I seem to be doing a lot of headshots lately around Vancouver. Here are just a few from the last month. I’m getting an assortment of people who want personal portraits, corporate shots, actors, and performers.

Jessica wanted some one as she just completed her real-estate license. She plans to use them on her business cards, website, and other marketing related material (social media profile?).

Yoshiko needed a set for a ballet brochure program which she’s performing in later this year.

Johanna wanted a personal set.

Every year Cynthia, Eva, and Eugenie meet in Vancouver to catch up on the past year. They all attended school here but now work in different parts of the world. I got the honor to take photos of them a second year in row. Last years photos were a bit more formal and somewhat more posed. This year we went for a very casual look and I let the girls do their thing. Watching them interact with each other you can definitely tell that they’re best friends and all very close.

Well without further ado here are some of the photos from the day. Mainly shot in the Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver Convention Center and a few in Gas Town. I’ll upload some more later today or tomorrow.

A Dog’s Birthday.

February was the first time I had attended a dog birthday in Vancouver. Before then I never knew such parties existed! A group of dog owners will gather to celebrate one of the pet’s birthday. I didn’t really know what to bring as a gift so I thought taking a number of photographs for my friend and her dog would be a nice gift. I’m happy they turned out well and that the weather cooperated with us (insert Vancouver weather comment here).

Below are a number of photos from our pet photography session in Vancouver and Richmond. We ended up printing the photos and mounting them on foam core (total DIY). The final product turned out great. Now that’s all left to do is for her to put them on a wall.

Printed and mounted onto foam core. DIY using a sharp Olfa knife and some very sticky spray glue.

Vanessa had always wanted a set of portfolio photos shot in and around Downtown Vancouver for the past several months but we just never had the chance. It was one thing or another, too cold, not prepared, busy, etc. Well we finally got around to these portraits for her portfolio sometime I believe in early January! Brrr. Yes it was quite cold out! The photos were shot around the Olympic Village by South East False Creek. We ended up with a good set after shooting for just over an hour. Thumbs up to Vanessa for bearing the cold and being a good sport about it.

Her jacket wasn’t my most favorite to photograph.

This next photo is a little bit on the “hot side” (blown out). Fellow photographers will know what I mean.

Several weeks ago Jessica called inquiring about a photographer for a number of portraits she needed taken in Vancouver. Jessica is a vocalist and pianist and one of the requirements she had was to have photos taken with a piano. That posed a bit of a problem for me as I didn’t have access to one and the only one I could think of (at the time) was this grand piano at a woman’s club (since I had shot two weddings there last year). I was pleasantly surprised when she emailed back saying she found just the piano and location to shoot at, the Fairmont Pacific Rim. Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier I don’t know. I knew exactly the piano and lounge she was talking about (again having shot several weddings in the same hotel last year). Silly me!

It was a pleasure working with Jessica and getting a taste of her jazz tunes on the piano. Below are some of my favorite from our session.

This past weekend Tom for Mananetwork asked me to assist him with some couple photos in Stanley Park by Downtown Vancouver. As you all know the weather in our beautiful city can be hit and miss (a lot of times). Well luckily Arisa and Josh, from Toronto, were prepared and were up for photos either way, rain or shine. They came with some beautiful yellow umbrellas from the Umbrella Shop in Vancouver. Below is a set a of teaser photos from the shoot. The couple had great chemistry which made for some great engagement photos. Congrats to you two!

The ones below were edited by Tom.

And a nice one shot by Tom.

Two weeks ago Tom Wagner had asked if I could come out and help with some portrait photos of Christina and Rikki in North Vancouver. Christina and Rikki are friends of Jimmy who’s wedding you might have remembered we photographed a few months back. Check out the wedding video if you haven’t already.

Christina and Rikki were fun to work with, they were game for anything we threw at them which is very uncommon. Usually one person doesn’t like getting wet or dirty (and by dirty I mean sitting on GRASS, yes some couples don’t like green “clean” grass). But these two were prepared to get wet and dirty, the type of couple a photographer would love to have. Below are some of the photos I captured during the session (Tom did the editing) and a few that I help setup. The photos were captured in Dundarave park.

Here’s a tip for other photographers, keep your eyes open. The below set of photos I had my other eye open watching the waves. Christina and Rikki were concentrated on me so they didn’t really know what was coming, well Rikki should’ve known but I think he was looking out pretty far or was already getting ready for the those waves. Christina had no clue, haha.

Tom captured the below and I help picked the location and setting them up. Rikki’s shoes got totally soaked but he didn’t flinch! Most guys would’ve been pretty pissed. He just shrugged it off. Made for an awesome photo though .

Having two photographers on a shoot helps since we can cover two different angles. This photograph below was taken while the two were walking towards me on the beach. Tom was beside them.

It also helps with directing. One can be talking to the couple while the other capturing the moments. Sometimes the photographer may be quite a distance away and it’s hard to shout over long distances.

Back maybe a month ago I had the opportunity to photograph Tom and Betty in Vancouver. We decided to either shoot the photos at the Olympic Village or if it was rainy Granville Island. I like Granville Island because of the variety of photos us portrait photographers can achieve without having to move around a lot. I don’t like how there’s a lot of people there though. The day was a bit overcast so the couple opted for Granville Island.

Tom described themselves as weird or random. I’d say they were a bit quirky and cool. Right from the start Tom looked like he’d been in front of the camera before. Betty was a bit shy but as our session progressed she got much more comfortable and it seemed like Tom was getting stiffer. It was a great session and I tried some shots I hadn’t done before because of their quirky and weird factor. Btw, it’s not weird at all, it just shows how much fun they have with each other.

I asked if Betty could take some photos after she got them printed. I’m very happy with the way they turned out. Not sure where they printed them but the printer did a good job. I edit my photos on colour calibrated monitors for printing so people will see a bit of a difference when viewing the photos on the monitor vs. printed. The majority of people don’t have calibrated monitors. What I found interesting was that her favorite photos weren’t my favorite, rarely are they anyways. Her favorites didn’t have as much artistry in them as I would’ve liked.

Thanks to Brandon for coming out and helping as well. I got to test out his 5Dmk2 vs. my 5D. Can you tell the difference in the pics? Most likely not. Feel free to guess. The 5Dmk2 felt lighter than my 5D with the same lens attached. Love the LCD on that camera.

Aww matching outfits! Haha. Reminded me of all the couples I saw in China. 1/4 couples were wearing matching clothes .

One of my new favorite spots. Why? Cause it doesn’t look like Vancouver but some place in Europe.

Margarita is a colleague of Katrina and also wanted some headshots for promotional materials. We took a few photos in Vancouver’s coal harbour in downtown. I usually prefer clean backgrounds but this shot out of the set appealed to her since it had some color in the background which would help offset her marketing material. I’m happy it works for her and can’t wait to see what it looks like when printed. If you need a Vancouver head shot photo drop me a line!