photographer

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.

 

 

GBP Creative 2015 Roundup...

Well 2015 is coming to an end, so as always, we thought it would be a good time to look back on the year and what we got up to...

2015 was a crazy year. We had one of our largest commercial shoots to date, creating a new image catalogue for our local telco company, Northwestel, which took months of preparations, 3 days of shooting, a crew of 12, and over 18 models.

We worked with some of our favourite clients, and also met some new ones as we continued to expand our commercial and corporate work throughout the north. Whether we were standing on top of a mountain, trying to figure out what an MRI would do to the electrical components in our cameras, or filming dance scenes throughout the streets of Vancouver, it was a pretty eclectic mix!

And when we look back at it, although the year had some ups and some downs, overall it was a big year of growth for us, and we are just so incredibly stoked that you guys, our community, give us the ability to do what we do everyday. 

We feel really lucky to be where we're at, and can't wait for what 2016 has in store....Let's make some more awesome stuff together shall we?


Dogs for a Cause...

As many of you know, we put on a special fundraiser this weekend to help raise some funds for a friend of ours who recently lost her home and many of her beloved pets in a house fire.

Although totally relieved she, her husband and their daughter weren't home at the time and therefore were safe, we were heartbroken for them to find out that they lost so many of their pets in the incident. 

This is the family we actually got Bill Murray from, so we know all too well how much they loved those animals, and how much of an integral part of the family they were. SO, the only thing we could think to do was try to raise money to help them rebuild, and we thought what better way, than to celebrate the crazy, hyper, furry, sometimes frustrating, but always loving little creatures well call our pets through a portrait day.

And as always, Yukon, you didn't disappoint. Within 2 hours of posting about the event online, we were filled solid-I didn't even get the chance to post the actual schedule online we had so many requests!

We are SUPER excited to announce, that after a crazy day of laughs, drool, sniffing and one accident on the floor, we raised $ 1400 for a family in need.

HUGE thank you to everyone who came out to participate-it was so much fun.  And another huge thank you to our friend Lyndsey, who helped out throughout the day, and as you'll notice, her baby Gus who helped us do a light test too...(He also fit into the drool category so we thought he should make it into the gallery).

Drools and fur everywhere...the perfect Saturday.


PS: The 'Portrait Sharing Project" Part 2...

Well after a crazy few weeks of travelling for work, we are back in the studio doing some editing on this rainy day...so we thought while we're at it, we should put out another edition of our Portrait Sharing Project!

This week, we want to focus on "Reflections". We don't mean you have to get deep and find a photo you took that analyzes life...we straight up mean, show us your photos that you've taken that have used reflections in cool/artistic way! (And of course, if it happens to also connect with pondering the meaning of life we're keen to hear about it!) 

Firstly, we decided to share this shot we took of our friend Stratis of Headless Owl Records.  Originally, we had been asked to do a portrait of him for a local magazine, but we wanted to do something a bit different and not just have a traditional shot for the editor. This was simply taken with him looking out of his front window, while Gary stood like a creeper in the bushes outside, shooting in...The neighbours may have thought something weird was going on, but we were stoked with the result.

When using reflections in your shots, especially when they are darker,  you need to create a space for your subject within the reflection itself. In this case, Gary found a gap to place the subject in between the trees. It's a bit gritty, and moody, which we liked for this particular project.

And not gonna lie...Gary loves to use reflections...Here's a couple more examples to check out!

Sometimes it's just a matter of stopping to take a look at your surroundings, and trying something different...have you used reflections in any of your shots? In water, on metal, on glass, etc? 

If so, let's see em! Same rules as last time...just post your shot in the comments section of our FB post, and only supportive comments allowed! Let's help make the internet a friendlier place shall we?

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