Architectural & Interior Design Photography, Corporate Commercial Photography, Advertising & Portrait Photographer | Ottawa | 613-558-7585 | justin.vanleeuwen@gmail.com
Claudia Petrelli is a Colombian ex-pat who runs a swing-dance studio with her daughter, “Swing Dynamite“. We had known each other via twitter for some time, but never really got together until one of the more social drinking nights in my neighborhood. She had mentioned how much she liked the photos I had done with […]
Working for “free” gets a bad rap, of course it’s also often misinterpreted in what free involves. A few months ago I was contacted by the lovely folks over at Local Tourist Ottawa to write a blog post that included a good selection of my personal work from the Ottawa area. Now, I do believe […]
Strip lights are one of those light mods you don’t need at first. You get by with an umbrella or soft box because, really, you’re just lighting your subjects face or other important foreground details. Then you think “hey, their back is kind of dark” or “how do I light the entire length of their […]
As you saw earlier this week, I spent some time goofing around on a shoot with a few other local photographers. I may have released that image prematurely, though, since going through the rest of the images I relized they worked better as a group: no single image really reflecting the dynamic of the evening. […]
Work is good, indeed, it’s how I pay the bills. But it’s tricky to update the blog when the priority, clearly, should be on work (right?). I have some great posts lined up for later this month, some wonderful collaborations that are resulting in some great new imagery. These projects have mostly been commercial in […]
Do you know how HARD it is to do a shallow dof self-family-portrait with three kids by the river? You can see some details over on Flickr. As a PC user (by habit only, I assure you) you might find it as odd as I do that you can find me, not once, but TWICE […]
Hello Eagen family, this has been a long time coming. I originally met with the lovely young daughters of the Eagens sometime last year, December maybe? (time flies) We had planned something in the new addition to the house, in front of the new fireplace that mom had been BEGGING for for years – in […]
Bonkers, pictured, is a local watering hole in my Hintonburg neighbourhood. I posted this photo on Flickr yesterday, and this is a suggested crop of that image (thank you for your input folks!). The nice thing about this shot, for me, is that it was something I had pre-envisioned. I knew I wanted to take […]
Another photo from the shoot with art by MetamorFaces May Mazor. The model, this time Carolyn, wanted to give her boyfriend a special gift (he’s a football fan, He likes the… Tigers… I fail at sports). I’m pretty sure he’ll be pleased with the gift – I don’t know a lot of guys who’d turn […]
Last week I had the pleasure to photograph a very special cheque presentation here in Ottawa. A local fundraising group, on behalf of the Canadian Women’s Foundation (CWF), had raised money for local women’s shelters. This kicked off the CWF’s Shelter from the Storm campaign, which aims to raise awareness AND money for women’s homes, […]
I was recently contacted to shoot a very unique space: Bikram Yoga. Bikram, as I’ve been told, is the progenitor of “hot” yoga. Which seems like a steamy mess to me but, Yogi’s be damned, you gotta make something tricky even harder. The space is an old building at 71 Bank, you take this rickity […]
As creatives, and importantly, as professionals, we should all take a workshop, if you live in Ottawa, you should take THIS workshop specifically. In 2009 I had learned my camera, all the lenses, f-stops, buttons, and settings and whatever other douchery I could handle. But I was strugling with a fundamentally “noob” issue, a weak-point […]
Fortune favours the prepared. I was asked to complete a special project for iPolitics.ca last week, budget day, a bit out of what you normally see me display on the blog. While I was there taking pictures, the quantity asked of me far exceeded any shoot I had previously undertaken. I was to document the […]
Another awesome family, another fun extreme portrait. The Buell’s (I’ll refrain from the Ferris jokes) contacted me about creating their own unique family portrait. Unlike Nadine, though, they didn’t have a clear vision of what they wanted – just that they wanted something different than your every-day family portrait. Well that’s what I do, isn’t […]
A few weeks ago I was called, last minute, to do a shoot for a new Ottawa-based media firm Mediastyle. Headed by the much lauded Ian Capstick, I jumped at the opportunity. Ian’s an Ottawa main-stay, and while I certainly cruised the same twitter circles as he, we had never met in person (IRL). While […]
The snow got us, the cold got us, whatever it’s been – everyone in my house has been sick. So I offer to you, not as a reason, but a bona-fide excuse, for not posting a blog post, or much on flickr either (which is where I often post images if I don’t have much […]
Home remedies for kids with colds – Quinn’s sick – though once I put him in front of the camera he sprung to life. Go figure. Setup was pretty straighforward, I mention my setup info on my flickr page. A friend of mine once asked “What are all these .XMP files, and why do I […]
As chance would have it, I’ve been picking up some work lately taking real-estate photos. Pictured here is my sister-in-law’s house which she’ll be selling, on her own, through grapevine here). This was the second shoot I did in the past month and I felt I improved over the first a lot. The learning curve […]
I like the adventure, the thrill, the danger that it brings. I leave myself exposed and open – that’s right – I don’t use a UV filter to protect my lens glass. This is a controversial subject among “#phodo gear-heads, and I’ve read as many good reasons as bad as to the use of a […]
Other way guys… see? I told you I was taking photos of other families. Maybe a bit less “extreme” than maybe some of my previous posts, this was a concept Nadine and I met and discussed. She was pretty clear about what she wanted – which makes it that much easier for me – it […]
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 […]
A challenge with these composite images is that it’s hard enough to just keep your kids still, and if they start moving things around they can really mess up your shot. The more elements you incorporate into the frame, the more chances you have of something screwing up. Also, if they decide to move your […]
Before the new year, I wrote about my favourite portable softboxes to use with speedlights, and promised a follow-up post on my favourite flash-triggers. This is not that post. What I will talk about is ONE trigger that I’ve been using with increased frequency: FlashZebra’s 16 foot TTL cord. This thing gives me a 8x […]
