Derek Shanks

Introduction and biography written by long time and close friend Kelli Baker, Thank you.

Derek was born February 20th 1975, in Scarborough, Ontario. He had an interest in visual arts since an early age, testing the waters in video, photography, and digital visual design. Due to his training in graphic design and web development found himself creating photographs for content more often and really enjoyed the passion behind creating great images.

Living in Toronto till the age of 25 he moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2000 where he started his new found passion shooting images of the beautiful landscapes of the East Coast. In 2004 the transition to photographer started to take shape full force with more frequent projects, road trips in search of images to create. Derek created his first black and white image in 2004 and realized that he wasn’t happy with the results and started his 5 year journey into creating the perfect digital monochrome photograph.

His strongest influences and inspiration for his photography are Anton Corbijn, Rolfe Horn, Eddie Ephraums and Ansel Adams, whom he happens to share the same birthday with. Another great inspiration for him while he’s shooting is music , specifically Depeche Mode. The lyrics, music and beats keep the energry flowing during his sessions as the iPod is always playing while he’s shooting.

Due to determination, experimenting and trial and error he developed a process that he was comfortable and becoming well known for. In 2007 Derek produced his last colour photograph and has since only released monochrome images. Derek has created and released images on his blog Fragile Glass which was online in July of 2008. Since then Fragile Glass has hit a milestone of over 10,000 hits in less than a year and continues to grow daily.

Currently he resides in the Upper Beaches in Toronto to be closer to the water front to continue his long exposure water photographs. He’s just beginning to introduce his two sons ( Ethan and Liam ) to photography, which they have both taken an extreme liking to. He has a full schedule, as he is also an instructor teaching black and white photography courses for Vistek. He writes for the Canadian Imaging Blog, Canadian Perspectives of Photography Blog.

His photography is unique in the way that he has the rare ability to pull you into the moment with him and make you feel like you are a part of the image he has captured in a time capsule. Other then his sons, his proudest moments are when he achieves the great success of touching someone elses life with his photographry and inspires others.