Unique Images Photography | Weddings | Portraits | Fashion » Wedding, Portrait, and Fashion Photography Blog

We are proud to announce our official accreditation as a “green” photography studio.

What does this mean? Firstly, I’m not going to show up to photograph your wedding in a tie-dye shirt. Well, probably not. Most of the aspects that were investigated in the accreditation process involve things that happen behind the scenes in our business. For example, we are almost entirely paperless and offer a very convenient online contract system as well as other easy electronic processes. Also, our building’s cooling system is very environmentally-friendly—and effective! There is a huge list of things that are involved for us, but I want to focus on the things you’ll see. Really what this means for our clients is simply more options. We have introduced very stylish eco-friendly print and album choices—and of course digital options—and will continue to build upon them as more become available. We have not discontinued any of our other album and print lines, because our goal is to open up more choices to those people who want them.

If anyone would like more info, feel free to contact me.

Rosie from The Photography Parlour recently picked my brain about the hows and whys I do this photography thing. The Photography Parlour is a great site with a lot of cool content and interesting articles and interviews and I’m honoured to be featured there. HERE is a link to my interview.

Last Friday I went along to check out Eyes of Isis playing live at Lethbridge’s Moose Hall. The band had invited me to come by and hang out, but I brought my camera just for kicks. These guys put on a really good show! I’ve been to quite a few concerts and at most of them I’ve been kinda bored, because the band didn’t get into it or develop any rapport with the crowd. Live playing is a skill that not a lot of studio bands have. It takes a lot of on-stage energy to keep a crowd pumped up past the first three songs. What I really liked about the Eyes of Isis performance was that they really had fun on stage. I’ve seen too many bands spend all their time trying to look cool and just end up being boring. Even though the images I chose for the blog are the more rockin’ out kinda shots, there were lots of times when the guys were smiling and just enjoying themselves. I think that’s pretty cool, especially for a band that plays fairly heavy rock. These days hardly any rock bands know how to have fun on stage anymore, but I remember way back (showing my age now) when Van Halen, for example, would be running around the stage and having tons of fun. Of course, they also wore spandex, and we really don’t want to see that again.

Here are a handful of images from the concert.

If you are not a wedding or portrait photographer you are probably wondering what the WPPI 16×20 Print Contest is all about. Well, as far as wedding and portrait photography contests go, this is the biggy. It is an international contest and thousands of photographers from all over the world send in thousands of images for live judging by a panel of very highly-regarded photographers over the course of a week. Something to note is that this is not just an image contest, because this involves getting the best prints possible. Getting great prints that show the images well under the harsh competition lights is really a whole separate skill set and most photographers rely on pro labs to do this for them. In my case I printed all of my images myself, so I was in control from the very beginning of the image creation to the final product. Wait, let me just pat myself on the back. There. I feel good now.

Anyways, I’m happy to say that I received eight Accolades of Excellence awards for the images I submitted. Yay! Here are the images below, roughly in chronological order, with the most recent ones at the bottom.

That’s all.

I am really happy to announce that Unique Images Photography has been accepted into the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers. I have been accepted into various professional photography organisations over the years, but this one really makes me happy. Among their members are Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists, as well as other acclaimed professional wedding photographers from around the world.

Here is a quote from their website:

“The International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers is an organization of the best wedding photographers in the world. It was created by professional photographers to raise the standards of the wedding photography profession.

When you hire an ISPWP member, you can be sure they have passed a rigorous application process and are recognized by their peers to be at the top of their field.”

Frankly, I think the ISPWP board were just swayed by my rugged good looks, but either way, yay for us! We are currently the only photography studio in Lethbridge to be accepted into the ISPWP and one of only three in Alberta.

As most wedding photographers already know, Neil van Niekerk is one of the foremost lighting experts in the field of wedding photography. As well as being a working photographer he also travels the world doing lighting workshops and teaching flash techniques. He is also a published author with a book detailing all this stuff, too. But the main thing Neil is known for is his blog. Among wedding photographers it is one of the best learning resources out there, and has been for quite some time.

Last November—has it been that long already?—Neil contacted me and asked if I’d do a guest spot on his blog. I asked what I should talk about and Neil said, “Something lighting-related”. So, of course, I ignored him and did my own thing. Actually, I just got thinking about stuff I do and somehow got onto a tangent of my own. In any case, if you want to learn all my secrets and inner-most thoughts, click on over to Neil Van Niekerk’s ‘Tangents’ blog to see my little article. Ok, so you won’t learn all my secrets, but maybe there will be one or two things that interest you.

