Architectural & Interior Design Photography, Corporate Commercial Photography, Advertising & Portrait Photographer | Ottawa | 613-558-7585 | justin.vanleeuwen@gmail.com
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).
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 […]
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 […]
I photographed this family a few months back, but we kept going back and forth on which image we’d use as final (my clients get selects of how they look so they can pick and choose the image that individually works best for them) – that’s the great thing about shooting a composite – we […]
Anatomy of a Shoot I may not always be able to meet my clients before I go shoot for them, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t gathered a bit of information on who’s going to be there, what their general interests are, and the potential to develop a common theme. Walking into the above shoot […]
The Extreme family portrait series picks up back in Burlington Ontario, another family run business called that makes gummy vitamins, IRONKIDS & Adult Essentials. These things are delicious a great way to get your kids to take their vitamins, since they’re a candy that’s good for you; the only problem I’ve had with the boys […]
This is the kind of project I want to do more of. I had such a great time photographing the Ottawa Fringe team for their commerorative book, the first time they’ve done such a project. The producer at the Ottawa Fringe, Natalie, was introduced to me by showing up at my house one Photojam long […]
The monkey house has been of great support to this blog over the past few years, helping me customize the layout of my website and a lot of behind the scenes tinkering. I am grateful for the work, and it was only appropriate that, someday, they’d have a more extreme portrait taken for me to […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
