Challenging Photo Shoot

On March 3rd, I did a mock photo shoot with a group of students from Sheridan College in Oakville..  The plan was to meet the brides and grooms at the Holiday Inn on Bronte rd (at the QEW) and shoot there for two hours.  From there, we would move on to the Bronte Pier, then off to Paletta mansion.  We were shooting outdoors at the pier and the mansion.  

A couple of days before, the weather report said it would be windy.  Sometimes wind is a good thing, it can play with veils and dresses to give you that something extra during the shoot - and that will invoke memories for the Bride and Groom.  "Remember how cold it was that day?  Remember when the wind took the best man's top hat off and it rolled into the parking lot? That was the best day" ... ah, wind.  The memories you create.

On the day of the shoot, the gale force winds were going to be a problem.  But, a good photographer perseveres.  Quickly we changed plans and shot mostly indoors - except for a few key shots.  We shot at one of my least favourite locations.  It was our backup location.  Sheridan College in Oakville.

First, we got a couple of hours with our brides and our grooms - for getting ready shots and some shots of them alone.

Bride in front of the big picture window in the room.  Had to use this window.

Groom and best man, reflecting on the day - or is it dreaming of BMWs ??

Bridesmaid helping the bride get ready

After a couple of very successful hours, we decide it was time to move to the pier.  An attempt was made to get a couple of shots at the pier - but it was just too windy.  So off to Sheridan we went...

Sheridan college in Oakville is built in such a way that the guts of the building are showing.  You can see what is holding the ceiling up, how the water gets from here to there, how that wall attaches to the other walls.  It's a technical marvel - but not really that ideal for a wedding shoot.

So you find things like reflections, or really nice walls to shoot against.  One thing Sheridan has is a lot of natural light ...

Softness of the dress against the harsh industrial background - reflection is a bonus.

Flower girl found the mirror

The very cute flower girl for the day

Needless to say it was a tough day.  But I came away with a couple of good shots, and a lot of memories.  Oh, remember when the wind almost took my camera bag at the Pier when I got out of the car?  That was the best day ...

Pretty in Pink

Recently, I had the opportunity to do a detail shoot as part of my drive to improve my shooting skills.  The instructor for the shoot provided all the props and we just had to go from station to station shooting the items and trying to put our own little spin on them.  There were lots of different items to shoot - ranging from flowers to cupcakes to party favours.

Two of the items were provided by a company called Pretty in Pink.  They are bath bombs - something I have since found to be for the actual enjoyment of a bubble bath - the effervesce when they hit water.  (I won't get into what I thought they were, but let's just say that it was a lot messier!)  :-)

These particular bath bombs were in the shape of cupcakes.  Very clever, and very cool.  So it led me to look up their web site, and it turns out that Pretty in Pink is actually a spa for girls of all ages.  It's quite the concept actually. When kids get to the age when they want to have a birthday party that is not at one of those play places, this is an alternative for girls.  Two years ago my nephew had a reptile party - not that I am saying that girls might not want one of those, but this could be something they could do instead.

I encourage you to check out their web site, just click on their name in the paragraph above.  For now, you can check out some of the pics for the detail shoot - starting with the bath bombs (no exploding bathtubs here)

3 pack bath bomb - provided by http://www.prettyinpinkspa.ca/

Single bath bomb cupcake - provided by http://www.prettyinpinkspa.ca/

Banff in February - yeah, you heard me...

I love photography.  It's a passion of mine.  I read a lot about photography, I research techniques and tools - basically I try to get as much exposure as possible to the world of photography.

I subscribe to some magazines about photography, and one in particular runs a two page ad every month for something called the Mentor Series.  It's a company that arranges outings for like minded people, those that want to get that shot of a lifetime but don't really know where to start - or want the seminar feeling.  Before Christmas, they started running an ad for Banff National Park in Alberta.

One day, I came home from work and my wife had the magazine.  She said "you need to book this" and handed it to me, open to the page for the Banff trip.  Seemed like a lot of money to me at the time, but she was insistant - saying that it could be my Christmas and Birthday present all wrapped into one.  So I booked it.

