Today I joined a small group of photographer friends WAY up in Mission for a vintage fashion shoot. Special thanks to Jason Brown aka “The Birthday Boy” (this coming Tuesday)

I have always wanted to shoot fashion, and in all honesty I don’t know why I haven’t until today. I absolutely loved it, and I’m looking forward to getting some concepts I have out of my head and into the real world!

P.S. This is Amber, she is such an AMAZING model and was so much fun to work with! Thanks Amber!

I was playing around with a few more images from our Europe trip today, and came across this little beauty. This image is a composite of 6 images stitched together to create one 180 degree panoramic display.

When I look at this image, I can still hear the chatter of people passing by, smell the cappuccino from a nearby cafe, and feel the sun warming my face.

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Last night Grit and I decorated the Christmas tree. I know….its still UBER early… and we were reminded that when I insisted on playing Christmas Music before starting on the tree. If ever there was a proper time for British choir boys to be singing “O Come All Ye Faitful”, November 18th isn’t it….this I promise you.

I thought it would be fun to make a time-lapse ‘production’ of the tree. The best part is, I didn’t realize until I set everything up that I actually need a different remote control in order to DO a time-lapse. Determined, I set the camera on 10second timer and actually ran over to the camera every single time to start each photo!

I’m actually pleased with how it turned out! My video editing skills are getting better (just another thing I enjoy tinkering with in my own time), and I am very pleased with how cheesy the entire thing is. We will have a laugh with this when we’re 85! :)

p.s. and yes I actually drew the mistletoe/holly thing at the end… talented I know. ha!

When Grit and I were in Germany in September I had the opportunity….nay…the PRIVILAGE of partaking in Oktoberfest. It was truly amazing, not to mention *slightly* overwhelming, but I held on with all my might! I actually didn’t know until I got there that there was more to Oktoberfest than just Beer and Dirndl’s. It was a full out carnival! Food, drinks, rides, music….CHAOS!! (note to self: ignorance makes for better surprises!)

And with that…a video. This was an absolute blast! The best part is Grit didn’t want to go on the ride so I went with her friends and they don’t speak English… so ya… made it even MORE interesting!

For the photographers viewing this, yes I did take my 5DmkII on a ride that plummets to the ground in a complete free-fall of DEATH. I also don’t edit video much, so this one is pretty silly….nevertheless it was fun and I wanted to share. Yes it was edited in iMovie and not Final Cut Pro.

Oktoberfest. Video Editing.

There’s a learning curve.

For both. ;)

After a VERY weird day of weather, this gorgeous sunset is how it ended. I saw this while driving around and scrambled to get my camera and head to the beach. I hope you like it!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Back in September, Grit and I went on a little getaway to Europe for a few weeks to visit her friends and family. It was my very first time in Germany (unless you count the two hours I spent in the Frankfurt airport on the way to Italy a few years ago when I worked as a photographer on Cruise Ships). I absolutely LOVED it! The people, the scenery, the….Oktoberfest. ;) I will be posting several more photos when I get the chance, but I thought I would post some of my favorite “Fine Art” images I have worked on so far. For the Photographers reading this (and all others that wish to know), I have processed all of the images in this series with a custom preset I created in Lightroom. They were only brought into Photoshop to sharpen for web.

Also, since most of these images were shot in Venice, Italy on the day I proposed to Grit, I added a little video at the bottom of this post. This was literally a minute or two after proposing to Grit on the Gondola. The ring was a prototype (the real one wasn’t going to be finished until after we got back home), so the size was a bit small. Nevertheless Grit wore it on her pinky almost the entire trip! :)

I have a confession. When it comes to blogging photo-sessions, I always have problems with the writing part. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of photographers that agree with me on that one. It’s not that I have nothing to say, I just struggle with WHAT to say. I’m a photographer, not a writer. Plain and simple.

