Photography direction + shoot production
Case studies utilising Photography direction + shoot production
19 projects demonstrating photography direction + shoot production, ordered for your focus.
The Drawing Hope Project
A concept-driven visual storytelling project that translates drawings by children living with life-threatening illness into fully realized photographic worlds.
QUIRK Parfum — Wear Who You Are
A consumer fragrance brand and campaign system positioning scent as an extension of identity, not a category — built around individuality, confidence and self-expression.
Luma Skin Studio
Brand identity and visual system for a modern skin studio — a clean, warm, confident look designed to travel across storefront, packaging, digital and social.
Chai Lifeline Canada - Annual Campaign & Family-Support Storytelling
Built the visual and narrative platform for a national children's-illness charity - annual campaigns, donor materials, program storytelling and event creative - through years where the organization's public voice and fundraising trajectory both had to grow at the same time.
St. Joseph's Hospice - Rebuilding the Brand Language for a Community-Facing Healthcare Organization
Rebuilt the visible language of a hospice from the inside - brand system, voice, editorial standards and campaign creative - so the organization's public face finally matched the quality of care it was actually delivering.
The About Game - An Interactive About Page That Rewards Curiosity
Turned a portfolio About page into a playable experience: a card-based decoder, a Wheel-of-Fortune-style solver, a recipe box, a trading-card set and a curiosity ledger that quietly assembles a custom bio from what the visitor actually explored.
Walk Off The Earth — Band Photography
Editorial band photography and post-production for one of Canada's most-touring bands — cinematic frames built for press, tour and social use.
Fanshawe College — Digital Master Class
Instructor examples from the Fanshawe College Digital Master Class — real-world Photoshop compositing and digital art techniques taught to working designers.
Photoshop Composite — Behind the Scenes
A behind-the-scenes timelapse of a single Drawing Hope Project composite — every layer, every blend, from blank canvas to finished photo.
Select Photo Manipulations
A selection of composite photography and digital manipulation work across personal and client projects — proof of the craft under the concept.
Select Wedding Photography
Selected wedding photography — documentary, editorial and portrait frames edited to a consistent cinematic tone.
Domestic Chaos — Conceptual Photo Series
A surreal, levitation-based conceptual photo series exploring the emotional weight of everyday domestic life.
From The Bridge — Band Promo
Promo photography and composite art for the band From The Bridge — cinematic, moody imagery built for tour and press use.
Bike4Chai - Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Event Creative
Anchored the annual creative for a two-day peer-to-peer cycling event that riders return to year after year - not a single-touch campaign, but a repeatable platform that had to feel meaningful the fifth time you signed up as much as the first.
Aprons in Action - Sunbeam's Philanthropic Platform
Extended the Sunbeam brand into a philanthropic platform - Aprons in Action - that tied the household-appliance business to a broader purpose without leaning on the usual cause-marketing shortcuts.
Big Brothers Big Sisters - Mentorship Storytelling & Fundraising Creative
Told the story behind mentorship without turning young people into props - fundraising materials, campaign creative and community assets that led with the relationship, not the recruiting funnel.
Shawn Van Daele Photography - Brand Identity for a Working Photographer
Built the brand for my own photography business from the client's side of the desk - identity, print collateral, website, contracts, social presence - so the business could grow without every new booking starting from scratch.
After Benny - Long-form Editorial & Book Design
Designed and produced a long-form book project as a companion to the personal editorial and memoir work that also produced Life in Detox - text, image, sequence and physical object all treated as one design problem.
Shawn's Recipe Box - A Recipe Product Design Playground
Built a recipe collection as a small product - trading-card recipes, an admin backend for adding by URL or from scratch, on-the-fly meal imagery, and share / email / PDF flows for anyone who wants to actually cook one.
Creative Director, Consumer Brands & CPG
2005 - 2009Jarden Consumer Solutions / Newell Brands
Served as final creative authority across packaging, shelf talkers, end-caps, POS, product photography, food styling and internal documentation
Founder + Executive Creative Lead
2011 - 2016The Drawing Hope Project
End-to-end: concept, family collaboration, photography, art direction, production and media rollout
Art Direction · Design · Production Leadership
Earlier careerAgency & In-house Creative Teams
Agency and in-house creative roles across consumer, healthcare, education, government and cultural clients - plus early music/entertainment publicity photography and album artwork connected to Sony Music. The range that underpins today's leadership work.
Founder & Creative Director
2009 - PresentShawn Van Daele Creative / Photography
Led a 20-person team - 14 photographers, two studio managers and four editors - delivering up to 750 shoots annually
Author + Independent Publisher
2018Life in Detox
#1 Amazon Bestseller. Long-form editorial project translating addiction, treatment, shame, resilience and dignity into human storytelling. Owned voice, narrative, editing, art direction, production and launch campaign.
Creative Director, Marketing & Communications
2021 - 2023Ascend Fundraising Solutions
Built reusable messaging frameworks, briefs, templates, approval workflows and AI-enabled production systems; governed Asana across 10+ concurrent initiatives
Creative direction, Art direction + design leadership and Visual identity + design systems.
