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.