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Dedy and Linda flew out from sunny Jakarta, Indonesia, to brave a cold Vancouver, B.C. to meet me for their engagement session. Although the temperature in Vancouver was quite a bit higher than it was when I left Alberta for Vancouver, for them it was a huge temperature drop; but they were such troopers about staying outside. Since they were visitors to Vancouver we kinda did the tourist thing and went on a mini-tour of some of the city’s popular attractions.

We started out with a drive around Stanley Park and stopped at a couple of locations there. I wanted to get the Vancouver skyline in a photo with the mountains in the background, but Vancouver did the typical Vancouver thing and was totally overcast the whole time. Ah, well. At least they experienced authentic Vancouver weather! And we did still get the city and harbour in the background. Continuing along Stanley Park Drive, we stopped at the big hollow tree for a few quick, fun photos, before heading off to one of Vancouver’s several beaches. Since it was getting cold and dark I took them inside, into the Marine Building, a really quirky old place with amazingly interesting architecture and decor. It is one of the most unique high-rise buildings I’ve ever been in and we stayed there for a while getting photos before eating dinner together at a pub off the lobby. Linda and Dedy have this cute tradition where they swap meals halfway through so that they can try what they each ordered.

Dedy and Linda wanted to get some photos at Historic Gastown, so we drove there and did some romantic photos near the steam clock (yes, a steam-powered clock!) as well as some quick, fun photos in one of the many souvenir shops in that area. We finished our outside photography at Canada Place, while the cold wind whipped around us and then wrapped up our day by getting a handful of photos back in their hotel room in the Fairmont Waterfront (not to be confused with the Fairmont Pacific Rim, a few blocks away).

Their wedding is back in their home of Jakata and I wish them the very best with their marriage and new life together as husband and wife.

Robert and Raquel were a really fun and easy-going couple to photograph and I enjoyed the time we spent for their engagement session at Okotoks, around the big rock and a stream in town. I am looking forward to seeing them soon for their wedding!

Thanks to Megan and Evan for braving the wet weather for their engagement session at Elbow Falls in the Kananaskis. The rain wasn’t too bad, really, and it gave the greenery a great colour boost for their photos. Evan and Megan were a very easy couple to photograph—they were obviously in love and had a great sense of humour, too. I look forward to seeing you guys at your wedding next year!

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!

Mike and Elva are such a fun couple! I have so many photos of them laughing. I love it when our couples are fun or obviously in love and these guys fit both categories, so it was a blast hanging out with them to take their photos. Although they live in Calgary, their wedding is taking place in Waterton and they asked if they could have contrasting engagement images—something with a more urban feel compared to how their wedding photos will be. So we visited a few locations in the city, often just walking around and taking advantage of whatever presented itself as a good idea. They even danced to a busker’s music in the middle of Stephen Ave! It was a pretty easy-going time.

Thanks for being so fun and up for anything!

I had a fun engagement session the other day with Ryan and Kendra, just outside of Lethbridge. We started out at their home in Coalhurst and just kinda hung out, with me taking photos of the kinda things they do as hobbies. They had this mostly-finished jigsaw puzzle where all the remaining pieces were almost identical and while I was photographing them they had a burst of inspiration and managed to complete some more. But for the sake of client confidentiality I won’t say who won their foosball match. Your secret is safe with me, Kendra. After a few quick photos of their energetic Jack Russell terrier, we took off down to highway to a place just outside of town for their portraits.

Ryan has a super-cool Harley Davidson bike that we worked into a few of their shots. I had to get him to turn it around a lot for the photos, though. Apparently they’re not light or easy to turn around on small dirt trails. We finished with a sweet, romantic time. Well, they did; I just watched. Wait, that doesn’t sound much better . . .

Here are a handful of their engagement photos.

Stephanie and Kyle are an active couple who love the outdoors and asked to have their engagement session in the Kananaskis mountains, which I was happy to do. Of course, I didn’t know when I agreed to it that I’d end up halfway up a mountain in a blizzard.

The Kananskis is a beautiful, peaceful area in the Rocky Mountains about forty minutes from Banff. During ski season there are people on the slopes, but this day we had the mountains almost totally to ourselves. Kyle and Stephanie had brought their skis and we started off with photos of them around the lift and on the hill, skiing. Then we went to a second location that Kyle had picked out. We parked our cars and talked about where he wanted to go. “There’s a ledge just up there that I think would be cool”, he said, waving his hand towards a flat, rocky area about ten metres up. “Oh, that would be no problem”, I replied. “I can even bring a load of photo gear”. So we started climbing up. It began to snow. After a minute we passed the ledge and kept going. I look at the ledge. I look at Kyle. “Yeah, there’s the ledge, up there”, he says, pointing out a speck of rocks through the pine trees, halfway up the mountain.

Kyle and Stephanie were kind enough to help me carry some of my gear, which they did with ease. As soon as we got to the ledge—which was really more of a scattering of rocks—we saw some darker clouds blowing in. I had time for about three photos before it hit us, knocking my light stand over and pelting us with snow. We retreated back down the mountain and spent the rest of the session around the river and the forest at the bottom. Stephanie and Kyle were awesome to take photos of—really easy-going and obviously in love. Here are some of my favourite photos from the day: