Portraits: Genevieve

I've been doing more portraits lately as you may have noticed. It's been an interesting process for me, one that has not come naturally. I think one of the reasons I like food photography is that I can take time to plan and control my shot. Yep there it is - that word - control. I like knowing that I'm in control of the situation. And with people, well sometimes you're not...Right?

But that's where the process has become interesting for me. The more I do of  these, the more I realize that actually, I get better shots if I get out of my own way and just allow things to unfold naturally. When I started doing these portraits, I was less comfortable giving direction to my subjects and while I've become more comfortable with that, the most successful portraits I've done always seem to involve some collaboration with the subject. 

Recently I was lucky enough to make some pictures with this lovely lady. Genevieve is the owner of Violet Boutique in Vancouver and we profiled her recently on South Granville Inhabiter. These are some of my favourite shots from the shoot. Her light filled space was so inspiring to work in and after spending some time with her chatting about her business, we spent about an hour making pictures together. And of course, how could we not include her adorable best friend and assistant shopkeeper Bea.

Portraits: Shannon

Here's another portrait from the South Granville Inhabiter, In their Habitat series - the lovely Shannon. I first met Shannon about 10 years ago in the local. I was new to the neighbourhood she immediately made me feel welcome. When the opportunity came up last year to photograph her for South Granville Inhabiter, the answer was easy. 

You can visit the whole series of In Their Habitat Portaits on South Granville Inhabiter.

Portraits: Brennen

Before Christmas, we got some new neighbours in South Granville - the lovely people at Bump N Grind. They have proven to be a lovely addition to the neighbourhood and I've gotten to know them over the last little while. We thought that café manager Brennen would be a fabulous addition to the In Their Habitat Series that I've been working on with South Granville Inhabiter.

 It was fun to spend a few hours just hanging out and seeing how Brennen works. His passion for coffee and attention to detail was inspiring and you can taste the result of his focus in his excellent cortado. You can read the full article on South Granville Inhabiter, written by my colleague Heather Phillips, but in the meantime, I thought you might like to see a few behind the scenes images from my shoot with him.

I've had such a lovely time working on this series and like they say on Sesame Street, "getting to know the people in my neighbourhood".

Portraits: James

With South Granville Inhabiter's recent birthday, I thought I'd like to feature some  of portraits I shot for our In Their Habitat Series.  These feature some of the people in my neighbourhood. It was great to work with Heather and Ženija on these and to get a chance to meet and get to know some of my neighbours in the process.

James is a local architect and you can find out more about him in his profile on South Granville Inhabiter.

Portraits: Heather

I've been experimenting with portraits lately and while yes, I'm primarily a food photographer, I do also enjoy the quiet portrait. I wanted to share these two from a recent session with my lovely friend and colleague at South Granville Inhabiter, Heather. She makes my job easy.