Oh, I also thought I’d explain a couple of things here, quickly, because my Tangents post is very much slanted towards complicated portrait setups for weddings. So I want to kinda state the obvious and say that during the ceremony and reception times I am as unobtrusive as possible. However, when it comes to the portrait time, I like to put all my energy into getting something that is unique for my couples. If you read through the Tangents article you’ll see that my main idea was based on something the bride had requested, because I always base my ideas on what each couple will like. Essentially, I tailor my coverage to suit each client’s personality. I’m saying this in case anyone is horrified at the thought of their portrait time being a circus. That won’t happen. (However, if you are planning on a circus, let me know; I can juggle).

Also, if you are a former bride, please don’t feel left out if I didn’t send you a sketch. Although I frequently jot down ideas this was the only time I ever revealed one. When you see the sketch you’ll understand. Anyways, enough preamble, click, man, click!

This year we were fortunate enough to be able to have some of my family from Australia come to visit us here in Lethbridge. Actually, they came right before Christmas, but close enough that we celebrated together while they were here. Last year my mum and dad came over at the end of autumn. This year my mum, sister, and my sister’s kids visited us. Lucky them, they came right at the beginning of the cold snap we had where the temperatures plunged to down to -50℃, with the wind chill. Considering that when they flew out from Australia the temperature there was around 28℃ that’s a bit of a difference! So we stayed inside a lot. It was simply too cold to spend more than a couple of minutes outside at a time, so most of the photos I took were fairly candid ones inside with natural light, though I won’t post those, because mostly they’re just people eating and playing games and stuff. And they’re fun images, but they’re more personal-type stuff for our own memories. I did get a few quick posed images inside though, just to have them. On the warmest day, when it got up to around -24℃ we took the kids tobogganing for a couple of hours at the Sugar Bowl. I’ll put a few of those images up.

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.

Welcome to our new-look blog! After about 18 months of working with various designers we finally found a great team who were able to come up with a branding concept that really conveys our business well. After all, photography is so personal, so we wanted our branding to represent who we are as much as possible. The main logo is the graphic rendering of the letters ‘U’ and ‘i’ and there is also a matching typeface spelling out Unique Images Photography that appears elsewhere on our sites and stationary. The really cool, deeper meaning in the concept for our new logo was that it is based on our philosophy in how we work with our clients. We really get inspired by our clients’ personalities and so our weddings and portraits are a collaborative effort to make our clients look as good as possible, but in ways that really reflect who they are. So the U + i represents “you” + “I”.

Last night I had the pleasure of experiencing a fantastic concert! Well, two of them, really. The concert was held at the Yates in Lethbridge with proceeds going to support the charity organisation Bridges of Hope, a very dedicated organisation of people who raise funds for the care of people in need in Africa, especially in Burkina Faso.

To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to this concert. I had arranged to take photos for the concert on a professional level, but I thought the music would bore me. I know, I know, how could I be such a cultural Philistine? But my main prior exposure to world music was listening to a friend’s new age music CD. And the music sounded like whales farting. So, armed with this utterly inaccurate view, I slunk off to the Yates Memorial theatre with my cameras.

Noumoufassa was supported by Joshua Reuben, along with vocalist Bridget Yarwood and percussionist Kurt Langrud. These guys opened the night and they played both original compositions and cool reworkings of recognisable tunes. They were a great start to the evening, blending virtuoso performances with a light, fun mood. They were joined near the end of their set by keyboardist and percussionist, Rex, from Noumoufassa, who added some funky bass to their songs. Then, after the intermission, Noumoufassa exploded onto the stage with highly energetic playing and acrobatic performances. I have to say that this was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to in my life, and as a lapsed musician, I’ve seen my fair share. These guys put everything they have into their show and it really comes alive in the most incredible-sounding and visually-entertaining way.

Twice during the evening Daniel Zopoula, the founder of Bridges of Hope, came and spoke quite briefly about the organisation and their goals. He is a passionate and well-educated man, but not someone who rants or bludgeons you with emotionally manipulative speeches. One thing he said really struck home to me and that was this: when the 2004 tsunami struck the nations around the Indian Ocean, around 200,000 people died and many people in the world rallied to provide aid. Yet approximately 150,000 people die in Africa every month. To learn more, please head over to the Bridges of Hope website.

You can still catch the show at two more locations in Alberta, in Red Deer and LeDuc. For more information check out this link. There is also a little YouTube video you can watch there to give you a bit of an idea of the music. However, with no offense to the people who made the video, it really doesn’t come close to capturing the energy of the actual performance. You really have to see them live to appreciate the show. If you’re anywhere in the area, go. You’ll have a whale of a time.

These images are not really edited, because I haven’t had the time, but I wanted to get something up on the blog right away. Most of them are shot at around ISO 6400, with some at ISO 8000.