The trip ran over the past two weeks, and man, was it ever worth the money.  The group was 30 people, plus two mentors and one organizer - our tour guide if you will.  Did they ever take good care of us.  Michelle from the Mentor Series was on the ball every day - our itinieary would change from day to day to deal with the weather (who wants to take a shot of a grey sky in the am).  She made sure things ran smooth and on time.

Our two mentors,  Layne Kennedyand Daniel J Cox were excellent.  They both had different styles, and would have different suggestions on how to make your pictures better.  It was an excellent experience by all accounts.

The way it works is that you shoot all day, take a dinner break, download your images, select 5, go to a digital review session with either Layne or Dan, get pointers from them, then do it all again the next day.  4 days of this.  It's more like work than a vacation, but how can it be work when it's something that you love?

The shots below are just a sample of the 200+ images I came away with.  I shot about 2000 images, but I weeded them out to this sample. 

Info hut in front of Lake Louise.  The lake itself was frozen, and the sky would not co-operate that day, but this gives you an idea of what it looked like.  Oh, and that's a mountain in the background in case you were wondering ... :-)

Michelle hired these three snow boarders to go up and down the mountain for us for about 2 hours.  Tough job, but someone's got to do it.. ;-)

Vermillion lakes at sunset.  There is no real conventional sunset in Banff, as it's too high and ringed by mountains.  But you do get some nice colour on clear days - this was not one of those days ... :-)

Alpineglow.  This is what goes for a sunrise.  The sun catches the top edge of the mountain.  Fleeting moment, lasts for about 10 minutes.  You better have your camera dialed in.

Red Shoes Redux

One of my favourite parts of shooting a wedding is the details.  I like getting those special moments during the ceremony and reception, those candid times when no one notices the camera, but those moments are quick and fleeting.  I feel that I am most creative with the detail shots.

I posted my pearls shot a couple of weeks ago.  Building on that premise, I went looking for cool shoe shots on the internet.  Now, being that I don't have a "thing" for shoes its hard for me to think of a cool thing to do with the wedding shoes on the wedding day.  So, during my off time when I'm not editing (or colouring fondant) I do research.

Research looks a lot like surfing the web - at least that's what my wife says.  But she doesn't question me when she finds me looking at women's shoes.  I think she likes to think I am going to buy her a pair ... so win/win as far as she's concerned.

Recently I came across two cool shots.

Both of these shots are pretty cool - with the muted background.  I like the idea of the shoes facing away from each other.  I like the colour of the red shoes, and the reflection in the jeweled shoes.  So I sought to create something of a hybrid of these two shots.

So this is what I came up with.  It's the same shoe from the pearls shot in my earlier post, but this time it's all about the shoes.  Apparently these are "super cute" shoes, according to my wife.  I like 'em because they are red... :-)

Location, Location, Location

I have a wedding coming up on March 3rd.  The reception is going to be at the Oakville Conference Centre.  I have been there before, but I always visit the site prior to the shoot to ensure that nothing major has changed.  Sometimes you can get in the venue beforehand to scope everything out.  The OCC is a pretty good venue, but the outside leaves a lot to be desired.

One of the shots I try to always give my couple is a venue shot outside.  So this evening, when I went to scope out the location I noticed the night sky.  Since I am almost never without my camera, on went the wide angle Tokina lens and I snapped a couple of shots.  I love the way the clouds show up against the purple sky.  This is 9pm, well past sunset - yet the sky is purple. 

So if I don't get a useful shot on the wedding night - because of weather or other circumstances, I have this in my back pocket.  I will let the couple know that this was not shot on their wedding night -as I am not about to try to deceive anyone.  If I do get a shot of the venue, I will let them pick which one they want to use.

Oakville Conference Centre - Bronte and QEW in Oakville Ontario, Canada

Prophetic Fondant

My wife and I don't seem to have a lot of free weekends.  From shooting weddings to friends birthday and anniversary parties, we're pretty busy.  It's a good busy, as we really enjoy the company of our friends, and I am always happy when I have a camera in my hand.  A couple of years ago, my wife started making cakes for our friends and family.  It started off when she made one of our friends a cake for their son's birthday party.  Then she took a class - then another one.  Now it has grown to something that sees her making 30 plus cakes a year.  So now our weekends are NEVER free.  :-)  But again, at least it's something we love doing.

