Outdoor family shoot capturing snowball fight (The Image Factory Facebook)
Melanie (Mel) Pitre did not anticipate she would drastically shift gears in 2020, from performing in her ensemble, “The Southern Comfort Band,” with her husband, Mike Emmerson to driving across New Brunswick as part of a growing photography business.
“I was doing photography here and there and everywhere, but it wasn’t really a full-time job,” said Pitre, who lives in Saint John and co-owns The Image Factory, also alongside her husband.
The business grew out of taking their own photos and videos of the band, which led to other projects and spreading from word of mouth.
“We do theme photoshoots as well, I have people here at the studio that come for backdrops or portraits or green screen,” said Pitre, adding they can shoot in-home, in-studio and outdoors.
Mother and daughter front steps shoot (The Image Factory Facebook)
With the pandemic resulting in the cancellation of their band gigs, Pitre pivoted to building up their side business. She learned from a friend about The Front Steps Project, which encouraged family photos at a safe distance, photographing people on their front decks, porches and yards.
“I was out five days a week, driving around the city from Hampton to Musquash, stopping in front of people’s places and we took hundreds of sessions,” she said. “It really spread the word for the Image Factory and I think that’s a huge help.”
Pitre says The Image Factory’s clients are all over the Maritimes, from Fredericton to Moncton to Edmundston, and wherever Pitre was allowed to travel during the pandemic.
One of her most memorable shoots was where a dad held up his kids upside down by the feet as their mom hung out on the porch. “It was just perfect,” shared Pitre. “The father was just like, ‘Do you mind if I do this?’ I said, ‘I don’t mind, show me what it’s like to be with three kids in the house!’”
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- Wedding shoot (The Image Factory Facebook)
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- Snapshot of a quiet home moment
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- Graduation shoot
New Brunswick’s return to orange phase was an unexpected challenge, limiting indoor sessions which led to many January sessions being cancelled, but Pitre is determined to roll with the punches.
“We get up and we just reinvent ourselves and keep moving,” she said, adding that The Image Factory began working together this month with a company in PEI which makes innovation albums, where clients can hold physical photos and up to 2 GBs of video content. “This is my time for me to reinvent and to get something out there,” she said.
