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

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

Here are a few images from one of the Toronto engagement sessions of mine.  There are many ways to capture an image and to make it look better. Different styles and techniques will definitely play a big role in what comes out as a final result. Some photographers like a white background,chair and a cheesy smile. Some will avoid this at all costs. Some follow their subjects from a far,like a paparazzi.  Each client chooses their wedding photographer by personal preferences and a similar vision. So where do I fit? I try to concentrate on the bride and groom,but at the same time find the best possible background to compliment the subjects. Image #1 has a swan in the lower right corner. #2 has a brick wall. #3 has a blue sky.  These are just some of the things I use for my wedding and engagement coverage. A lot of photographers sometimes get too focused on one thing and forget to prevision the whole picture and use the beautiful environment around them.   From my seminars and emails that I receive from other photographers, I am often asked to show how to properly expose the background and the subject.  Shoot in manual. It’s amazing that many are still using auto or semi-auto modes.  Don’t let your camera control your vision!! Manual mode will let you control all aspects of your image.  The key is to correctly expose the background,while in full manual mode. Then light the subject until it is properly exposed. The light can come from different sources: flash,sun,strobe,video light,etc.

Engagement session

Engagement session

This gorgeous wedding was photogrphed in Varadero,Cuba at Paradisus Princesa Del Mar Resort. There was so much emotion at this wedding, it almost made me drop a few  tears too.  Kaite and Steve were very open to all of my crazy ideas and all the photos turned out really well

Here’s a link to a music slideshow I created for them that includes 2 days of photos: Trash The Dress session+ wedding day

Varadero Cuba Wedding Slideshow

Varadero Cuba

Paradisus Princesa Del Mar resort, Cuba

Princesa Del Mar Resort

This winter Gary and Sandy flew from China for their photoshoot. It was an amazing 2-day experience, with some great images. The challenge was to produce natural shots at -11C(plus snow & wind). They definitely pulled it off.