BYBO – JVL tells us why he buys his Beau’s online

JVL and his Beau's

Justin Van Leeuwen is an Ottawa-based event and portrait photographer who, in his spare time, takes pictures without people in them.

When I moved to Ottawa four years ago, there was a common element that I’d run into when going out: Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company. 

The beer was unfamiliar to me, but I always jump at the chance to try a new ale; it was slightly bitter, full in taste, and stronger than your average on-tap offerings.  It quickly became my beer of choice at bars and taverns, and even at home when I could find it for sale.  Beau’s isn’t distributed through the Beer Store – we all know they don’t offer the best selection anyway. 

I’m sure complex distribution methods through the LCBO also don’t help keep this popular local brew on hand.  Many a time I’ve visited hoping to to pick up their clever four pack (Four 600ml bottles instead of the standard six-pack of ~300ml… they give me porn hands too) only to find them sold out. 

When in stock, I started buying them by the case – if you’re going to drink, drink the best, right?

JVL's porn hands

I’m clearly not the only one who has a passion for beer, or the local brewer, just check out my friend Travis Boisvenue’s short video documentary on the brewer: 

An alternative is, of course, to buy the beer direct from the brewer in Vankleek Hill, which is an hour and a half drive from where I live – so that’s not an exciting prospect. 

November saw the answer to all my troubles.

Beau’s launched their home-delivery service (currently in Ottawa only) at BYBO.ca and I was quick to place an *ahem* healthy order.  Growlers were available (1.89L of yum) for “sharing” as well as cases of their classic Lug-Tread.  Of course their seasonal “Bog Water” was also up for delivery; put them together and I had a great taster pack en route for the holidays!

www.beaus.ca

A bit about the delivery.  There’s an added altruistic bonus for those of us with a charitable edge: the delivery is provided by Operation Come Home, which employs at-risk youths and “prevents homeless youth from becoming homeless adults” – you can read more about the service here.  So I get beer, delivered to my door for $15, that fee goes to help youth get out off the streets, gives them work *AND* I get a charitable tax receipt for $8.25?

Sorry, you had me at “Beer Delivery.”

It wasn’t all smooth for Beau’s and Operation Come home, as “acting on a complaint from another brewery ” the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario tried to shut down the service.  But, in a surprisingly quick polictical move, the Ontario government made an exception for Beau’s and promised to look at the current laws.  You can read a bit about the ordeal on their blog and I can promise you, I was equally distressed about the temporary shut-down as I was excited about the service in the first place.

Justin's beer has arrived! Thanks Beau's!

It’s all ended well, I’m receiving deliveries on a fairly regular basis, my wife has taken to drinking beer too – it’s a bonding experience.  I’m also not wanting for variety, Beau’s specialty brews are distinct enough that I have the spice of life all in a one-stop shop.

BYBO currently takes Paypal.  Of course I sometimes receive payment from my clients via Paypal – which means I have a beer-balance!  Maybe Beau’s isn’t the taste of choice for everyone, but for me, and my house, it’s the only choice we offer now.

Wow, thanks for the great feature, JVL! Also, can we get a signed print of that fabulous feature photo?

Working for free, for pay: Congrats to Justin Van Leeuwen!

Want to view more of Justin's wonderful photos of the Marriott? Click the image.

We’ve been meaning to congratulate our dear friend Justin Van Leeuwen, for using his guest post with Local Tourist Ottawa as a jumping point towards an opportunity with the Marriott Hotel. 

On his blog he writes:

“Working for ‘free’ gets a bad rap, of course it’s also often misinterpreted in what free involves. A few months ago I was contacted by the lovely folks over at Local Tourist Ottawa to write a blog post that included a good selection of my personal work from the Ottawa area. Now, I do believe that writing is a commodity and has value, as do my photographs, and I do charge for their use on websites.

Photographer Justin Van Leeuwen

This time, I decided I was very much okay with the terms of this relationship as I like the blog, found it a good fit, and was given freedom as to what I would write and include photographically.

This was a mutual exchange – they gave me creative freedom, and I gave up my rates because I was happy to do it. No fuss, got some exposure, showed my work, all for a few words and photos I had already taken. A month later the article was retweeted by the Ottawa Marriott twitter account – in short – praising the photographs.”

After offering to shoot the hotel for free, Justin used his talents (and beautiful photographs) to wow the Marriott and successfully “turn ‘free’ into work – good paid work.”

Check it out!

