Weddings again

Thanks in part to my short-lived career at the Calgary Herald, I have received a lot of requests to shoot weddings from friends who know me and recommend me to everyone they know. "He shot for the Calgary Herald" they say, and people figure ..."well, if he's good enough for the newspaper, he's gotta know something about photography."

This wedding is thanks to my good friend Jolene (first photo, right) who acts as a model for me from time to time, and whose brother Brent (second from left) got married this past weekend. The wedding and reception was held at a hotel and thanks to the slushy warm Chinook-y conditions outside, we took all the photos indoors and didn't have to travel too far or fight with the strong winds outside.

It was a perfect wedding ceremony from my point of view. It was held in a room with no natural light, and had a white ceiling only 7 feet high. This allowed me to bounce my flashes up and create soft white light that fell on the couple rather than blasting them with direct flash and creating harsh shadows behind them.

With the wedding ceremony shot, we moved upstairs into the main foyer of the hotel and set up two lights with umbrellas to shoot the formals. The light that the umbrellas produce is soft and even and they tend to increase my "street cred" as people usually look at my set up and say "Wow.. that's so professional." I love that.

After a few moments taking photos, the flower girl made it clear she loved to have her picture taken. Once she saw the camera was pointed in her direction, she would pose herself and sit there like a princess with a perfect smile on her face. I showed her this first photo of her and she seemed to be very happy with her effort.

If you look closely on the last photo on the sofa, the bride and groom are talking happily with their friends but that little girl is all business. She's found my lens and she isn't letting go anytime soon. BTW... I love this shot of the newlyweds on the sofa. Everyone seems to be so relaxed during one of the happiest and most stressful days I could imagine.

Clearly, I am still single. More to come..

Baby photos for Christmas

Baby time... My friends were out from Toronto for the holidays with a new addition to their family. Amelia was born in July and so the proud parents wanted to get some photos done for their family in time for Christmas. I did the shoot at my parent's place as they have more room than I do and my mom loves having a baby in the house. (I think she has given up long ago on my chances of adding to the human race!)

We set up a white backdrop in a spare room and then set up lights so that we had about a +1/3EV on all exposures. A few pillows and a white blanket and we were ready to take some photos. Amelia was a super baby and kept herself composed for the majority of the shoot. Perhaps it was the big camera, or the idiot behind it making clicking noises, but she saw that lens and stared right into it. Great!

Did she throw up during her shoot? You bet. Right on cue too. "Oh! Perfect! Hold it right there!" "Bleeecch". Lovely. But how can you not keep smiling at a face like that!?

Amelia (like any great entertainer) needs to have a few clothing changes. Once we had her in her purple outfit, we found a small problem as her attention was almost totally taken by her new tights. We were all saying her name but she simply focused on the new dots that were running all over her toes and legs. Luckily we got a great photo of the family before she started to look down again.

Total time: 1.5 hours. Two feedings, not much crying, and hopefully the grandparents like their new photos of a smiling granddaughter. Who wouldn't?