by Matt on March 11, 2013
We mentioned last week that there has been a fair amount of milage clocked by our shooters recently, and while the wheels continue to turn on these projects (ie. can’t tell ya yet), today we get a small taste of what’s happening in the world of Team Gordaneer.
We’ll keep it brief so we can hang on to the surprise for later; but for now let’s just say Chris, Tom, and Aric are enjoying their time in the Western side of Canada shooting some very fast subjects.
We’ll have the full meal deal coming up sometime in the future, but for the time being just keep sitting pretty there dear reader!
Images © Tom Nesbitt & Aric Guité
by Matt on February 21, 2013
Should you find yourself browsing through the Automotive section of George Simhoni’s website, it’s a reasonable assumption that you will quickly notice two stark features about each photograph you see.
First (and most obvious) is that George is no slouch when it comes to making a beautiful image – and so no matter the subject – the fruits of his labour are always bountiful. The second characteristic is one that might require more than a glance at the work, but I feel shines throughout his Auto portfolio.
Whether it’s a luxury coupé on the shores of Loch Ness or a family of heavy duty trucks leading a herd of elephants, George’s vehicles seamlessly blend into their surroundings while still maintaining their place as the focus of the image. Such is the case with George’s latest automotive effort for Hyundai Canada. Working with Peter Bochsler of Innocean, the team sought to bring the recently updated Genesis into the limelight by casting its shadow over The Crystal entryway of the Royal Ontario Museum. Enjoy.
Photographer: George Simhoni
Client: Hyundai Canada
Agency: Innocean
Art Director: Peter Bochsler
Assistants: John Wayne Brown, Abe Roberto, & Aric Guité
For more of George’s time spent watching the wheel be sure to buckle up and click on through.
Image © George Simhoni
by Matt on January 29, 2013
As much as I missed the action of the game, the thing I missed most from the 118 days of lockout we hockey fans faced this year, were post-game interviews with the players. Whether it’s a black eye, a toothless grin, or just an outrageous amount of dip packed into a lip, it’s my opinion that hockey players do it best.
It’s possible that this sentiment was also shared by the creative team over at Y&R, who teamed up with directors Chris Gordaneer & Tom Nesbitt on the following new spots for the Ford Drills and Skills program, where minor leaguers get a change to learn from the pros. Let’s take a look at the work.
Directors: Chris Gordaneer & Tom Nesbit
Client: Ford Canada
Agency: Y&R Toronto
Chief Creative Officer: Israel Diaz
Creative Director: Trevor Schoenfeld
Associate Creative Director: Martin Dessureaux
Copywriter: Trevor Schoenfeld, Matt Antonello, & Matthew Brodie
Post Production: Panic & Bob
Editor: Marco Pazzano
Alongside the directing duo was Chris’ full-time assistant Aric Guité, who handled the stills portion of the campaign with the following two posters.
Big round of “great job”‘s to everyone involved in the work, and if you have a youngster playing minor league hockey or basketball, go check out the Drills and Skills website for more info on the program.
by Matt on December 11, 2012
Featuring what could be the sexiest headlights on the market, the 2014 Acura RLX has been the talk of car-town ever since its unveiling at this years Los Angeles Auto Show. As tends to be the case when a manufacturer launches a new model, enthusiasts aplenty have attempted to get a closer look at the luxury sedan, and today Chris Gordaneer gives them just what they’re looking for. A bit of eye candy before we throw it over to Chris for some details.
When I got a call from Bob at Grip Limited regarding a very hush-hush shoot for Acura, I started getting that tingly feeling of excitement that comes along with a great project – and by the end of our conversation it was a full on buzz. Having the opportunity to create the lookbook for Acura’s new flagship sedan, with the added bonus of some very cool location shooting, what more could I ask for?
We shot exteriors over two days at our highly classified location before making our way back to Westside for the detailed interior shots. There’s always a bit more tension on set when you’re dealing with a top secret project, but despite keeping our #setlife instagrams to a zero, we all had a lot of fun bringing Acura’s vision to life. Huge thanks to my crew and everyone at Grip Limited for their hard work.
