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. 

NYC - the "happiest place on earth" ...

In December of 2009, my wife finally convinced me that we had to go to New York.  She had been after me for a couple of years to go with her, ever since her first trip down.  But I am not one of those all day shoppers, and I don't like crowds that much - my favourite time to shop for Christmas is 10 am on a weekday.  New York in the movies and on TV is full of people, and it did not really appeal to me.  Still, it was something she has wanted to experience with me, and as they say "Happy Wife, Happy Life".  So off we went.

My Wife, Sonia

Now, it's important to tell you that my wife believes she was born in the wrong city.  She feels like a New Yorker.  Her main client is based in New York and she has made many trips to the Big Apple before dragging my lazy butt there.  So, I had my own personal tour guide.  And off we go for a fun weekend.

I have to say that my initial impression of NYC was all wrong.   It is an awesome place, with the architecture of the buildings, the different boroughs that have their own atmosphere - almost like different cities.  We spent most of our time on Manhattan, and a couple of days in Central Park.  This is where I really fell in love with New York.  I love the idea of the park in the middle of a bustling metropolis.  The thing about Central Park is when you are well within the park, you can forget that you are in a city at all.  It's amazing.  I just happened to have my camera with me as well, so I started taking some pictures.  This was relatively early in my photographic history,at this point I had only owned my Nikon D50 for about a year.  It was shortly after this trip that I decided to upgrade to the D300s.

I have a thing for trees...

So, as it turns out, my wife was right.  She said I would enjoy it, and enjoy it I did.

We toured around a lot.  I got a lot of shots on that trip, and was inspired enough to strive to get more shots, better shots.  We returned this past Christmas season as well, and we are going one more time this spring to see what Central Park looks like with tulips and other spring flowers.

The mandatory Times Square shot

Stay tuned for the NYC part two in coming weeks where I will share the shots from 2011!

Like I said ... Trees ....