Katie + John wanted to do a Fearless Bridal shoot in the woods. They live outside of Halifax and spend a lot of time outside. Katie is the cutest thing you’ll ever meet. All smiles and giggles. John is ready and willing to do absolutely anything for some good photography. So we wanted to do something completely out of character for them. Something dark with less smiles and giggles (on camera at least). They brought their A game. They brought red paint and they brought the bows and arrows. They made this shoot easy.

I wanted to stick with the ‘woman as the leader of the family’ approach with this shoot again and since I’ve always loved the ‘Til Death Do Us Part’ direction of the wedding vows…this is what we came up with.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t take the time to tell you how incredible my assistant is. It’s early November, 6pm and Steph (and John) slips into chest high water to grab a few shots. She’s 5 foot nothing and a hundred and nothing pounds yet she hauls lights, tripods and bags upon bags of gear 5km into the woods and never complains. She works long hours with me every time we do something for free for someone and never looks to be paid. Marse and I are very lucky to have Steph work with us and the girls love playing with her too. She is messy as hell, her desktop is cluttered and she drinks copious amount of pop and leaves empty cans on the desk…but we get over it. She’s worth it.

So I figured if a wee little company like Google could make a name change then so could I. So I’m officially done with the term ‘Trash the Dress’.

I’ll admit I ran head first into the idea of it. We’ve trashed a few, burned a few…and then once you get that out of your system it just evolves into a shoot that doesn’t necessarily ruin a wedding dress, it just shows it off in ways you can’t do on your wedding day. The name Trash the Dress just caused so much controversy and overshadows what is possible in one of these fearless wedding related shoots.

Some of the places we go and the things clients will do for fun shots are incredible. Fraser and Jen went all out for this. Jen stood on a post in the middle of the harbor, trekked through the woods and water in the dark and shared a posing rock w a (very) dead cormorant.

shoots like these can be describes in 2 words:

Fearless Bridal.

photos by the excellent Stephanie Camp…

Trash the Dress – Behind the Scenes w Applehead Studio from Applehead Studio on Vimeo.

So I roll up to so and so recycling in khaki pants and a long sleeve baby blue shirt. The fact that I actually wore khaki pants and baby blue together is probably enough to stop this story right there…but no. I show up and in 5 minutes I’ve got my head in a garbage can sifting paper and cardboard and tossing cans and bottles around like I’d been there for 10 years. I worked my ass off for 5 hours, left smelling like an old sock and never went back.

Why am I telling you this?

I’m very happy to tell you that I have the most excellent new assistant. Miss Stephanie Camp has been with me for 2 days now and she’s already been subjected to a wedding show and a trash the dress session that ended in a hair raising exit from the deep dark woods as the sound of owls (coyotes?) echoed all around us. Part of her first lighting gig was to pull a little green wagon of loaded gear 2 km into the woods, perch herself on a 6 inch cement ledge that dropped off 20 feet on one side and on the other,  a certain watery death fall. Not only did she not die…she dropped a perfect spot of light on Sarah while simultaneously trying to save her own life…and was smart enough to bring extra batteries. Steph came highly recommended from pretty much everyone I spoke to and I fully expect her to learn, surpass and run me out of business in no time.

Sarah and Ryan opted for a Trash the Dress session instead of an engagement shoot. These are the guys who went shopping cart downhilling on their  wedding day so I knew the TTD session had to be somewhere ‘very different’.  While they expected a quick one hour shoot w a little mud and some lights…they ended up w a 6 hour TTD experience. Danger, wild beasts, Schooner, ‘homemade’ cookies and more danger.

Alicia Melanson did Sarah’s hair and makeup and when Sarah showed up at Alicia’s studio I told Alicia to do ‘anything she wanted’. I loved the glammed up retro look she went with and I hope the photos did it justice. (thanks Alicia).

This story is getting too long…here’s some photos.

To be honest with you, I think Trash the Dress is kind of a bad name but its certainly started a lot of discussion. For me it’s just a chance to shoot without any concern for the dress getting wet or dirty or makeup running or seaweed getting in your hair or...little toes almost falling off. It’s a great change of pace from wedding photography where everything happens on timelines and with such spontaneity. This is a bit slower and more methodical and starts only with an idea. It doesn’t get much more fun than this but when you shoot for clients who don’t take themselves seriously and just want to have a good time…its all just perfect.

This was yet another collaborative shoot w Jeff Cooke and I will tell you that he helped settle the question, “Should I buy some Prophoto lights?” as I watched his flash and pocket wizard slowly catch a little wind, a little current and nosedive into the warm, salt water. It brought back some memories and, since we’re being honest, made me chuckle as I realized I’m not the only one who likes to ruin perfectly good gear. (check out Jeff’s images here)

Never would I call myself a fashion photographer but its’ been where my inspiration has been creeping lately so I sent Sarah one sample image and said, “Let’s do something like this.”  Thanks for going along with it all Sarah + Adam.

