One of Canada's top photographers, Donald Gillies interest in photography began as a teenager while working on British Columbia's Coast Guard weather ships and on the oil rigs in the Arctic's Beaufort Sea.

After graduating from California's prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography, where he majored in industrial photography, Gillies apprenticed in New York with acclaimed photographer Anthony Edgeworth, known for his elegant work in advertising campaigns of the 1980s. During a trip to the Mediterranean in 1985, Gillies shot his Greek Men series on the island of Crete. Those evocative portraits, shot on 35 mm Kodachrome using natural light, became a defining element of Gillies' signature style.

After apprenticing in New York, Gillies then spent several years as a test photographer in Milan and Munich before becoming a respected retail photographer in Toronto. Renowned for his graceful work with child and adult models, Gillies has helped develop advertising and catalogue campaigns for many of the national retailers in Canada.

Gillies draws on his 30 years of experience in commercial work to bring a timeless, distinctive quality to everything he shoots.