And the final session of this week (the wedding this weekend notwithstanding!) was a very fun session with Lisa and Ryan down on 14th Street! In one of those serendipitous life moments it turns out that we suggested a location that was less than a block from the apartment that they just moved out of. Perfect! The weather was building towards a pretty severe rainstorm and as a result produced some very warm, dramatic lighting.

So here’s a random thing that I’ve been learning about my photography lately. I take better pictures when I climb on things. Besides doing the obvious of changing the perspective of the camera it also gets my brain that much more engaged in the session. I was one of those kids who, if he found a narrow hallway, used opposing pressure to shimmy up to the roof. Actually, my penchant for climbing (and consequently falling) had my parents skeptical about my odds of reaching the ripe old age of 10. This holds true for other areas of my life as well – I once did a phone interview for a summer job in University and was bombing until I got up and started pacing. Call it nervous energy, call it whatever, I just operate better when I am moving. So with regards to my photography, I figured – why fight that? So if you happen to see me on a photoshoot you might see me climbing a tree or balancing somewhat precariously on something (concrete partition, fire hydrant, or hand railings). Don’t be alarmed – I’m just having fun!

Anyway, you came to see pictures right? Not listen to me blather. Without further adieu:

Thanks for being so much fun guys! We’ll see you in August!

We met up with Carolyn & Jordan last night in Airdrie for their engagement session and had some beautiful light to work with. This is our first of three engagement sessions between yesterday and today

Carolyn & Jordan are both teachers so Kevan was right in his element talking teacher shop talk throughout the engagement session. I just sat back and laughed!

Some of our favourites from the night are below:

For those of you who live here in Calgary you’re quite familiar with the spectacular weather we’ve been having over the past week (note sarcasm).

It’s been raining for almost a week with a short break in the weather on Friday afternoon. While it’s nice to green things up, it can easily put a dampener on a wedding day. Thankfully in the Orthodox tradition, rain on your wedding day is seen as good luck, and Cora and Tim were all smiles. I don’t know if anything could have brought their moods down anyway!

I used to work for Tim at Userful and was honoured when they approached Kevan and I do do their wedding. Cora & Tim are naturals when it comes to taking pictures, even though they were pretty adamant during their engagement session about not being photogenic people. You be the judge!

A few detail shots of her dress and engagement ring.

Being an Orthodox wedding, we were introduced to a few customs. There was quite the party happening at Cora’s parents place prior to the ceremony and Kevan had an interesting time moving around all the people!

A few portraits of the stunning bride.

Over at Tim’s place it wasn’t quite as busy so I had a chance to head up to the roof of his building for a few portraits with him and his groomsmen before going to the church.

Their ceremony was at St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

A great moment during the ceremony.

Another tradition we were introduced to is the couple leaving the church through a tunnel of flowers. It was a bit of a tight squeeze with Tim being so tall!

…and a few of just Cora & Tim.

They had their reception at the Calgary Petroleum Club. There were lots of laughs and tears.

Dessert was Strawberry Cheesecake. We thought we’d highlight it and the rings at the same time!

Being avid dancers, they did their reception right with a live band and a huge dance floor. Their first dance(s) were amazing!

At about midnight we stole the couple for a few minutes to try a few different shots.

Thanks for a great day guys!

Tonight Kevan and I met up with Halyne & Andrew for their engagement session down on 17th Ave. We had a great time exploring the area and finding some great areas to shoot with them! Interestingly enough, Halyne has connections with both of our wives from different points in her past, though when she got in touch with us neither she nor us knew of them. Halyne performed in the Rocky Mountain College Choir & Orchestra with my Karyn a few years ago and grew up in Bawlf with Leah years back! Small world!

One thing that struck me about Halyne is that she’s almost always smiling…

While we were walking around there was a Mazda RX8 parked in one of the alleys angle-parked with its front wheels turned in just the right way. It looked like it was straight out of an advertisement…so we had to use it. We planned our shot prior to walking up to it, wanted to get Halyne & Andrew in and out as quickly as possible so we didn’t get in trouble by the owner. Right when they got posed by the car the owner came around the corner so we explained what we were doing and she was more than excited to let us keep going. To the owner of the RX8, THANKS!

Duane and I get a little giddy when our clients tell us that they are happy to wander the downtown core with us on their wedding day. It’s a fun exercise to take a bride and groom down Stephen Avenue with all of the cafe and restaurant patios open. Judging by the number of people staring you would have thought that Dana was the first bride to take her wedding pictures downtown.

They were up for anything that we suggested! Climb the statues at City Hall? Done. Climb on little ledges? No problem. Lean across the hood of a car stopped at a stop light? In a heartbeat! They were both totally comfortable with each other, the day and themselves. They laughed and partied all day long and I think it translated into some pretty smokin’ images!

The ceremony was at the very impressive Knox Church.

This was right after the minister realized that he had just asked Dana to take Juliano as her wife. Without missing a beat she just made the necessary adjustment and carried right on.

Duane told them to go America’s Next Top Model style. They were all over that!

You should have seen the look on the lady’s face when I asked if we could borrow the hood of her car for a few seconds

This picture makes me giggle and deserves a little explanation I think, because it is kind of like ‘one of these things is not like the other game.’ As in, why the heck is the groomsman laughing!? The scoop is that they were watching a slideshow that included personal messages from Juliano’s family in Brazil who were unable to attend the wedding so both Dana and Juliano were tearing up. At the same time though, it was showing the classic little kid pictures that make people laugh, hence the discrepancy.

This kid was hilarious! He may be the first person that has ever done a break dance to Patsy Cline.