portrait

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.


Sarah MacDougall is back...

We've been working with a lot of musicians here lately, so thought it would be fitting to end our work week by sharing one of our most recent sessions with the amazingly talented, Sarah MacDougall!

We recently did this studio session with Sarah and wanted to bring in some darker colours, but still keep the mood light. We used movement in a few of the shots and also brought in some of her instruments to help show the diversity of sounds in her latest record.

We've worked with Sarah quite a few times now, and it's always awesome to see how much she's evolved both in her artistic style surrounding the concept of our shoots, as well as musically. If you haven't heard her music yet, stop what you're doing and head to ww.sarahmacdougall.com... she's unreal.

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

 


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!

Photos

Video




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 


The 'Always a good choice' Cake Smash

So...there's this trend in family photography over the past few years called the cake smash...

What you do, is you take a one-year old, or really, whatever age child you've got, and you put a beautiful, colourful cake in front of them. And then you wait...

You see, most kids at this age, probably haven't exactly delved into the world of delicious, icing covered deserts yet. So when they finally get the courage to stick their tiny little finger into the sweet, sweet, icing, and taste a bite, you can literally see in their eyes, a flash of pure joy. For this is the moment, my friends, when they realize they've tasted the best.thing.ever. AND their parents are letting them do it!!!

Now, you simply sit back, and capture the next 5-10 minutes of cake smooshing, icing devouring good times, and get some pretty sweet memories to embarrass them with at their high school graduation ceremony.

So, really it's a win win...And now I want some cake...

 

If an artist goes into the forest...

I was going to try to start this with a terrible joke, but I think it's best for all of us if we skip that part. It's like i'm turning into Gary or something... (Anyone who's taken our Available light or Lightroom courses knows he's the king of terrible jokes)

ANYWAYS, we're SO stoked to finally be able to share these portraits with you guys! We did these earlier in the summer for an article that just came out in the most recent copy of Yukon North of Ordinary Magazine on the crazy talented artist, Rosemary Scanlon.

Now Rosemary is the best, which was proven yet again when we asked her if she wanted to drive 2.5 hours out to the Carmacks forest fire burn area to do the portraits, (a bit of a trek for 5 images) and she was totally in, without a question!  We started the day off doing the portrait session, and then spent a few hours rummaging through the forest looking for morel mushrooms (photos of which, you can check out on our past blog).  Also, Gary discovered "F'Real" milkshakes at the Carmacks gas station which really made his trip....(see photos below)

But I digress....The reason we wanted to shoot Rosemary's portrait out in that area was the fact that we thought it would be an awesome contrast to have her dressed up, sitting amongst a dark, empty backdrop like a burn site. I had gone out there a few weeks previously and having never been in a burn before, was blown away by the stillness, the emptiness and just the general feel of the area...it was like we were on a whole different planet. 

It also fit really well with the colours and feel of  Rosemary's current work that the article was featuring, so in the end we were really happy with the way the images turned out.

So, we hope you like them, and to learn more about Rosemary's work, you can pick up the latest issue of Yukon, North of Ordinary, or go to her website here: http://www.rosemaryscanlon.com 

 

Environmental Portraits by GBP Creative

Fact: Environmental Portraiture is our JAM!

I was going through the old vaults yesterday and realized we have a bunch of environmental portraits in there that we haven't shared in a while...So what better way to spend a rainy Tuesday than taking a look through some of our favourites from the past few years.

The reason we love environmental portraits specifically, is the fact that they have so much of a story in one shot.  Not only are you going for a natural, authentic shot of your subject, but you also get to highlight something important to them-whether it's their workplace, their home, or a significant landscape in their lives. 

Plus, it's just super fun taking any situation, and finding the awesome looking background hiding in a seemingly 'normal' looking place...