environmental portraits

Industrial Portraiture Adventures


Admittedly, when I boarded on my first Airnorth flight in 2 years to head to Vancouver for a job, I did not expect I’d be standing approximately 130 feet underground just a few days later…

Did I deep breathe the entire walk down here? Yes, yes I did.

This is yet another reason I love this crazy job of ours…every week is an adventure, and this past month, that adventure took the GBP Team to two of Pomerleau’s latest projects in Vancouver, creating environmental portraits of their crews on the job! 

The Superintendent’s daily commute to work.

Industrial sites are always incredible to photograph, not only because they’re visually impressive, but also as it’s fascinating to learn just how much detail, planning, and person hours go into the structures and systems that we use, and likely take for granted, every single day.

In this case we were able to work with the teams building a new outfall pipeline for waste water, and seeing the construction that is involved in laying 200-580 meter long tunnels. Impressive to say the least!

From tug boats, to tunnels, to cranes and road building techniques…it was a whirlwind!
Here are a few of the images we created, and a few BTS along the way. A HUGE thanks to the Pomerleau crew’s we worked with. You guys were so informative and enthusiastic..we can’t wait to come back again!

And a little BTS for ya…

Photo 1: The boys loading all the gear while I take photos.

Photo 2: Gary and I had differing reactions to when I dared to question Siri and got us lost trying to get to our hotel. NEVER QUESTION SIRI.

Photo 3: As is the custom when you haven’t left home in 2 years, we pac-manned our way through the city in our down time. This is Dinner #2 of the evening

Photo 4: In depths! 130 feet underground in a tunnel!

Photo 5: Our boy Stu doing his best to shelter our gear during a sudden Vancouver downpour (luckily only lasted about 5 min)

Photo 6: When it rains…shelter under the bridge and keep it movin’

Commercial Photography: A Mixed bag

One of the many things we love about commercial photography is the fact that no two shoots are really ever the same, and this recent one we did was no exception!

We are excited to share some of these images from our recent work with Home Hardware, as it was one of those projects that got us to create a variety of different types of imagery for a client, all the while maintaining a consistent style throughout.

The client was doing a website update, and so wanted some new, cohesive photos to go with it. They bascially needed three different types of images: Headshots of some of the management team, environmental portraits, and then exterior/architectural shots.

We did this shoot over the course of two days. First, starting with setting up our headshot gear on location, for the ease of the team coming over to do their photos. Then we moved onto setting up the ‘in action’ or environmental portraits throughout the store where we get to capture employees doing their thing, as well as the interior building shots.

And finally, the next morning we set out bright and early before the store opened, in order to capture that beautiful morning light for the final series of exterior shots to show off the location.

We love projects like this as it allows us to utilize various skill sets all within one job. Moving from connecting one on one with a person to capture their headshot, to taking into account background details and working in a bustling store during work hours, to sitting patiently and waiting for the sun to light up a specific detail of a building…it’s projects like this that allow us to explore all the different types of skills we’ve gathered over the years and it feels great when we get to see the final product out in the world!


Traditional Territories uncovered

A few weeks back, Gary was invited to a very special place for the Kwanlin Dun people. For thousands of years, their ancestors have hunted caribou on high mountain ice patches where the caribou go to escape the flies in the summer.  Now, due to climate change, these ice patches are melting and revealing artifacts that are some of the most well preserved specimens archaeologists have ever seen in this part of the world. 

The ice has preserved organic materials that are thousands of years old, and normally have long disappeared.  They have found projectiles with actual feather fletchings still on them! They have found moccasins, arrows, bone tools, and have even found and entire person. The quality and amount of discoveries has created a whole new type fo archaeology that now looks into melting ice patches specifically.

One of the best parts of the day for Gary, was hanging out with an elder that used to come to hunt in this very spot with her family, but hand't been there in over 40 years! Gary was lucky enough to hear her stories of walking all the way there with only the things on their back so they would have room to pack the dried meat all the way back to their home at Fish Lake.

What an incredible experience, to not only be at that important archeological site where people have been hunting caribou for thousands of years, but then also to be there with an elder who actually hunted there with her family as a child, watching caribou just hanging out on those same ice patches today...

Huge thank you to the Kwanlin Dun First Nation for having us out on their traditional territory to help them document such an important part of their history. It was truly an honour and un-unforgettable experience.

