Cheers to Polarity

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Whether you’re celebrating the start of a fresh new month, the fact we’ve made it through this week, or you’re just excited about this glorious sunshine that’s coming back to us a little more each day…we are lucky to have some pretty great places to treat ourselves in this fine community of ours.

One of the newer ones on the block is Polarity Brewing! They started up last year…admittedly a bit of a difficult time to open up a pub, but nothing can stop delicious brews, and awesome meals featuring as many local farm products as possible!

They even have an outdoor deck you can cozy up to a fire table at to stay Covid-safe while you toast to your weekly accomplishments!

We always love celebrating our local businesses, but especially during a time that has been so difficult on the food/beverage industry, we’d like to cheers to all you hard working businesses owners out there still making it work and providing us with little local escapes.

Here’s to Friday everyone-cheers!

And so it begins...Hello 2021!

New year…SAME US! (just slightly more grizzled…)

Last year was a DOOZY to say the least, and we’re certainly not naive enough to think that a change in calendar year is going to take away all the hardships. HOWEVER, that being said, we do know that even a perceived fresh start can go a long way…

It’s also a great opportunity to simply take breath and reflect on what WAS good last year. As challenging as it was, there were some pretty great moments too.

We had the privilege of working with an incredible group of clients last year. As much as we were able to help them reach their goals and complete their projects, they also helped us…we were able to keep this family run business up and running throughout a global pandemic and that was all because we have the best community and clients we could ever ask for who believed in us, who trusted us with their visions, and let us get creative.

Looking back over our work this year, a few things stuck out to us.

First, it was a year of composites! As we had to ensure we had safe spacing between people, one of the most efficient ways we could still get teams together was to actually photograph everyone separately and then bring them together in post production! We have always loved composite work, but it just became even more practical this year as a way to keep people safe.

Secondly…our small business community! What an absolute roller coaster of a year for so many small business owners. We were absolutely honoured to be able to work with many of them as they found new and innovative ways to continue to serve their clients-whether that was moving their products and services online, or ensuring new PPE standards were in place to keep both staff and employees safe. We are so damn proud of every single one of them for making it through this crazy year.

And finally…the thing that always gets us through our hard times…a sense of humour. Without it, we wouldn’t have made it. Thanks to everyone who shared a laugh with us either in front of the camera, or behind the scenes as part of our crew.

So thank you to all we worked with over the year, and we absolutely can’t wait to see what adventures the new year brings…although if it was a little less intense, we wouldn’t be mad about it… ;)

Spark Coaching and Consulting

We hear a lot of family photographers talk about how special it is for them to be able to capture families growing together over the years, and with us…we feel the exact same way, we just happen to document people’s business ‘babies’ instead…

We’ve been lucky enough to work with a number of clients over the years who we’ve watched first hand as they grow and develop from that initial leap of faith, just starting out , getting their first head shots as they take the leap into a new career…all the way to them hustling with a full time business, landing dream clients and developing marketing campaigns to grow even further!


We recently got to work with the wonderful Jennifer England of Spark Coaching again who is one of those clients we’ve witnessed excel at what she does and grow her business into something so meaningful and rewarding. As she was planning a website re-fresh, she wanted to get a new set of imagery that would really capture her personality and depth, as her work as a leadership strategist and coach involves really being able to connect with her clients and she wanted imagery that would let people get a glimpse into who she is.

She was even willing to brave a doozy of a wind storm during one of our last weeks of fall here to capture that golden light and connection to nature…and we’re sure happy she did because we are stoked with how the shoot all turned out.

We love being able to be part of celebrating the work people do-the causes they are committed to, and the passion that goes into being an entrepreneur.

Twisted Gourmet and the bountiful forest...

When I was prepping for one of our latest shoots a few weeks back, I didn’t expect i’d be getting a full body workout in before the day was over…but that’s what you get when you shoot on location with Twisted Gourmet….

We started the day by winding our way through a moss covered forest, excitedly yelling out every time we found a mushroom, to get to a lookout with one of the best views in town…and by the afternoon, I found myself holding a light stand high up over my head, as I attempted to tip toe through another forest, dodging the patches of giant red cranberries with each step…

For those who don’t know Deborah, she’s the powerhouse behind Twisted Gourmet, a Yukon based spice company that creates small batch seasoning and spice blends. Her delicious products feature local Yukon harvested ingredients like low bush cranberries, wild rose and sage. (Just to name a few)


With the support of the Yukon University’s Pivot Program, we were able to work with Deborah this fall to create some new imagery for her website and marketing. Just like many other businesses, when COVID hit, Twisted Gourmet needed to ensure online sales were easily available, all the while continuing to stock local grocery stores and vendors.

We wanted to ensure that we stayed true to her wild, Yukon foraging roots with the look and feel, so we took her products to their natural habitat-out to the forest where she gathers some of the very ingredients you can find in her product!

