Photo essays, interviews and portraits, made with care
Six kinds of work come out of our Kingston studio. Here is what each one involves, how they differ and what shapes a proposal before any work begins.
Six ways to work with Harbourlight
Our own stories sit beside work made with others. Photo essays, community interviews and portrait sessions are the core of what we do. Sponsored collaborations, premium photo collections and display advertising are offered openly, and each is labelled as such wherever it appears.
Photo Essays
Long-form visual stories built around a place, a tradition or a group of people, with captions and a written introduction.
Community Interviews
Recorded conversations with local residents, edited into readable first-person stories and paired with portraits.
Portrait Sessions
Natural-light portrait sessions in a home, workplace or studio for families, makers and community groups.
Sponsored Collaborations
Clearly labelled editorial projects made with local organizations, shot and written to the same standards as our own stories.
Premium Photo Collections
Curated sets of high-resolution documentary photographs from our archive, offered for personal viewing and licensing enquiries.
Display Advertising
Transparent, clearly marked advertising placements alongside our stories for businesses that want to reach thoughtful local readers.
Tell us about your project through the contact page, and we will reply with a written quotation. Scope, location and number of sessions are talked through before anything is agreed.
ContactWhat to weigh before you decide
The six services differ in how long they take, how many people are involved and who owns the finished work. These four points help you compare them before you write to us.
Who is involved
A portrait session may need one household. An interview series or a photo essay involves many people, and each one agrees to take part before we publish.
Time on location
A single afternoon covers a portrait session. A photo essay usually means several visits across different days so the place and its people can be seen properly.
Clear labelling
Sponsored work and advertising are marked as such on the page. Our editors decide how each story is written and which photographs are used.
Use of the images
Personal viewing, licensing and publication are different things. We state in the quotation which rights are included so there is no confusion later.
What a proposal covers and what changes it
Every job begins with a conversation about what you want to make or show. We ask who the story is about, where it takes place, how the finished work will be used and who needs to agree before anything is photographed or recorded.
From that conversation we write a quotation. It names the service, the number of sessions or visits, the written and photographic material you will receive and the rights that come with it. Prices are in Canadian dollars and are set out on the Prices page.
Travel outside Kingston and the surrounding area, the number of people to be photographed or interviewed, and the length of the finished piece all change what a job costs. A short portrait session and a multi-visit photo essay are quite different amounts of work.
Interviews are edited with the speaker in mind. We keep their own words and rhythm, send the text back for a read-through and change what they ask us to change before publication, since a first-person story should still sound like the person who told it.
Once you confirm the quotation in writing, we send an invoice payable by bank transfer. If plans change, cancellations and refunds follow the payment and refund policy, which we point you to at the quotation stage.
Ask for a quote
- Call us
- (613) 400-6864
- By email
- [email protected]