Architectural & Interior Design Photography, Corporate Commercial Photography, Advertising & Portrait Photographer | Ottawa | 613-558-7585 | justin.vanleeuwen@gmail.com
Many of you know me as an International superstar photographer, though those of you who have known me the longest are privy to the gentler, less glamourous role that I play. Tuesday marked a new start for me and Mel, of sorts. She’s gone back to work after 3 years off raising our kids (and, […]
Just popping in here to thank everyone for all the positive feedback, comments, tweets, and emails from last weeks post. The site got almost 500 visits that day which, for me, is quite good. It made me realize (and correct me if I’m wrong) that content is, truly, king, and that If I could maintain […]
Just because getting cold means you have to bundle up, it doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun photo’s taken of you. Caroline & Al contacted me to do some rush portraits for them as gifts to their parents for the holidays (of course your family wants awesome photos taken of you!). Now I had […]
There are few things you can purchase that will improve your photography. Indeed, the only way I’ve seen people get better is through practice (or riduculous intuition and artistic ability – but we don’t like those people). 10,000 photos, or 10,000 hours; either way, it’s gonna take you time, trial, and error. But if there’s […]
Went wreath shopping with the family today – the Parkdale market is very much within walking distance of where I live – and they have scores of cut trees and branches all smelling pine-ey and Christmasey. The light in the sky today was beautiful, so I wanted to capture SOMETHING with my G11 while walking […]
I’ve had a lot of people ask me “what softbox should I get?” It’s a loaded question, how should I know? And while the variety of softboxes out there will likely mirror the hundreds of potential uses for them, I do believe there is a solid group of entry-level softboxes available to anyone interested in […]
It’s a rare treat that Mel actually lets me take her photo. I’ve broken the rules of privacy and sharing far too much in my household to brave “sneaking” one in again. Thankfully I told her my idea beforehand, and her overwhelming love of Christmas, and the Christmas lights that I bought her obviously took […]
Hey folks! A quick check-in on the blog here, I’m still alive, I’ve just been spending some quality time with my family. Alex has hit that doing-everything-at-once stage. He’s been crawling for a few months now, but he’s decided to simultaneously tackle stair climbing (already a mountaineer) and the moments before taking his first steps… […]
It’s been a while since I posted a HDR image – mostly because I haven’t been shooting them. Some people hate the effect, some love the results. I find it’s usually pretty polarized within a few groups “photographers” and everyone else. See – photographers themselves are always polarized – which camera company, bag, lens, flash, […]
Maybe it’s not technical properties what make a compelling image.I love this shot, it’s grainy, blown out in both directions. But that leap Erin is taking into Will’s arms – it sums up their whole experience for me – joyous and trusting, it’s what a marriage should be.
Here’s my photo of the head table – look at it, I know some things stand out to you, then think about them – I want to hear your thoughts. See, I spent quite some time editing this image, or four images actually. It’s a composite of 3 groups, plus 1 for the background. The […]
It’s been a busy week. Back-to-back events have meant an overload of images on my computer; it’s a good thing I had recently revised my workflow in order to get through them that much faster. I use Lightroom as my photo processing/cataloguing/kewording program of choice. I do about 90% of all my work there. I […]
Erin & Will – congratulations on gettin’ murried. I had the absolute pleasure of photographing Erin & Will’s wedding this weekend. Despite all location scouting going to shit (it rained… then snowed!) I had planned some indoor contingencies and packed some big lights to take good portraits. This one, though, was a bit simpler. I […]
What a crazy week! Thank you everyone who came out to the event on Monday – that night left me on my ass both humbled and slightly drunk. The next few weeks are also going to be great – intense even – coffee with a client tomorrow, Friday afternoon band shoot, Saturday Wedding, Monday night […]
I’m going to put this simply: If you live in Ottawa, or specifically Hintonburg, come by Hino Restaurant on Monday October 25th. Doors open at 7pm, there’ll be a bit of food to much on, some prints I’ve made special with the boys and girls at Canvaspop. There’s gonna be some good people there, Photographers, […]
While living in Ottawa is pretty standard fare for a “major” city, we are fortunate to be very close to some lovely greenspace… or this time of year, orange and yellow space. The fam and I took a quick expedition to Gatineau Park last weekend to enjoy the last of the fall weather. Of course […]
I’ve been showing a lot of abstract stuff lately, likely because it’s what I’ve been shooting. Usually, when I walk by a location, I think “oh, I want to put a PERSON in there” for a portrait, so I have to force myself to rethink and look at the details that drew me to a […]
Ottawa’s 95 bus. Takes people accross the city, on a journey… …A stinky, cramped journey.
Long delay from my last post, appologies, I wanted y’all to soak that one in. Prices on the canvases will go up on the 25th, they’ll have to, the event is gonna cost me some $$… so if you’re in town you might as well show up to it too. Despite jonesing to take some […]
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 […]
Ottawa got itself a Chinatown Arch. Now, definitively, people will know where Chinatown is. Before, visitors had to vaguely guess. I mean, being surrounded by Phở joints would only denote that you’re in Vietnam-town right? WRONG! Sommerset St. West might be the highest concentration of Phở outside of Hanoi… but it’s still the only Chinatown […]
Family portrait taken in Ottawa. I hadn’t used much rim/separation lighting in the past (the light behind them), and as such I’m laying it on a bit thick on my shots right now. Like most things, it’ll take some practice to finesse it into something a bit more natural and subtle. I have a different […]
I was very fortunate to be a part of Jennifer & Tyler’s wedding this past Saturday. Timing was an issue for us getting together – basically a tweet went out two weeks ago saying someone was looking for a wedding photographer – yours truly answered the call (…tweet). I had one chance to meet with […]
This portrait session came up fast. Got a DM the night before via Twitter with Don at the Cube asking me “HOW” to take a good photo of John Koensgen, who is working on a play due out in October. I asked him what he was shooting with, told me an old Olympus point & […]
