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.

Creativity is like sleep: you can’t force yourself to sleep, but you can create an environment where sleep is easy and natural. Here are some tips and tricks I’ve discovered over the years on how to tap into your natural creativity.

Newness is the essence of creativity, because something that is original is, by definition, new. A new environment, or new gear, or another photographer to work with all are great ways to stimulate your creative juices, because they introduce something new into your standard way of working. Change is good! Embrace it and see where it takes you.

The next creativity booster is what I call forced boredom. This works completely the opposite way to the previous point—but it does work! Some photographers complain that they have the same venues to work in every week. That’s not a drawback! There are an infinite number of ways you can see the same scene and photograph it. If you think about music, there are a lot of songs that use the same chord sequences, but they can all have their own sound. And, after all, there are only eight notes in the musical scale, but that hasn’t stopped people from creating their own unique compositions for ages.

The way this works is to spend way longer than your comfort zone in one area. First of all, you will see it as a challenge and you’ll come up with some halfway decent images. Next, your optimism will start to fade and you will push yourself, but nothing will turn out quite right. Then you’ll feel like there is nothing more to gain from this. After that you’ll be bored and annoyed. Push through this, because the next section is where the rewards are. Once you let go of all of your previous ideas you will start to see. You will respond reactively and instinctively to your environment. The scientific term for this, believe it or not, is called ‘being in the flow’. It is the state that people find themselves in where they can act quickly and at the height of their skill without thinking about it.

Another way to get yourself in a creative frame of mind is to check out the scene and think, “What can’t I do here”? Consider the impossible. Then think of how you can make it a reality. For example, say you are on a high bridge. You might think of someone leaping off it. Obviously, that’s not a good idea, but it might lead you to think about how you could make it work by using tricky camera angles or Photoshop skills. Or perhaps you could take that scene in your mind and think of how you could make something like it work in a different place. Or maybe it will lead you to a completely new idea that you can use right then.

My last tip for this post is to be inspired. Sounds basic, right? But we need to find the line between inspiration and emulation. I recommend that you don’t look for inspiration in other wedding and portrait photography. Search for it in other places, even abstract ones. Be inspired by colours, by sounds, by the wind, by a person’s laugh, through prayer, by whatever touches you.

So there you go. Be inspired.

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.

We met up at Calgary’s Confederation Park and, unusually for me, stayed at that one location. But it’s such a nice area, with quite a few different cool little spots in it, that we didn’t need to go anywhere else. We started out in an underground walkway and I got grungy-style images in the tunnel there, while we dodged joggers and people walking their dogs, including one guy who was wearing two totally different shoes. That was pretty funny, though I won’t laugh too hard, because at least he had a jacket.

The leaves were just turning to their fall colours in the park, though it wasn’t until the end that I really worked them into the photographs. It’s funny how sometimes what’s right in front of me won’t inspire me, but something out of the way in a corner will really appeal to me. (There are a bunch more images with the fall colours in their private gallery, but I like the ones below best). Confederation Park has really tame ducks! We were able to get so close to them and we didn’t even have food. Ashton and Breanne tempted them over with leaves.

Anyways, it was great to meet you both and I look forward to seeing you again at your wedding next year!

How To Not Suck: Avoiding Common Problems

1. Say ‘no’. People will approach you for all kinds of photography. If you really don’t want to do something let them go to another photographer who will happily do this work for them. The clients are happy, the other photographer is happy, and you don’t get the stress of accepting work you don’t like.

2. Do your research before accepting a job. When someone asks you to do something that you think might be outside of your experience, look into it and get back to them later. If you think you won’t enjoy it or might stuff it up, either turn it down or set aside enough time to learn how to do it well before you take it on. Scout locations to see what you’ll need to have or to know.

3. Learn to do things that you might need someday. For instance, even if you love to shoot in natural light, it still won’t hurt to learn how to use flash well. You are not obliged to use it just because you know how, but one day it might mean the difference between sucking and succeeding.

4. Know your gear. Learn to shoot with everything in manual mode. Although there plenty of photographers who get wonderful images shooting in a semi-auto modes, the more you are aware of how the settings effect the results, the better you’ll be at quickly adapting to challenging environments or gear malfunctions.

5. Get paid as a professional. We all have to start somewhere, but not charging professional rates hurts everyone. Very cheap sessions might seem like a good way to get work now, but it will bite you in the future.

6. There is no such thing as a casual agreement. Get everything in writing and cover as many points as you can as clearly as possible. Even if you are the best of friends with your client, get them to sign a contract. No one remembers every last detail you thought you explained to them.

