My 5 minutes

Photo by Brett Ryan Studios

My job brings me to some pretty cool places. I’ve worked in collaboration with Brett Hitchins (Brett Ryan Studios) over the last few years and we’ve photographed gorgeous homes, beautiful interiors and some pretty rad people doing what they love.

We often see the end result of a project, but what goes on behind capturing the image, the process, is what makes our hearts sing. We’re not the only creators of this photograph. There are so many people behind it: landscape architects, architects, designers, builders and even the back-end roles such as finance and project management. We see the passion and drive in their work of art and it’s our job to capture it in the best way possible.

For this project, we were on the roof of 701 West Georgia. It was the first time I’d ever shot from a roof top. This image of me on the roof captures a moment as we got close to the end of our shoot day. But getting to this point meant completing my fall arrest certification, picking up a harness and leash for the first time, walking through safety protocols to ensure that we both felt safe as we conducted our work.

At the top of the building at midday, the sun beamed down on us. We could hear the bustle of busy Vancouver construction, traffic, seagulls calling in the distance. By evening, we enjoyed the sunset, boats sitting still on the water. We saw the iconic Granville Street neon lights from a different perspective.

A few years ago, when working an event, I was told by our coordinator to work hard, get our shots, but to also make sure we took five minutes to take it all in and enjoy what was in front of us. Since then, I’ve always kept this in mind in everything I do. This photograph was my five minutes.

Article written for Sitelines Magazine.