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2021...A Doozy

And just like that I’m sitting here in the studio trying to think of what I want to say about the year we all just made it through…

I think the safest word I could use is DOOZY to summarize what the past 12 months have been.

But in the end, we made it! There may have been a few tears (there were definitely tears), and a few sleepless nights (discovered melatonin this year!) but we wrapped the year by forcing ourselves to take a couple weeks off during the holidays to catch our breath a bit as a family.

As the break came to a close, we ended up heading down to the waterfront and watching the city’s fireworks display on New Years Eve which surprisingly led to a moment that really struck me… Turns out, in order to get your head back in the game, you just need to hang out with a 5 year old…

See it was our daughter’s first year she was old enough to stay up late enough to watch the fireworks. She was so excited she was vibrating, and when the first few colourful bursts hit the ice fog night sky, you could literally hear the joy bursting from her face as she screamed out “whoooaaa! Christmas colours!! Christmaaaaaas colourssssss!” She was witnessing magic in real time and it made me remember you can always find the magical moments in your day once you actually have the time to stop, breathe, and just look for them.

You see even though this year was stressful, unpredictable, and oh so very draining, in that moment I remembered how much good there also was. I just needed the time to take a breathe to remember that.

So I figured now that we’re into January and trying to plod along through what has so far been more unpredictability, let’s still take some time to breathe and remember those magical moments. The good parts of the past year, as they are always there if you look for them.

Last year, we got to work with some pretty epic clients and when trying to produce long term projects in the midst of a pandemic, you also get to KNOW your clients. We commiserated, we adapted deadlines and processes and we found ways to make things work as a team.

In the film realm, we got to work with Northern Council for Global Cooperation (NCGC) to produce a storytelling project with the James family out in Carcross. This was a huge highlight and honour for us, as we got to work with the family to take a traditional story that was originally recorded of their late grandmother Lucy Wren, and have 4 more generations of Lucy’s family tell the story in their own voices, weaving together the teachings with footage of them being together as a family on their land. There were so many laughs shared and it was such a special project to be a part of…. To witness in real time what family connection, traditions and knowledge look like and the power they have. Gunalchîsh to the James family for having us.

Then there was the literal joy that is working with someone who may be the most positive person we’ve ever met? We did a Travel Yukon spot with Gurdeep Pandher for Cossette and I am not even exaggerating when I say the skies weirdly opened up for us the night we had planned to film on top of a mountain and we got to witness an absolutely stunning sunset while filming Gurdeep dance. It was one of those moments I looked around and was so grateful that this is somehow what we get to do for a living…

And finishing off our year in filming, we were able to work with Yukon University over a multiple months to create a promotional video for their Indigenous Institute for Self Determination (IISD). Showcasing traditional on the land activities, and innovation in education and leadership, this was a project we were really proud to be a part of and we got to work with some incredible leaders and community members to pull it all off. There were hiccups along the way (like needing to re-schedule due to covid exposures, creating changing timelines, etc) but the team we got to work with on this adapted and pivoted every time ensuring we all got to create something we are proud of. Gunalchîsh, Màhsi’ cho to everyone involved. It will be released in the next few weeks and we’re excited to share it with you all then!

Then there was the incredible diversity in photography we got to do this year. From chasing dogs with Fawkestrot Adventures, to beauty portraits and BTS with Cheekbone Beauty and TSU North, to local sustainable fashion campaigns or holiday dining campaigns with Hudson’s Bay, we’ve been BUSY. This is a selection of just a few of our favourites, but I’ll be sure to share more in the coming months.

And last but so very far from the least, absolutely NONE of this would have been possible without the incredible production crew we’ve gotten to work with this year. We can’t thank these people enough, and although this isn’t an exhaustive list, we wanted to give a special giant THANK YOU to a few of our key players who kept this train a runnin’ this year.

The incredibly talented Lea-Ann McNally, who has done everything from set and prop building, to production assisting, and everything in between. Absolutely always game to hop on set, we are so grateful to have you on the team!

Mike Code, whether you’re on sound, camera, or aerials, you make it a guaranteed a good work day and we’re so grateful for your laid back, always amazing attitude in everything you do.

And for those of you who haven’t gotten to meet him yet…Our guy STU! Stu moved up from BC late summer to officially join GBP as our first full time employee and I’m not actually sure how we did all this without him for so long? Stu is now one of our main editors, production crew, and second shooter. He also puts up with Gary’s lame dad jokes, my “morning gratitudes” which I forget to do 90% of the time, and has jumped into the adventure that is life in Yukon full throttle. We are so grateful you’ve joined the crew and can’t wait to see what the new year brings to the team.

We know 2022 won’t be perfect, as nothing ever is…but here’s to taking a breath during the chaos and trying to see the good that is most definitely out there.

We’ve got this team.

Hey Yukon...What's your recreation?

Pulling up to a stop light the other day, I looked over and saw a bunch of familiar friendly faces smiling back at me, lookin’ photo shoot fresh…Perhaps you’ve seen something similar in the past few weeks?
That’s because the Lotteries Yukon Recreation Campaign we worked on is out in full force, including a bus wrap, featuring just a few of our awesome models!

