Rebuilding After the Fire
Our Lives Changed in an Instant
On Sunday, September 28th, everything Brandon and I had worked so hard to build was gone in a matter of hours. I was driving home from a wedding in Chilliwack when I noticed smoke rising over Hastings. My stomach dropped as the realization hit — it was Brandon’s photography studio. By the time I reached it, firefighters were already doing everything they could, but the building went up so fast there was no saving it. In that moment, Brandon Hart Photography was gone — along with more than half of our household belongings. We had just finished moving our things into a storage unit in the building so we could stage our condo, sell it, and finally pursue our dream of buying a house in Kelowna. In an instant, that dream shattered. Now we are left asking ourselves: how do we begin to rebuild after the fire?
What We Lost
Inside that studio was Brandon’s entire business — over $100,000 worth of cameras, lighting, computers, backdrops, and hard drives that he relied on to create portraits for so many of you in our Vancouver community. Photography may look like a dream job, but it is also one of the most expensive careers to sustain. A single professional camera body costs nearly $7,000, two lights together run about $5,000, and one essential portrait lens alone is $3,100. Brandon has spent the last 15 years slowly collecting each piece of equipment, investing every spare dollar into building his small business, Brandon Hart Photography.
In an instant, all of that was destroyed in the Vancouver fire that tore through the building. Along with his livelihood, we had also moved more than half of our home into a storage unit there as we prepared to stage our condo for sale. Overnight, we lost nearly everything — both personal treasures and the tools Brandon needs to work.
This is more than a story of a small business loss — it’s the story of a family trying to recover after devastation. Rebuilding Brandon’s photography business means being able to continue providing for our family while serving the Vancouver community he has photographed for so many years. That is why we are turning to our community through this GoFundMe fundraiser. Every donation, every share, and every act of support helps us replace the essential gear and get Brandon back to doing the work he loves.
What Matters Most
We are devastated by the loss of precious memories, artwork, and belongings, but what matters most is that no one was hurt. On a normal Sunday, a good friend of ours, Aaron Aubrey Photography, might have been working in the attic photo studio and could have been trapped. For that, we are endlessly grateful. There were other small businesses in the building as well, including De La Flor and Wednesday Wedding — close wedding industry friends of Faye Smith Agency — who also lost their livelihoods in the fire.
Brandon, being the incredible person he is, even convinced the fire chief to let him back into the still-smoking building to retrieve client hard drives. We are carefully drying them out and hopeful that his clients’ photos will be recovered.
The Road Ahead
With no business insurance, and limited coverage through our home policy, Brandon now has no equipment to continue his work and no way to provide income for our family. Since COVID, small businesses like ours have faced so many ups and downs — this fire feels like the hardest hit yet.
Thanks to our dear friend Erin Simmonds, a GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help us raise $65,000 — just enough to replace the essentials Brandon needs to keep photographing and supporting our family.
👉 Donate or share our GoFundMe here
Recovered from the Fire: My First Mother’s Day Gift
For my very first Mother’s Day, I was given this beautiful custom-framed piece of art. Inside is the hockey stick we used at our gender reveal — the same one that was once stained pink at the tip. A memory I’ll treasure forever.
Gratitude in the Midst of Grief
We have been overwhelmed by the kindness of our community. Fellow photographers have already offered to lend Brandon gear and studio space so he can keep commitments to upcoming shoots. Our friends, colleagues, and clients have reached out with words of encouragement, and it means the world.
Losing our belongings means we also lost all of Lockelee’s clothing, toys, and so many of the little essentials that make daily life with a toddler possible. We had even stored away baby supplies we were saving in hope of welcoming a second child one day — all of it is gone. Fellow mamas in our community have already begun gathering clothing and necessities for Lockelee, and we are forever grateful for their generosity and love during this heartbreaking time.
We know that “stuff is just stuff.” We are grieving, but determined to rebuild. With your help, Brandon Hart Photography can rise from the ashes and continue creating the portraits that mean so much to so many.
Thank you for reading, for supporting us, and for sharing our story.
With gratitude,
Faye Smith & Brandon Hart