We couldn’t have asked for a better fall day to do the shoot-the sun and the eagles came out to ensure everything looked it’s best, including our wonderful models (and real life Twisted Gourmet customers!) It was one of those shoots that was varied, and playful, and all around enjoyable and we were just so stoked to be able to team up with such a great local company.

Thanks for being so lovely Deborah, and we promise not to reveal the location of the bountiful cranberry patch…your secret is safe with us! ;)






New look...who dis?

Ok, we can all agree, it’s been a rough year so far…I think it’s about time we all take a deep breath, put our feet up and get some pampering done….and have we got the spot for you….

We were SO stoked when we were asked by the wonderful Ammanda Partridge of Elements Spa to work with her on some new imagery for a website upgrade the company was doing. Ammanda and her team are one of the many incredible small businesses we have here in Yukon who, in the face of extreme uncertainty and challenges this spring, found a way to keep fighting through it and are now back open, and thriving. With support through the PIVOT program at Yukon University, we were able to team up with Ammanda to help her showcase the range of services and service providers she has on her team.

Ammanda wanted to make sure her new imagery was authentic (and not just use stock images), and we didn’t want to just go with the expected either…it would have been easy to simply grab a few shots of their facility (which is gorgeous), along with some traditional head shots of her staff, but instead we went in a more stylized direction. We wanted to highlight the services they offer, but use Yukon models (and real customers!) and also plan them so that they would fit the aesthetic of her new site which was clean, calm and spacious.

SO with that in mind, we spent the day with an incredible group of people creating this new set of imagery below that we’re so excited with.

We cannot recommend the Elements Spa team enough if you’re looking to treat yourself or someone you love….they’re a wonderful team (who happen to make excellent models too)

Check them out at: https://www.elementshairandspa.ca/

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!

A thank you to Essential and Front Line Workers

Early March of this year, we did what we do every spring…we loaded up our wall tent, sled and every bit of warm clothing we own to go out on a Bison harvesting trip. We were out of cell and internet range for just 7 days, but what we didn’t know was that as we left the tranquility that is winter camping, we’d be coming back to an entire new reality.

As I turned my cell phone on, a text popped up from a family member that I could not make sense of. “The Arctic Winter Games have been cancelled and people are hoarding toilet paper!”

March 2020…a month that will be burned into our collective memories for decades to come…It seems like a lifetime ago, even though just a few months have passed since then.

Those early months of the COVID-19 pandemic felt like time stood still. For us, over the course of 4 days, the majority of our spring/summer contracts were cancelled, our daughter’s daycare closed down, and like many others, we didn’t know what our lives were going to look like a few months into the future.

While we witnessed the COVID-19 pandemic start to spread across the country, the Yukon quickly prepared its response. When many of the Territory’s citizens were asked to stay home whenever possible in attempt to flatten the curve, there were others who continued to go into work, all the while also trying to process this ‘new reality’ we were all facing collectively.

These essential and front line workers are the ones who helped keep Yukoners as safe and secure as possible. Everyone from Dr. Hanley, our Chief Medical Officer of Health, to those working behind the scenes like IT staff adapting network systems so entire work forces could suddenly work from home, and child care workers who continued to care for children who’s parents also had essential jobs to go to… there were people working hard across sectors to keep our communities safe and resilient.

It was absolutely heart warming to witness Yukoners come together throughout this time, and we knew from the start we wanted to do something to celebrate those who continued to push through the uncertainty and continue to offer those services our community depends on.

This photo series, released in the latest issue of Yukon North of Ordinary magazine, is a thank you to all the front line and essential workers who got us through those early days and to where we are today in the pandemic. None of this could have happened with out you, and we will forever be grateful.

Chris Cash and Janelle Greer-Yukon Communicable Disease Control (YCDC)

The Yukon Communicable Disease Control team had to adapt its services very quickly to accommodate the tremendously increased workload brought on by COVID-19. Normally a unit that monitors and controls communicable diseases in the territory, it became responsible for Yukon’s COVID-19 testing and case management, including contact tracing and outbreak management, as well as support and education to other providers in the Territory. Their meeting room was adapted into a COVID-19 testing room, and the team worked incredible hours to keep on top of its regular duties as well as the new ones.

Rani Ferris- Early Childhood Educator, Nlaye Ndasadaye Daycare

Without childcare, many frontline staff would not have been able to keep working throughout the pandemic response. Although many parents struggled through, trying to continue to work while kids were home, childcare workers like Rani of Nlaye Ndasadaye Daycare continued to show up everyday to provide safe, educational care for kids whose parents weren’t able to keep them home. With much lower numbers of kids in care, daycares had to adapt programming, and try to prepare for the eventual return to a ‘new normal’, implementing extra cleaning/safety precautions, all the while ensuring to maintain both a physically and emotionally safe space for our kids who were also trying to navigate this new world.