Thanks to Sue Gleason for the photo of the bus!

There’s nothing better than the feeling of seeing a project, which was a year in the making, come together and be released out into the wild. We were lucky enough to work with the amazing Amanda Leslie of Mosaic Communications on this campaign, the goal being to both explore and celebrate the wide variety of recreations that Yukoners do, from across the Territory, and at every age.

What we always loved about this concept was how inclusive it was of the variety of different recreations that we’re all so lucky to have access to here in Yukon. From berry picking and hiking, to lawn bowling and pickle ball, and everything in between, we got to work with real Yukoners, out experiencing their communities throughout every season.

It was one of those feel-good projects, as no matter the weather, people were getting out and doing activities that were good for their bodies and their minds-staying active and connected to others.
Shout out to all of the awesome people we met and worked with along the way-you’re all pros both in front of the camera, and out doing what you do best!

So...what do you do?

Ahhh networking...and the, what 'should' be an easy answer, that is actually more complex than you think....

I went to an "Un-Networking" event this week hosted by the oh-so-awesome SMRT Pop Ups team which sought to give local female entrepreneurs a chance to connect, share, and in some cases, just straight up practice answering the question "What do you do?"

The expected/easy answer for me?: We are a photography company that specializes in commercial, corporate and editorial photography.  

Even more broad? Well, we photograph people. People at work, people at play, and people doing the activities that matter most to them and their community.

But after taking some time to really think about it, I realized that still just didn't feel like it fully explains what we do. It felt flat to me, and it got me thinking about the reason we do the work we do...the reason we work specifically with businesses and organizations. 

Now that is because we love getting to the heart of WHY people do what they do.

We understand that we, as a society, crave connection. We crave authenticity and experience, and so when a business or organization wants to engage with their audience, the best way to do that is by personalizing themselves, and creating that actual human connection to their organization. By showcasing employees, or the people behind what you do, you can not only show your audience what you do, but more importantly, WHY you do it. 

As entrepreneurs ourselves, we love to celebrate  businesses and organizations and the people behind them that build our communities, that are providing for their families and that are making a difference in this world in their own unique way. We can connect with their experience, their struggles, and their determination, and so it's our job to then take that connection and create images that can reflect that back to a broader audience.

Needless to say, the event left me thinking a lot about our work here at GBP. About the complexities of it-the human connection and interpersonal skills it takes, the mix of both technical and artistic sides of our business that constantly keep us on our toes. It was a great night to reflect on not only WHAT we do, but the WHY we do it. And it's got us feeling pretty grateful to have such a strong community of entrepreneurs and community leaders that we get to hold up and celebrate.

 

 

2018...the year the blog comes back...

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Last year we took a little break from blogging. We had a new member join the GBP team (our daughter Mabel) and so paired down a little bit on some things to get her situated in her new job as future assistant for the company. 

But  now that we're all back in the full swing, we decided it was time to dust off the old Blog sharing skills and get back into it, so with that, thought we'd jump in by sharing one of our latest projects here in 2018!

We recently did some portraits for our friends who are starting up their new production company, Outpost 31. These guys are pros in the film industry, now combining their talents under one roof and so were looking for some new imagery for their website launch! 

Keep your eyes out for projects coming your way from Outpost 31...

 

 

 

 

PS: The 'Portrait Sharing' Project.

Well it's the start of a new week, so we thought, why not start a new tradition? 

Portraiture has always been at the centre of what we do, and why we fell in love with photography in the first place. We think it's rad that in a single image, you can tell someone's story, create a character, or set an entire scene. They can be super simple, or crazy elaborate. But no matter what, a portrait tells a story and that's what we love most about them.

So, because of our love of portraits, we thought it would be fun to start looking back at some of our favourites and share them with you guys each week, including some background on the inspiration, why we did particular styles, lighting, etc! 

This idea came to me when I was going through the archives and came across this portrait of one of our favourite artists, the lovely Rosemary Scanlon! It made me think of all the times we take shots for a particular client (in this case, a magazine profiling her work), where often the client only needs one shot, but we end up with quite a few that we love...

SO, what better way to to look back on some of our favourite shots, than to share them with you guys? And while we're on this sharing train, we thought why don't we keep it rolling and get you guys involved?

We thought it would be rad to see what you're creating too! 

Now, anyone who's taken our courses knows one of our favourite sayings is that "the best camera is the one you have on you." So we don't care if you're taking your shots with an iPhone as a hobby, or have the newest professional gear on the market-you can get creative with anything! So if you have an image you think fits the theme of the portrait we've posted, share it in the comments section of our Facebook post and let's see what everyone is creating! 

Note: This isn't about critiquing or judging who's doing what, it's just about sharing images you're proud of, so the only rule is to keep it positive! The internet has enough negativity on it, so we want only supportive comments and postings! 

