Love in the city (Part 2)...

As promised, they went ahead and did it: Kristen and Tyler got married!  And while every wedding is special this was one of the ones I was really looking forward to.

For starters, it took place in one of my favourite spaces in Vancouver, the Heritage Hall on Main Street. It's got all the fixin's: the building is gorgeous, the interior is classic and the bathrooms are stunning. 

None of this was lost on the betrothed (a pair of designers by trade) and there were beautiful little signs of creativity everywhere one looked.

After the ceremony we headed down to the local community garden for a few shots...

...and then on to fuel up at the nearest hipster $7 coffee spot where the barista was extra thoughtful.

I have to admit to having my expectations about this particular wedding blown out out of the water a little. The fact that Kristen and Tyler were very specific about wanting an "urban" engagement shoot, coupled with their rather sophisticated professions led me to assume that this event would be a pretty slick one. 

Rather it was one of the most heartfelt, family-centred celebrations that I've seen in a long while. And while there is no doubt that, aesthetically speaking, this was one well thought out wedding...

...it was readily apparent that the most important part of the celebration was the folks doing the celebrating.

Perfect match...

Dave is a good friend who I know from working in the bicycle industry. Jessica is his stunning fiance, a woman with class, style, wit and, apparently, a love of men with encyclopedic knowledge of Hip-hop history and bike parts.

Dave's mother did not raise any fools and as a result he knows a really really really good thing when it smacks him upside the head. As such, while the two of them were on a motorcycle trip around Europe he popped the question. Obviously Jess accepted.

Anyhoodle, as part of the celebration we grabbed  a blanket and some sushi and headed down to Whytecliff Park in West Van. It was a beautiful night and even though we were getting low on light, we managed work our way around the rocks.

Also present (with something blue) was Jess's best lady and one of my favourite people Rosie. Her job was to keep the bats at bay and throw in a cynical remark or two whenever I started to use my professional photographer voice.

They're getting married on Bowen Island. That's Bowen over there. (For the record this shot was not my idea although I kinda wish it was). 

When I decided to use my background in photography to go into the wedding market I was a bit worried that I would have to swallow my pride and take image after image of couples staring longingly into each other's. Not so! Take the following, for example:

While I'm not sure exactly how it happened, D and J got to frolicking a bit too violently and Jess ended up  getting her bell rung on the manicured Whytecliff lawn. While it's not yer typical engagement shot, for some reason it really speaks to me about the quality of caring between these two.

Dave and Jess: there really is something about them...

...something that says they're going to have an awesome run.

Somebody's gotta do it...

While I'm not really a big fan of air travel (you try folding a 6'5" frame into a coach seat) there are some jobs that make even the most arduous sequence of flights worth the effort. One such job was Frederique and Isabelle's wedding in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

While all the obvious niceties of shooting a tropical beach wedding applied, there was the extra bonus of being brought along as a second shooter. They had already hired a (French speaking) local photographer to cover all classic wedding photos and it was my (non-French speaking) job to capture everything that went on behind the scenes.

 For those of you that haven't been to a wedding it should be noted that if there is any stress to be observed it invariably plays out around the main event. As such, being the behind-the-scenes guy is about as much fun as one can have while still getting paid: nobody really has any expectations as to the shots you're supposed to come up with so you can pretty much fall back on your natural style and have a totally rad day with a camera in your hand.

That's not to say that I don't love shooting the whole circus, but given the choice who wouldn't want to modify their job so that all stress was stripped away while leaving all the challenge and interest intact? 

Don't get me wrong, it was still work. After all the sun was really quite bright and dealing with the intense hues of the tropical sea was, ya know, almost challenging. But like the professional I claim to be I put my nose to the proverbial grindstone and got the job done.

Yup, just another day at the office...

Merci Frederique et Isabelle!

The Annual Easter Portraits.

This year Graydon's mom was in San Francisco for the Easter long weekend. Thus, being two men alone we quickly secured an invitation to dinner at the cousins. Of course everyone under 10 was in a chocolate induced hypertrance, but in between bouts of mad circle running and cross-eyed trampoline double bounces we managed to get a record of how much the kids had grown.

Happy Spring Everyone! See you all in the wedding season!

Not my thing, but still...

I'm not a huge fan of many aspects of the modelling world and while there are lots of interesting things going on in fashion photography I'm not really drawn to it as a profession.  Every once in a while, however,  I get a call to do headshots for aspiring actors/models and every once in a while I'm forced to admit that some people are meant to be in front of a camera.

Stacey is one of those people. So I set up the studio (the office of the photography world) and we did an afternoon of making a really good looking person look even better.

While I was initially dreading the shoot, Stacey turned out to be a lovely young woman and between her, her mom and myself we actually had a super fun afternoon.

Hey, I'm just a photographer and I have no idea what the "it" factor is when it comes to aspiring actors/models, but if Stacey ain't got "it" then I certainly don't know anyone else who does.

Good luck out there! Don't forget me when you get your first Vanity Fair cover...

Love in the city...

When Kristen (an interior designer) and Tyler (a fashion designer) requested a location for their engagement shoot they made it clear that going pastoral was not their intention. "We're more urban
people," stated Kirsten when I suggested meeting up in Stanley Park. To be honest I couldn't have been more thrilled.

I've been fortunate to shoot an inordinate number of couples in which one or the other partner is either an artist or a designer and I always find it both challenging and interesting. On one hand you're shooting for folks who share a common visual language, but on the other you're dealing with people who know what they're talking about.

That's not to say that non-artist types don't know what they're looking for when they hire a photographer,

just that I feel like there's less to explain to people who make a living pushing visual limits.

One of the best parts is I feel a lot less pressure to bow to traditional wedding photography norms, which is great as it really isn't my home style. I get to take make things blurry that wouldn't otherwise be so and I can shift the subject around the picture plane with hope that there is more of an understanding of visual intention. That said, if yer gonna haul out yer artsy side, you better make sure it works out. 

Whatever the case, shooting for Kristen and Tyler was awesome. Thanks for an afternoon of letting me be myself.

Sol!

To be blunt I'm not a huge animal fan: I don't eat them and, for the most part, I don't really hang out with them. It's not that I don't enjoy their lovely little personalities, it's just that they make me sneeze.

Every once in a while, however, I meet an animal of one sort or another that I can't help but love. Sol is one of those animals. He is the DEO (Doggie Executive Officer) at the aforementioned Endless Biking, is an amazing dog-brother to Myla-minute and is part cyborg (he has a titanium pelvis and a specially modified hip). Given my allergic disposition you probably won't see many animal pics on this site but here,  for your viewing pleasure, are four pics of the best dog ever!

Good dog, Sol! Good Dog!