One of the fun things about being a photographer is that every now and again I get to do something purely because it is fun.

I have known Chris for quite a few years now, his family used to live next door to me and I must of spent 100′s of hours on their porch talking, laughing,  and drinking far too much coffee.

They were there when I shot my first wedding, and have been some of the most supportive people regarding my photography even when it was not that good.

So when Chris and Melissa were going to get married I decided I wanted to do something special for them and say thanks to them and Chris’ family. Dave, Donna, Amanda and Tim, you guys have always made me feel welcome and I appreciate you guys allowing me to share in this day.

Now as weddings go this one was small, and had some places I had never shot before, namely the Little White Wedding Chapel and Rockway Gardens.  It was an adventure to shoot there, I think there were 5 other weddings happening at the same time at the park and I was slightly worried.  But it all went down well.  I am somewhat impressed with Rockway Gardens, I didn’t know there were as many places to shoot in what appears to be a very small area.  But it is pretty decent as far as parks go.

I put together a small sample of the slideshow that I showed Melissa and Chris for this site,  550 images is a tad much to show at once here.  I even tried seeing if Youtube could handle it LOL.

This wedding was a ton of fun,  first of course was the blazing heat.  No matter where we went it was hot, but that didn’t seem to matter that much on this day.

The day started out in Tavistock at Jessica’s home.  The girls were totally into the whole makeup experience in the bathroom and of course no dressing would be complete without a bit of wine, and assorted Tim Hortons products.

Next was a trip out to Shakespeare to meet up with Jeff and the boys for some candid shots.  We of course had to shoot the beautiful cars that were loaned for the occasion,  and no guys shoot would be complete without a mugging of the groom.  Of course I had said to “lightly” raz the groom but the groomsmen had a bit more umphhh than I had expected.

We arrived for the ceremony at Steinmans Mennonite Church and I was impressed at how good the light was in there.  I was also equally impressed at the turnout for this wedding, any more people and they would have had to go up in the balcony.  We headed out from there to a quaint park in New Hamburg that Jessica and Jeff  liked and shot the formals.  It was hot, and I swear I shrunk a whole shirt size LOL.

The Newfoundland Club in Cambridge served as the venue for the reception and it was a nice place to work, great floor, nice warm lighting and BUBBLES for the dancing.  That’s a first.

To answer the burning question of wether Jeff cried or whimpered at the ceremony, well guys he did neither.  He just showed his Love for Jessica.

All in all it was an excellent day, and I had an awesome assistant in Heather Guy, she spent the day driving me around, helping coral people, and also helped me keep my sanity.  Thanks for all your help on this wedding, and I really need to get you out to more of these,  it made it 20x easier.

Below is a small scale slideshow of the day for you all to see, the entire set of images an slideshow is 22mins so I scaled it down to fit into 1 song.

Throughout history we have always looked at the deeds of great men.  We know all about the exploits of Alexander the Great , we have all heard of the teachings of Aristotle or the travels of Columbus.   However history almost never records the great achievements of people like Doug.

In our fast paced world we almost hardly seem to have time to spend together.  On this occasion there was a chance to celebrate Doug’s 80th birthday.  80 years and still running to a shed to grab a pitchfork for a light hearted shot.  That is quite a feat.

This was a unique chance for me to record a little bit of the history of Doug’s family and friends.  I was truly inspired to see the level of youth, fun, and camaraderie on this day.  Perhaps when we are all but dust some future archeologist will find this story and be able to say that we loved, respected and had a blast no matter what the age.

Love is one the strongest emotions you can feel.  The love between a mother and new daughter is perhaps one of the most beautiful expressions of love human beings can experience.

When I shot this session I was going to recreate images that I have been exposed to by other baby photographers.  However newborns being unpredictable allowed me to move away from that idea and truly look deeper into the bond between mother and newborn.

I learned a great deal about preconceived notions of what a baby shoot should be.  I also truly enjoyed the opportunity to capture this special time in the lives of some amazing people.

Life is precious, a new life is a miracle.  Having memories of this time, priceless.

