Ian and Tammy's Engagement shoot

So tonight I met Ian and Tammy at the McLaren Art centre in downtown Barrie. What a fantastic couple! I had intended to take a couple pictures around the gallery, but after driving around the area a bit, I absolutely couldn't stay away from the old jail down the road - it sounds crazy right? But the texture of the old brick, combined with the beautiful bright colour Tammy was wearing has made for some really gorgeous photos!

This couple was so amazing to work with, I really can't say enough good things about them. They'll be mergine their families to a total of 5 children, aged 13-20. I'm impressed, the idea of that many teenagers scares me, and I'm still in my 20's! I imagine the fear will only increase with age. But all kidding aside, these two were perfect for the camera. Ian had a wonderful smile that the camera just loved, as well as a sense of humour that I managed to catch in a couple shots! Tammy had a beautiful smile - even her eyes smiled - and I personally think that the two of them will be wonderful together!

So, now on to the teaser pics - I just started editing, but already I have favourites!

Now, hopefully in the fall, they'll choose me to photograph their merging family - I'd love to try and wrangle 5 teenagers into a photo!!

Thank you Tammy & Ian and best of luck on your destination wedding!

Shylah and Neveah

Never, ever have I seen children as adorable as those of Simone Bruce. Her 3 year old is a model in the making, she loved the camera, and it's so easy to see that the camera LOVED her. She makes the most adorable faces - my favourite was the 'cutie pie' and I can't wait to send the pictures off, I think the family will be happy!

Neveah:

And Shylah - words can describe how utterly gorgeous this little angel is!  She stole my heart the moment I saw her, with her full head of hair, little expressions and even smiles!

Their daddy is going to have his hands full when these 2 darlings get a little older!!

Thank you so much to Simone and Sam for letting me capture their 2 beauties. And special thanks to Simone's mum, who graciously invited me into her home!

Neveah & Shy'lah

Today I get to photograph a dear friend of mine's children - Simone's Neveah, her adorable toddler, and Shy'lah her 10 day old newborn!  I can't wait, I'm really looking forward to it - I hear Neveah is quite a little princess and I think she'd be a beautiful subject for my photo's. And who wouldn't want to photograph a newborn? Their 10 tiny, wrinkly fingers and toes make for beautiful photographs every.single.time!

So, after my trek to the city to capture these 2 darlings, I'll be sure to update with pictures!

Stay tuned!

Brittany & Terry's Engagement shoot

No one could have been more in love than Brittany and Terry, it was plain in their faces. Every time they looked at eachother, you could see them whispering that they loved each other - just warmed my heart!

And, on a day like today, you needed to be warmed! We arrived at the skate park in Barrie a little early, so Stephanie, from Raindance Photography, and I could scope out the area and get some ideas for some nice pictures. After a mere 10 minutes in the wind we were running back to the car to drive to the closest place we could find to buy a hat and gloves! It was biting cold outside today! There was a tiny bit of time where we thought we may be warming up again, but we were mistaken. My hands were so cold, I'm surprised I could work the camera!

Brittany and Terry were great sports, they posed, laughed and had fun with the shoot, which is all you can really ask for. The wind was difficult, because poor Brittany had to constantly be fixing her hair, or pulling it out of Terry's face! In the end, we got some great photos, and I really hope they're happy with the results!

I can tell you this much, as much as I loved photographing Terry and Brittany, I'm enjoying editing the photos, in the comfort of my heated home, a lot more :D

I'm really looking forward to the wedding in October - I think they're going to have the most beautiful day, and I'm so excited they chose us to photograph it!  Come to think of it, I'm really glad I have Stephanie to work with for this wedding as well - to have another photographer there, to suggest poses and locations... it really opened my eyes up to new ideas!

Here's my props to Raindance Photography - check out HER blog http://raindancephoto.blogspot.com/

Boudoir, baby

So the shoot was bumped up to today, which was fantastic for me, because I was so excited to see what the shots would turn out like. I wasn't disappointed, and I certainly hope my model won't be either!

