Another winter wedding from earlier of this year. It was a cold day, but we were still able to spend some time outside and get a number of great shots. The day finished at the Paradise Banquet Hall in Toronto, which has a very European look.  That really worked great with this couple and their Polish heritage.

It was hard to choose my favorites,but here are a few from that day

I was about to post a wedding, but I am in the mood for something different.

I get emails from students/sport photographers asking for settings and the cameras I am using.  Settings don’t mean much. They always depend on your camera,lenses,lighting,distance to the subjects and effect you want to achieve. There’s no magic setting that works for every condition!

The best way to do it is to take that camera out of your  bag and go out and shoot. Come home,evaluate your images and then go out again and re shoot, until you get what you want.  These days cameras are pretty advanced and can give you a good number or keepers.  Back when I was with 10D/20D, 30% was the maximum numbers I could keep(I love sharp photos!).  I wasn’t playing it safe though and always pushing myself to try something new every day.  Your basic setting would be to shoot in Servo mode as you would be dealing with moving subjects. If your camera can do 5-10 frames per second then set it in that range. Learn smooth panning.  Get a monopod or a tripod if you have/need to.  If you are new to the sport you will be shooting, it’s always a good idea to learn as much as you can. Learn to anticipate before anything happens as at 100-260km/h things do happen pretty fast.

Here’s 100% crop of a Canon 20D 8mp file ::  f4,  1/500, ISO200, taken while being about 12 feet away.   1/500 helped to put some motion into the wheels.

Anything over 1/1000(as in the example bellow) would probably freeze any motion. While it “may” result in fewer number of blurry images, motorcycle(motard) in this case appears to be standing still.  f2.8, 1/1000, 180mm,ISO100

Some more images:

And it can only help you if you have some interest in the sport you are shooting.  Although I wasn’t that good at it, I loved!!!

Dmitri

Dmitri

dmitri

On January 24th I held my first wedding photography seminar of 2010 at King Edward hotel in Toronto.  Although it was a bit last minute, I was happy to see all the spots gone within hours.  Thank you all who’ve attended!!

We had 2 gorgeous models on the day and 6 amazing wedding gowns from Adele Wechsler’s new Eco Couture IV collection.  I think it is  really cool how some of the dresses are made of 2 pieces and within seconds it is possible to transform a formal gown into a mini skirt, suitable for the evening cocktail reception.

It is always a challenge to photograph a wedding in the winter. It’s cold and it’s hard to stay outside for long.  Last December I beat my own record though,and shot an engagement session at -26C.  It was kind of funny because they expected me to cancel and I expected them to call.  Neither of us did and it was really great session in the end.  Maybe I’ll tell you all about it some other time.

This wedding took place in Milton, Ontario in some  cool locations.  I was really impressed with Diana and Mark and how they handled the weather(-11C).  It was also great getting some ideas from them too.  In return, I think we got truly great photographs and lots of memories to keep.

Later that day we drove to the Grand Chalet Banquet Hall in Milton, where all fun continued through the night.

This gorgeous winter wedding was planned completely over the phone and email as Kenny is a professional soccer player and currently lives in Norway.

We were blessed with a warm winter weather(-2c ) and the whole day was full of excitement and smiles. Reception  was held at the Crystal Fountain Banquet hall in Toronto.

Here are a few images from the day:

A few photographers recently mentioned this to me and I think it would be a good idea to post it here on my blog.  I was  named as one of top 10 wedding photographers in Canada. It is a great honor and there are some amazing photographers on that list. The cool part is how different we all are in our styles and visions.

You can read more about this here:  Top 10 Canadian Wedding Photographers

In addition to that 3 more of my prints received Accolades of Excellence from WPPI 2009.

None of these awards would be possible without my amazing couples and their help in creating all of the images.

India - a land of contrast, thousands of temples and colors. A country that can shock even experienced travelers. The farther away you go from the touristy spots, the better and more unique your experience gets. Weddings in India are very big, loud and colorful. It was such a pleasure being part of one of them.

It would’ve been great if they had iced tea!! It’s impossible to find Nestea Iced tea anywhere. I was really surprised as cold flavored teas are popular in most of Asia.