Photographer: Chris Gordaneer
Client: Acura Canada
Agency: Grip Limited
Creative Director: Bob Goulart
Art Director: Nancy Ng
Designer: Jill Brown
Print Producer: Liz Crofton
Producers: Tom Nesbitt & Kirsten White
Assistants: Aric Guité, George Moreira, Dusty Parr, Adnan Saciragic, Drew Grav-Graham, & Jason Gordan
Due to the under wraps nature of the production, there’s not much by way of behind the scenes to showoff Chris at work behind the camera; however, in addition to his photographic skills, Chris is also quite the grill-master and much to the enjoyment of the carnivores, also acted as caterer for their time on set. Here’s a peek at his meat.
For more from Chris’ time with the RLX go check out the Acura Canada website, where you’ll find a number of images not shown here and learn about some of the amazing technologies found in Acura’s new beast.
All Images © Chris Gordaneer
by Matt on October 17, 2012
When Zac Muir-Vavrina from INNOCEAN informed Tyler Gray that their assignment from KIA Canada would require that he return to college, T-Dogg showed up to their pre-pro meeting 15 minutes late, whiskey breathed, and wearing a toga. Fortunately for Tyler the pre-pro wasn’t actually until the following day and when he arrived (on time) the receptionist didn’t seem to recognize him without his traditional Roman garb.
It was here that Tyler learned what Zac really meant by his back to school comment. Team GRAY-OCEAN would be taking over a local frat house in order to create the following ads as part of the KIA Grad Program, where the auto-maker is calling on students to show them their latest innovations. There’s prizes and money giveaways so if your still in school you might want to check out their Facebook Page. Here’s the work.
Photographer: Tyler Gray
Client: KIA Canada
Agency: INNOCEAN
Art Director: Zac Muir-Vavrina
Copywriter: Freddy Nduna
Producer: John Stevancec
Assistants: Aric Guite & Drew Grav-Graham
Here’s a look at one way you might find Tyler’s images in use.
Images © Tyler Gray
by Matt on September 13, 2012
It’s no secret that George Simhoni is a big fan of all things related to travel, photography, and having fun. And when George gets the opportunity to combine all three of these things; well, you might want to get comfy in your chairs because you’re not going to want to miss this.
Before we get into the eye candy, here’s George to tell you about his latest work.
I was excited to hear from Doug Bramah and to be invited to be part of the new Freedom 55 campaign. Doug and I have done some amazing things together in the past and this was going to prove to be one of those rare moments we all creatively live for. An opportunity to be part of the team to put a new face on an existing product and help make it successful.
The strength of a creative and well thought solution to attract potential customers is the ultimate goal for our clients. With bright red pushing this forward and believing in what we are all collectively doing, together we succeeded in producing a wonderful campaign for Freedom 55.
Photographer: George Simhoni
Client: Freedom 55 Financial
Agency: bright red communications inc.
Art Director: Doug Bramah
Copywriter: Kurt Hagan
Digital Imaging: Mark Tyler
Props & Wardrobe: Shea Hurley
Producers: Tom Nesbitt & John Stevancec
Assistants: Gabe Nivera, Abe Roberto, Thomas Dagg, Aric Guite, & Peter Olson.
Expect to see a lot of George’s work over the coming 3 months, as the Tell Us Your Freedom campaign rolls out nation-wide both in print and online. For newsprint and out-of-home spaces you wont find any branding, just a touch of copy and finished with a QR code that brings it’s scanner to further interact with George’s work. Visitors of TellUsYourFreedom.com are asked to choose which ‘Freedom’ suits them best, before getting to pinpoint some of the financial logistics behind getting to wail on the drums while atop a mountain.
With four shots in four locations there was bound to be some behind the scenes, and boy-howdy there’s a bunch for you to enjoy.
As always when it comes to working with George, everyone leaves happy and,
good times were had by all. ~ GS
Images © George Simhoni
by Matt on September 11, 2012
There’s a reason naturist David Attenborough is always seen sporting the familiar coyote fur trim of a Canada Goose hood in his series Frozen Planet. It’s the same reason why in behind the scenes images from movies shooting in cold locations, the entire crew are seen donning that very same trim. Ask anyone who owns one and they’ll tell you the same, that Goose’ll keep you warm.
