So, happy Christmas to everyone! And, starting with just one image from when my parents came last year, here are a handful of personal snapshots from this year.

Since I didn’t submit any of our photos myself, it is interesting to see the images of ours that their judges chose. A big criteria for them was whether or not an image looked like it was distinctly wedding-y.

Their website says: “What we ultimately looked for was . . . is this a great photo or a great wedding photo? Unfortunately this meant that some incredible photographs did not make the cut, because they could have been anywhere, not necessarily at a wedding.”

This is kind of funny for me to read—and I don’t mean that sarcastically!—because I often deliberately distance myself from creating images that look wedding-y. This is especially true with the more fashion-based ideas that I come up with. I sometimes get inspiration from music photography and movie posters and I try to create a similar sort of commercial or cinematic vibe to my wedding photography—something that looks larger than life and out of the ordinary.

Anyways, I thought I’d comment on the images they chose to give a bit of a story behind each photo. So, for the first time on the blog I present to you: Captions!

This image was tricky to capture! It was taken on a small yacht on Okanagan Lake in Kelowna and the poor girl was sea-sick from the rocking of the boat. I was crouched up the very front of the boat holding a flash in one hand and my camera in the other, trying to frame the shot without getting any clutter in the background, or going blind from having the sun in the viewfinder, or falling over the side. I have two images of this setup and this is one of them. It pays to get it right the first time.

While I love going overboard (ha ha) to get cool-looking portraits, the emotions of the wedding day are what really hooked me in to being a wedding photographer. There are few days in someone’s life where they so honestly open up in front of their friends and family. I love being a part of that. This image was taken at a reception at the University of Lethbridge “Zoo” ballrooms. It has almost entirely black walls and is one of the trickiest places I’ve photographed in to really make the lighting look natural and good.

The couple asked for a photo of the bridesmaids carrying the groom and I thought it could be fun, so we set it up. They had a struggle keeping him up though, and this is where they started to drop him. That made them laugh and they slipped even more. I have about half a dozen images in this sequence, showing him up and steady to all the way down. I shot close up from a low angle to really get into the action.

Awww! Aren’t these kids so cute? Check out their matching green wedding flip-flops! This was during the group formals. I always try to catch interaction and emotional moments, even during the quickly set up images of the wedding day.

This is from the same wedding as the previous photo. The couple requested something that showed Lethbridge’s high-level bridge in the background and I wanted a different angle than is typical. We had to hike a little bit to get to this location, but I’ve still not seen anyone do quite the same shot.

This was one of the wildest and most fun receptions we’ve ever photographed. The bride and groom had a male belly-dancer for entertainment and he grabbed them and got them in on the act. Soon enough he had just about everyone up and was teaching them his moves, with some really hilarious consequences. Although 95% of the images on this blog are taken by me, this photo was taken by my very talented assistant photographer, Jessica. Kudos to her; it’s an awesome moment.

Our studio recently won the Canadian Bridal Network’s Best Wedding Photographs contest of this year, beating nearly 500 other entries. Actually, after the contest results went live I heard that the judges had short-listed a dozen of our photos for the winning spots, but in the end they decided to just use the one image below to represent our studio.

I met the couple in the winning image when I was looking for a wedding dress. Not for myself; for a bridal fashion shoot in B.C. The bride, Caitlin, works in Ten Fashions Bridal Boutique and when one of my models didn’t show I asked her to fill in. She brought along her fianceé, Kelowna DJ Dan Freeman, and so my fashion shoot turned into a real engagement session for them. Because they are an actual couple they brought great energy and true emotional connection to the shoot. Their wedding is in 2010 and will be awesome.

Thanks very much also to Trent from Eye For Detail Photography! I actually found out about this contest after receiving an email from Bride.ca saying that Trent had contacted them and told them to check out my work for the contest. Thanks, Trent!

When we came outside I spotted a wrecked old truck, with peeling paint and rusted metal and we used that as a prop for some quick, fun images. Mandy and Craig were very easy to work with and their son was especially happy when he got to play around in the leaves outside and throw them at me. Ah well. Whatever it takes, right? Here are some of my favourite images from their session.