I wish I had time to post all 500 images that I have,but how about just a few:

There’s more to this beautiful country than what we all know and hopefully these images will help us realize that.  No matter where I went, I was often greeted with a smile. Kids and adults were eager to pose.  There are no tourists in the country right now,but I hope things will change as Afghanistan has a lot to offer. Not only it’s a photographer’s paradise, the food is very delicious.:)

It was a trip of a lifetime,but I can’t wait to go back to this amazing country in the near future.  Some images from the trip are bellow and I created a 3 minute video with 50 images from the trip as well.

Fortune Tellers

Absolutely gorgeous location. Ceremony was held outside at about 4:30pm. That provided really beautiful sunset lighting. We took some pictures before the ceremony too. That’s when Russ first saw Sam for the first time in a wedding dress.

Here are a few pictures from this amazing wedding that took place in Pensacola,Florida.

Navarre Beach

Next blog update will happen sometime within the next 2 weeks. Here’s a preview of what will be posted

sunset beach wedding

This wedding took place at gorgeous Deer Creek Golf and Country Club in Ajax. The whole day was fun,exciting and with lots of great photo opportunities.

Deer Creek Golf Club

Last month I flew to New York to cover a wedding in Manhattan. It was held at The Riverside Church in upper Manhattan and the whole place was just stunning.  It was raining a day before and there was a chance of a storm/hurricane on the day of the wedding. Luckily, it all cleared up by the time I arrived at the hair salon and we had no rain until the wedding was over.

As with all cathedrals, use of flash was not allowed for most of the ceremony. That really made me thank myself for upgrading my cameras recently.:)  I shot most of the ceremony at ISO4000-6400 at 1/30-1/60/sec at 1.8f.  That really made me think how far digital cameras evolved since I first bought Canon 10D in 2003. Back then ISO800 was the maximum I was willing to do as anything past then looked terrible.

Back to the wedding.  The wedding was absolutely amazing.  We took a few photos inside and outside right after the ceremony. Our reception was on the 9th floor of the church! One thing that caught my attention was their wedding cake. On top the cake there was a figurine of a bride and groom dancing.  Immediately an idea came to my head to use this somehow during the actual dance. A photo of what came out of it can be seen in one of the examples bellow.

Funny:  A day before the wedding I attended A&J’s  rehearsal at the church and then spent a few hours walking around lower Manhattan and randomly taking pictures( I proudly call myself a photo addict ).  At some point I felt like someone was watching me. I turned around and noticed 2 12-14 y.o.  boys standing about 40 feet away and looking at me. About 20 minutes later I glanced back and noticed them again and this time a bit closer.  Right away I knew something was wrong and it was NOT my expensive camera.    I looked at my pockets to see if perhaps I had some $bills out on the open. Then took off my photo backpack. Oh God…My laptop was sticking out from the side pocket to the point where any more and it would’ve just fallen onto the ground.  I smiled and looked back at them.  They started laughing,turned around and ran away.  I often forget to zip up this side pocket and I guess it was a good wake up call.

Getting Ready

split moment candid

The Riverside Church

Wedding Cake

I have a few minutes right now and would like to share a great wedding from a town of Cobourg in Ontario.  We got lucky and it didn’t rain until wedding ceremony at the Peace Park was finished. Despite the rain,we grabbed umbrellas and went outside for a few shots at the city center and a light house at the peer.

Next year is looking to be an extremely great year. Not only because I am already at 50% and many popular dates are already booked ,but I have a few exciting changes coming up.  I also have a few great trips planned for my self in order to advance and grow as a photographer.  Those who know me are familiar with my addiction to photography and travel.  I suppose this is why I started doing destination weddings.  As a photographer I love shooting at new venues/cities/countries.   It just gives me a good opportunity to be creative and go wild with the ideas.    My new goal is to persuade one of my clients to get married in the North Pole or Antarctica.  Come on, I know you want it and it’s not that expensive!!  .  Destination weddings are getting more and more popular every year.  It could be because the cost is a bit cheaper and because destination wedding images are very very different.  Vegas weddings on the other had are on decline(unknown source).  All the Elvis’s will soon have to find another job.

I received my images back from WPPI with some feedback from the editor of Rangefinder magazine, Bill Hunter(thank you!). It was my the first time entering a print competition and I made a few mistakes.  However, it was great to get a 2nd and a few accolades of excellence at the following categories: Wedding Journalism, Bridal Party, Humor, Bride and Groom Together.   Here are the images:

2nd place

accolade of excellence

accolade of excellence

accolade of excellence

accolade of excellence