Over the past few months a number of Westside shooters have found themselves facing the harsh climates. Amongst them, Chris Gordaneer, who earlier this summer rounded up his crew and set off for BC’s Pemberton Glacier. Alongside Doug Robinson, Nathan Morlando, and members of team Goose, the pack set off on their mission to create The Journey North, Canada Goose’s multiformat campaign for the Toronto International Film Fest.
Photographer: Chris Gordaneer
Client: Canada Goose
Agency: Doug & Serge
Art Director: Doug Robinson
Assistant: Aric Guité
A quick word from Chris before we get into some behind the scenes,
It’s a great project that was a lot of fun to shoot. It was the first time I’ve been out to Pemberton and while I can’t say the Goose would’ve helped during my trips to Africa, if you find yourself on the side of a glacier, come prepared.
Here’s a peek at a place you can see Gordaneer‘s chair on show.
Images © Chris Gordaneer
The shooting star of information continues to passby the Blog today with updates on what’s happening in the world of two more members of our team.
When Nikki Ormerod informed me last night that her newly redesigned website was up, running, and ready for show – I was excited to get the word out on the double, as the new NIKKIORMEROD.COM, coded and designed by Adam Leon at Transmitter Studios, meets every requirement I have for getting a thumbs up when it comes to the “how’s my website” question. I’ll break it down nice and quick for yas.
A different SPLASH PAGE each time you visit! Pretty!
A really CLEAN AND SIMPLE entry point for gallery selection. Pleasant piloting!
The layout of the portfolios AUTOMATICALLY ADJUSTS to fit your browser size. Pleasing perspective!
Meanwhile, over in Camp Gordaneer, the boys have been working hard as of late. We’re keeping the story cool on ice, but here’s a lovely teaser of things to come from Chris and company.
So sit tight, and when the future comes we’ll tell ya all about the adventures of Gordaneer, but until then click on through and check out NIKKIORMEROD.COM.
Website Grabs © Nikki Ormerod
Chris Shooting © Aric Guité
With Nikki, Vicky, and Ryan, already out on the ice and ready for the puck to drop, we at The Blog are proud to announce that the remaining two members of The Westsiders Hockey Team – directing duo Chris Gordaneer & Tom Nesbitt – are ready to hit the ice and bring home the glory.
The boys were a touch late to the warm up due to shooting their latest motion piece for Memorial Cup sponsor MasterCard; but we’re not gonna give them a hard time, and after watching this piece we’re sure you wont either.
Director(s): Chris Gordaneer & Tom Nesbitt
Client: MasterCard
Agency: MacLaren McCann
Creative Director: Sean Davison
Art Director: Natasha Wittke
Copywriter: Sarah Deziel
Mr. Gordaneer‘s first assistant Aric Guité was on set to take some BTS images for us, and we got some great ones to share with you.
Mr. Nesbitt gettin’ lost in the rafters of the MasterCard Center.
D.O.P Chris Muir doin’ work.
The boys.
Our injured hero prepares to make his return to the ice.
The team checks on their progress.
Tom Nesbitt, not just a pretty face.
Chris fine tunes some details durring the lace up.
Video © Chris Gordaneer & Tom Nesbitt
BTS Images © Aric Guité
Pop quiz hotshot! What do the magazines: Bakers Journal, Maclean’s, and What’s Up Yukon, have in common? Well in addition to being Canadian based reads, they and many other leading magazines are members of the national trade association known as Magazines Canada. Offering services ranging from advertising to circulation marketing, Magazines Canada’s got it covered for titles from Applied Arts to Zoomer.
When it came for the team over at Doug & Serge to put together a print ad for the association last fall, they called in our man Tyler Gray to work some photo magic, and ol’ Tyler Copperfield did not disappoint.
Photographer: Tyler Gray
Client: Magazines Canada
Agency: Doug & Serge
Art Director: Mike Jones
Creative Director(s): Ian Schwey & Jason Buback
Assistant: Aric Guite
A quick word from Tyler before we get to a short and sweet look at the day on set.
This was a job where Mike and I both knew exactly what we wanted, but because the room specs were insanely specific for this to work properly, we mulled over numerous locations and ultimately decided to build the set to spec. It worked out perfectly.
Image/Video © Tyler Gray
