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I met Julie and Erik for their engagement session at the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel, where they will also have their wedding next summer. As I drove out to Banff in the pouring rain I was going over my various “Plan B” ideas, but thankfully the rain let up almost right after I arrived—yay!—and we were able to go out and actually see blue sky and sunshine. Not that being stuck indoors at the Banff Springs is a bad thing; it is such a fantastic venue, part historic hotel and part castle, complete with lichen-adorned stonework and marble halls. So we started out inside and then ventured out into the surrounding areas, taking advantage of the cleared-up weather to capture some of the beauty of the Banff Rockies.

Erik and Julie were a great fun couple, who were so easy-going the whole time. They were really cool to hang out with and I am definitely looking forward to their wedding back at Banff next year!

I’m pleased to tell you that I recently had eight of my images place in the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers summer contest, giving me an over-all placing of 15th in the world. This is truly an international contest: out of the twenty place-getters, there are ten different countries represented! It’s great to see such a cool diversity and world-wide representation. I am honoured to have placed in among such skilled and talented photographers.

Although this is the summer contest, the deadline for submissions was earlier in the year when wedding “season” up here had only just started, so I am really happy to have done so well. I placed in these categories: Wedding Ceremony, Wedding Reception, Emotional Impact, Bride Portrait, Bridal Party Portrait, Engagement Portrait, Pure Art.

Here are my placing images:

Stephanie and Kyle are a great couple whose engagement session I photographed last winter in the Kananaskis (in a blizzard—but that’s another story). After their engagement session I was really looking forward to their wedding—and not just because it was in summer.

We started the day with Kyle and his groomsmen out on Taber golf course as they played a quick round before coming back to Stephanie’s parent’s house to get ready. Well, to eat burgers and kick around a soccer ball. Same thing, really. Kyle is such an incredibly easy-going guy and the whole time I was with the guys there was a great laid-back feel with no pre-wedding jitteriness.

The property where Stephanie got ready, and where the wedding reception and ceremony were held on, was amazing—equal parts farm and mansion. I could have spent a day just photographing all the cool architectural details and the decor. When Stephanie was putting her dress on, Lindsey from Once Upon a Bride in Lethbridge had a tip for getting the dress on without messing her hair: a plastic bag over her head! It sounded funny to me at the time, but it works really well and was a clever idea.

The ceremony was held outside in a cobblestone courtyard and I have so many photos of people wiping their tears!

After the ceremony we stayed on the property for all the photos. It was a very diverse place, with a vineyard, some cool old stone constructions, and my favourite thing: a bouncing castle for the kids. As soon as I saw the bouncing castle I knew I had to get the wedding party in there. Fortunately, they were a super-fun bunch and felt the same way. It was so much fun in there! At first everyone was just kind of standing around looking at the camera, but I encouraged them to really go for it—which was interesting for my assistant Jessica, who weighs about 20 pounds and got thrown around like crazy—lol! We actually tipped it over at one point when everyone was on one side. Good times. Every wedding should have a bouncing castle.

After the fun reception guessing games and speeches, awesome Lethbridge band Hippodrome got everyone moving out on the grass of the reception area. I’ve seen Hippodrome perform at a couple of weddings this year and they really make the place come alive. It’s not just excellent music, but also a great feel that only a good, experienced live band can bring to an event.

And, best of all, there were no blizzards; just beautiful weather all day and night.

Krister and Susan are a photography duo from Edmonton who run Picture That Photography. It is always cool to work with other artists of any kind and very cool to be chosen by other photographers.

As you will see when you look through the photos, this was a fun session. We met up at their favourite bubble tea place in Calgary to chat a bit before going out to do their photos. I am not a bubble tea kinda guy, but according to Susan and Krister, Bubble Mania is the place to go for it in Calgary. Just so you know. (I can tell you where the best organic coffee is, but that’s not really a part of this blog story).

Krister, in particular, is a big movie buff who has even got them both into major film festivals—the ones where even actors have to apply for a seat—and so we did something fun that was kind of associated with this interest of theirs. I couldn’t get a star-studded list of international actors in time for their engagement session, but an old TV set in a tunnel was just as good. It was even fairly clean.

We hit up a couple of parks around the north side of Calgary. Krister and Susan were great to work with! As we hiked up the side of a hill in one of the parks, getting further and further from the car, I asked them, “How do you guys feel about being blindfolded?” Not really a typical engagement session question, I suppose, so I understand the looks they gave me. But when I explained my idea they got into it really well and the end result was a real heightened connection between them. I have a whole series of images from this segment that show an amazingly loving connection between them. It was very cool.

I look forward to seeing them again on their wedding day.