In Montreal/ Quebec, Canada, productions have started as of June 8th: advertising productions have been considered an essential service by the Quebec Government.

Michelle d’Eze, Sr Producer for Montreal / Quebec Photography Productions in business since 1984, provides Canadian and international clients with turn-key services for TV commercials, videos and still photo shoots.

Clients: Michael Kors, Intersport, Swarovski, Volkswagen, Spider Bombardier, Aboud, Isuzu, Fedex, UPS, Talbot, Tory Birch,  Dynamite, and Merrels.

Welcome to Showcase Canada, brought to you by Production Paradise. This issue features some of the leading photographers, directors, photo production companies and talent agents working out of Canada.

More creative professionals and facilities for photographic and film production are available in our Toronto (Photo / Film) and Vancouver (Photo / Film) directories.

Be sure to catch our recommended events, both part of the annual CONTACT photography festival:

• Christina Leslie. Absence/Presence: Morant Bay. Exhibition focused on photographer's personal meditation on loss, absence, and resilience. Shot with intimacy and directness, these portraits record the resiliency of the people whose lives Christina Leslie continues to document. BAND Gallery, Toronto. 
• Featuring recent video works, a group exhibition Performing Lives boldly bridges the supposed gap between documentary and entertainment, information and spectacle, fact and fiction. The exhibition can be viewed online. 
• Evelyn Bencicova’s Cure is an amalgamation of two recent bodies of work: Alice, and Artificial Tears. Both stem from personal experience, the artist having grown up in post-Soviet Slovakia. The exhibition can be viewed online. 

Our cover image was shot by Dave Hynes. 

Dave Hynes is a Toronto, Ontario-based beauty, fashion, and portrait photographer. He has been shooting professionally for seven years with a range of abilities from studio beauty and portrait work to outdoor fashion editorials.

From soft edgy beauty portraits to outdoor fashion editorials - he utilises a solid mix of artificial and natural lighting techniques.

Visit his website, Instagram and Facebook to find out more about Dave Hynes.

Ema Peter is an architectural photographer based in Vancouver, Canada. Ema and her team fly around the world photographing some of the most anticipated architectural projects.

Recent projects include the Xiqu Opera House in Hong Kong, Governor General Medals of Architecture six of the 12 project winners and multiple residential projects in Europe, Mexico and US. Ema has won many of the biggest architectural photography awards like the Spotlight Awards, Créateurs Design Awards, Architizer Awards, Canadian Architect Inaugural award and more.

Ema is a public speaker and in the past year has participated as a jury in the Archiproduct Awards, The One Photo Challenge Awards, The Architectural Institute of British Columbia Awards, The Loop design Awards and more.

For 22 years Shawn has been going to extremes to capture the perfect shot for his commercial clients. Shawn and his team are based in Kelowna, BC and specialise in architecture, interiors, aerials (both drone and helicopter), industrial and product. He has won numerous international advertising awards and has been recognised for his exceptional work by National Geographic, The Globe and Mail, The Smithsonian Institute and Maclean’s Magazine. He is currently featured in a documentary series about his work entitled 1 Stop Closer. 

Shawn chose to pursue eclectic photography and lighting training from numerous instructors at several universities; this is evidenced by the broad range of styles and techniques seen in his work.

Shawn has travelled to the furthest corners of the world photographing a wide variety of subjects. These experiences have inspired the fresh perspective he brings to each project. His passion for his work and easy-going, friendly personality has turned many clients into lifelong business partners and friends.

A few recent Canadian clients: Executive Hotels, Trump Hotel Vancouver, General Electric, Fortis, DDB, Wasserman & Partners, Sleeman Breweries, Bell Media, Titleist, Bell Media, BCAA, Swoop Air and Campion Boats.

Carey Williams is a Vancouver based make-up artist with over 20 years in the commercial, print and film industries. 

From her early years studying art, make-up, special F/X, theatre and film, Carey developed a unique eye and talent for creating both characters and beauty. She is renowned for her unique approach to beauty that focuses on flawless skin and modern, pared-down glamour. Time spent in her chair entails more than just make-up. There’s a bright energy and positive exchange of ideas that fosters confidence, ensuring a great collaborative result.

Her latest list of clients include such notable names as Michel Gondry, Wally Pfister, Speck and Gordon, Adult Swim, William H. Macy, Sandra Oh, Jeffrey Boyer-Chapman and Catherine O'Hara. 

