architect Christopher Simmonds.
My friends over at MediaStyle called me in to cover some stills for a commercial video shoot they were on. In-between takes, I was to create some portraits to update photography for their client Jonathan Chant, CEO of Fitness for Freedom. Jonathan and his team are personal trainers who make house calls, trying to keep […]
It’s been a busy couple months around here, and while I’ve taken the time out to post some tutorials, there’s some stuff going on outside of this blog that I should link to.
Some people just prefer to be in the water. For the third year in a row (I think I’m onto something here), Julie Cole invited me to come photograph her wonderful family of 8. For the second year in a row, they chose to do it in their bathing suits. Julie and I realized the […]
Ghetto-Flo Intro I was introduced to the “Ghetto-Flo” lights after reading the excellent blog of New York-based photographer Brad Trent. He had mounted 4 standard workshop flourescent light fixtures into light-stand mountable strip lights. “Ghetto-Flo” because they’re similar in use to the much more expensive Kino-Flo lights, though there are advantages to the later (variable […]
Some subjects have no interest in having their portrait taken, they don’t want you there and even 5 minutes is too much to ask. Max wasn’t one of those people. What a delight to travel an hour out of Ottawa for an editorial photography job to come to the welcoming face of Max Hamlyn. A […]
Often I get caught up in the day-to-day of my work, prep, pack, shoot, load photos onto my computer, cull, process, proof, deliver – repeat. You can lose a bit of your creativity in this repetition, relying on more comfortable techniques and “safe” shots. There’s also the need to meet your clients vision, which, in […]
Sometimes a shoot just works out perfectly. Erin’s a bit of an online friend, I had known *of* her for a number of years, following her exploits as she was married, had a lovely little daughter, and she’s helped come out and model for a few of my shoots with said adorable fam. When it […]
We worked pretty hard on the image above. Had them move, adjust, and straighten the ambulance in place. Set up our lights in and around the vehicle, then drafted someone to come and start the truck, to get the lights *going* for about 30 seconds as they ran out of the cab and ducked out […]
Honestly one of the weirder shoots I’ve been on, while walking with a man dressed as a giant shoe, across a street with traffic and into a large park on a windy spring day. It was windy enough that Kathleen, my editor slash assistant, was almost blown away holding the large octa box I gave […]
It was great to work on the cover and shoot the opening editorial spread for the latest issue of Ottawa-Woman. This time I got to work with the talented “shark” criminal lawyer Natasha Calvinho. Despite being a pleasant mother of two, her teeth come out when it comes to defending her clients, which often consist […]
This was a self-assigned cover photo for Kitchissippi. Do I get to dictate what I shoot when I want? No. But if I have a good idea, and already make the plans to make it happen, it’s a good chance someone will pick it up
A long time ago I posted a review on all the small softoxes I used to help light my portraits. It’s still very accurate, I do have and use all these things, with a bit of a change. My highly used Lastolite 24″ Ezybox was replaced by the FJ Westcott 28″ Apollo softbox. At the […]
Knowing your subjects always helps. Often getting to know your subjects means doing some research, google, a bit of social media stalking, to get a feel for who they are, what they’ve accomplished, so that you have a familiarity going into the shoot. Of course, actually previously knowing your subject makes it all that much […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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.
I have some editorial portrait photography stuff in the works, but while I wait on that to go to print I have another review out on Canonrumors.com. This one’s for the flashes, and if you know me, you know I *love* to flash people… ahem.
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 […]
