24 Stories | June 13-19 & a PATREON! | Chilliwack Photographer

It’s been about 100 years since 2019 - so much has happened, and I think all of us are wondering how things will unfold from here into 2021. When I was considering launching the next installment of the 24 Hour Portrait Project I had a few things to consider:

• How do we even begin to process 2020?

• How can I create a project that’s as safe as possible and following health orders?

• How can I take what I’ve learned from the past installments and make this one better?

• How can I make this project accessible and mindfully make space for all voices?

SO: I’ve created 24 Stories - a week long project that tells 24 Photo Essay style stories all about individual stories of 2020 within our beautiful Chilliwack community.

The 24 Hour Portrait Project was about taking a portrait an hour for 24 hours straight - in previous installments I went dragon boating, got a tattoo, and almost got hit by a train. I ran off of a mixture of caffeine, adrenaline and ADHD - and the recovery was B R U T A L - but the projects were SO fun. Doing 24 Stories over a week is still a feat - images will still be shared the day of, but having more time means having more time to create elaborate portraits - and I’m so excited for this part!

All portraits will be taken outdoors with limited to no contact and following health orders.

To keep the project accessible, there is no cost to participate. If you want to support the project and projects like it, I’ve created a Patreon!

All stories are worthy stories - head over to the 24 Stories page here to submit your story. You don’t have to know exactly what it is you want to say yet - we can unfold that together if you’re unsure. I’ll respond to every submission and the final selection will aim for diverse representation.

I so hope you’ll join us and support this project - your story matters, and I would love to hear it - I hope you’ll sign up, spread the word and/or follow along with us as we shoot June 13-19. Portraits will be updated to Facebook and Instagram, with behind the scenes shown in the stories.

MARCH | The 24 Hour Portrait Project | Chilliwack, B.C.

With the June project coming up at the end of this month, I thought it was a fitting time to unveil all the images from our March project! 

I thought about this project while I was working on my thesis - I wanted to get out from behind my computer and my piles of papers and research, and connect with our amazing community. There's something magical about making art with other people - and the project was exhausting, challenging, fun, amazing, - I don't think I can properly explain how much fun it was, but meeting everyone along the way kept us going. 

I tried to include a varied amount of locations, but for this first go, I tried to plan the shoots in clumps of similar locations, before moving around town too much. BUT we also realized that some of the gaps that I included in our schedule to give us breaks, grab something to eat, or potentially nap, were the WORST. We've remedied that in our June shoot - we'll be moving across town more between shoots, and including more live updates behind the scenes - so interviews, tours, check ins, - things to keep us engaged and awake. You can follow along with us all day on Instagram and Facebook. 

We're still figuring out the final format for presenting all the images together. I would love to present it all in a gallery space, or a book (or both!) Originally, I planned on sending out all the final images straight after, edited via mobile - but I wasn't happy with the mobile images looked outside of Instagram, and I found myself loving different images when I finally pulled them off my camera - so I took my sweet time with culling, and a re-edit. SO, thank you to everyone who has patiently been waiting for me to edit and unveil this final set! 

You may notice one image missing from this series. We had one image taken in front of something that couldn't be shared - so we had to take that down. Working on the background in Photoshop, it just didn't look right and lost it's authenticity. SO, we'll be attempting to reshoot that image during this next round, too - it only feels right to shoot in during the same project!

Without further ado, here are the portraits from last March's project! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH, for following along, supporting, and participating in this project. I can't wait to shoot the next one with all of you! 

7 a.m. - at a beautiful farm with Brenna, her husband, some friendly cows, and a very, very good dog, Greendale. 

8 a.m.: Visiting Nina at Luna Float, and hanging out with the massive collection of salt lamps, Garrison Crossing. 

9 a.m.: Bringing some coffee to my landscaper husband, Jamie, at Valley Outdoors, Downtown Chilliwack.

10 a.m. : Missing Portrait, Mari's Reiki Room

11 a.m.: Meeting up with Vanessa from Wild Empress. We were originally planning to shoot her at a thrift store, but this giant hedge of forsythia needed to be photographed, Luckakuck Way. 

12 noon: Hanging out in Veggie Mandy's rad apartment, with her vegan donuts. You guys can find her at the Eco Market and online - we got to take those donuts with us and they were amazing!, Sardis. 

1 p.m.: Kelsey hanging out at Harvest Cafe. It was a day full of donuts you guys, Mill Street. 

2 p.m.: Callie hanging out with some plants at Minter Country Gardens, Fairfield Island. 

