Author: Brian Pieters

Brian Pieters / Nzirambi Orphanage Exhibition

Posted on by Brian Pieters • View Photographer's Profile

tub_girl

As some of you know I travelled to Uganda last December to photograph the Nzirambi orphanage in southern Uganda to help raise funds and awareness for student education.

Please join me on October 27th at 7pm at the Pikto gallery in the Distillery for the opening of our fund raising exhibition.

It’s going to be a fabulous night. Our sponsors include many fine Toronto restaurants, including Bloom, Pangaea, Nota Bene as well as Caplansky’s Deli, St Louis, Mill Street as well as Underdog Winery, Steam Whistle and Starbucks. More than $5000 in sponsored gifts for raffle/silent auction. Gorgeous earrings from Fairtrade Jewellery, plus retail gift cards, watches and other special gems.

Tickets are only $20. Come! Listen to live African drumming, check out the gorgeous images, eat, drink – have fun. Don’t forget cash because I promise you will want to bid on some of these auction items!

It would be most helpful if you buy your ticket early. Tickets can be purchased online at: www.orphanage.eventbrite.com

Please feel free to forward this to a friend.

Thank you! I hope to see you there.

Read more about… Nzirambi Orphanage Exhibition

Brian Pieters / Shooting under pressure

Posted on by Brian Pieters • View Photographer's Profile

DavidMondragonA_026
DavidMondragonB_050
DavidMondragonC_019

We recently had the pleasure of shooting David Mondragon CEO of Ford Canada for Costco magazine. We did a technical scout before the shoot to determine potential shot angles and lighting requirements. This was essential as we had to do 3 setups in the half hour of time we had with David. Pretty tight considering one shot was a cover.

We arrived early on the day of the shoot knowing we had to have 3 set ups lit, locked down and ready to go. Our set up went very smoothly, David arrived on time, well groomed and dressed and after a brief introduction and explanation as to what we would be requiring of him we went straight into the cover shot. This being the most important shot I chose to do it first in case we ran into any time snags. I could always improvise on the additional shots but not the cover. With a little powder dusting and some tweaks we got David relaxed and settling into the cover shot with some direction on body and hand positions. I already knew what we were going for so it was just a question of making sure I left enough space for the magazines masthead as well as some type around the subject. Ten minutes later, a few camera variations and different body positions we had the cover in the bag and moved onto the second shot.

The second shot was a slight variation in position from the cover so that we could save time by not having to move too far from where were set up, yet get a different look. A few small lighting adjustments and voila. Another nice shot.

It was now 25 past the hour and we had about 5 minutes left to move, reconfigure and get the last shot. While David went off to change his shirt on my suggestion, to change the shot up a little, we moved the camera and computer cart to our set at the opposite end of the room and by the time David returned we were ready. We started shooting, I waited for David to relax and feel more comfortable and then gave him some direction on hand and head positions. Our 5 minutes were almost up, I checked with David who said not to worry he could spare another 5 minutes. Bonus. I took the camera off the tripod and went loose, moving around looking for the perfect angle. I think we got it.

Great shoot, great subject. David was a really nice guy and a pleasure to shoot.

Toronto editorial photographer, Brian Pieters photographs Margaret Trudeau

Posted on by Brian Pieters • View Photographer's Profile

We recently had the pleasure of photographing Margaret Trudeau, the wife of Canada’s past Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau for the cover of Costco magazine. Margaret was a pleasure to work with and full of good suggestions. Despite a small restrictive hotel suite and a narrow time window we managed to get three great portraits of Margaret.

Photographer Brian Pieters shoots Robert Herjavec of Dragons Den

Posted on by Brian Pieters • View Photographer's Profile

We recently had the pleasure of photographing Robert Herjavec of CBC Televisions Dragons Den fame, for the cover of Costco magazine. Robert is a great guy, easy to talk to and a pleasure to shoot. The shoot wasn’t without its moment of panic though, we had to think on our feet when our location became unavailable at the 11th hour. A quick scout of Roberts office building together with some creative lighting provided great alternative shots to our original cover concept.