Static images could not convey the beauty of this shoot in a way that I seen it unfold.  So I present this slideshow to share with you all.

A little while back I had the oppurtunity to shoot a maternity session for an awesome family.  Well finally the baby arrived and mom was only to eager to have me come out and photograph her baby.

I was so excited about doing the session and after I grabbed this image I almost ran home to post it.  I did manage to contain myself and do a few more images LOL.

Anyhow this one that I really liked from the session.  I will post more once I finish working with the images soon.

Every now and again I shoot something completely different.   This time I shot a wedding celebration.  This was an informal gathering of Sherri and Pauls friends and family in thier backyard in Cambridge.

Before that however I asked them to get into there wedding clothes so I could shoot some formals since I could not attend the wedding.  It was in Mexico and I could not make it.  Shame too, because I would have killed to have shot them there.

So we asked the bridal party to come out to Riverside park and shoot some quick shots.  Nothing too formal.

Then a carnival broke out …. well it was there anyhow.  So Sherri wanted to shoot a few shots on the Merry Go Round and we convinced the staff there to let her do a ball toss game.

Since I am part of the family I shot this as a gift to them.  I really had some fun with the images and hope I gave them a gift that they cherish forever.

Thanks guys for doing this for me,  I had a blast.  Luv Ya.

Age.  Sometimes age allows us to relax, be ourselves and let our hair down a little.

I shot Marylin and Jerry the other day and I must say it went much better than the first time I shot Jerry.   Last time he was a tad formal.  Shirt tie, suit jacket, no socks …. all the things that make you say traditional and formal.

This time Jerry loosened up with Marylin and I must say I like these images much more.   For no other reason than it was much more relaxed.

We went out to Saginaw Golf Course and shot a few images.  Right until the rain came.  Of course now I have to go out another time with them and finish this session, but I like the images we got so far so I thought I would post a few.

I apologize for making you come back in the rain to help explain how my golf cart worked.  If you had not I might still be out there going Hmmmm.   LOL.

During the course of any shoot I never truly know what images will be there.  I plan to get a certain type of image ie.  candid, or semi-posed or formal depending on what the clients want.  But every now and again I get one that just kinda sits there on its own as a one off.

I like when it happens, it was not until recently that I was able to let go enough to work shots that were out of the ordinary.  I am not really sure if it was nerves, or just some wierd OCD moments.  But whatever the case I am sure glad that I find time to keep the out of the ordinary or unexpected shots.  If I hadn’t I would have missed the above image of Jason digging into the meat he cooked for a reception.

In the end the anticipation factor is really what I am enjoying.  Anticipating the shot, and anticipating what the result can be when I look at the back of the camera and see something unexpected.

Every shoot is different.  Every couple unique.  But in all cases love and photographs translate the same for everyone.

I shot Tara and Billy’s engagement session a few weeks ago at Websters Falls in Hamilton.   This is the second time I had the chance to go out there for a shoot.  I did notice that each time I go to a location I choose a different approach to the images.

Tara and Billy are an awesome and interesting couple.   Tara has a small amount of Diva in her ( in a good way) and Billy is just an overgrown kid.  During the shoot I even thought I might have to go get him and drag him back to the shoot because he was running all over and playing in the mud

No matter what they were willing to play along.  Have fun, and allow me to try some fun things with the images.  I am really looking forward to there wedding in August.  It should be a blast, and we have another interesting location picked out.   Stay tuned.

Slideshow below, may take a moment to load.

It Never Rained !!!.  Well it did, but not until were were at least finished the portrait session.   I had a blast shooting Melissa and Chris’s wedding.

I have known Chris a few years ever since his family were neighbours.  So I was totally pumped to shoot his wedding.  I had only met Melissa a few times prior to this but she is a great woman.  Fun, kind and totally into the whole experience of being married to Chris.

I came up with a few images from the day to show you while I process the entire wedding.  So I hope you enjoy them.

Thanks to everyone in the wedding party for helping me with my gear, and to Melissa’s father for ensure my gear did not just up and disappear or get totally waterlogged when it did finally rain.  You guys are totally AWESOME !!!