From Board Rooms to Burning Buildings...

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So this summer has been busy to say the least...but that just makes it an exciting one!

Gary just got back recently from an assignment in Ontario, covering GoldCorp's 2018 Mine Rescue Summit. This was nerdy Gary's dream gig as he got to bring in all of his past experience with high angle rescue, fall protection and love of knot tying from his Communication tower building, and safety lead days. 

Mine rescue teams from every Goldcorp operation were brought together for a week of intensive training and the GBP team got to create both 'in action' and environmental portraits of the whole experience.  Emergency scenarios included everything from first aid, to high angle rope rescue, low visibility search and rescue, confined space rescue, firefighting, train derailment, aircraft extrication, and underground mine rescue! Again...nerdy Gary was stoked....

It was such a diverse assignment, as Gary's style of 'on site', documentary style work definitely involves getting as up and close as he can to the action. This meant he took the opportunity to renew some safety certifications like fall protection before heading out, and that he had to work very closely with the extremely strict safety protocols that were in place. 

In addition, our awesome drone pilot, Mike Code of Burning Grouse Productions, came along so that they were also able to get vantage points that would have been impossible from the ground in a safe way, which allowed for some really unique shots!

Then there was the battle of the 30 degree humid Ontario heat to work in while they were photographing rescue scenarios in front of 30 foot tall flames...

Needless to say, one of Gary's favourite assignments as of late. As our whole business is centred around photographing people and organizations at work, we are so lucky that we get to experience quite a variety of assignments throughout our year. From board rooms, to burning buildings...it's always an adventure, and we wouldn't have it any other way!

 

 

2016...that's a wrap!

It's fair to say that 2016 has been a memorable year all around. The world stage has been a scary one at times, but some great things have happened as well. 

Personally, we welcomed our baby Mabel onto the team, and we've done some of our favourite assignments to date. We flew to a variety of sites all around the Yukon this summer, curing Bri of her fear of flying (thank you Alkan Air for being so awesome!), we've worked with artists, politicians, and business owners. And most importantly, the thing we were most proud of in 2016 was our "This is how I really feel" mental health series that was shown at the Yukon Arts Centre this summer. 

Today we've taken the time to reflect on everything that 2016 gave us-the good and the bad, and we look forward to another year of adventure ahead. We have assignments booked that are going to take us to other countries and cultures, we have re-occuring and new clients that we are planning projects with, and most importantly we are planning some good family and friend adventures to remind us what is really important at the end of the day.

So on that note, we wanted to share a review of our 2016 year...This doesn't include everything, but it's a great overview of the breadth of assignments we got to take on this year. 

We wish everyone a fantastic new year-we hope the next year is a great one. Be safe out there tonight-be kind to one another, and let's make 2017 an awesome one!

Bri and Gary 

 

It's Business Time!

It's no secret that we love where we live, and that a lot of that has to do with the awesome community we are surrounded by here. One of those communities we are really proud to be a part of ourselves, is the local business community. We have an incredible group of talented, hardworking entrepreneurs in the Yukon, so when we were asked to specifically do some work with some of the local Whitehorse women in business for the most recent issue of Yukon North of Ordinary Magazine, we were stoked! 

Whether you're looking for new, eco-friendly clothes, want to get lost in a sea of unique home decor and gift ideas, want to finally learn to love yoga (Jess, I am forever grateful for you teaching me how awesome it can be) or you want to sample some delicious food and drinks in style, you'll never be bored if you visit these yukon businesses.  

SO, if you haven't already, check them out! 

Jess Read-Breath of Life

Christine and Katja-The Cork N' Bull

Ciara and Lorraine Stick-Climate Clothing

Jen Williams-The Collective good 


Corporate Photography with GBP Creative

As visual design nerds, we are always stoked when we get a call from a corporate client that works in that world and comes to us looking for imagery for their company.

We are even more stoked when that company is looking for something a bit more unique-something that really showcases either their space, or their personalities, which is exactly what one of our recent clients, Northern Front Studio, was looking for.

This wasn't a tough sell as they are located in the new Waterfront building in a beautiful office, and not only is the team awesomely personable and approachable, but they just so happen to have their fourth team member, who happens to walk on all fours, but still holds a high spot in the company.  Well played office dog, well played.

If you want to check some details on the team and their architecture and design work, check out their website at http://www.northernfront.ca