Architectural & Interior Design Photography, Corporate Commercial Photography, Advertising & Portrait Photographer | Ottawa | 613-558-7585 | justin.vanleeuwen@gmail.com
I can’t watch the news, not the news that the media wants me to see. It’s full of tragedy, and more specifically, tragedy that has befallen children. You can’t read a newspaper or turn on the TV without hearing the horror stories. As a parent, I’m pre-programmed to already imagine all the horror that can […]
I’m completely looking forward to this summer. I’ve got a lot of great new photographic toys tools that’ll help me get some unique shots that, I hope, will be good too. I’m likely to make many more mistakes than I am to make portfolio pieces, but I’m going to have a blast making every screwed […]
I spend most of my time working in a “professional” environment and while I can, contrary to popular opinion, act the part – I often choose not to. Why? Life’s too fucking short. If I can do a good job, a great job even, and have some fun in the process what’s the problem? I’m […]
Been a crazy past few weeks, no time to post, barely time to turn on the computer, and even less time to photograph. This is one of the final selects from the shoot I did with Cheetah of The Adopted. I’ve worked with him before, along with guys from the band, here, and they were […]
Last week was busy, for me, this week is far, far busier. With no sign of slowin’ down. Sorry for the lack of posts kids – TTYL.
Probably my last shot of the girls of Rockalily Ottawa. While my primary focus in photography is people and portraits – which usually denotes their face and eyes – I can’t help but notice other assets. For these girls their curves were certainly worth exploring, their comfort with each other and their involvement in the […]
I had recently been spending some time offering advice to fellow photographers. Both solicited and otherwise. This quickly earned me two things, positive and negative feedback, with no room in the middle. I tried my best to keep my comments helpful in the overall development of a frame, assuming that others would want to benefit […]
Full credit goes to Gord for inspiring this photo. For whatever reason he’s fascinated with telephone poles and equipment. We’re so intent on scouring the ground and what’s in front of us that we often forget to look up. This happens a lot in big cities – places like New York where the buildings have […]
It’s been a while since I’ve had any good pics of the kids – spending some time this weekend to make sure I do. If you haven’t put in a concerted effort into photographing the folks around who you love, I hope you do the same.
Almost exactly a year ago I entered into a mutual contract with my friend Sterling; I take pictures of him in order to learn my trade, and he have the patience to let me fuck up a few times. This year, we revisited this on the same premise with a single caveat – he now […]
Melissa was another willing victim subject at our Sunday studio session (alliteration win!). I came back from a lunch-meeting just in time to sneak into the shoot-in-progress and capture some portraits of this lovely young lady (7 weeks pregnant too!). If this shots looks really fuzzy it’s because I had a chance to use the […]
Some more Rockalily love. Featured legs compliments of Audrey Hipturn. I’m going to be getting through these images VERY slowly – first – I had a few commercial clients come to the studio this day so their photos come first. Second, I’m busy as hell with some events coming up that I cannot ignore, an […]
Sorry about the overall softness of the image, my AF was obviously tracking due to that dirty mess on camera right. Me and a few like minded photographers rented a local studio on Sunday (Steak & BJ Day) to teach ourselves a bit about lighting an inside space, portraiture, and just sharing ideas and gear. […]
Quinn regarding the outdoors, eager to explore and share. Owen, fiddling and introverted. I think this family if finally rounding the bend. No major illnesses afflicting us, irritability and fighting are at an all time (this year) low – Owen’s having some trouble at school but he’s a pre-teen and if he wasn’t I’d be […]
It’s not often that I make an unintentional cameo in my photos, indeed, I can only think of one previously. It’s difficult to go out and take photos of “just anything” when you’re uninspired and, even more so, topped up on stress and bottomed out on sleep. But today I took it upon myself to […]
Beauty and Art are not mutually exclusive – as are most things that are subjective of course. Despite the filling of my life with our wonderful new son Alex, and the development of our first into a young batshitcrazy-toddler, I have found a certain creative void has formed within me. I can say, honestly, that […]
Wow – the past few weeks have been fairly intense. None of it photographic, sadly, all of it family and illness and doing whatever you can to make the people you love comfortable. My mom took the time to travel from Toronto to Ottawa to help me get food to Mel and Alex at CHEO. […]
Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus is a nasty little bug that fills your kid up with mucous. Which, if they’re young enough, and unable to force the phlegm out on their own, has to be removed by tube and suction. There is no treatment other than oxygen, it’s just one of those things they have to […]
I made a comment on twitter the other day that went something like this “some say you don’t take as many photos of your 2nd child because you’ve done it before with the first, but in reality it’s because the first is so fucking crazy you no longer have the time.” Quinn lost a bit […]
This week I received the lovely Lensmate Adapter for the Canon G11. This is a must-have accessory for anyone with the G10,11, or Panasonic LX3 (I wish I had this back when I had one). The Lensmate is beautifully crafted with machined aluminum and black to match the exterior of the camera. It is primarily […]
Psyche! I totally took a better photo than yesterday’s post. I think this is it. It probably would have been cooler if I had managed to slap a polarizing filter on the lens though – really darken the sky and bring out the cool cloud detail. Still – I got this one printed up nice […]
Shooting Raissa & Adam’s wedding last year taught me a few very valuable lessons about wedding photography. One of them is to take a lot of shots – there were probably a dozen of this grouping – and this is the best. You’ll notice it’s far from perfect. Realistically I should have taken, maybe, double […]
I’m super excited to be booking some weddings this year. It’s a marvellous privilege to be allowed to document and photograph what is, for many, the single most important day of their lives. What’s especially nice is they sometimes come here and see that I post photos of doors and benches and stuff – so […]