We did their session on a beautiful property just outside of Lethbridge owned by friends of Jill. It was an awesome place for family portraits, with a couple of areas where the kids could mess around as well as a great little stream at the bottom of the hill. We also raided a chicken coop, with their dog watching excitedly through the fence at us. As you will see from their photos we shot this at the end of fall and the leaves had a bit of colour, which is always nice. This was a relaxed and fun photo session with only really one set up for posed images. And even then they were quick to play around and have fun.

The river where their dog is swimming in to fetch thrown sticks was really cold! I waded out to get a few photos of them skimming stones in the water and, man, my feet froze! Ah well. Anything for the shot, right?

We started out in the Bow Falls area before heading to the Fairmont Banff Springs to shelter from the wind and also get some indoor portraits. Samson and Donna are great dancers and we were able to get the Mount Stephen Ballroom totally to ourselves. (I’ve never seen that before!) So Samson got to twirl Donna all around around whole the floor—a private moment in a normally very public place. It was pretty cool, actually.

We only had a limited time for this engagement session, so we made the best use of the nearby areas around the Mount Stephen Ballroom for the whole time we were there. Donna and Samson were a great, open couple and I really look forward to their wedding day.

Their wedding ceremony was held in the Banff Park Lodge’s Castle Room, with their reception and evening after-party at the Glacier Salon. Both rooms are very nice, with lots of polished wood in them and a decorative wall of molded glass showing a mountain landscape in the Glacier Salon.

Leanne had the biggest smile ever! She smiled so much, especially during their ceremony. Everyone else smiled too when she slipped up during her vows to her “awful wedded husband”. Poor Jordan. Lol! Jordan and Leanne had asked that I get photos of all of their guests as they entered the reception, so I set up a little area and quickly had them pose as they came through. I always get candid images of people laughing during speeches and that sort of thing as part of the day’s coverage anyway, but this makes sure that there is a professional photo of everyone who was there.

After lunch they had speeches and a slideshow, which alternatively had everyone laughing or wiping tears. Actually, I’m going to interrupt myself a bit and say how much I like weddings where the speeches are after the meal. That way all your guests are happy and relaxed and can pay full attention and you don’t end up with photos of them laughing with food in their mouths. As a matter of fact, although there was definitely a very relaxed and easy-going attitude at the wedding, I have to say that this was also one of the best-scheduled weddings I’ve been to. We never felt like we were rushed for time. From what I heard during the speeches, this was probably due to Jordan’s preternatural spreadsheeting abilities.

For our photo time we visited a few locations around Banff, capturing the gorgeous scenery of the mountains and the river. We also visited the Fairmont Banff Springs, which is an wonderfully elegant location for photography. I love it in there and it was a welcome break from the cold wind outside! After their photos we headed back to Melissa’s Missteak across from the Banff Park Lodge where the two met with their families for an intimate dinner before crossing the road to meet back up with the rest of their guests for the evening. We stayed to catch some candid photography of everyone having a great time there.

Congrats, guys! Here are a few of your images.

(P.S. Thanks to photographer Trent Ernst for assisting me again).

We were there for the whole day for this wedding, from the time the dresses went on for the bride and groom, to the dancing. (Sorry, bad kilt joke). I loved the colours in their house! Check out the red! When I first started I noticed that one of Bobbi’s bridesmaids was really avoiding the camera. So I said, “Trust me! It’s my job to make you look good.” And then I took the overlapped-face image (third down) and showed it to them. I don’t think she trusted me for the rest of the day after that. Lol! But it was too cool a shot to pass up. But everyone was very easy to get along with. Cameron and Bobbi were definitely one of our most laid-back couples we’ve ever had—not stressing about anything and just trusting me to do whatever I liked for the portraits. The one thing they asked for was a photo with the VW Beetle, which was a good idea anyways.

The sun was starting to set when we went into the family portraits, but just after we finished it popped out of the clouds for a spectacular last show of golden light and I jumped at the chance to get a few romantic portraits of Cameron and Bobbi before it dropped behind the horizon.

Their reception was held in Coalhurst and after several moving speeches and the formal dances the kids rushed out onto the dance floor and we there for the rest of the night. I love weddings where people get up and dance. Oh, and check out the photo of Bobbi teaching her bridesmaids how to do the YMCA.

Enjoy your blog preview, guys. All the best.

P.S. Thanks to Trent Ernst for being my second photographer! Three of the below images are his. You’ll have to guess which ones.