3 p.m.: Shelley and Madeline at the park, Downtown Chilliwack. 

4 p.m.: Matthew A. Hawkins, creative behind Around Town in Chilliwack, hanging with the Millennium Falcon and Han, Downtown Chilliwack. 

5 p.m.: Deanne and this amazing pink wall, Downtown Chilliwack. 

6 p.m.: Callum, with Gus and Bogey, and his dad photographing us in the background, Downtown Chilliwack.

7 p.m.: Hanging out with Hannah, from Hannah Wyles Photography, and a little bit of Prince's Purple Rain, Downtown Chilliwack.

8 p.m.: Nicole from Details by Nicole Danielle, and a really prickly holly bush in Education Park, UFV. 

9 p.m.: Nicole and Justine from Locally Obsessed, a local subscription box company, Garrison Area.

10 p.m.: Sheena from Work It Out Fitness, running at the base of Promontory. This shot was SO COLD to get, and we took it a bunch of times to get it right. I'd love to try more of this in June! Promontory, at Prest. 

11 p.m.: Georgia, at the hospital. Downtown Chilliwack.

12 midnight: Joanne from Umbrella Tree, in Rosedale. 

1 a.m.: Christie from Christie Lucia Yoga, on the dirt road out to Island 22. 

2 a.m.: Amber Wilber, The Woods in Garrison Crossing. 

3 a.m.: April, Miss Georgia Peach, by a hedge in Sardis. 

4 a.m.: Kate, with a stack of pancakes. Sardis. 

5 a.m.: Jenn, Liam, and Derek, Sardis Park. 

6 a.m.: Krystal and her pup, Sardis. 

7 a.m.: Coralee, feelin' those morning feels, in Cultus Lake. 

24 Hour Portrait Project: THIS JUNE!

click here to apply to the project!

Hi friends! 

I am so excited to announce another installment of The 24 Hour Portrait Project THIS June 22 and June 23! We learned SO MUCH from our first run, and are excited to implement changes to this next project to make it even better! 

It was amazing and magical creating & connecting with our community during this project - every person we met and had the chance to photograph made this fun - especially throughout the night which (no surprise!) we had a tougher time with. While we learned a) not to take naps in the cab of the truck because we won't want to get out of the truck after, and b) not to leave ginormous gaps in our shooting schedule because those are the worst, oh, and c) Sarah, a light hoodie is a poor choice for outdoor night shooting,  the people we created with absolutely revitalized us and kept us going! I was so tired coming home from the project, but my heart was full with the art we'd made and the people we made it with! 

We can't wait to make this next go even better than our last! 

In March, we used a one light set up with a speedlite and trigger, bouncing off of a reflector / walls. If you've shot with me before, you'll know that natural light is kind of my jam, and I tend to avoid artificial lighting. Using more of a set up during this last round was a challenge I set for myself, and while I think we did great, I think we can do even better with a two light set up in June.

The one speedlite was especially problematic when we shot at night - it was a lot of darkness, and so hard to see WHERE we were shooting, which meant the outside night time images look like they all might have been taken down the same gravel  road. Our plan for this is to work with more indoor spaces that might be willing to stay open for us at night, and to use our two light system to better light our environment as we shoot. (Psst: if you know of a place that may welcome shooting at night, please put us in touch with them!) 

Before and after lighting: Image one is natural lighting in the apartment, image two is with one speedlite.

A few changes: along with our lighting and choice of night locations for shooting, we've also changed the sign up process and the participation fee - this is so we keep the project as inclusive as possible, and so we can do even more with the project after it's been completed. 

 To this end, we'll be switching from our first come first serve sign up, to an application from which we'll hand pick the final participants. This is so we can make sure everyone has a chance to sign up, and have their voices heard as members of our amazing community! Please don't let this deter you - we encourage anyone & everyone to apply! - and on June 3, we will pick the  24 participants, with a focus on diversity. Nonrefundable payment is then due within 24 hours, or your spot will be given to the next in line. There are 20 paid spots available, and 4 spots that we will be holding on to for members of our community whose voices we want to create room for. If you're a first responder, we would love to hear from you - and we have a couple spots available (fee waived) specifically for first responders. We also will be running a contest where you can WIN a spot - stay tuned for news on that in the next couple weeks! 

Payment is $75 per spot, and works as an event ticket only. As a thank you for participating, you will get a digital copy of the image chosen of you for the project at some point when the project has been completed!

After we've shot our June project, we'll be looking at ways to present all of the images to our community, and we will keep you all in the loop!

So excited to do this again, Chilliwack!

apply here.