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
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.
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.
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
Here are a few shots from a recent Indian wedding at The Embassy Grand Convention Centre in Toronto. I just love photographing ethnic weddings. They are always so colorful. This Indian wedding was no exception and as all my couples, they were an absolute joy to photograph.
Indian Wedding,Toronto
Unionville Park, Markham
Unionville,Ontario
Ceremony
performers
dancing
Desserts
Early morning engagement session in Toronto, with great lighting and amazing clouds. Just a few years ago all the engagement and even wedding photographs were done in a studio. It’s still popular in some countries and perhaps it’s the reason they fly over here for me to take their photographs in a non studio environment
Engagement
Aye Aye Captain
Recently photographed a great couple at the Old Mill Wedding Hall in Toronto. I’ve done so many weddings at this popular venue, sometimes it almost feels like home And the priest is always very funny!
I am promising myself to blog a bit more about my weddings and business,but it is very hard to do right now due to all the weddings,new bookings and engagement sessions for 2010.
Here are 2 images from that wedding. I promise to post more soon(from other weddings too).
Old Mill Wedding~bride&groom alone
Old Mill Chapel Ceremony
I just got an email from WPPI,the biggest and most respected wedding and portrait print competition in the world. Seems like I won a 2nd place and 3 accolades of excellence for 2009 First Half 8 x 10 Print Competition. I still don’t have all the details and I will post it here whenever the WPPI will put the scores on their website. I am very excited to be one of just a few wedding photographers in the world to have such an honor. I came from a destination wedding last month just to find out I only had a few days to submit my images. Took me 3 hours just to choose a few I had to send. Then I rushed those images to a pro photo lab. A day later they were on the way to the competition.
One of the images that received an award of Excellence