Dr. Brendan Hanley- Yukon’s Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH)

As the territory’s CMOH, Dr. Brendan Hanley lead the Yukon’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. His days are filled with meetings with his technical team and a growing number of people across the North and around the country including representatives of the federal government, the medical and health community, First Nations and business councils. With the support of a dedicated team in the Health Emergency Operations Centre, he’s helping the territory navigate the ever-changing and uncharted waters of the pandemic. Dr. Hanley has been a calming presence for many Yukoners during this challenging time, but he is also the first to credit the hardworking members of the team who surround him.

Cristina Graterol- Online Shopping Lead, Wykes Independent Grocer

Grocery stores stayed open throughout the course of the COVID-19 response, but that certainly didn’t mean business as usual. For stores like Wykes Independent, COVID response meant everything from limiting numbers of customers in the store, adding directional signage and Plexiglas barriers at the checkout counter, and training staff on new protocols. Technology was key to keeping up with the fact their online orders alone went up 7 fold, and they had to double their cooler space to keep up. Employees wear iPods on their wrists to allow them to pull up client’s orders and be directed through the store in the most efficient shopping pattern.

Roxana Muir- Janitorial Services, Yukon Hospitals

Keeping public spaces clean has always been an essential job, but the efforts of janitorial workers can sometimes go unnoticed as much of their work happens behind the scenes. Janitorial staff like Roxana Muir at the Whitehorse General Hospital continued to work throughout the pandemic, ensuring proper sanitizing and cleaning protocols were met, a vital step in ensuring spaces were kept as safe as possible for essential services to continue to be offered throughout the Territory.

Bruce Kirby-Terminal Manager, Manitoulin Transport

Yukoners rely on long-haul transportation for many of our essential goods. One reason our store shelves stayed stocked during the pandemic is because trucking companies continued making the long drives from the south and throughout the entire territory. Manitoulin Transport saw surges in shipment volume requirements, which they quickly responded to while implementing and adhering to a myriad of new safety procedures. Those include wearing personal protective equipment and using no-touch delivery technologies to keep both their staff and customers safe.

Mary Tiessen- American Sign Language Interpreter (ASL)

You might never have heard her voice, but you’ve no doubt seen Mary Tiessen’s fast moving hands during the Yukon government’s live COVID-19 video updates as she translates them into American Sign Language (ASL). As the only full-time American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter with the territorial government, Tiessen’s days quickly filled with interpreting frequent YG announcements, meetings through videoconference and, if physical distancing allowed, in-person meetings wearing a face shield, which better facilitates the reading of facial expressions—an important component of ASL.

Charles Young- Technical Support, City of Whitehorse

In March of 2020, a large portion of the workforce was suddenly asked to work from home if at all possible. But working from home isn’t as simple as flipping open your computer…thankfully IT professionals across the sectors were able to quickly figure out solutions, including security and software management so that entire workforces could continue to work, allowing families to maintain incomes and services to still be provided.


Public Service...More than 9-5

I don’t think anyone really imagined at the start of this year, that come spring, they’d be attempting to navigate a global pandemic both at home and in the workplace…
2020 has been a doozy of a year on so many levels…and people around the globe are adapting to this ‘new normal’ which is ever-changing as the weeks go by…


One of our favourite parts of our job normally is getting to see the behind the scenes of how businesses and organizations work. We take pride in being able to showcase employees on the job-doing their every day tasks that create the world we live in and keep it functioning….and to be able to have continued to have done that throughout this experience with COVID has been pretty remarkable.

One of the projects we were really stoked to work on, was capturing a variety of employees on the job for Government of Yukon’s Public Service week this year. They wanted to celebrate the employees that have continued to come to work throughout this time… from the workers who left their regular positions to be re-stationed in the Emergency Coordination Centre, or Health Emergency Operations Centre, to those who suddenly had to figure out how to balance working from home while simultaneously home schooling their kids…public service workers make up a huge part of the Yukon’s workforce, and it was really great getting to help celebrate them.


For many, the past few months have been a lot less of the regular 9-5 routine many may think of when they hear the term ‘public service’. Across departments, staff were working extra hours, and often shuffling schedules to try to accommodate new family and life realities during the toughest months at the start of all this. New policies were being written across Departments to keep people safe, some traded their regular work stations for fold out tables in utility trailers, and many suddenly had new roles to take on, on top of their regular duties.

There really isn’t a single sector in our community that wasn’t hit by a new reality this spring. We, along with all of the other local businesses and organizations had to suddenly adapt to something none of us could had expected. But one thing that we’ve found remained solid across industries and organizations was seeing our community come together and find resilience through it all. Yet another reason we’re so grateful for this place we get to call home.