Erin’s Photo Shoot

Just by circumstance, I met this young woman in a wedding that I was photographing in February of this year– she was one of the bridesmaids.  I like to think that creative  people can sometimes see things that others cannot or believe in things that other’s may not.  In this case, having met Erin within that wedding,  I immediately knew and believed that she was completely photogenic despite some perhaps small protest from her.  Anyhow, after some email and text back and forth, we had agreed that we would try to do a photo shoot together sometime in the fall and use the trees and the leaves and the colors as a backdrop for our portraits but because of our schedules and so forth, that did not happen. As such we had to find a location indoors last week that would meet our needs and after some conversation with the Best Western – Lamplighter Inn in London on Wellington Road (http://www.lamplighterinn.ca), they graciously allowed us to shoot indoors within their atrium for a couple of hours.  As such, with the exception of the last two photographs, all of the images below were shot at the Best Western.

Thank You Note from Cast and Crew of A Christmas Carol

This past December, East Elgin Secondary School presented the musical version of A Christmas Carol on its stage.  I was asked to complete head-shots of the students within the production and those teaching staff who supported the show in one way or another.  As well, I had the opportunity to photograph one entire show.  

As such, I received the following card of thanks from the Karen, the Producer of the show:

“Thank you very much for your help with the show; your photographs are stunning.  Thanks also for all of the little things that you’ve done to help out.  It is truly appreciated on behalf of the cast and crew. ” 

 

Tatum’s Photo Session

Tatum is a young lady from St. Thomas who has a rare skin disorder called EB.  I met her a couple of years ago just by chance and offered her and her mother a complimentary photo session, which they happily accepted.  Since a couple of years have passed, I offered Tatum and her mother another complimentary session this fall because I thought it was important to update her images.  As such, we meet a couple of weeks ago and at Waterworks Park and we spent a couple of hours together moving around the park.  She picked out her clothes for the session and brought some props that were important to her (the dolls).  As well, they brought the family dog which we just had to include somehow.  Tatum is an energetic and pleasant young lady who I completed enjoyed working.  We hope, of course, that she and her mother enjoy these images and more importantly, we hope that we have captured Tatum’s spirit and attitude.

Winter and De Leeuw Family Photos

This family is actually related to me – uncle, aunt and two cousins and their respective spouses and children!  Several years ago, I photographed my cousin Anita’s wedding.  After the birth of their son, they returned for some photographs of him.    They tell me that there is a a row of images in their house that that I have done for them that includes their engagement photo, their wedding photo on the front steps of Holy Angels church, and an image of their newborn son.  I hope now that they add an image of her family (mom, dad, brother and his wife and children) and a new image of her own family (her husband and their two children) to that collection.  As an aside, my uncle’s car, a 1963 Impala, is important to him to we had to do some images of the car and him together.   Although it was slightly cool at times on Saturday afternoon, this group was actually very great to work with (and I am not just saying that because they are family either!).

Young Model

This young woman is kwown to our family and wanted to particpate in a ‘photo shoot’ – we were, of course, very happy to oblige.  In total, we spent time at three different locations – Port Stanley beach, Parkside Collegiate in St. Thomas, and the old railway and round-house buildings in St. Thomas.

A Great Thank You Note from one of our Customers!

After we photographed Ryan and Melissa’s wedding in October 2009, we created a custom designed Graphi Studio wedding album for them.  As well, we created two matching parent albums for the bride and groom’s parents.  With our handing over the completed wedding album to them, we had then met all of our contractual obligations to this couple.  As such, I sent them an email thanking them for choosing our studio to photograph their wedding and I received the following email in return from them:

“First off thank you for everything and for doing such a wonderful job on our photos. I can honestly say that you have by far exceeded our expectations as our photographer. I cannot tell you how many times we get compliments on our wedding photos. We are enjoying our albums and both sets of parents love their albums as well, I would highly recommend them. We will definitely recommend you to each and every person we know who needs a photography for whatever occasion. If you need a reference for a potential client I will be more than willing to do that for you.”

Jenna and Corey’s Wedding

This past weekend, we photographed Jenna and Corey’s wedding.  Although I say this often, they were a great couple to work with and photograph.  As well, their families, which can make or break a wedding, were exceptionally polite and most accommodating throughout the day.   As you look at these images, you will see that an antique fire truck played a very prominent role in our photography and that is because Corey is a full-time fire-fighter in Kitchener and his department was kind enough to let him use this pumper truck for our photography (if you view some of our previous blog postings, you will see, too, that we have done some photography of Corey in his fire uniform and turn-out gear).   As an aside, there were many firsts in this wedding:  watching the bridal party drive away from the church in a fire truck, photographing on the main street of Springfield (there were many more cars on that main street on Saturday afternoon than I ever anticipated!) and having an entire park like area at the Van Den Nest nursery (http://www.amtelecom.net/~edentree/) all to ourselves without the interruption of other photographers or couples.

Baby’s First Birthday

 

 

 

2011 Great Lakes International Air Show in St. Thomas

For the third airshow in a row now in St. Thomas, I have been invited to be one of a handful of “Event Photographers” at the air show held in St. Thomas, now renamed the Great Lakes International Air Show.  Tonight, the highlight of the evening was the aptly named “Hour of Power” that featured the Snowbirds, a CF-18, the Canadian Harvards, and some other air craft that landed later than expected because of the rainy weather throughout the day.   Anyhow, here are two images from the afternoon and evening.

 

Fire Fighter Photo Session

Yesterday, I had the great opportunity to photograph Corey.  He is both a full-time firefighter in Kitchener Waterloo and a volunteer firefighter in Springfield.  In July of this year, I’m photographing he and his fiancée’s wedding.  I approached him, via his fiancée, about perhaps doing a portrait shoot of Corey at the fire hall. I, of course, was looking for something different to photograph and a new challenge – that being using between 1 to 3 off camera flashes in various positions and at various heights. Perhaps surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, Corey, via his fiancée, agreed to the photo shoot. My intention going into the photo shoot was to Corey as both a person and as a firefighter. We wanted to create images for him that he would be proud to show his family, friends, and most importantly, his wife to be.  As such, we spent about three hours together setting up various shots. As well, it was important to find those props that help quickly identify firefighters: an axe, breathing apparatus, a hose, some type of tool thing with a great big pick on, his bunker gear, and perhaps his most cherished possession, his “Captain’s” fire helmet.  Throughout the photo shoot, we got to use all these props but most excitingly, we pulled out the smoke making machine at the end of our session,  flipped on the red emergency lights on the trucks, and ‘charged’ a fire hose with water!  I think, in hindsight, we have created some great images for Corey that  again capture his personality, his fantastic and inviting smile, and his profession with dignity and respect.  Corey was absolutely easy to work with an exceptionally accommodating to all of my inane questions about firefighting, etc.  I look forward to working with he and Jenna on July 9 and hope that they enjoy these images as much as I did crafting them.