Colin Way Photographer

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.

Raleigh Styles

The September cover for Avenue is out and despite what the photo credit says, I got the opportunity to photograph the talented band Raleigh for the style Q & A feature. I've posted some of the shots below from the feature as well as a polaroid I shot of them at this years Folk Fest in Calgary - Raleigh was also kind enough to particpate in my Colin Way Goes Folk Project. (hear their newest album here)

 

©colinway2011

Colin Way Goes Folk

It's that time of the year again. The Calgary Folk Music Festival is about to start this evening and I'm in the midst of preparing to shoot it with nothing but instant film and and my iphone.  This year I am taking a more low fi approach than I have in the previous years and will be shooting on the fly with a Polaroid 600 SE. I will then be posting them to a tumbr blog here. Of course, I understand the irony of shooting everything in a tangible film medium and then immediately converting that to a disposable digital one... but the exercise in itself will be an interesting one in patience and creativity. 

Be sure to check out the blog over the weekend, I will also be tweeting as I go which you can follow @colinwayphoto.  There is also an archive of the past 2 years at the festival on the blog from 2010 and 2009.

In the meantime here are a few of my favourites from last year:

     

 

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

 

 

Fashion Outtakes

A little late on the posting here but I've been meaning to rework a few photos from a FFWD fashion feature I did last fall. The 3rd is a happy accident (digital too - does that still happen?) and 1st two planned.  Thanks again to Leah Van Loon (Art Direction/Styling), Teslin Ward (Makeup), Phillip Elliot (Hair), and Mode models Kelsey Sirucek and Jeremy Schneider.  This was a fun one.

     ©coinway2011

Next up on the procrastination list is last summers Folk Festival Portraits...

 

Stepping back to see what's important

Canadian Business Magazine recently asked me to photograph former WestJet CEO Sean Durfy for a feature Q & A. This being an odd coincidence considering I had just finished shooting the WestJet annual report. It was interesting being on two sides of the coin and seeing positives with both.

Mr. Durfy's reasons for no longer being CEO at WestJet are food for thought and are admirable especially for someone who society deemed being in an enviable position. The entire article can be read here and is worth a read. With the advance of technology and people always being "work accessible" the Q & A is another nice reminder of how important life/work balance is.

WestJet Annual Report

For the second year I was fortunate enough to shoot the WJ Annual Report. As before, I had a great time working with the always positive team at WestJet and talented bunch at TAXI. We photographed "WestJetters", the exec team and board members in Calgary and Toronto. Here are a few samples of the photography we did in the report.  You can see the seamless online version here.  Art Direction and Design by David Taylor at TAXI Toronto.

 

Brett Wilson Shoot

I recently had the opportunity to photograph Brett Wilson who is probably best known for his time on Dragons Den but also for his business savvy and many philanthropic efforts . What I didn't know prior to this shoot was that he also had a long battle with cancer that he ultimately won - the reason he was interviewed and featured in Leap Magazine. Leap is published for the Alberta Cancer Foundation and features new cancer developments, health tips, inspiring stories and more.

The challenge for this shoot was figuring out a way to profile Brett in a way that shared his story but without referencing his Dragons Den fame. The interesting part about Mr. Wilson is that he is involved in so many different charities, businesses and PR type events all the while maintaining a focus on his family and friends. I am sure his mind is in hyperdrive 24 hours a day.

I liked the idea of a chalkboard full of ideas somewhere in the shoot to represent a busy mind so thought why not paint a large section of wall and fill the frame... problem being I only had a day to put it together! Luckily I was able to get the lovely and extremely talented Lisa Turner to help design and illustrate over the chalkboard paint. A late night and early morning later here's the result. Thanks again to Lisa and to Mr. Wilson for being a genuine and patient subject. 

© Colin Way 2011

 Miss Turner burning the midnight oil.