Happy Lifestyle Shoot in Vancouver
Leah Yee, Social Media Manager
Who doesn't enjoy a fun summer day at the beach? At the beginning of August, CEF photographer Katie Huisman and her team headed down to English Bay in Vancouver for another Focus on Change photo shoot - aside from a slight lack of cooperation from the weather, the shoot and photos turned out wonderfully! We caught up with Katie to find out more...
CEF: Tell us about the concept of the shoot.
Katie: Each year with CEF, my goal is to create a saleable concept that represents a clean, healthy, happy lifestyle. The first step in this is to begin conversing through email with my art director, Fiona Watson, who is based in London. We start talking about location options for the shoot and we go from there. This year there were a few location options, but given the time of year and the weather we decided to shoot a beach-themed summer shoot - think "happy, healthy, youthful couple on a beach date".
CEF: Tell us a bit about how the day went.
Katie: Usually nothing ever goes quite as planned. This summer in Vancouver has been unusual, with not a drop of rain or a cloud in 30 days. We decided to shoot at 3:00pm and run into sunset, which would have been lovely, but it was cloudy and overcast. Our youthful beach couple were decked out in bright colours with hula hoops, beach balls, and frisbees… heading to the beach in the clouds and overcast? It looked odd. I had to make a quick executive decision to stop the shoot early and have a re-shoot the following morning. My crew was amazing and agreed to pull it all together again the following morning in bright sun and blue sky... it was perfect!
CEF: Who else was involved in the shoot?
Katie: Board members Susan McDonald and Robert Brown consistently reach out to me with their support each year, which I am so grateful for. My amazing art director Fiona Watson is in London, England and we've been working together via email for a few years, my crew on the shoot day is made up of makeup artist Jackie Pierre and her assistant Sofia, photo-assistant and behind-the-scenes photographer Jean Cueta, wardrobe stylist Jodi Abrams, and the talent, Rebecca Rausch and Jarrod Johnson.
CEF: How and why did you become involved with CEF?
Katie: I became involved with CEF several years ago when I was an assistant photographer to Robert Kent, founder of CEF. I was and am still truly inspired by Robert and his vision for positive change and ability to build community. CEF is one of the most rewarding annual projects I work on each year bringing together a generous and talented group of people.
CEF: Outside of CEF, what kind of photography do you do?
Katie: Outside of CEF I'm very involved in the local photographic community both commercially and in the contemporary arts. Commercially, I shoot lifestyle imagery for Getty images, corporate advertising and editorial content for Canadian business magazines along with freelance advertising for a various local businesses.
This year I've been very busy working with Capture, a not-for-profit festival celebrating local and international photography and lens-based art. The festival aims to foster emerging talent, encourage active community participation, and initiate public conversation about photography as an art form as a means of communication, and as a mode of cultural documentation and social reflection. Vancouver's first annual city-wide photography festival launches Oct 1st, 2013. My art work is based on a conceptual portrait study that explores the creation of identity in 19th century photography by using facial masking to study attraction, genetics and ethnography in contemporary society. I'm currently working on a solo show that will be exhibited in February 2014 at Initial Gallery in Vancouver. This body of work contains both prints and video, shot in medium format film.
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