Featured Projects — André Paul Pinces

08 / Featured Projects

KNOW?MAG MAGAZINE

Editorial Direction · Art Direction & Photography · Publication Production

KNOWSHOW approached me to develop KNOW?MAG, a national publication that could extend Canada’s leading streetwear, skate, snow and lifestyle-fashion trade marketplace beyond the convention floor. We assessed the opportunity and determined that the magazine needed to do more than function as a trade guide. It needed its own editorial credibility and visual identity while remaining connected to KNOWSHOW—creating a platform where brands, retailers, designers, artists, athletes and the broader culture surrounding the industry could intersect. Across fofifteen national issues, I established the publication’s editorial voice, visual direction, content architecture and production process. Working from initial editorial planning through final publication, I developed story concepts, commissioned and managed writers and creative contributors, directed photography, shaped layouts and image sequencing, and maintained consistency across editorial and commercial content. Original photography and editorial production became a central part of that identity. I produced, styled, art directed and photographed fashion, lifestyle and cultural stories, working with brands, talent and locations to create material specifically for each issue rather than relying primarily on supplied industry content. Each issue required balancing independent editorial storytelling with the commercial realities of an industry publication. Advertising, brand participation and trade information were integrated into the overall structure without allowing them to dictate the magazine’s editorial character. The result was a publication that expanded KNOWSHOW from a twice-yearly industry event into an ongoing cultural platform. KNOW?MAG connected emerging brands and influential retailers with the people, ideas and visual culture shaping Canadian streetwear, skate and snow, transforming what could have been a conventional trade publication into a distinct editorial property.

KNOW?MAG MAGAZINE — featured project by André Paul Pinces

CAN-SKI MAGAZINE

Launch project ↗

Art Direction · Editorial Design & Photography · Print Production

Whistler Blackcomb approached me to develop a premium seasonal publication that could extend the resort brand beyond traditional marketing and present Whistler as a complete alpine lifestyle destination. We assessed the project across editorial, visual and production requirements and determined that the publication needed to function as more than a resort magazine. The objective was to create a cohesive piece of branded communication connecting mountain culture, fashion, equipment, travel and the Whistler experience within a single editorial and visual system. Working directly with the Whistler Blackcomb marketing team, I developed the creative brief and established the overall editorial and art direction. From there, I built the content framework, production schedule and visual structure of the publication, coordinating editorial, advertising and original commissioned content through to final production. A substantial portion of the publication was produced specifically for the project. I art directed, produced and photographed fashion, lifestyle, product and location stories throughout Whistler Blackcomb, determining how each shoot would support the larger visual identity of the publication. Production included casting, styling, location selection, transportation, scheduling and on-mountain logistics. The same direction was carried through the physical production of the magazine. I worked directly with the print supplier on paper stocks, cover treatments, colour reproduction, proofs and prepress, reviewing the publication through final press approval to ensure that the finished object reflected the original creative intent. The result was a fully integrated seasonal publication in which editorial strategy, photography, design and print production operated as one system—positioning Whistler Blackcomb not simply as a ski resort, but as a distinctive alpine culture and destination.

CAN-SKI MAGAZINE — featured project by André Paul Pinces

BC Women's Hospital + Health Centre

Launch project ↗

Editorial & Brand Photography

BC Women's Hospital Communications approached me to document staff and patient care across the hospital, with the resulting images intended for use across the hospital's annual report, website, donor materials, and recruitment. The hospital needed imagery that reflected the scope of its work, from the NICU to postpartum recovery to its broader women's health programs, capturing the day-to-day reality of specialized care rather than staged clinical shots. Over two days on-site, I worked alongside hospital staff during live shifts rather than staging setups, moving through the NICU, postpartum recovery, and other specialized care departments. The priority was capturing real interactions between staff and patients: a technician easing a patient's nerves before a procedure, a surgeon speaking with a family, nurses on incubator rounds. Patient privacy was a central concern throughout the shoot. Working in a hospital environment meant every frame involving a patient or family member required clearance, and my team and I worked closely and methodically with hospital staff at every stage, coordinating consent, verifying which patients and rooms were cleared to photograph, and adjusting coverage in real time as circumstances changed. It was a meticulous, collaborative process, and the trust hospital staff placed in us shaped how the two days were run. BC Women's is the only hospital in BC dedicated primarily to women's, newborn, and family health, delivering roughly 7,200 babies a year alongside a full range of specialized women's health programs. The final set of images spans maternity, the NICU, specialized care units, and staff portraits, delivered for use across the hospital's annual report, website, donor materials, and recruitment materials. The final series is now in use across BC Women's Hospital's website and marketing materials, as well as internal signage throughout the hospital itself.

BC Women's Hospital + Health Centre — featured project by André Paul Pinces

Campaign at City Scale

Launch project ↗

PHOTOGRAPHY: ESENTAI LUXURY CENTRE — ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN

Client: Esentai Luxury Centre Agency: McCann Location: Almaty, Kazakhstan McCann commissioned me to travel and photograph the launch campaign of Esentai Tower and Mall in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The campaign ran across the country and Central Asia with one of the photographs eventually covering roughly 2,000 square metres of the tower's glass façade. I knew little about Kazakhstan when the assignment came in, but the scale of the project was clear. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Esentai Centre combines a 168-metre tower with offices, residences and a luxury shopping experience. Saks Fifth Avenue was opening its first store in Central Asia, joined by Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, Loro Piana and other international fashion houses along with the Ritz-Carlton Almaty hotel. Kazakhstan's oil, gas and mineral wealth had brought considerable investment into Almaty, and Esentai was one of its most conspicuous expressions: international architecture, property and luxury retail assembled into a new commercial centre beneath the Trans-Ili Alatau mountains. I spent a week in and around Almaty working with the super McCann Kazakhstan team to produce the campaign. The assignment gave me an immediate way into a city I had never seen and knew almost nothing about. We worked together through the production and, when we weren't shooting, the team became my hosts, taking me around Almaty, introducing me to people and showing me parts of the city that had nothing to do with Esentai or the campaign. Almaty had ceased to be Kazakhstan's capital in 1997 but remains its largest city and commercial and cultural centre. The new towers, international fashion houses and money surrounding Esentai existed alongside the Soviet city and a much longer Central Asian history. I had arrived to photograph one very particular expression of Kazakhstan and was fortunate enough to see something beyond it. The campaign ran throughout Kazakhstan, but its largest application was Esentai Tower itself. One of my images was reproduced as a monumental installation across the tower's glass façade, approximately 2,000 square metres. What had begun as a photograph made during a commercial production was now several dozen storeys above the street, illuminated at night and visible across Almaty. At that scale the image stopped behaving like a conventional advertisement; from a distance, it became part of the building. The tower is the obvious image from which to remember the assignment, but the week around it matters just as much to me. I went to Kazakhstan because the work took me there, but the people I worked with made a point of showing me where they lived rather than simply moving me between a hotel and a set. Assignments that put me somewhere unfamiliar have always interested me for precisely that reason. I arrive with a job to do, but without all the usual reference points and habits. Almaty was one of those: a large commercial production in a place I knew almost nothing about and left with a new understanding of its people and culture.

Campaign at City Scale — featured project by André Paul Pinces