Today though, I had an epiphany…I think. ;) There are so many moments from each and every wedding that believe it or not I will cherish forever….so with that, for today’s post I thought I would share with you a few of those moments from my perspective of Walt and Deadee’s wedding. After all, I can only write what I know, right? Here we go, in point form of course:

- First off, having the amazing Kyle Perison second shoot for me the whole day was enough to make my head explode (in a good way… if your head could explode in a good way, that is).
- Moments like the door games, when Walt and his crew had to dance like MC Hammer (and I of course was ‘volunteered’ to show them how).
- With the MC Hammer ‘tutorial’ came the video of me showing how (ya, thanks for that Kyle).
- The few quiet seconds in the room with Deadee just before Walt walked in to see her for the first time, and then stepping back while they embraced.
- Tea Ceremonies always get me because of the deep, sincere best wishes each family member and friend give to the bride and groom.
- Watching Deadee come down the aisle, and the look on her father’s face as he hugged Walt.
- The victorious ‘fist to the air’ Walt did as he and Deadee were announced as Husband and Wife :)
- Watching the waves crash on the beach as I snapped away.
- Climbing some really tall, weird playground-thingy to get a different perspective. (I like to climb.)
- Getting a High-Five from Walt after my dismount of the really tall, weird playground-thingy.
- Realizing Kyle shot video of me while up in the really tall, weird playground-thingy (I’m sure I’ll post it at some point).
- Entering Kirin Restaurant (starlight location) for the first time, I was in photo-location heaven ;)
- The look on Kyle’s face when one of the ladies at our table told him that the food he is putting into his mouth was beef tongue… when it was really just pork. He went white, it was awesome I’m pretty sure I high-fived her.
- The ‘Grab the Butt and guess which is my husband’s’ game :) Classic.

Walt + Deadee, thank you so much for everything. The day was absolutely amazing, and filled with love and memories that will be cherished forever.

To view Walt + Deadee’s slideshow, please click here.

Back in July when I met up with Rebecca and Lac for their engagement session, I mentioned that these two beautiful people are so awesome, people might explode when they saw their wedding photos! I hope y’all are still in tact!

I started in the morning at the Holiday Inn in Metrotown where Rebecca and her ladies were getting ready. I absolutely LOVE photographing the ‘getting ready’ portion of the wedding day! It’s so full of what I like to call ‘fluttering stillness’. Its very hard to explain but can be best described as the feeling one might get as a child the night before Christmas. You just KNOW its going to be amazing and you want it to come right now or else your head might shatter into a million pieces!!! Everyone tries to show ‘calm and collected, zen’ on the outside, but on the inside you can just tell that everyone is bouncing off the walls! Rebecca was no exception. In fact, she was the most ‘calm and collected’ out of everyone in the room, which led me to believe not only was she bouncing off the walls on the inside, she was knocking them down!!

As for Lac, again, no exception. When I saw him at the front of the church, standing there waiting for Rebecca, he too was calm and collected (aka inner-bouncy-lovey-happy-best-day-of-his-life). Now, I want you to go down to the bottom of this post and take a look at the 2nd to last of the images, the ones with the children dancing at the reception. When those church doors opened during the ceremony and the distance down the aisle between Rebecca and Lac grew smaller and smaller, the images of the two children dancing is almost exactly what I saw in their eyes. Their love for each other gives off a sense of such pure emotion, it’s almost like they have known each other since before they were born.

I just wanted to add here that I am a wedding photographer for a variety of reasons, but most importantly I believe is because of my undying passion to show the world as much Real Love as humanly possible. There is so much real, raw, pure 100% organic love in this universe and yet there is so much more to show. It is almost an untapped resource. It is the love that couples like Rebecca and Lac have for each other that will change this world, and nothing else.

Finally, I want to thank my 2nd shooter for the day Nick Beaulieu. He’s been my go to guy this year for helping me at weddings, and never once did he disappoint! He has more skills than a blindfolded circus bear on a tightrope! :)

Namaste,

Michael

To view Rebecca and Lac’s Wedding Slideshow, please click here.