To learn more about Justin's work, visit www.JVLphoto.com

The moral of the story?

“Not every situation will work out this way…but if you are not booking jobs, your full time job is to MAKE jobs happen, all the while expanding on your personal portfolio,” writes Justin.

Congratulations Justin, and thanks for sharing your story!

To read the whole story and view more photos please visit Justin’s write up.  Have you come across a great opportunity following your guest post with LTO? Send us a note at ltottawa@gmail.com to tell us about it.

Through a photographer’s eyes: looking at Ottawa from a different angle

Justin Van Leeuwen is an Ottawa-based event and portrait photographer who, in his spare time, takes pictures without people in them. Many of the images seen in his LTOttawa posts can be purchased as limited edition canvas prints through his website.

Ottawa photographer Justin Van Leeuwen

Ottawa is a lovely city.

If you live here, you might not be appreciating all of the wonderful sights there are, simply because you are used to them. We may not have the appeal of the “BIG” Canadian cities: Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal (the former of which I lived in most of my life), or the exotic feel of a foreign land… but remember: more than seven million tourists come to our city every year.

They’re obviously seeing something – so what are we, as locals, missing?

This is our nation’s capital, and there are many unique opportunities, locations, and events every week, thanks to bodies like the National Capital Commission whose “job, simply put, is to plan, develop and use these properties as a source of pride and unity for Canadians.“

Do you know what this means? It means the city is clean, it has monuments, museums, art galleries (all with great architecture), and more than 60 festivals throughout the year, winter, spring, summer and fall. Those are, of course, the obvious examples. But as an outsider looking in, I can appreciate how “normal” or boring your every-day city looks.

But think about it; what is it that almost every tourist, but few locals, marvel at the minute they pass by: our parliament buildings. They are simply STUNNING!

 

Parliament Hill (JVLphoto.com)

And that stagnant body of water running right beside it. You’ve seen it a thousand times right? Let’s revisit this…the Rideau Canal is something not just unique to Ottawa but to the history of Canada, and honestly, it’s not like it’s Toronto’s Don River.

It’s a lot of fun to photograph under the right light:

The Rideau Canal (JVLphoto.com)

And is even more dynamic during Winterlude:

The Rideau Canal (JVLphoto.com)

From there we can travel down to the ByWard Market, which maintains a local, home-grown feel about the vendors within the area – and doubles as a great spot for people watching (if you’re into that sort of thing).

The ByWard Market (JVLphoto.com)

Jumping back onto tourist attractions, there is always the recently renovated Museum of Nature. My boys, ages three and one, absolutely marveled at it’s offerings.

Of course, while they were fixated on the dinosaur bones, I took in the lovely glass-lantern tower which, despite it’s apparent simplicity, seemed to present more photographic opportunities than I could work out of it in a single day.

The Museum of Nature (JVLphoto.com)

After moving here three years ago, I took it upon myself to thoroughly explore my new home, on foot, so that I could immerse myself in some of the things that would too quickly become commonplace to me. It took me a long time to actually see the O-Train, despite crossing over it’s bridges twice daily, and even longer to photograph it.

OC Transpo's O-Train (JVLphoto.com)

Further North of the O-Train tracks (no longer connected, but part of the same line) lays the Alexandria Bridge. While there are “no trespassing” signs, and I have heard tales of fines being issued for a careless few, this bridge is explored, traversed, and photographed often. You can quickly cross it and go all the way to Quebec and back – my favourite view of it and the Ottawa River, comes at sunset (protip: most of your good light for photographs will come at the extremes of the day, so make a habit of taking a walk just a few hours before sunset).

The Alexandria Bridge (JVLphoto.com)

I should mention, I didn’t “see” the images I’ve shown here the first time I stumbled upon a location. But I did note them for their potential to photograph, either alone or as a backdrop to one of my portraits, just under different circumstances. Even after living here for three years, there are places I pass by every day -  places many people I know have passed by even more.

If you just take the time to look at things differently, from a different angle, you might see Ottawa in a way nobody else has before.

The Glebe (JVLphoto.com)

The Elmdale Tavern (JVLPhoto.com)

World of Maps (JVLphoto.com)

I encourage you to explore your neighbourhood, your block, your city.

Do it with your family and friends, or go alone – just get out and spend some time actually seeing, opening your eyes, and observing this wonderful city we live in.

It will surprise you.

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful photography in such a thoughtful post. We hope to see more of you soon!

Do you have a photo of Ottawa you’d like to share? Send us a note!