Beyond Our Image Human Stories is a living home for projects rooted in humanity, connection, and truth.
This is where community storytelling lives from films, photography projects, collaborations, and moments that remind us we are more alike than different.
Some stories are loud.
Some are quiet.
All of them matter.
Created by Calgary photographer Shannon Hutchison, Beyond Human Stories exists alongside commercial work, meant to slow down. To listen. To see people beyond labels, beyond assumptions, and beyond the surface.
If you believe stories can build empathy, soften edges, and bring people back to themselves then you’re in the right place.
📍 Calgary + wherever the stories lead
Beyond the Label is a powerful video series created with the support of TELUS STORYHIVE and available on Optik TV and the STORYHIVE YouTube channel.
We feature interviews with eight incredible people in Calgary as they navigate the weight of societal labels—the struggles, the breakthroughs, and the moments of allyship that actually made a difference. Through honest, heartfelt interviews, they share what it’s like to live under a label, the people who showed up for them, and what keeps them moving forward.
This isn’t about having the perfect words, it’s about showing up, learning, and growing together. Because allyship isn’t a buzzword. It’s a choice.
Season 2
A huge thank you to Kala & Lime for bringing Episode 1 to life and providing some beautiful items for our set.
When You Pass By
This project photographed 92 Calgarians and invited each person to answer the same three questions: What do you want people to see when they see you? When you pass by, what do you hope is understood? What do you wish for others?
Through these shared reflections, the project reveals our common humanity—threads of hope, longing, and truth—and the quiet ways many people are trying to step outside the boxes the world has placed around them.
Windows Into Our World
Windows Into Our World is a photography project rooted in belonging. Created in partnership with schools, the project invites students to be seen for who they truly are—beyond assumptions, labels, or first impressions. Through portraiture and shared reflection, each image becomes a window into a young person’s world, highlighting individuality, lived experience, and the deep human need to belong. By bringing these stories into school spaces, the project fosters empathy, understanding, and connection—reminding students, educators, and communities that everyone carries a story worth seeing.
These projects are rooted in the same belief that guides all of my work: that connection matters, and people deserve to be seen in a way that is genuine, authentic, and deeply human.
That belief carries through everything I photograph, from community-based storytelling to personal branding sessions, families, and wedding days filled with meaning, connection, and real emotion.
If you’d like to explore that work further, you’re welcome to here:
→ Personal Branding & Headshots
→ Wedding Photography
If you’re interested in bringing a project like this into a school or community space, I’d love to connect.
→ Get in touch
I commit to adding positive change to our world by using photography and storytelling to connect us and allow us to see our shared humanity.
Here I am with my favorite person on the planet who I am so lucky to call my partner. We are proud to be in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
I recognize that I live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy, including the Siksika, Piikani and Kainai Nations; the Stoney-Nakoda, including the Chiniki, Bearspaw and and Goodstoney First Nations; and the Tsuut’ina Nation. Southern Alberta is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Districts 5 and 6.
