Karyne & Johnny

I am fortunate enough to be blessed with 3 friends from high school getting married this year who have come to me to photograph their weddings. Karyne, is one of them – and this sweet heart is doubly my bride as well as my bookeeper, who knows just how messy I am I met Johnny for the first time when Karyne and his family had a family photo shoot before Christmas. The two of them couldn’t seem more in love and as I have been both a part of theirs and their daughter’s life (I took her baby photos), photographing their wedding will be very special to me. It’s always nice to build deeper connections with people and sometimes looking through the lens you see things you might not otherwise have looked for. Here are a few samples from their session tonight from different places around Welland.

I knew there was this great train bridge here in Welland and I’ve been wanting to shoot there for awhile – these two were very co-operative even though we had an on looker that kept throwing rocks near us and the bridge wasn’t so easy to navigate as it doesn’t seem too stable

Safe part of the tracks

Some random field we found

Welland is supposed to be re-knowned for it’s murals – apparently we get visitor’s here that come just to check them out – so we decided to get a photo next to one that Karyne liked

Aren’t these two adorable? We finished the photos off out by the canal. Karyne and Johnny also have a second engagement shoot booked for later in the summer and we’re planning to go the beach! Get ready for more from these two!

Annie and Rob

How do you decide which photos to post from a session when you pretty much love them all?

I went down to Niagara-on-the-lake today with Annie and Rob, who are getting married in December at Queen’s Landing, to shoot their engagement session. I had an absolute blast and got a chance to get to know them both a little more. Here are a few shots from our session and some of the stories behind them

Gorgeous light near sunset

What a trooper Annie is for climbing the tree

Aren’t they adorable?

I love this photo – the little jewels attached to Annie’s sandals spell out her soon to be married name but the best part is that they were given to her by her soon to be mother in law

We saw this right before we left and even those two were tired they stuck it out and let me take this one more and I really love it. Reserved – taken – promised to each other forever

They make a really gorgeous couple – and I can’t wait to photograph their wedding!

Telephone Top 5 with Sam

So Sam (my very trusted and wonderful assistant) and I talk pretty much on a regular basis – I’d say we average 45 minutes a day at least and most times we talk is when she’s with her little boy during the day. Trying to keep an eye on Caleb and talking to me on the phone can prove to be a little interesting at times and the things she says to Caleb while on the phone with me are very amusing. Here are the top 5 things she said while on the phone with me today.

1. “I don’t want to wear that”

2. “Up down – Up down

3. “Caleb! Not on the plate!”

4. “Did you go poop?”

5. “Caleb, good lord child that is digusting”

Now whats even more funny is the context in which these things were said – some are obvious but then others are even funnier when you know the story behind them. This list just proves that children are a never ending source of joy and wonder On that note I leave you for the weekend – I was supposed to shoot an engagement session today but we got rained out – let’s hope we have better luck with the wedding tomorrow Have a good weekend everyone!

Shopping Day! Yay!

Ok so not shopping like you might think – I went and picked up a bunch of stuff for the studio and myself that I’ve needed for awhile, kinda happy I got it over with Got three new paper backgrounds and a sheet of plexiglass for the floor as well as another (in a sea of them) memory card – pretty sure I have close to 40gigs now but I am getting ready soon to cycle out a few cards and I wanted a high capacity card for the formals portion of the wedding. I also bought my lens front and end caps that I was missing – now I just have to not loose them before the end of the season – i think this is going to be a very tough goal So here is a photo of the new backdrops and a little area rug I got for baby photos.

I don’t think you actually need to see this but I just wanted to play around and see what the plexiglass was like for the photos. Quite happy so far Brianne will probably get to be the first one to use it on a client though

The next few shots I was playing around with White Balance and Candles – just some silly stuff really but you can see how white balance can really be used to create some funky looks

This one is correct             This is really cool           This one is really warm

This is something I have just really considered trying to play around with, I was always concerned about making white look white but at WPPI I saw some really great photographers but an emphasis on an already really cold and dark sky by using a cooler white balance. We’ll see how that all plays out as far as the photos – I think it would really require the right kind of day to do this. This wedding season is going to be ripe for trying out new techniques, and perfecting the olds ones. Tomorrow I have an engagement session and then Saturday I have a small wedding Should be an interesting weekend – would love to post the engagement photos tomorrow but we’ll see Til then – Amanda

Update 101 Things . . .