And with that, welcome to our new tradition- PS: The 'Portrait Sharing' Project

For this first week, let's talk environmental contrast.

For this portrait in particular, we used an old forest fire burn site as our location to create a nice contrast between Rosemary's polished look and her surroundings. One of Gary's favourite things is when there is a stark contrast between the subject of the image and the environment. A space that isn't what you necessarily normally see the person in, adds an extra element to your image. The key is making sure that the background doesn't become over distracting and take away from your subject.

So with Rosemary, we really wanted to do something a bit different than having her portrait done in her studio which you might normally expect for a feature on an artist. The burn site actually ended up being a perfect location as it was an interesting backdrop, but still incorporated a lot of the tones and colours that she happened to have in her work at the time. Her water colour paintings included a lot of darker backdrops, and stark trees mixed in with incredible colourful details. If you haven't seen her work, do yourself a favour and check out her website at: http://rosemaryscanlon.com

For the lighting we kept it simple and used one Octa-box camera right as it was a cloudy day, so there was already great light for what we were looking for. 

And speaking of contrast, Gary is not only a fan of it in terms of storyline/backdrop, but also in terms of the dark to light ratio in his editing process, which you'll also notice in this image.

And here you have it! 

We're stoked to go through the archives and find more  to share with you guys over the next few weeks! 

Rosemary Scanlon




Women of Wisdom

After we finished one of our biggest commercial shoots yet to date last month, we took a full week off, away from the studio, and holed up in a cabin out in Tagish. We felt like we needed some time to relax, to unplug (sometimes it’s so therapeutic to not have the internet), and to reflect on where we’ve gotten to over the past few years.

One of the things we quickly realized, was how awesome it is that so far, this year especially, a lot of the projects we are being asked to work on are really meaningful, not only to our clients but to us personally. I think in any job you can find yourself at times, falling into a daily routine, plugging away, but the projects we’ve done so far this year are anything but routine. 

One of those meaningful projects, was working with the Skookum Jim Friendship Centre on a portrait series that was displayed at an event called “Survival Through Our Own Lens” during Victims Week last month.  The goal of the event was to challenge stigmas that society often creates around victims of violence, and along with the portraits, the women of the group created art and music to showcase their stories.

We wanted the portraits to showcase these women’s strength, their beauty and their individuality, and seeing them up on the wall in print was a pretty powerful experience.

So thank you to each and everyone of you for being a part of this project and sharing your stories. It was an honour to work with you!

Portraits of Yukon's Most Awesome...

We were SO stoked when the most recent issue of Yukon North of Ordinary Magazine came out because we've been waiting to share some of our favourite work we've done yet this year which is featured in our photo essay!

Also, we were so pumped how this cover worked out...Raven looks so rad!

So, we often talk about how our favourite part of our job is the people we get to meet along the way, and the stories we hear, so it only  made sense when we thought up the idea to do a specific portrait series which highlights some of the people in our community who we think bring next level awesomeness to what they do...Each person in this series has an incredible story and makes our community such a unique and supportive place to live.  The magazine article has write ups on each person so be sure to check out the full series! (I know they have copies at Mac's Fireweed) 

In the meantime, we wanted to share some of the images, and send shout outs to everyone who was involved.  You guys are literally why we do what we do, and it was a total honour to have each of you in our studio. 

Featured: 

Wolf Lady and Raven of The Oh-So-Amazing Dakka Khwaan Dancers

Darryl Tait-Adrenaline machine, and best Instagrammer out there

Kate White-Baker, Biker, and Advocate

Leonard Gordon Sr- Crossing Guard, Elder, Safety Machine

Myrna Kingscote- Costume Maker, Small business owner, and Rendezvous Royalty

Stephanie Dixon- Paralympian, Advocate, and Beam of Sunshine

Val Pike- Health Professional, Volunteer Extraordinaire, Women's health advocate

Garbage Truck Santa (Wayne Henderson)- Spreader of joy, Christmas Spirit, and Yukon charm

 

 





Product Photography, Yukon Styles!

Guys, we've discovered your next pair of boots...

We worked with the fine folks at Wayfare Woollens for both a model shoot, and a product shoot for their line of boots last month, and Brianne may or may not have left with a pair on her feet.

Our models were absolute troopers-willing to stand outside on a very cold day with us, but at least we knew their feet were warm! We did a number of different scenes throughout the day, and then finished off back at our studio to do the product shots.

If you want to check out some of their items (and we highly recommend them), go to: http://www.wayfarewoollens.com

 


That's a wrap! The Best of GBP in 2014!

Well 2014 has officially come to an end, so we thought it was only appropriate to jump on the "Year in Review" bandwagon, and share some of our favourite images and videos from the past 12 months!

It's always sweet looking back, as it was a crazy busy and diverse year for us work-wise, and it seems like forever ago that some of these projects even happened. 

We hope everyone had a safe and awesome new years celebration last night-whether that was hitting the dance floor hard, or binge watching Netflix and going to bed by 9:00...2015 has some exciting projects on the go already for us and we can't wait to have you along for the ride!

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