Photographing Tom Gazzola in My Edmonton Studio

Recently, I had the opportunity to welcome Edmonton sports media personality Tom Gazzola into my studio for a portrait session.

Tom is a familiar face and voice to sports fans across Edmonton. Known for his work covering hockey and the Edmonton sports scene, he brings plenty of personality, energy, and character to everything he does. My goal for the session was to capture those qualities while creating portraits that felt polished, authentic, and relaxed.

Creating Authentic Studio Portraits

When I photograph someone in my Edmonton studio, I’m not interested in simply taking a technically perfect photograph. Lighting, composition, and posing are obviously important, but the real goal is to create an image that says something about the person in front of the camera.

With Tom, I wanted the portraits to feel confident and professional without becoming overly formal or corporate.

Rather than forcing expressions or complicated poses, I prefer to create an environment where personality can naturally come through.

Photographing Familiar Edmonton Personalities

Over my 26 year career, I’ve had the opportunity to photograph people from many different industries and backgrounds. Athletes, business owners, executives, artists, and media personalities all bring something different to a portrait session.

That variety is one of the reasons I continue to enjoy portrait photography after more than 26 years behind the camera.

Photographing Tom Gazzola was another opportunity to create portraits of someone who has become part of Edmonton’s sports and media community. People may recognize the face, but a portrait session provides an opportunity to create something different from what the public normally sees.

That is always an interesting challenge.

Keeping the Portrait Session Simple

Some of my favourite portraits are created without elaborate sets or complicated concepts.

A studio gives me complete control over lighting, backgrounds, and the overall mood of an image. From there, the focus can remain where it belongs—on the person being photographed.

For Tom’s session, the goal was to create strong, versatile portraits that reflected his personality and professional presence. The result was a collection of images that felt natural, confident, and contemporary.

Edmonton Portrait Photography

Having my own photography studio in Edmonton allows me to create portraits in a controlled and comfortable environment throughout the year.

Whether I’m photographing a business owner who needs updated corporate headshots, an athlete building a personal brand, an executive for an editorial feature, or a recognizable Edmonton personality like Tom Gazzola, every session starts with the same objective: create photographs that feel authentic to the person.

Good portrait photography should do more than show what someone looks like.

It should give you a sense of who they are.

It was a pleasure having Tom Gazzola in the studio and adding another memorable Edmonton personality to the long list of people I’ve had the opportunity to photograph throughout my career.

If you’re looking for professional portrait photography, corporate headshots, editorial photography, or personal branding images in Edmonton, I’d love to discuss how we can create something that represents you and your brand.

Curtis Comeau Photography
Professional Portrait, Editorial and Commercial Photographer in Edmonton, Alberta