April 28, 2014

Feast your eyes on Cor Flammae

April 28, 2014/ Belle Ancell

21 fabulously attired singers, 3 hair stylists, 3 makeup artists, 2 wardrobe stylists, 2 set stylists, 3 shoot assistants and one photographer. That is what it took to create this image of Vancouver's classically trained Choir Cor Flammae.
This shoot was a milestone for me as it was the most people I've ever photographed in one sitting!!
What a wonderful experience it was to be a member of Team Flammae.

Go Team Flammae !!Wardrobe Styling:  Adam Dickson (lead) and Jennifer GagneHair:  Missy Clarkson, Soo Jeong and Shea AprilMake-up:  Andi Alexander, Sande Rees and Belinda SiuShoot Assistants:  Reem Abdel-Jabbar, Lindy Cairns and … — Go Team Flammae !!
Wardrobe Styling: Adam Dickson (lead) and Jennifer Gagne
Hair: Missy Clarkson, Soo Jeong and Shea April
Make-up: Andi Alexander, Sande Rees and Belinda Siu
Shoot Assistants: Reem Abdel-Jabbar, Lindy Cairns and Robin Toma
Photographer: belle ancell

Check out more of my LGBT portraiture at belleancell.com

April 10, 2014

Capture . Connect . Contribute

April 10, 2014/ Belle Ancell

Contributing to our community with our photography is important to us. So, when my friend Robin Toma Photography and I were asked to collaborate to create this group portrait for the Vancouver Trans and Gender-Variant Working Group, we were honoured to say YES!!

READ THE FULL XTRA NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ON THE GROUP HERE.

UPDATE April 28th, 2014: Parks Board unanimously approves the Group's recommendations to make Vancouver Parks & Rec facilities safer for trans and gender-variant folks.
Read the full Xtra article HERE.

Vancouver Gender Variant Group group portrait_belle ancell

Check out more of my LGBT portraiture at belleancell.com

March 27, 2014

The Lowest Common Denominator

March 27, 2014/ Belle Ancell

These folks from playwright Dave Deveau's new play 'The Lowest Common Denominator' were such fun. I wish I had more than 20 minutes with them to create these images for Xtra Vancouver. We could have gotten into some trouble!!

Pictured: Shawn Macdonald (bearded), Dallas Sauer (brown t-shirt), Deborah Williams (striped shirt).

Xtra Cover The Lowest Common Denominator play

Check out more of my LGBT portraiture at belleancell.com

December 30, 2013

There goes the Octegenarian Club

December 30, 2013/ Belle Ancell

I always say each new photo shoot is the funnest shoot ever, but this one really was, when I photographed the ever so lovely and naughty Linda Fillmore for her 80th birthday feature in Xtra newspaper.

Linda is the Matriarch of the Fillmore Family Foundation. The Family is a non-profit foundation that raises money for organizations such as Out in Schools, A Loving Spoonful, Camp Out and McLaren Housing Society. I posted last month about the raucous Prairie Fairy Fowl Supper event the Family puts on each fall to raise these funds.

This was an amazing experience as it was the first time I 'pitched' a cover and story idea to Xtra and they accepted. I wanted to honour all that Linda Fillmore and her Family have done for our Community and create some beautiful images for her. We all had a blast in the studio and even did a 'Commando' run out to the Bull Statue downtown.

I'm aging myself, but does anyone remember the series Dallas?

It takes a TEAM:

Assistant: Robin Toma
Assistant: Jason Blais
Stylist: Stephen Fahlman
James Goranko (dark beard)
Shayne Forster (red beard)

Check out more of my LGBT portraiture at belleancell.com

November 18, 2013

River 'The Fox' Tucker

November 18, 2013/ Belle Ancell

UPDATE: October 31st, 2014.
River Tucker won Bronze at the Canadian National Boxing Championships.

BC Boxing champ River Tucker arrived tired, hungry and caffeine free to this shoot. But it wasn't a detriment because this is a person endowed with deep focus and determination. You can feel it in her presence and you can see it in the images we created together.

I have wanted to work with River for some time so I was excited when she suggested we shoot in her gritty New Westminster training gym. We could not have asked for a cooler location to shoot these edgy promo images.

River is currently in training and 'On the Road to Rio 2016'.

Check out more of my LGBT portraiture at belleancell.com

November 10, 2013

Cover #4 for Xtra !!!

November 10, 2013/ Belle Ancell

October 09, 2013

Top 30 Under 30

October 09, 2013/ Belle Ancell

My Freelance job at Xtra Vancouver permits me to meet such amazing people.
Case in point when Xtra hired me to shoot 7 of the 30 folks honoured in their 'Top 30 Under 30' List of B.C.'s brightest young Queer leaders. Meet the Top 7!!