New "About me"

I have been trying to write an "About Me" for my website. I have always found it a difficult exercise. If you look around you have the third-person approach that goes something like this "Jarrell is an award-winning photographer known for his uncompromising view of unicorns " Then I need to say something about my uniqueness and uncompromising eye for detail" I tried this approach and it is just not for me. So I wrote something in first person that I hope portrays a bit of my personality.

Hi, my name is Jarrell I am the owner and principal photographer of Elemental Photography.?That is me in the "selfie" above, taken in during a project to promote Shannon Park in 2022.

A little about me: I am a South African raised coffee, jeans and black t-shirt kind of guy (there are practical reasons for this which I have placed at the end of these laborious paragraphs ).?I am a professional commercial photographer based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.?I have operated my photography studio – Elemental Photography -?for more than a decade.

Before immigrating to Nova Scotia I was a project manager and pixel peeping satellite analyzing geo-spatial data scientist specializing in the built environment at a national institution.

Given my background, it is not that surprising that I primarily photograph the built environment. I enjoy all aspects of the built environment from structural morphology to the use of spaces and their interaction with other environments.?Basically, I love to photograph human-made structures and document their uses and the way that they have been designed, built and incorporated into existing landscapes to create recognizable urban and rural landscapes.

As a commercial photographer I prefer imagery that I capture to have a practical application, whether it is selling a concept such as green space at an institutional level or capturing images of buildings for architects, builders, realtors, business owners, marketing specialists etc. The list of applications and users is long; from simply selling an asset or marketing (a location, process, product) to creating portfolio images for an architect, builder, or manufacturer. I like imagery to have value not just from an aesthetic perspective but from a business and personal perspective, as such I work with clients to help craft images that fulfill a need, this means that my photographs may not always follow the same formula to produce a strikingly recognizable look but a client’s needs are not always the same and neither are my photographs.

I do have a style and preferences, everyone has, for me it is a feeling of warmth and individuality, spaces that make you feel comfortable like big old farm kitchens with the smell of bread wafting through the air and comfortable crafted wooden furniture.?Good photographs are not just good to look at, they can make you think, they can make you feel and as a result, they can be effective for marketing things, that is when you call or send me a message and we can create something together, or if you want I can just run with it and provide you with the results.

Back to black.?My friends joke about me wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, it is a habit that goes back to the 90s – it is a comfortable uniform that requires no thought when dressing in the morning and I have worked in environments that value thought and actions over formal dress codes (not that there is anything wrong with those garments if that is what makes you feel good). Feeling good or comfortable in your clothes allows you to concentrate on more important things (according to Steve Jobs anyway).?As a photographer I find that black is a great colour to minimize reflections and the comfort factor is necessary for physical labour, it is amazing how far I walk during a typical photoshoot or how much paraphernalia I have to move, so next time you see me in jeans and black t-shirt you now know that I thought about it 30 years ago and now it is just a habit with benefits.