Colin Way Photographer

Through the Plexi Glass

Scratches, light reflections and uncomfortable poses... all challenges when trying to shoot below a model and under a one inch piece of plexi glass... not to mention supoorting a model and an extremely heavy piece of plexi 6 feet off the ground without crushing myself and expensive camera gear!

I recently shot this perspective for 2 applications, Avenue Magazine's May style issue and personal work for the Studio's "Muse" show.  I wanted to show a different perspective playing off a previous idea of "resting places". The goal in both instances was to make the model look at ease in the pose but also to make the viewer take a second look at what was going on.

Here are a few from the Avenue shoot followed by the Muse show shots. Special thanks to Carl Abad (Styling Avenue), Alicja Wilkosz (HMU Avenue), Teslin Ward (HMU MUSE), Anders Knudsen (AD Avenue), Hannah (Avenue - Mode Models), and Marlo (Muse - iModel).

 

MUSE SHOW

©COLINWAY2012

And a couple behind the scene shots of the precarious sets 

 

Clint Malarchuk in Sportsnet magazine

What a great oportunity it was to meet and photograph this man for Sportsnet Magazine. His story is inspiring, heartbreaking and is like no other. It is told beautifully by Dan Robson at Sportsnet and you can read it here. I highly recommend taking the time to read it. 

  ©COLINWAY 2012

                                                                                                                                                                  

 

Blood Lines

A couple of months ago I got an assignment to photograph "wild" horses out in Oyen Alberta for an Alberta Venture feature story. My immediate reaction was excitement and one of intrigue as I could imagine beautiful blurry images of horses running around, stallions rearing up, old time cowboys taming wild breeds... my next thought was I better read the story first and see what this is about before I get carried away! The story was nothing but the opposite of the romantic vision I had. "Blood Lines: Alberta's horse breeders are learning the hard way what happens when supply outstrips demand" was the title and lead-in to the article. Reading further I discovered that horses in Alberta aren't just for riding and that a good majority are sent off to slaughter for horse meat... "horse what?" News to me...China, France and Japan all consume horse meat as a regular part of their diet... not judging but unfortunately the breeding industry in Alberta is in such a bad state that top quality horses are being sent to slaughter for little or no cost if just to get out of the game... If you want to get a better idea of what I'm talking about click here.

So how do you approach a photo story of a beautiful creature with that in the back of your mind? Do I go literal and show start to finish what a horse in Alberta goes through? the breeders plight? or maybe the dark side of the slaughter horse?... I went back to my initial romantic vision and went in trying to capture that iconic image of blurry running horses... not as easy to get as I thought! (The below video can attest to that) While the images don't spell out what the story is about I do think they create interest and I also like the 2 extremes it creates when you read the story along side the images.

Regardless, what an amazing experience it was to be this close and to photograph these semi wild horses. 

Special thanks to Chris Wedman for doing a little behind the scenes video and to Arnold Mckee for being our guide. Also to the Alberta Venture team and Kim Larson for assigning this.

 

 

 

 

Published: Canadian House & Home

Late last summer I worked with Canadian House & Home and Senior Editor Meg Crossely to photograph the amazing work of Designer Nam Dang-Mitchell. This is the third time Nam has been featured in the magazine in almost as many months. I've been shooting interiors for some time now and it is always a pleasure shooting with Nam as her spaces are so well considered and creative. I will be putting a new 'Interiors' section on my website soon - stay tuned.

 

  

 

 

Contessa Finalist

Congrats to Phillip Elliott who yet again was a finalist in this years Contessa contest. Phillip was up for mens hair stylist of the year. The images below are a selection of ones we shot and entered in the contest. Styling was by Carl Abad and clothes were provided by Henry Singer. Thanks to our models who braved the clippers.

Mayor Nenshi for Avenue Cover

Mayor Nenshi was voted yet again as the Calgary public favourite and was voted for the recent July cover of Avenue Magazine. I had the pleasure of meeting the Mayor and photographing him for this months feature Style Q & A. As expected, he was gracious with his time and had a great many things to talk about - see his full interview here. Our shoot was a quick one and over and done before we knew it but a memorable shoot none the less. The magazine article and more shots from the shoot are here.

Styling by Carl Abad and Hair/makeup by Teslin Ward.

Here is the Cover and an outtake that I thought just might be a shot of Mayor Nenshi scheming the future of Calgary...

©colinway2011

 

Connie DeSousa for Chatelaine Magazine

This months issue of Chatelaine features the wonderful and talented Connie DeSousa who is co-owner and chef at Charcut Roast House. I had the pleasure of photographing Connie in her restaurant for this feature and hearing her great stories of culinary competition and past life as a ballet dancer. Connie is also starring in Top Chef Canada, battling it out with the last 6 remaining chefs (as of today).

Chatelaine ran 2 shots from the shoot but passed on the shot with the pigs head (attached below)... I knew it probably wouldn't run in the magazine but I had to get a shot of it. Connie can carve a pigs head faster than most of us cut up a tomato!

Thanks to Leah Van Loon for styling, Teslin Ward for hair and makeup, and Will Young for assisting. Also thanks to Connie for hooking us up with some great appetizers post shoot - Charcut has easily become a favourite restaurant and lucky for me I will be back shooting next week for another magazine.

©colinway2011

Alberta Ballet

Here's some new work I did recently for this months issue of Avenue Magazine. We got a behind the scenes look at Alberta Ballet's new production Fumbling Towards Ecstasy which is a collaboration with Sarah McLachlan. The ballet is inspired by and choreographed to her music. This was a fun shoot and interesting to see the work that goes on behind the scenes. The costumes are created by Paul Hardy specifically for this production. Congratulations to Alberta Ballet and everyone involved, this looks it will be a great show!

 © colin way 2011

 

 

Swerve Fall Fashion

Fun shoot with some great local personalities for Swerve Magazines fall fashion story. Thanks to Malwina Gudowska and Rita Siragnano for Styling and Olga Onulov for hair and makeup. And thanks to our great participants for coming in so late in the game: Vanessa Lynn Cuppen, Marta Wilkosz, David Bruning (TheKidBelo), Kelley Mckinley, Haithem Elkadiki and Helen Nguyen. Here are a few samples:

 
       

©colin way 2010

Folk Fest Love

It has taken some patience but I am finally able to release a collaborative project that Lisa Turner and I worked on this time last year at the Calgary Folk Music Festival. With the help of writer Tony Charron at Avenue Magazine we combined his interviews with Lisa's illustrations and my photography to bring some light to a singer/songwriters creative process and what inspires them. 

Like any artist we felt that influences come in many forms and in turn conducted these interviews by using a collaborative of Illustration, Photography, and Words. We interviewed close to 20 different artists including Sarah Harmer, Justin Rutledge, Jolie Holland, Steven Page, and Emily Wells (in order below). We met some amazing artists, heard great music and came away with fresh perspectives on the process of creating art in any form.

This month Avenue Magazine published 5 of the interviews. I will post a few polaroid outtakes from the weekend soon. AND this month we will be back at the Folk Fest for another go round collaboration. Expect a new aesthetic twist.

   

© LisaTurner/ColinWay