Mariel Nelms is a Vancouver-based artist, photographer, and creative facilitator.
Through photography, collaborative art, and creative experiences, she helps people uncover and celebrate their own great ideas and bring them to life.
Commercial & Editorial Photography · Art · Creative Facilitation
Grateful to work with incredible clients such as:
Mariel Nelms is a Vancouver-based artist, photographer, and creative facilitator telling the stories that really matter.
Through commercial and editorial photography, community-based art, and creative facilitation, Mariel works with people and organizations to uncover and document the stories, ideas, and new concepts that need to be heard and seen.
Currently working on: FUTURE ARCHIVES as the Community Artist in Residence for the City of Surrey.
Mariel’s creative practice continues to grow beyond photography into workshops, installations, public art, speaking, and collaborative projects.
Projects
FUTURE ARCHIVES
Currently working on a project titled FUTURE ARCHIVES, as the City of Surrey’s 2026/2027 Community Artist in Residence.
What do you hope future generations will see?
I'll be sharing portraits, conversations, ideas, experiments, and discoveries throughout the residency. Follow along as the Future Archives takes shape.
CANADIAN GEOGRAPHIC JULY/AUGUST 2025 ISSUE
It was an honour to contribute photography to Canadian Geographic’s July/August 2025 story titled The Canadian Dream. My work for this multi-page spread focused on real people and real places.
This feature reflects my passion for authentic, place-based storytelling. I create documentary-style imagery for publications and organizations across Canada.
How i help
My Professional Services
Keeping your About Us page up to date and on brand with unique staff portraits is more important now than ever before. If you’re looking to level up your business, or if you simply have a group of new hires you need to document, it’s time for an upgrade! I work with you to create gorgeous portraits that look and feel like your brand.
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Headshots & Portraits
From smaller scale personal branding shoots, to longer term commercial projects - I can help you build your business and achieve your goals with highly professional, creative and on-brand images. Let’s make your mailers, social posts, and website come alive and perfectly align with your brand’s unique story.
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Web & Social Content
Are you planning an event that deserves to be documented? There’s no better way to spread the word about your industry than providing your speakers and attendees with high quality images to share from your event. My event photography is full service, including pre-event consultation, post production, and even rush editing if required.
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Event Photography
I work with publications of all varieties to create impactful imagery for their latest stories. Whether it’s a newspaper feature, a photo essay for a magazine, or paid content for an online publication, I know how to deliver strong, narrative-driven images on deadline and with intention. I understand how to balance storytelling with visual impact—always aligning with the publication’s voice and the assignment’s goals.
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Editorial Assignments
Featured Clients
hcma
david suzuki foundation
canadian geographic
the globe and mail
PROVIDING CUSTOM, Professional photography FOR clients of all sizes, specializing in providing the following services:
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Clean, eye-catching and flattering portraits of your team, which can be created to support a fresh new rebrand, or to match your businesses existing aesthetic and style!
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Stylish and captivating event photography for events of all shapes and sizes. Quick turnaround of high resolution images so you can multiple the impact of your event by sharing the photos with your network quickly!
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Custom, creative and eye-catching content to support your social media strategy and website design! I work with you to truly understand your business goals and create a shot list of must have images to make the most of your photography investment.
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Creative and clean documentation of your latest construction or design project. I can create images that lean towards more classical architectural photography, or incorporate subjects to make your images more dynamic and show how humans interact with your designs.
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My team can provide captivating aerial images of your project or event with my certified drone photographer.
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Starting something new or looking to update your organization’s branding? I work with businesses to create custom content libraries that will match the aesthetic of their new brand strategy.
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Editorial photography for both journalistic and branded content. Whether for a newspaper feature, a photo essay for a magazine, or paid content for an online publication, I know how to deliver strong, narrative-driven images on deadline and with intention. I understand how to balance storytelling with visual impact—always aligning with the publication’s voice and the assignment’s goals.
Have something unique in mind? Let’s talk. I’ve partnered with all kinds of people - acupuncturists, therapists, software companies, artists, and more - each with their own story to tell. No matter your vision, I’m here to help you bring it to life with thoughtful, professional photography.