I've got some teasers for you, if you're ready!

I just love the vivid colours, they add so much punch to the photos - I'm sure that when the groom see's these pictures, he's going to love them!

The first Boudoir shoot!

I'm very excited for this weekend! We have a boudoir shoot on Saturday, Engagement shoot on Sunday and a Newborn/family shoot on Monday - busy!

This is my first boudoir shoot, and I can't wait. I have so many ideas, the photos are just dancing through my mind. Hopefully I'll be able to remember them all for tomorrow, and get some really awesome shots.

A couple tips for your boudoir shoot: remember to RELAX!  It doesn't matter about your size, shape or colour, if you're relaxed and you try to feel comfortable the pictures will be gorgeous! There's something inherently seductive about women, that makes boudoir photos turn out gorgeous, every time!

Also, try and steal a blazer, dress shirt, tie, sports jersey...SOMETHING from your significant other. Some of the sexiest pictures are of you wearing his clothes - trust me, he'll agree!

Next, trust your photographer - I'll do everything I can to make sure you LOVE your photos, I guarantee that regardless of how nervous you are at first, after a couple minutes, you'll warm up and we can make the shoot a fun time!

Stay tuned for teasers!!

Breaking into weddings!

Weddings - a photographer's dream! I whole day of taking beautiful protraits and candids that a couple will cherish forever. I had no idea how to do it - how do you assure someone that you'll do a good job, that their day will be in competent hands, if you've never shot a wedding before?? Well, I posted an ad on Kijiji and offered a free Engagement session and thought if people were happy with their pictures, they'd book me for a wedding.

So the first booking came - someone who was completely willing to let  us (I'm working with Raindance Photography for weddings) build our portfolio with their wedding. The wedding is October 22nd, and we're shooting the engagement pictures this weekend!

Then, Stephanie from Raindance Photography called me and told me I wouldn't believe it, we got another booking for a wedding!  This one is in September and again, we're giving a free engagement session (time tbd).

Then this morning, ANOTHER booking!  This one is in 2012, so we've got some time still before we have to prepare for this one, but it seems like the ball is rolling! We're also pairing with Moments In Focus in August to capture my birth Doula, Kirsty's wedding.

Lots of good things to come, and I'm very excited! The visions of these weddings are flying through my mind, and I have new ideas everyday! 

Look out - we've broke into the wedding industry!

The importance of editing

I thought for my first blog post that I'd touch on the importance of editing your pictures - a beautiful photograph will be beautiful no matter what, but when you edit a photo, you can take it from ordinary to extraodinary!

There are also cases where you have no choice but to shoot, for instance, at a high ISO - this has you running the risk of your pictures having noise, or looking pixellated. When a picture like this is printed, the quality is sub par - however, there are ways to correct this!

Depending on how you shoot your photos (RAW or JPEG) you'll be able to edit your photo's differently. I shoot in RAW and use Adobe Lightroom as my editing console. I find that it has the ease of use I'm looking for, with the option to export to Photoshop and complete further editing, then return to Lightroom for developing of the photo. 

On the weekend, it was my daughter's baptism. unfortunatly the lighting in the church wasn't ideal, so the ISO on my camera needed to be set to 1600 - the highest I like to shoot is 800, because at 1600 I always notice noise. The beauty of editing your photos is that you can take the noise and 'smooth' it out. Alternatively, you can leave your ISO at 800 on the camera and produce an underexposed photo, and then correct the exposure when editing.
Here's an example of noise correction on a photo; the left half is the original and the right is the edited version:

You'll see (even on the thumbnail) that the skin is significantly smoother, the flyaways on the hair appear less noticeable and the picture even appears slightly lighter! So with just a touch of editing, the picture is t from "I'd post it online" to "I'd print and keep it".