Ottawa Rock Camp For Girls

If you've been following me on social media, you may remember my recent personal project with Ottawa Rock Camp For Girls+ that I released a few months ago. I never got around to writing a blog post about it, but now that I have some exciting updates I thought this would be a good time! First a little backstory...

Last fall I was giving a lot of thought to shooting a personal project, constantly looking at and adding to my list of 20+ ideas, but not really feeling any (or more accurately, just overwhelmed). One night I was hopping around on social media and discovered the Ottawa Rock Camp For Girls+ (now known as Girls+ Rock Ottawa).

Scrolling through their Facebook page looking at photos and videos from past camps, I was really excited by what they were doing and thought how cool it would be to do a black and white portrait series of these teen rockstars. I noticed that the camp would be held in a couple of months, and it turned out that I knew a few people involved in the organization from photographing Scary Bear Soundtrack. I immediately got in touch (before I could talk myself out of it), and they were stoked about the idea.

We started planning some of the logistics like where I could shoot during the camp, when I would shoot candids, when I would shoot portraits, etc. It all came together, and it was probably one of my favourite experiences on a shoot.

I released the project on March 8th for International Women's Day on my website and was stoked that it was shared around by a number of different people and organizations in the community as well as some photography sites and blogs.

Now I'm excited to announce a couple of new updates!

Partnership

I'm very pleased to announce that I have partnered with Girls+ Rock Ottawa to be their official photographer for their camps! They just started a new camp for women, so I will be shooting portraits there in June. They're still taking registrants so check out their website if you're interested!

Booklets!! 

I have made booklets of all the portraits from the 2016 camp which is now being sold to raise money for Girls+ Rock Ottawa and all that they do! It's a 32 page zine-style booklet on 8x11" silk stock. You can purchase one HERE!



These kids were really amazing to meet and photograph. So much inner confidence, always supporting each other, giving 110% to everything. Normally I have to loosen subjects up before we get in a relaxed groove of shooting, but these teens had no walls to break down. It was such a blast to create photos with these rockstars.

We asked them to share a bit about themselves and their experience at camp, and below are some of those quotes along with a selection of portraits and candids. There's also some BTS photos (by Kyleigh Telford) and a video as well! To see the whole project, visit my website.


“Rock Camp taught me that being unapologetically you is the most rock and roll thing you can do.”    - Olivia S. 


Q: What was your favourite part of Ottawa Rock Camp for Girls+, and why? 
A: “The endless support that goes around and the lack of competition. There was never a moment where I felt like I was competing for the spotlight or that I was being put down. Everyone is equal and encouraged to contribute." 
- Helena 


“My favourite part of Rock Camp was jamming with everyone. It can be really hard to find any girls that love rock music, and the great thing about rock camp is how it brings us together to rock out for a weekend.” - Victoria


“I loved meeting all the awesome people and performing on stage. I've always loved performing, and to do it in such a great environment, with a bunch of amazing individuals made the experience way better.” - Enid






















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