Regan & Brad

What a great wedding we had last weekend! Everything just exuded class and style. I want to express my thanks to all of the guests and especially the wedding party who were all a joy to work with.

What else can I say? Here's the stunning bride:


We got so many great shots during their engagement session last year that I knew I was going to love working with Regan & Brad on their wedding day. Is this a good lookin' guy, or what? Probably my favourite groom portrait to-date:


Tried something a little different for this one. I love the 40's Hollywood glamour feel we get from a nice B&W conversion of a portrait lit with the video light:


A similar setup but a rather different feel:


There was some awesome light streaming in from the window at camera right and I loved how it wrapped Regan in a warm glow:


What a great "first kiss"! No peck on the cheek for this couple! According to my image data, it was a solid 7 seconds long which gave me time to get 10 chances to get it right:


Here's a great candid shot of Brad as the best man cracked some jokes in the background:


Everyone was having such a great time and I think it really shows in the images:


They look so great together:




Let's just pretend that the environment surrounding this image was really as serene as the couple makes it look:


Can you say "Hollywood Starlet"?:


A nice detail shot of one of the centrepieces (helped a bit by a cool ceiling spotlight):


This wedding had one of the most happening dancefloors I've seen in a long while, but it's the special moments between the bride & groom and bride and her father that really stand out for me:


It was really tough limiting this blog entry to a mere 14 images...there are so many more great ones to choose from!

See you two when you're back from Hawaii...

Michael

Sarah & Mark

Well, the weather wasn't so great last weekend but that didn't dampen the spirits of Sarah & Mark or their guests. We captured some awesome and unique images regardless of the non-stop 24-hour downpour:

This is a bit of a different image for me. Normally I don't care for the high contrast cross-processed look but I liked the effect for this image of Sarah:


So this is what it's like to be 9 feet tall ;)


They sure filled their cute little church to the brim. I thought they were going to have to start bringing out extra seats. Thank goodness for my 17mm wideangle lens:


I just love their expression as they walked back down the aisle as "husband and wife":


We managed to get a few shots outside under umbrellas but the weather wasn't getting any better so we popped back into the church and had some fun:




Being avid canoers, they decided to hold their reception at The Canadian Canoe Museum. I'm rather thankful for the extra time we spent in there due to the weather as we got some really cool shots using the exhibits and lighting:


The next two were taken inside a cool old birchbark teepee:




I loved the funky light in this trapper's hut and thought it might work well as a selective colour image to emphasise the subjects:


How perfect was this? Here's a little foreshadowing of their upcoming 20-day canoe trip honeymoon:




It just goes to show, you don't need great weather to have a wonderful time and to capture beautiful images at your wedding. Kudos to Sarah & Mark for keeping their cool and having fun despite the crappy weather and the "grandma incident". ;)

Have a great trip, and best of luck in avoiding those "bug infested portages".

Michael

New York...the photos!

Iveta and I had a great time in New York...saw a couple of broadway shows, sampled all of the quintessential New York cuisine, visited most of the boroughs and tourist spots...and I managed to snap a few keepers along the way. ;) I also had some fun with my new infrared camera and visited the world's largest camera store (B&H), which is conveniently located only a few blocks from the world's largest department store (Macy's). Anyway, on to the pics...

Here's a B&W infrared shot of the towering Empire State building (sans the big ape):


I didn't have my tripod with me, but there's a very convenient concrete railing to rest your camera on inside Grand Central Terminal. I couldn't have set it up better myself, but I love how there's a couple embracing in the middle of the terminal and they're perfectly sharp while the rest of the travellers speed by in a blur. Score a point for Lady Luck there!:


Here's a "channel-swapped" infrared image of Sheep Meadow in Central Park (for those interested, I applied a custom White Balance so that everything is neutral except for the red sky then I swap the red and blue channels to make the sky blue). This place was great, as was the rest of Central Park - a real sanctuary from the frantic rat race of the city streets.


Here's a view from the famous Gapstow Bridge overlooking "The Pond" in lower Central Park. At the southern edge of the Park you'll find some of Manhattan's most famous hotels such as the Ritz-Carlton and The Plaza.


The perfect scene for infrared photography! This was taken from a rowboat in Central Park's "The Lake" as I took Iveta for a romantic little tour while avoiding crashing into the other amateur rowers who were dotted amongst the surface. The building in the background is The San Remo, "One of the city's, and the world's, greatest residential skyscrapers, the city's most beautiful apartment building and one of its most prestigious addresses" according to their website:


Here's a nice shot Iveta got of me with her point-n-shoot during our little boat trip:


I thought this was an interesting moody shot of the otherwise ritzy Upper East Side shopping area along Park Avenue (infrared again):


Here's another shot Iveta took while we were riding around on an open-top bus tour with Times Square in the background:


I almost left my infrared camera at home but this image made it worth dragging it around with us throughout the whole trip. The image of course depicts the famous Flatiron building. I can't wait to get this printed up big on some metallic paper!


Later that day we took an evening cruise around the south end of Manhattan where I grabbed this shot of the Statue of Liberty as the sun set behind:


And of course, no trip is complete without taking some obligatory portraits of my beautiful Iveta:


I was quite impressed with the view from the top of the Rockefeller Center and thought it was much better than the one from the Empire State Building. The view of Central Park is spectacular and the original 24 Megapixel 4-image stitch is incredibly detailed. Click on the image below for a larger version (which is still only 1% of the original size):


Don't forget to check out the image of the Manhattan skyline two posts below as well (you can click on it to view a larger version).

Overall, we had an excellent trip and I hope you enjoyed viewing the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Michael