Dropping names....

The coolest thing about my career is the people I get to meet. I have photographed the weddings of Chief Justice Barbara McLachlin, designer Justina McCaffrey and socialites like Mike and Marlen Cowpland and the Potters. My commercial site shows portraits of every Prime Minister from Trudeau to Harper . I believe I am the only photographer who has been given this honor.

Ok...that was a long preamble...but what I really wanted to show you was a new site featuring some of my work with my friend Kim Campbell. Enjoy.

Thanks for the link Kim....hey I guess that must be what they call a testimonial...lol

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Web site concept and Executive Photography.

Now what do these funky family shots have to do with commercial photography. For the answer, go to Winning Charities and check out their site, especially the staff head shots.This group came to our studio in Ottawa from Brockville just to do the shoot. We came up with the concept and I think it really works in todays business environment where showing more than a corporate look
can separate you from the crowd. Nice working with you guys and gals.

BTW....this just came in from the client....unsolicited.

Hello Paul

I wanted to let you know that our website is slowing working its way to completion. We have a few pages online, at www.winningcharities.com

Thanks again for the great day at your studios. We had a great time, and the website (and soon to be marketing materials) are going to look great because of it.

Hope we can work together again. We highly recommend you!

Abby MacIntosh-Hooper

Vice President, Marketing | Winning Charities

Executive Portraits on location in Toronto

Here are the behind the scenes shots and final image of a series of executive portraits I shot for Magna International and CBC in Toronto to promote the Next Great Canadian Prime Minister TV show. I have been photographing PM's for all of my career and have done portraits of every last one...from Trudeau to Harper. This year, Alex Trebek was the host and I had time to shoot some great stuff with the worlds most famous game show celebrity. He is a riot off camera...so we had a lot of fun.
This is my fourth year shooting the portraits for Magna International and my third year shooting the show for CBC....and their trust in my work is warmly appreciated. Not many photographers get the opportunity to do the work I do.

The final shots appeared on the covers of 7 major Canadian newspapers today with my credit
displayed from Coast to Coast. Mom and Dad...this post is for you.


The candids were shot by my assistant Frédéric Solenthaler...as you can see...I'm happy to be
out of the limelight.

Karsh and I

I am honored that the Ottawa Citizen has chosen to feature me in their story on Yousuf Karsh of Ottawa.
We met many times and I told him of the influence he had on my career. My one regret is never having had him take my own portrait or never having taken his, thought I did have the pleasure of taking a portrait of his brother Malak Karsh. As well, I wisely purchased an original print by Yousuf that he signed for me. The image is, in my opinion his finest work, a portrait of Pablo Casals.
My Karsh stories are many and I will save them for my own eventual book, but suffice to say I
was honored when he referred a number of clients to me upon closing his studio and equally honored when a number of corporate clients considered me as his replacement. Karsh was an artist, a businessman and one of the most refined gentlemen I have ever met...he truly possessed an old world charm that is rarely seen today. Without Karsh, I doubt my career would have developed technically and artistically as it did.

Click on this link to the Citizen page and if you click on my self portrait you can hear me speak on Karsh.

Ottawa Executive Portaits

Commercial photography is not just shots of guys in mines (though I have done that too) but its also images that serve the purpose of showing executives and sales personel in a manner in which their image sells the company vision.

The net provides a great way to see exactly what talents a photographer has and its been a great boon to my portrait business. Potential clients who see our work on the net and still decide based on the lowest quote...well...we are happy to do their next portrait...and that is a common occurance.

I just can`t figure out why a person appointed to select a photographer for their boss would take the chance to shop solely on price, expecially when the spread between a great photog and the bargain basement is so small. Nor can I figure out why a real estate salesperson would save a hundred on a portrait that they spend tens of thousands running over the next couple of years...funny.

An Ottawa Editorial Photography session.

This was fun...

The shot was for an Ottawa Life feature on the Canada Council. We were a little nervous around

the Stradivarious and I thought the violinist was going to have a seizure when I asked her to balance it on her fingertips...whats a couple million I said, tongue in cheek.

Oh well, thank goodness for Photoshop.

Ottawa Executive Portrait of Paul Dewar

Ever wonder who shot that image of Paul Dewar that was splashed all over Ottawa recently....

It was great to shoot Paul and his Mom in what was to be Marion Dewar's last portrait
session. Shortly after, I worked with Paul on the campaign to keep the portrait gallery in Ottawa. When the election was called it followed that he chose me to shoot his PR shots.
We wanted a relaxed look with earth friendly colors to match his party's themes.
I was glad my work helped him become our current MP. Now that I think of it...every MP we
shot during the last two elections won...hmmmn think about that future politicos. Maybe I have
learned a trick or two having photographed official portraits of every Prime Minister since Trudeau....

Want to see more headshots and portraits...click away.

Preston Catalogue

This was shot as part of the current issue of Preston Catalogue. We had an interesting time shooting the artists and their art...the toughest part was the art, since photographing paintings and sculpture for a high end mag is no simple task...though I loved the challenges. Kudos to Preston for the great repro of my work.

This shot of Mark was one of my faves...it ran a bit small in the mag...so here it is in full.

To see more of our funkier portraits...go here.

Ottawa Life/Mayor Larry

My shoot with Larry O'Brien was fascinating. He was not at all what I expected and I
was impressed with his candor and resolve. Best of all, his wife walked up to me at a party
and told me she had a hundred emails saying it was the best portrait anyone had ever done
of Larry....wow.

This marks my 250th magazine cover....and probably my 50th for Ottawa Life.

My fifteen seconds of fame...lol

An Ottawa U student, Hamed Tinafer decided to make ME his term project...and created a Wiki
page that tells the tale. Funny, he never mentioned my skills at poker and golf...oh well. But seriously, I was blown away by all the work he put into it...hope he got an A!