I want to take you back to my childhood very briefly.  My father was a police officer with Toronto, but his real passion was trains.  He was a model railroader.  He loved to build scenes and paint these little tiny characters.  It was a stress releif for him, after a hard day he would come home and "play with his trains" as my mother used to say.  But those trains were not toys, and we were not allowed to "play"  :-)

He modeled HO scale, which is pretty small.  My father was not a small man.  He had huge hands - something I have in common with him. I could never understand the patience he had to paint faces on these little figurines that were no taller than his thumb nail.  I could never figure it out - that is until recently.

My wife comes up with the cake ideas - she is the baker and creative director.  I am just labour - colouring fondant and icing, washing the bowls and mixer, that kind of stuff.  But I get DO to help with the details of the cake.  This is where I now, once again, find myself connecting with my father.  I can spend hours modelling fondant trees, or beer cans, or "angry birds" and not even notice the time.  It's very often that I find myself up late on Friday night rolling a bunch of fondant pearls for a wedding cake that we have to deliver on Saturday afternoon.  Here's one of our most recent cakes - one we did this weekend for a friend's son's 11th birthday.

Bird in the tree.  

 

I really enjoy putting the time and effort into a cake - but what really makes me smile is the look on the person's face that gets the cake.  In this case, Alek was very happy with his cake.  It makes all the late nights and all the back pain worth it.

Here's another cake we made last weekend for our friend's 40th birthday party.  To put the cake in context, you should know that this friend refers to herself as a "princess".

So when I'm not shooting or editing, I'm colouring fondant or modelling trees or trying to figure out how to support a four tier wedding cake.  But it does keep me out of trouble ... ;-)

A wedding cake that Sonia and I recently completed.  The lace is modeled after the bride's dress.

Who knew that a piece of pink fondant would help me understand my father just a little bit more.  I wish I would have come to this understanding while he was still alive, but if he was around he would probably tease me about "playing with fondant" or something ... :-)

More inspiration, more learning

On January 24th, I once again had the opportunity to meet  a fellow photographer.  This time it was Krista Fox from Verve Photo Co.

Krista's company is based in Toronto, and along with doing the local weddings she also specializes in destination weddings.  Destination weddings are something that I have always wondererd about, even thought about getting into.  The closest I have ever come is when my brother got married in Cuba, but unfortunately timing was wrong so we could not attend.

Krista brought a lot of information and insight to her seminar.  She shared with us many of her secrets for success - from arriving at the wedding site days in advance in order to scout the area for shooting locations, to her overall plan for the week she is on site. 

Krista doesn't look at the destination wedding as a personal vacation, she is working all the time - usually harder than she does at home due to the fact that she is not familiar with the area she is going to.  She usually books a second day of shooting with the couple - typically the day after the wedding ceremony itself.  Krista and the brial couple tour around the "destination" to the places she scouts out a couple of days before this shoot.  They are able to capture unique images that not everyone would get.  Anyone can get the shot of the bride and groom in the water up to their ankles with palm trees in the background, but Krista gets that shot with the little local girl giving the bride a home made necklace as a wedding gift.  That's a memory you want to capture and keep.

Krista also showed some of her work - some of which is available on her web site.  You can find her web site here:  http://vervephotoco.com/index2.php#/home/  Her work is simply outstanding.  Sge just seems to be one of those people who is able to capture the right moment at the right time.  I especially like her "shoot through the glass" ideas, as seen in the photo above.  It gives the viewer the impression that they are there, but only as an observer - not part of the moment itself.

These seminars are really a chance to see other photographer's work and to ask them questions on their particular style, as well as hear their success stories.  The photography community is great, everyone really seems to care about helping their fellow photographers.  It's not nearly as competitive as you might think, partially because everyone has their own style - and in reality your client is interested in you because of your style.

Thank you, Krista Fox, for taking the time from your busy schedule to speak to us.