7. Have back-up gear. Have back-up locations. Have a back-up plan. Have an emergency number in case you get stuck.

8. Buy a GPS. Buy a UPS. Buy a screen calibrator. Buy a backup solution for your computer.

9. Half of the websites out there have a bio that starts something like this: “I’ve always had a passion for photography and I love that I can do my passion as a career”. You need to really ask yourself why you like photography. Be specific. This will it make you a better photographer, because you will identify areas that you want to work towards or stay away from. For instance, you might realise that you really like photographing kids, but not adults. That helps you to direct your career and make it more rewarding.

10. Finally, some compositional tips: get close, find the action, find the light, explore the space, and plain backgrounds are everywhere.

We stayed at the Norland for the photos, since it’s such an attractive and diverse location. Keely specifically asked for a huge group shot of everyone, so we did that first, with the help of her dad getting everyone organised. The whole wedding party was so easy to get photos of! And Keely was such a stunning bride I couldn’t go wrong. For one of the images below—the one of Keely and Rick with the reflection—there was a brief moment of confusion where I was saying to Rick, “Ok, serious shot now; no smiles” and he kept smiling bigger and bigger. He just heard the word ‘smile’ and thought I had been telling him to smile more! I ended up getting some serious shots, but I actually prefer the photo of him smiling.

Their reception was held at the Lethbridge Sandman Inn. The speeches for the evening turned out to be a bit of a roast Rick night, but he was laughing along. These are the best weddings, the ones with lots of fun, tears and laughing. I would be happy to shoot weddings like this every week.

Although I have met Amanda and Jeff I was not at their wedding, so I gave James a call and chatted to him about the wedding day. Here is Jeff and Amanda’s story, as told to me by James and then paraphrased by me for the blog:

“Amanda and Jeff were all about having fun and they were laughing and having a blast all day. I started the day with Jeff and the guys as they got ready at a friend’s place in Calgary. Jeff has actually been to NHL training and his groomsmen were all hockey buddies. (Amanda is also a pro beach volleyball player and recently she and her team won a big tournament in Vancouver). After watching the guys joke around and throw up (well, one of them, but we’ll keep those photos private for now ) I was off to join Amanda and the girls as they got ready at Amanda and Jeff’s place. Amanda was excited and dancing around to her R ‘n’ B music all morning. She’s also a fan of the America’s Next Top Model and every so often would strike a pose for the camera and really ham it up.

Their reception was wild! Once the dancing started up people were all over the dance floor and really getting into it. Jeff and Amanda had brought their dog to the reception and put him in another room, but from time to time he’d escape and run onto the dance floor. Throughout the night, Jeff was also defending his title as reigning beer-pong champ and I’m sure he kept his title. Thanks for having me at your wedding, guys. It was heaps of fun. ”

If anyone who was there has something to add, please put it in the comments area below! We can do the first ever community blog post.

It’s funny how it worked out with the hay bale. When I was driving in I saw a few and thought, “Hmm. I wonder if we could use any of those?” Then I saw that they’d put one aside specially for the shoot. The car is the same car that Mary’s grandfather and mother had both used to attend their grads. Mary rode to her graduation in a limousine with her friends, but we had to include the car in the photos!

Mary was really fun to shoot with and here are some of her images.

Pam was hoping to get some photos in the river bottom, but it was really blowing a gale that day.  We did get a few romantic images, sheltered behind the concrete pylons under the west side bridge, but then we headed into town for more sheltered areas.  I tested out a new location and some new lighting techniques and equipment.  Gotta keep everything fresh!    I love to experiment.  New locations, new people, new gear—it all gets my mind whirling with creative opportunities.

Shaun and Pam are a relaxed couple who were easy to photograph and here are some of my favourite images from their session. 

They were married at the Lethbridge University ballrooms and the reception was also there later that evening. We started out doing their portraits before the ceremony down around Fort Whoop-Up at Indian Battle Park near the river bottom and then we borrowed them again for a few more quick portraits during the reception as well. It was a beautiful day, with lots of sun—and none of these weird tropical storms we’ve been having lately!

The ballrooms were a fun place for the ceremony and reception, though with black upper walls and ceilings it’s tricky for lighting. Just as well I like challenges. I’d hate to see photos by an amateur in that location!  An uncle of the bride did the ceremony and it was a humourous and personal service with a lot of funny anecdotes from the childhoods of both the bride and groom.

I’m only posting a few photos this week, because I thought it would be cool to just give a taste and create a bit of anticipation.