Ancaster Old Mill Wedding

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Michelle + Nick

Michelle + Nick had a fabulous winter wedding back  at the Ancaster Old Mill back in February.

Yes it was cold.  :)

Yes, we still got great pictures.  :)

We started off at the salon owned by Michelle's childhood friend and then I headed off to hang out with the boys as they got ready.  

They had a first look out in the snow, very cool!  First looks can be such a great part of your wedding day.  They can help with an awkward schedule (or an early sunset in this case) and also take a lot of the anxiety out of seeing your spouse for the first time at the ceremony.

Speaking of ceremonies, they had a beautiful Jewish wedding ceremony in the Governer's Room of the Ancaster Old Mill.  And following some family pictures it was up to the Falls Room for a great reception!

You can check out some of my favourite pictures from this Ancaster Old Mill wedding in the gallery up top and their full wedding slideshow down below!

Featured photographer on the Wedding Ring!

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Excited to announce that I'm now a featured vendor on The Wedding Ring!   The Wedding Ring is one of Southern Ontario's biggest wedding blogs covering Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, London and all points in between.  I actually had to choose which are I was listed in since I photograph most of my weddings in Toronto but live in the Kitchener-Waterloo area... in the end, I went with Kitchener-Waterloo.  It's always nice to photograph a few more weddings close to home!

You can check out my review here!  (be sure to click the 'love it' button!) 

 

Eglinton Grand Wedding

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Alex + Dan

Another great wedding from 2013!

Alex and Dan were married back in February in an amazing ceremony and reception at the Eglinton Grand in midtown Toronto!   The Eglinton is one of my absolute favourite wedding venues... I'm a huge movie buff so I love the character of this old movie palace.  I even saw Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade there when I was a kid!

After getting ready, everyone met at the Eglinton for a traditional Chinese tea ceremony... which produced one of my favourite wedding images of all time!  Then we headed downstairs for the western wedding ceremony and reception.

Check out some of my favourite wedding images up top and their complete wedding slideshow below!

A huge thank you to my good friend Aron Goss for doing an amazing job second shooting this wedding!

St Lawrence Hall Wedding

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Grace + Christian 

Guys... do not let your better half's read this post.  No matter what, you're going to end up looking like a chump compared to Christian.

As their 10 year wedding anniversary approached, Grace & Christian wanted to celebrate with their friends and family.  Since the first time around they only had a small city hall wedding this time they went all out... fancy ceremony and reception at St Lawrence Hall, bridal party and pictures out at the Guild inn, and even a photographer :).

I don't think Christian said no to a single thing his wife asked for on this big day... he gave her the day she wanted and deserved those 10 years ago!

Not only did I capture some great pictures for them, I also came away with one of the best wedding stories!  As the guys were leaving the hotel in the elevator, the best man went to check on the rings and it fell out of the box... and promptly rolled across the elevator and dropped down the gap into the elevator shaft.    After a small panic attack, maintenance was called and the ring was found!

I want to give a big shout out to Aron Goss who was my second photographer and did an amazing job.

Check out some of my favourite wedding photographs from the day as well as their wedding slideshow below.

Kitchener Museum Wedding Photography

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Leigh + John

Another one of my favourite 2013 weddings is up on the blog today!

Leigh + John were married this past summer at The Museum in downtown Kitchener.   These days, most of my weddings are in Toronto so it's always nice when I can shoot a wedding that's a little more local.

We started the day (okay... late afternoon!) getting ready at the Walper Hotel and John's mothers condo and then headed over to The Museum for the ceremony and reception.  We ducked out after the wedding ceremony for a few quick portraits right in the middle of Bluesfest.

The reception was great, heartfelt speeches and a rocking dance floor!

Liberty Grand Wedding

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Ana + Adam's Wedding Album

 

Finished the album design of Ana + Adam's amazing wedding at the Liberty Grand in Toronto from last summer.  The Liberty Grand is an amazing wedding venue down in the waterfront of Toronto.  Although they have several rooms, I've never once ran into another wedding party... they do an amazing job with making the bride & groom feel like they are the only ones getting married that day!

A huge thanks to my good friend Sam Wong of Visual Cravings for second shooting this wedding with me and getting some killer shots!

 

Personal 365 Project

 

One of the biggest hazards a professional photographer can face is the moment photography, which started as a passion, turns into 'work'.  

I found myself face to face with this last year... I was only picking my camera up if someone was paying me, I dreaded the inevitable 'Can you bring your camera?' that seemed to follow every social invite.  In a nutshell, I was starting to burn out.  I hated dragging those big SLR's around with me.

I knew I needed to be shooting more, both to hone my craft and to rediscover my passion but life always seems to get in the way. I'm a stay at home dad with 4 kids, I just don't have the flexibility to get in the car and go off and shoot for a day for myself or travel to some exotic locale.  I needed a way to shoot more that would fit into my lifestyle.

Now, I'm the first one to say that the 'gear doesn't matter' or 'they're all just black boxes that take pictures' but I'm going to make an exception here.   Over the christmas holidays I picked up a little Fujifilm X100 camera for a steal (I still feel bad about that David... I owe you a few beers!).

Now, I had played with this camera when it was released but it never really grabbed my attention but for some reason this time it has.  I LOVE this little camera.  Sure the autofocus kinda sucks and it's only one focal length (which is actually a good thing) but like many have said before me, this is a camera made for photographers.  It just feels right.

So I've been keeping this little camera charged (okay, most of the time... the batteries suck) and a memory card in there 24/7 and just shooting with it.   Mostly my kids, but some other stuff too.  I've even used it at work photographing weddings and commercial shoots.

I decided to do one of those cliche 365 project just to keep myself honest and shooting.  Yes,  sometimes I just grabbed the one shot that day or I'd forgot and have to make up two in one day but overall it's worked really well.   I've never shot this much consistently. 

I've been posting the images over at my Tumblr site but I thought it might be a good idea to share a few of my favourites so far here.