Wedding Palace Bridal Show

We are happy to be out at the big show again this year! Come see us at the Wedding Palace Bridal Show at the Westin Hotel, Ottawa, on January 3rd & 4th. We will be meeting a lot of potential brides & groom's from 11:00 AM ~ 5:00 PM. You can ask all you want to know, see our work and meet our team of great photographers. We will be at booth # 279, right next to our friends at Stanley's Olde Maple Lane Farms. Come say hello!

Carole & Darcy

I normally don't like to brag, so here is what was recently emailed to me following a Love Portrait Sitting in the woods on Petrie Island.

"We love love looooooove the photos! No wonder you call it the loooove portrait! :) I've been smiling since I've seen them! You did a fantastic job! They ALL turned out so great! I'm looking forward to our wedding pictures now! One more year to go!!
Anyways, thanks again :)"

Carole & Darcy,
Wedding date:
September 26th, 2009

Trash the Dress

I just discovered the BEST idea on Facebook that I am psyched to do! It is called Trash the Dress. Their description is:
Go ahead, you know you want to. Trash it. Get it dirty. Get it wet. Roll around in the mud. Drench it in the ocean. Totally trash it. Why? … Why not? You’ve made a commitment to your husband. He’s your one and only true love, right? Then you’ll never need the dress again. And no, your daughter won’t wear it in 20-30 years. So you have two choices: 1) Suffocate it in plastic and throw it in a closet 2) Show your husband how commited you are by trashing the dress, and get some great fun pictures while you do it! Then after you do it- send the pictures to us to publish for all the world to see. What are you waiting on? Call one of the trusted photographers on this page or find one you trust and go trash the dress!
So I am calling on all of my former brides, or any former bride, for that matter to help me to create photos that you will not forget!! I'm thinking, if there is anything you are into....from volleyball to swimming to, um... farming, do it in your dress without having to worry about getting it dirty. Just the opposite! The point IS to get it as dirty as we can!! I promise it will be the time of your life!

Andrea & Adam's Wedding in Montreal

Great wedding in Montreal, I got to shoot, enjoy as a guest & my daughter was a flower girl. Triple fun!!

Things I like

Just a short list of things I like, so you can get to know me a little bit bettter!

TV - specifically: LOST, Coffee, Chocolate!, MAC,Camping, Being GREEN!

New Website!!

I am soo excited to announce that I finally have my new website up & live, with help from bludomain. Check it out here and let me know what you think!!

Things I Learned About Photography List

So, as you can see so far, I’m not as creative in writing as I am behind the lens, so I’d like to borrow some words of inspiration that I found on another blog written by a former groom whose wedding I photographed, turned photographer. I have added a lot of my own to the list. This list is a list of things that really touch me personally. It has been selectively edited to include the things I believe. Please feel free to use it as a guide list for yourself. So here goes, the (my) list of things I learned and feel about photography:

-Get the basics, then go crazy!
- LOVE what you are shooting.
-Get inspiration from everything you see!
- Share what you know, there’s no such thing as competition in photography, nobody else sees the way you see
-Don’t scout locations the day before, get inspired when you are ready to shoot
-there is no such thing as a bad location to shoot
-people hate to be bossed around, but love to be guided
- Prepare well for your shooting, realizing that your battery isn’t charged when you’re setting up for that shoot is too late!
-Always have backup equipment, because once the moment is gone, it is lost if your equipment fails.
- Pay attention to your thoughts and emotions while you are shooting
- Watch the people and places you want to shoot first with your heart then with the camera
- Always stay calm and have fun
- Keep your equipment clean and working well
- Never compare yourself to others in a better or worse context, photography is SUBJECTIVE!
- Find your own style of photography, and grow with it
- Try to compose more and to hit the shutter less
- Get inspiration from the work of other photographers
- Criticize honestly but respectfully
- Get feedback from your lady
- Don’t copy other photographer’s style
- Be bold
- Take selfportraits
- Read books about photography
- Every shooting situation is different than you expect
- Pay attention to s-curves and lines
-Get closer
- Be prepared to brave the elements
- The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it (Ansel Adams)
- Look up
- Look down
- Look behind you
- Walk around before setting up
- Wear comfortable shoes
- Pay attention to what your eyes see and what your heart feels, then shoot
- Don't be afraid to get dirty
- Don't go cheap on a lenses
- Always keep your gear clean
- Composition is everything
- If you're going to break the rules, break them with intention
- Much of what you might do in Photoshop isn't much different than what you might do in a darkroom
-NEVER rely on photoshop to fix mistakes!, just to improve!
- Bad weather makes good photos
- Constructive criticism can be hard to take, but is more useful than all the "ooh's" and "aah's" and "wow's!"
- Find a way to shoot popular subjects differently than others already have
- Practice on seemingly ordinary things
- Respect your subjects to get the most out of them
- Read the manuals that come with your gear...with your gear in hand.
- Creativity is a habit
- Pay attention to the interactions between lines, patterns, textures, and colours
- Carry extra batteries and memory cards
- Check all of your settings before you start shooting
- Turn the camera around on yourself once in a while
- Find beauty in ordinary things
- There's a part of you in every one of your photographs
- Keep and archive your unaltered negatives (digital and otherwise)
- Know your camera
- Try to be unobtrusive
- Autofocus can be your friend and your enemy
- Love f/2.8 lenses!
- Be aware of your surroundings
- Master the fundamentals
- Mind your backgrounds
- Photoshop will not save a fundamentally bad shot
- Get it right in the camera
- Don't be afraid to crop
- You don't always have to look in the viewfinder - try shooting off the hip or laying on your back
- Tell a story
- You are always improving
-respect that some things shouldn't be shot
- Don't always try to get the whole thing. Shoot parts that suggest the whole
- You are not always the best judge of your work
- Nikon vs. Canon (vs. Pentax vs. Sony vs. etc.) is irrelevant
- Your camera is just a tool
- Pay attention to how things are lit even when you don't have your camera
-'Creatively correct' is more important than 'technically correct', but strive for both!
- Shoot children at their eye level
- People will look at you funny while you're shooting - let them
- Use the zoom function on your LCD screen
- Focus on the eyes
- If all you've ever shoot is digital, learn by shooting film
- Use your lens hood all the time- even indoors
- Read photography blogs
-look at all your entire frame all the time
-compose in camera, not in photoshop or by cropping after
- Indulge your curiosity
- Never do photography to become a rock-star
-absolutely love what you are doing
- Write and read an inspirational list

P.S. Thanks Mike

Summer Beach Shoot

Welcome summer!!! I always love to shoot at the beach at Petrie Island. It looks as if it could be anywhere in the world! Thanks to Rose & Stéphane for allowing me the freedom of telling them what to do, and that couple who lent us the guitars!!

I know, I'm backtracking a little bit, but I had to post this wedding video capture from some photos I took of Brigitte & Lee this winter, now that all the white stuff is gone!!

Hell's Angels' Wedding??

No, this photo was not taken from a Hells Angels wedding, but it does look like the bride wants to run off with them!! We were shooting the families from the wedding last Saturday at the Garden of the Provinces and Territories Park on Wellington when we heard a loud rumbling in the distance. That's when my second photographer, Lee, sprung into action and captured the bride trying to get away!! She did actually stay and go ahead with the ceremony!!

Wedding Show!!

Come see us at the Wedding Palace Bridal Show www.weddingpalace.ca . We will be there Saturday & Sunday, January 12th & 13th, from 11:00~5:00. You can meet with us and ask any questions you have about weddings, photography, or just to chat! You can also meet our great photographer, Lee!
See you there!