My is it good to be back and shooting! Not to mention kicking things off with this rocking couple – Tammy and Jonas.

Turns out Tammy has actually been head over heels in love with Jonas since the tender age of 13. Now, being a typical male it took him several years to catch onto this.  But are we ever glad he did!  :)

Thank you so much Tammy and Jonas for letting me photograph you and get to know you better. I stand by my statement that you two are the most adorable couple this side of the big pond!
Enjoy!

Enjoy!

2010! Wow! Now, the question of the day: is this to be pronounced ‘twenty-ten’ or ‘two-thousand-ten’? I personally am still completely on the fence, not as if it matters too much as it takes me until at least June to write the correct date.

So. Here we are starting a whole new year which is going to be awesome! No seriously. I am looking so forward to working with amazing couples, going on some amazing trips, meeting tons of new people and growing as a photographer and a person.

I had a few spare hours of the Christmas break to edit images from a trip I took to Iceland in late summer of 2008 and I thought I would share.

Enjoy :)

After my last exam, Stefan and Stefan (throughout the shoot christened Stefan #1 and Stefan #2 to avoid any confusion), the sole band members and I met for a short time on campus. Needless to say I was highly entertained the entire time.  From random outbreaks of songs while wandering the halls (terrifying all the kids who had come to skate I am certain), to full out disputes as to who got to hold the gun, followed by the taking down and carrying of meters of string holding snowflakes from Mac Hall (as requested), I can say with confidence I have never looked quite as perplexed or laughed quite as hard.

Here is just a sampling of the nonsense that occurred that fine day.

Have a good one!

I am proud to say that you wonderful people raised this amount of ‘cans’ for the food bank:

(wait for it… wait for it…)

60!!!

That’s pretty impressive! So today I bundled up and braved the crazy Christmas roads and shoppers to go pick up the items to drop off at the foodbank. Thank you so much :)

Coming soon will be another blog post of a ‘random’ event. On my Facebook page I challenged my friends to comment on my blog to raise a certain number of cans within one day in exchange for me taking a picture of a stranger or taking a self portrait. Well they did it. I on the other hand didn’t. I have a confession to make. I am a true and utter introvert at heart. Shocked? No, seriously, I am. I didn’t say a word until I was 3 (some people may argue I am still working on this), hid behind my mother whenever we went through the grocery store checkout line (okay, I did stop this at a certain age) and to this day I have to mentally psych-up to talk to strangers. Surprised? Yup. It’s true

Well, in any case, I chickened out on taking a photo of a stranger but now it is a personal goal. So, if you happen to see my wandering Calgary with my camera in hand, please stop by and ask to have a picture taken :)

Once again. Thanks a TON :) Check back next year!

I hope this holiday season has been treating you well. I just want to quickly announce that due to final exams I have been a bit slow getting to my emails. All emails will be responded to on or before December 21 :)

I leave you with an image of myself at 3 or 4 in a pretty rad tie-dye shirt meeting Santa at Southcentre Mall.

Happy Holidays!

Honestly, 2009 has been such an amazing year and I had the absolute pleasure of sharing it with amazing and unique couples such as Natalie and Eric.

Now they aren’t your average couple. They are photographers. Oh yes. That strikes a chord in all photographers’ hearts. I am sure we are all familiar with the statement that ‘doctors are the worst patients’, right?  Well the same is likely to apply to photographers.  We know what we like, we know how we work, and we aren’t afraid of telling people.  Not only was I completely flattered that they chose me to be their photographer and document their splendid outdoor ceremony at the Juniper Hotel and Bistro, but also mildly terrified. I admit it.  Thankfully, I had absolutely no reason to be concerned.  They gave me complete creative license and I am so glad they did. I thoroughly enjoyed their unique day full of humour, collapsing cakes, and rockin’ first dances.

Enough of this chit chat… go look at the rock star couple!

As this image was being set up two ladies came to dispose of their trash (yes, this was photographed in a shed lined with garbages) they looked in, jaws dropped, one looked at me and said “Is this for real?” in the most disbelieving manner. When I replied to the affirmative she hustled away with her lady-friend and could be overheard saying “This cannot be happening.”

She’s just jealous ;)

I have to give a HUGE shout out to Drew for helping me out that day and for taking rad shots like the couple below. Drew is lighting extraordinaire and genius.  You really really really should check out his site.

This image makes me smile.

When getting ready I kept asking Natalie how she was feeling. There is typically this ‘tipping’ point for brides when they go from being nervous to over-the-moon excited. Natalie was just ‘nervous’.  Then the makeup was applied, the dress went on, and the jewelry added as the final touch.

This was that moment.

Yes you are seeing this correctly. It was -4°C and Natalie was brave enough to walk down the aisle barefoot. Canadian brides are awesome!

Miss Maggie was the ringbearer; Maggie being Natalie and Eric’s absolutely heart-melting Westie.