The images and commercials featured here are from several recent campaigns for Amazon, Samsung, Peloton, Little Caesar’s, Audi, Bard On The Beach and Isabel Dunlop Designs, to name a few.

Carey is working currently on an international art piece with Stan Douglas and has obtained the certification for Covid safety. Also she has been writing Covid Best Practices for hair & makeup in film and print.

Clinton Hussey is an award-winning commercial photographer specialising in conceptual, food, still life and, recently, motion. Since 1995, he has been creating distinctive editorial and advertising imagery for brand and magazine clients in his hometown of Vancouver and abroad.

Originally a design student at Vancouver’s Emily Carr College of Art & Design, Clinton stumbled into photography at first accidentally and then with conviction as he fell for its demanding mix of creativity and technical grasp—an intense relationship he recognised from watching his father, a musician, repair his instruments with surgical skill. Though not a musician himself, Clinton has earned both Grammy and Juno nominations for his album cover designs; his photography has won multiple National Magazine Awards, as well honours from Lotus, Applied Arts, D&AD, City & Regional Magazine Association, the Printing Industry of America, Communication Arts, PDN/Nikon, and many others.

Today, Clinton is expanding into video, creating ad campaigns for clients such as Method, Panago, and the Children of the Street Society. When he’s not making pictures, he’s building things, and spending time on the ocean and in the mountains with his wife, Amanda—also a photographer—and their two children.

Bruno Belli is a Brazilian-born commercial photographer based in Toronto working in the fields of architecture, interiors, hospitality, and food. Both in his personal and commercial work, Bruno's images explore the connections between people, culture, and the built environment. Bruno is also a researcher in the fields of theory and history of photography and is currently a PhD candidate in Art and Visual Culture, where his research investigates the relationship between photography and contemporary migration. He loves to travel–on the job or otherwise–and has lived in Brazil, Denmark, Italy, and Canada. 

Bruno’s style is natural, moody and refined, with a focus on composition and great attention to detail. To see more of Bruno’s work visit his website or follow him on Instagram.

James Alfred Photography - BC based artist and photographer.

"Beginning as a multi-disciplinary artist, before eventually entering into a career as a commercial photographer after a stint as a professional retoucher, I have now been working as a commercial architectural photographer across BC since 2006.  I love working with passionate designers, and want to help then present their best work with my best visual craftsmanship, using all the tools at my disposal to craft the most complimentary and truthfully representative imagery. 

In my commercial work, my default style is usually focused on a natural, ambient light look, which I love for its purity, but I also appreciate being able to push things in creative directions when I can.  In my personal work one of the things I am drawn to is photographing abandoned places, which combines my architectural photography with my expressionist sensibilities. I'm excited to be currently working through a series of photos of an abandoned Hawaiian resort being reclaimed by the jungle.

Since 2014 I have been the principal photographer for the Mint Tiny House Company, one of the largest Tiny House manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest. Other clients include Turco Homes & Kalu Interiors, KG Interior Design, Turner Construction, Thibodeau Architecture & Design, Distinct Interiors, Grafton Apparel, Century Group Inc., Seraphim Stoneworks, Positive Space Staging & Design, Kenzi Design House, and Bayside Cabinets." 

The challenge Shawn Talbot loves the most is to take a hotel marketing director’s vision and make it a reality.

For over 20 years Shawn has been going to extremes to capture the perfect shot for his clients. He has won numerous international advertising awards and has been recognised for his exceptional work by National Geographic, the Globe and Mail, the Smithsonian Institute and Maclean’s Magazine. He is currently featured in a documentary series about his work entitled 1 Stop Closer.

Shawn chose to pursue eclectic photography and lighting training from numerous instructors at several universities; this is evidenced by the broad range of styles and techniques seen in his work.

Not only is Shawn an experienced drone pilot, capturing world-class photographs and video from a bird’s eye perspective, he is also a pilot of light aircraft. This marriage of piloting skills, accompanied by the composition skills of an experienced photographer, make for the perfect combination when capturing aerial imagery of luxury hotels and resorts.

Shawn has travelled to the furthest corners of the world photographing a wide variety of subjects. These experiences have inspired the fresh perspective he brings to each project. His passion for his work and easy-going, friendly personality has turned many clients into lifelong business partners and friends.