Knocked a few things off the list My strategy so far has been to take as many easy things off the list as possible as I know some of the big ones will take a little longer and I am definitely one of those people that like to feel like they are making progress along the way

1. Go on a Wednesday afternoon picnic with my husband and my dog

2. Teach Freddie (my dog) to roll over

3. Go on a trip to Europe

4. Shoot a destination wedding

5. Go on a roadtrip – destination unknown

6. Have lunch or a real conversation with a photographer I admire

7. Make my mind up about having children

8. Buy a new house

9. Set up a home studio in said house

10. Smile more

11. Get my photo taken at least once a month for the next six months ( I never take photos of myself as it’s something I hate)

12. Do a portrait session with my family Completed April 13th – To be displayed in a blog post shortly

13. Do a portrait session with my husband (We don’t have any formal photos since Christmas 2003 unless you count our wedding photos)

14. Participate in a workshop

15. Attend WPPI again but do the Business Institute and Master classes as well

16. Get my business to go in the direction that I want it to with the clients that I want

17. Make sure that this time when I attend WPPI – I go a few days early so I can photograph all the landscapes I want

18. Do at least 5 seniors sessions

19. Donate my time to a local cause using my photography skills

20. Tell my husband one thing that I love about him (that’s different from the day before) every day for a month

21. Be a second shooter for a photographer I admire

22. Plan something great for our wedding anniversary

23. Spend more time with my mother

24. Take my little brother back to Canada’s Wonderland

25. Take my 19 year old brother out to a bar for drinks just the two of us

26. Give everyone of my bride’s a little gift to thank them for the gift they have bestowed upon me

27. Join the chamber of commerce Joined April 24th

28. Donate more money to charities or donate more time

29. Buy lens, end and body caps for all my gear and actually keep them without losing them for an entire wedding season

30. Lose 20 pounds before the end of the year

31. Go out dancing with my best friend Stella’s – April 25th

32. Have a get together with all my brides for the upcoming season

33. Get a few new backdrops for the studio

34. Create a really great mother’s day and father’s day gifts

35. Recover the panels in the office

36. Participate as a vendor in a local bridal show

37. Try thai food

38. Get together with some friends from out of town and catch up

39. Photograph a “first peek” session before the ceremony

40. Become a member of “Now I lay me down to sleep”

41. Deliver all of my brides and grooms their photos online within two weeks of the wedding

42. Quit pop – for good this time (don’t laugh it’s a serious addiction)

43. Swim in the ocean

44. Go fishing (haven’t done this in a long long time)

45. Add 10$ to a savings account every time I complete something on this list

46. Get my full G

47. Take a photo that represents each of the words in the 100 snapshots challenge ( http://thaumaturgise.wordpress.com/101-things/pictures/)

48. Go camping at BYNG

49. Go camping in Algonquin

50. Print some of our wedding photos to hang in our living room

51. Learn conversational Spanish

52. Learn conversational Italian

53. Take Freddie to puppy obedience classes

54. Take a tropical vacation

55. Learn how to snorkel or scuba dive

56. Take photos from the top of a mountain

57. Ride in a helicopter

58. At least three times in this period – push past my fear about something – and climb over the wall to do it anyway (ask me more if you’d like to understand this)

59. Research one new thing I’d like to learn a month – whether photography related or not (and blog about it) for six months

60. Go kayaking again – somewhere picturesque

61. Be a little more risky

62. Get regular pedicures this summer

63. Get regular massages this summer

64. Get signs made for the office

65. Install the fixed phone in the office so that when I lose power on the portable I can still answer calls!

66. Prepare flyers and promotional items for the bridal show

67. Plant the garden in the backyard

68. Dress Freddie (my dog) up for Halloween in a doggie Halloween costume

69. Change phone companies

70. Launch portrait site

71. Blog a video once every two weeks

72. Create an official charging station in the studio

73. Enter 5 photography contests

74. Shoot a “wear the dress” session in my favourite place in Ontario

75. Create a standardized logo file with my logo made to fit samples, envelopes, letterhead etc…

76. Get my hard drives under control

77. Finish MD photo book

78. Delete old and unecessary facebook messages

79. Order new business cards

80. Book a wedding out of province

81. Teach a basics course on how to take better photos

82. Finish office reno

83. Finish this list

84. Get glare free glass for all of my frames

85. Clean out my car – top to bottom and then get a car wash that includes the inside of my car

86. Order sample prints for comparison

87. Create supplier pricing binder & customer pricing binder

88. Order new batteries and charger

89. Go to bed on time more

90. Read more Bukowski

91. Take a cooking class