I thought it might be interesting to take a look back on 2019 and take a look at all of the stuff I worked on in the course of a year. There have been some huge shifts in my life and I think it comes through in a lot my work.
JANUARY
It was a relatively cold night in January when I got out for the first shoot of the year. Haley, who is always down for whatever I throw at her, was happy to help me put together a few images to use as a pitch for a webseries.
ft Haley Holtslander
FEBRUARY
In February I went out to Vancouver because my dad had to get a medical procedure done and my mom isn't real comfortable travelling in a different city, so I was more or less her body guard. To my surprise my parents picked the coolest possible.
I don't know a ton of people in Vancouver but luckily I got connected with Kristina and we were able to shoot at this rad location. I only had the Blackmagic and my old Zenit-E 35mm camera so I ended up with an interesting combination of work.
ft. Kristina Harnett with The Numa Network
When I got back home from Vancouver I feel like something had clicked in. I feel like this is often something that happens when I'm able to get out of Regina. This set was a change in direction that would be apparent throughout my work moving forward.
ft Beki Stilborn
MARCH
I find this shoot really interesting because the first half of the shoot I spent shooting that way I would usually shoot; a hard direct light to create an edgy look. Then I started experimenting with the soft glowy look again.
ft. Haley Holtslander
If I'm not mistaken, which is entirely possible because this is mostly going by memory, I shot Autumn the next day after I did the pizza and whiskey shoot with Haley. I think at this point I was completely convinced and was ready to explore a new direction.
ft. Autumn Kroeskamp with Stray Model Management
This was my first shoot with Mariah, who is a total gem. I am starting to explore the dreamy aesthetic a little more heavily at this point. Also, the frequency of my shooting suggests that I am either very motivated or am sort of using creative projects as some sort of therapy substitute.
ft. Mariah Taylor
APRIL
Warm enough to be outside, briefly. This was a quick shoot but I was really happy with it. Jackie had lent me her Lens Baby and Hennessy is always a complete joy to shoot.
ft Hennessy Klyne with Stray Model Management
The first part of the year I was in the process of moving out of my space in the Creative City Centre and the main room was more or less empty, so I was shooting fairly non-stop while I waited for the weather to warm up.
ft. Paige McKinnon with Stray Model Management
This was the first really nice day of spring and we were shooting downtown on a Saturday so Adrianna and I were lucky enough to have a strange man show us his free style rap skills.
ft. Adrianna Stadnyk with Edge Agency
MAY
I don't know Calista but she strikes me as a very wise person. I went through a phase here where I was often taping things to the wall.
ft. Calista Faith
Here's another wall taper:
This was one of the first shoots in the year where I worked with hair and make up to get a look. It certainly enhances the set a fair bit but I was just in love with the simplicity of having a model just show up and shoot.
ft. Erica Zarazun
Hair - Kristina Halwas
MU - Vanessa Fahlman
Digital above. 35mm below.
I shot 35mm pretty much all year round but I think I was starting to get into a groove by this shoot. Dominique certainly makes it easy to take a great picture.
ft. Dominique Michelle
I don't want to showcase every video project I shot over the year but this was a commercial I wrote and directed that was a big step in the right direction in terms of what I want to be doing commercially.
I'm really happy with the timing of this shoot because it always seems to be such a challenge to put something together in time for the blossoms but then also everyone else is also shooting the blossoms at the same time. I'm excited to have been this far into my new aesthetic that I could really apply my style to this shoot and get something unique.
ft. Carly Malene with Stray Model Management
I hadn't seen a lot of Brianna's work before shooting but she showed up and was 100% in sync with the vibe. This was one of my favorite shoots from this year.
ft. Brianna deGooijer of Stray Model Management
I think you can look exclusively at my shoots with Mariah from this year and easily determine that she just shows up and kills it. The suburban dreaminess of this shoot was a bit of a fluke but I love it. Also, doesn't Mariah look like Sharon Tate? I just figured that out.
ft. Mariah Taylor
JUNE
A good show of how much work goes into a short film vs a photoshoot. This was the one creative shoot I did in June. It was actually planned for the year earlier but we ran out of weather. I'm incredibly impressed by everyone who was involved in this project.
JULY
I always love working with Jackie, it always an incredibly enjoyable experience. Same goes for Haley. Then when you add in going out to the Big Muddy to shoot, it's a big win.
BTS for Jackie Hall Photography ft Haley Holtslander
"Hey I'm gonna be in Moose Jaw tomorrow, wanna shoot?". I love shoots that are that simple.
ft. Hennessy Klyne with Stray Model Management
AUGUST
This past year I went from shooting a lot of music videos to not nearly as many as before. It was really a bit of a surprise that it had changed that much so I was very grateful that we were able to shoot The Tourist for Poor Nameless Boy.
35mm. Honestly I think it's one of my favorite images from the year and it came from a 2 dollars camera. Also, I've drove by that location tons of times and would just stare at it, so I'm glad I've finally shot at it.
ft. Yvonka Ziarko with Edge Agency
Honestly, just look at these two. There were quite a few things that didn't quite come together for this shoot and yet, it's easily one of the best shoots I've got. I don't know, planning? Also, Gina Brass did their make up AND shot film on this so go find her for analog goodness of this shoot and more.
ft. Brianna deGooijer with Stray Model Management & Mariah Taylor
Constantly blown away by this girl. Believe me there will be more collaborations coming in 2020.
ft. Kylie Jayde
I was really happy to shoot with Scott back in the summer. I hadn't shot photos for a musician in a really long time so it was nice to do that again with a new shoot style.
ft. Scott Pettigrew
SEPTEMBER
This shoot really had a couple of different distinct looks. Lisa is a complete pro and is often travelling so very happy that we got to shoot.
ft. Lisa Dawn
OCTOBER
ft. Maria Cottrill
I ran a promo in the fall for photoshoots and was lucky to get some incredible photos out of the promo. It's really challenging to be out there doing your own thing and trying to make a living off of it so I really appreciate people who step out and hire me.
ft. Jillian Gizen
Honestly, I look at this shoot and I think I could do better but there's a kind of beauty in the process. And honestly accidents in photography are always pretty interesting.
ft. Autumn Kroeskamp with Stray Model Management
Alissa is one of my closest friends and she doesn't shoot with just anyone these days so I was very happy to get this shoot in back in October.
ft. Alissa Hill
This was a project I thought up over the summer and it came together to shoot in the fall. It was more or less me on the crew with the occasional set friend doubling up as a cast and crew member. John and Mariah (again) totally killed it. I put them in a challenging situation and they really showed up.
NOVEMBER
I love the power in this shot.
ft. Sydney Marie
Kat and I really struck a chord when planning the shoot we definitely vibe on the same kind of shit. That definitely makes shooting extra special and exciting.
ft. Kat Olson
So this shoot is part of a little short film Brianna and I did one night. It's one of my favorite projects of the year and it's extremely personal. I can always count on Brianna to be in on the more abstract projects.
ft. Brianna DeGooijer with Stray Model Management
Damn! Looking back over everything in one post like this is a little crazy. I've been extremely lucky to shoot with a ton of extremely talented people. In 2020 I think everything gets bigger and the ideas get more developed. I'm really excited to be on this journey with the people that I am working with and with the new people I'm going to get to work with in the future.
Grace + Peace ya'll.
Aaron