Hi again everyone.  I was lucky enough to book my first Indian wedding for the first weekend in October and I’m very much looking forward to shooting it.  Especially since I recently shot their engagements and we had a blast!  I’d like you to meet Shez and Rahim.  These two are going to be great fun to work with on their wedding day(s) I’m sure!  Here’s a few of my favourites!

We went into a random toy store to see what kind of props we could come up with.  I love Shez’s crown!

I had the privilege of photographing a beautiful wedding at The Atlantis at Ontario Place on Friday.  The outdoor ceremony was held on the roof of the building (see the pic below) and the reception was held downstairs inside.  There were some nice places to shoot around the Ontario Place grounds so even though we had tons of time for photos, there was no shortage of ideas.  I worked with the wonderful Alyssa Alkema on this one and it was another great experience.  I’ll let the images speak for themselves.  As always, if you would like more information on packages and prices please just give me a call or send me an email.

Alison and her girls were absolutely amazing to work with and were so much fun the whole day.

It was a pretty cool view from the ceremony on the rooftop of the Atlantis.

A very proud mother of the groom.

The guys made it easy to work with them as well.  This shot was barely posed at all, they pretty much set it up themselves.

The bride and groom get points for originality on their entrance to the reception.

Trash the Dress sessions have become a common after wedding photo shot for creative and spontaneous brides.  The trick is not destroying THE dress, but destroying ANY dress.  A quick fun trip to Goodwill can turn up an outdated wedding dress for cheap that would work perfectly for a trash the dress session. Then its just a matter of finding an awesome location.  Beaches are perfect but just about any body of water will do.  They can also be shot in urban areas, especially during or after a rainfall.  The whole point is to get crazy and creative and to create some of the most interesting imagery you can.

This time the shoot involved 5 models in 5 different dresses with an outlandish number of photographers.  So there were limitations on the creativity, and we as photographers were crawling all over each other trying to get a clear shot at the angle we wanted.  It wasn’t the ideal situation, but I’m still really happy with some of the shots I got, and naturally I’m posting those here for you to enjoy.

This is Frankie, she was my favourite model that day, and I hope we can get to work together again.

Lucky penny anyone?

Frankie’s sister Jessica:

On Saturday I had the privilege of shooting the most exciting and fun wedding I’ve been to yet.  I started off at the guys house while Amelia of Flirt Photography took care of the ladies.  The guys were wearing full Scottish dress, Kilts and all which I knew would be absolutely amazing.  The guys were awesome to hang out with and looked dashing in their suits.

Chris is a firefighter with the Toronto Fire Department, and his dad is the Chief of the TOronto Fire Department.  A true ‘like father like son’ moment.

The boys were supposed to be ready for 1:30, and they were….. JUST.  Usually the guys are way late getting started with dressing up, but somehow manage to pull it all together in the last couple of minutes and still leave me enough time for photos.   The photos were seriously rushed this time around.  Thankfully the limo driver was more than understanding while I made her wait for us.

The wedding was held in Mississauga at the St. Thomas A Becket church, which has a beautiful worship space lit surprisingly well by the afternoon sun.  The bride was absolutely stunning, and you should have heard the cheers her mom received as she walked down the aisle! That’s when I knew it was going to be a good party.

True to form with the Scottish theme Jill and Chris had a piper present.  He was very good and the music actually made for a very nice backdrop during the receiving line.

I snapped this shot through the crowd outside the church during the receiving line.  It was a busy time, and I love how all the out of focus people frame Jill’s face perfectly.

I had to laugh at this wonderfully appropriate cake topper.

Now THIS is the way to enter the reception… riding on your groomsman’s back.  More evidence of the wicked party to come.

The speeches were great, hilarious and animated. These two gorgeous ladies are the bride’s younger sisters.

When the wedding party dance to their first song, it really only lasted 30 seconds.  Then the music picked up and they all ran to pull people onto the dance floor.  Two minutes later everyone was having a blast.

The world of wedding photography is changing on regular basis.  The nature of any creative art such as photography is such that it is subject to popular trends.  More and more digital SLR cameras are coming available that capture incredible high definition video, and as such the lines between photographer and videographer are becoming blurred.  The new technology (or art form) is called Fusion – the interception of photo and video.

Now, I’m nowhere near being confident enough to capture video at a wedding, but I’ve taken the first step.  I’ve bought myself a Canon 7D, and a couple of microphones and audio recorders.  My plan initially is to at least record the audio from the vows and the speeches so that I can overlay the audio over the slideshow, for a really dramatic effect.  As my skills and knowledge grow, I hope to add some video clips to slide shows to make them more engaging and entertaining.  This whole idea gets a test run this weekend when I work with the amazing Amelia Thornton of Flirt Photography.  Wish us luck!

Here’s the new gear:

That’s right folks, the new album is here, and its amazing.  GTA Imaging’s amazing customer service took care of the little bump in the road with speed and class, I must say I’m very impressed.  The album is gorgeous and I absolutely love it.  I’ll let the images speak for themselves.

The wedding album is designed to be a visual masterpiece, depicting the story of your day from beginning to end through the eyes of your guests, friends, family and of course me.  It takes a lot of effort and time to design a quality album, and the production effort to actually build the album is no small task either.  Album turn around times are 3 to 4 weeks because that’s the only way I can guarantee a quality product for you and your family to cherish for years to come. I use an all Canadian album supplier to do my part to support the local economy.  It also means that if I ever have a problem with an album, it can be solved quickly and efficiently (thankfully that hasn’t happened yet!).  I design the album to flow from one part of the day to the next seamlessly, while creating anticipation for the next amazing spread every time you turn the page.  Below I have included the 10 spread design of my current sample album, which is at the album manufacturer now.  I can’t wait to have the final product in my hands! I’ll be sure to post pics when it arrives in two weeks or so.

Hi everyone!  I’m posting today to show off  a little.  I’ve changed the look of my blog, which in part was to allow me to embed high quality videos into posts.  I’m hoping to do some video blogging in the future which wouldn’t be possible without this update, and for the time being I can show off an example of a slideshow.  So without further adieux, here is that slideshow.  Let me know what you think.

This next wedding was again shot with Jon Rennie and this time it was held at Hockley Valley Resort near Orangeville Ontario.  It was threatening to rain all day but we were fairly lucky.  It drizzled a bit while we were shooting the outdoor couples shots but we got some great ones of Phil and Nicole snuggling under an umbrella.  Unfortunately I was holding umbrellas over Jon and I at the time, so check out his blog for some of those shots – they really are something else.

Here’s a few of my favourites.  Comments?

As promised, it’s Monday and I have another set of wedding photos for your viewing pleasure.  These ones were shot alongside Brooke Leitch at Westhaven golf course in London.  Shooting weddings on golf courses is always fun as long as the weather cooperates and this time it did.  Let me know what you think:

I put a Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro lens to use at this wedding.  It was a borrowed lens but I’m thinking I’ll have to get myself one in the near future.

Average height of these guys had to be 6’1″ and at least two of them were Cops….   I was on my best behaviour.

Elegant, classy and relaxed all in the same shot…  impressive if you ask me.

The sun setting left us with such perfect warm light to work with, it was beautiful and I love these shots.