Have you ever wanted to voice your opinion about Trashing the Dress? Check out the Trash It or Treasure It discussion live online at Smart Boutique tonight at 9pm Atlantic time.

Here’s a few images and the PEI Trash the Dress video to help sway your decision and encourage you to participate. There should be more trashing of the dresses in Halifax, thats for sure!

Trash the Dress Prince Edward Island from Applehead Studio on Vimeo.

Well, I’m a liar. I love it and I just found out the other day that Jessica (my lovely assistant) does too. So you can expect to see a lot more of this in the months to come. I’ve cashed in Lola’s education fund and bought some glide tracks, tripods, wireless mics and handed it all over to Jessica and said, “Here, figure this stuff out”.

The video below is a little project that I did with Jeff Cooke and Heather Crosby-Gionet and a plethora of amazing brides, bridal shop owners and artists in Prince Edward Island.

Thanks to everyone involved. It really was one of the most memorable shoots I’ve ever been a part of.

Trash the Dress Prince Edward Island from Applehead Studio on Vimeo.

For months I’ve been plotting, sketching, thinking and collaborating and on Saturday it was finally time to ‘nut up or shut up’. It’s wedding season 2010 in Halifax and I’m like a kid on Christmas morning (when I was about 5, my parents got me an Atari and I was so excited I threw up). I’ve got some fun stuff to show you from Kate + BJs Shore Club wedding in Hubbards on Saturday but first I need to finally post a few more images from the Prince Edward Island Trash the Dress extravaganza.

I feel like I talk about this all the time but I’ve stopped ‘planning’ shoots on wedding days. Plan A always needs a plan B and plan C etc. I’d much rather show up and roll with whatever the weather, location, bride+groom and light gives me. Case in point…Jeff Cooke and I had huge plans for this farm shoot with three amazing women. We did not count on freezing rain, snow, rain, darkness and cold…so we improvised. I played lighting guy while Jeff shot, Jeff played lighting guy while I shot and we all stayed warm in a very unsafe loft of a broken down barn.

I’m still trying to get settled in after moving from the deep back woods of Boutilier’s Point and as soon as I do I’m going to post a video from the entire day’s shoot. For now, here’s a few more images.

‘thank you’ does not do justice for the hospitality we were shown at PEI. Thank you SO very much to Allison for letting us sleep on her couch, play with her record collection and leave gear all over her apartment. Thanks to Ghislaine for the most amazing chowder I’ve ever had in my life…and for letting us document every single second of our trip, including the incredible jam session that went down in her living room. You made us feel at home…and we can’t thank you enough!

big thanks also to the amazing creative team that assembled to help us with this shoot. If you’re ever in PEI you need to visit the following people. they will make you look like a rock star.

Makeup: Savannah Belsher-MacLean
Wedding Dresses: Felicity Bridal (thanks Christa…you’re not getting them back!)
Custom Jewelery: Gail Hodder
Hair Pieces / Millinery: Love Charlie
Hair: Amila Topic
And of course our brides: Aleshia, Leslie & Ghislaine

If you don’t have a site…you don’t have a business.

So I apologize for the down time and confusion as we make a few changes to the website and blog.

There promises to be lots of new and exciting features like 3D images, swim up bar and a VIP lounge for those of you who like to hang out here throughout the day.

thanks for your patience.

I also had a mind full of ideas that involved shooting outside but the cold, sideways rain put a damper on that.

Luckily Katharina offered us her shop to shoot in. Katharina’s Bridal Boutique is located in downtown Summerside and was the perfect spot to set up a makeshift studio for a few hours. We were on a tight schedule with 7 Trash the Dress shoots scheduled for one day (one cold, rainy day) so setting up and tearing down quickly was essential.

So what?

Well, in all the chaos of shooting under a ticking clock Im sorry that I didn’t get to spend more time shooting with Katharina. Jeff Cooke had set up a lighting scene for a shot Katharina wanted with a ‘back up band’ and her Dad’s guitar and hat. From there we jumped right into another shot that Heather setup. I realized that morning that its tough to find your photographic flow when you’re the lighting guy, grip, videographer and photographer all at once.

I can’t tell you enough how much fun it is to collaborate with Jeff + Heather. Concepts become reality and simple one light setups become complicated 5 light physics equations. Then we all trip over each other to get the shot.

Katharina, thanks so much for having us.  Your passion for what you do burns brighter than any burning dress.

check out Jeff’s recent blog post of Katharina here