As you can see, the wedding party was a bore. Complete and utter bore.

Best first dance of all time. Hands down. Natalie and Eric danced a marvelously choreographed foxtrot (I was told this by the way, my knowledge on the subject is ridiculously limited) to Michael Buble’s ‘Feeling Good’. (Seriously, click here and listen to the live version while looking at these images. I was literally jiving in my seat when I was processing these)

What I truly adored about Natalie and Eric is that they really embraced the whole point of weddings – making it about them! Not only did an uncle bake this cake (um.. delicious!) but the cake topper was to die for.

I love this shot. I actually adore it. During the speeches it emerged that Eric signed a document in his youth stating that his mother (written by her of course) would always be the #1 woman in his life. Now at first it was assumed he was the naive age of say 3. Well, turns out he was 17. I think she has some pretty stiff competition now but I don’t think she minds with someone as sweet as Natalie stealing his heart.

Thank you SO much you two and enjoy your month-long road trip to California! I hope your car-part and shoe-shopping expeditions are ridiculously successful!

That’s a wrap of 2009 weddings. Watch for 2010!

Mind you, my last few drives to the University have proven this a fact. All Calgarians know that at the very mention of snow all driving ability flies out the window with the last chinook that passed through town.  Suddenly that itty-bit of ice becomes a flipping skating rink resulting in buses going the wrong direction on roads and cars getting a bit too cozy for insurance-companies’ comfort. Well, it’s here until at least July so, might as well embrace it right? Say hello to those corny Christmas jingles, lineups at the mall that stretch about as long as luge tracks and deadlines. Oh yes. Deadlines. My favourite!

To celebrate the season I am going to participate in a great cause called Cans for Comments.  In short, all comments left on my blog (any post!) between now (yes, right now) and December 15 will equal one can or item of equivalent value being donated to the Calgary Food Bank.  So, get at it people. Start leaving some blog love and at the same time generate some community love :)

Now, we all know a photographer is incapable of putting up a post sans an image so, I will horrify you with these recent captures of myself. Let me tell you this, there is a very good reason I am behind the camera! Here I am giving my best Bubbles impersonation in addition to wielding a sword instead of a camera with my good friend Virginia at a little get together.

Enjoy and comment! Happy Holidays everyone!

Every single detail was orchestrated just marvelously on November 21. The very smallest details were carefully arranged and the venues could not have suited the day better.  Alyssa’s dress was absolutely divine – I am pretty certain Vogue would be more then obliging to feature her on the front cover. Luke’s ridiculously talented mother not only altered Alyssa’s dress to make it uniquely her own but she also handmade all of the bridesmaids’ dresses and the flower girls’ dresses!  To make this even more amazing, three of the four bridesmaids were not available for fittings or measurements until the week before.

I could hardly wait to blog these. As I edited each and every one I wanted to do an individual post like the sneak peek. Alas, I restrained myself. Well, if restraint is staying up until 4am to continue editing then yes, I did restrain myself.  So, here they are!

Enjoy and feel free to leave a comment!

Alyssa and Marlene first met while at school in New Zealand and Marlene made the trip all the way from Germany to be part of Alyssa’s wedding.

The highlight of every bride’s morning while getting ready for her wedding day just has to be that moment of putting the dress on –  it’s a moment where excitement and reality collide. Alyssa’s bridesmaids of course added a dash of humour.

Here is Alyssa’s oldest brother seeing her for the very first time.

Little people are awesome. I just adore how grown up they look in their suits and dresses and I can’t help but just hear the the adult conversation in the classic Peanut comic strips “wawawawa” tone from their perspective.

A huge ‘thank-you’ to Drew for helping me out that day. He took this absolutely fan-tabulous shot from the balcony!

Alyssa chose her friends well! Her bridesmaids were absolutely marvelous and were doting on her the entire day

I am so pumped to share this wedding tid-bit that really put Luke and Alyssa’s bridal party in a whole new level of awesomeness – Luke’s father was also his best man. How amazing is that? To me that just speaks volumes about his character :)

These two were stopping traffic. Literally. Whoops! What I absolutely adored (well, one of many things) about photographing Alyssa and Luke is that they are so flipping natural. Without cue they would just cuddle in. They just enjoyed themselves! This moment was so no cued and look at how adorable they are!

The bridal party were troopers! Absolutely amazing. It was balmy for November but still a somewhat frigid 2°C. After being outside for a bit, the lovely ladies working at Roots invited everyone in to thaw. Thanks!

boys…

Who doesn’t love a good dosage of car headlight-age eh?

You can just sense how close father and daughter are from the way he looks at her – I do not think he could be more proud of her.

Congratulations Alyssa and Luke! I am so thankful I was able to be a small part of your day!

‘Where fashion reigns’ indeed!  Alyssa and Luke took style to a whole new level – especially with the China-made suits that arrived all of two weeks ago. *wink*