In a recent discussion w Spencer Lum about trends and getting caught up in fads he told me this, “… what’s interesting is that your perspective is so distinctly you, and you take pictures with a clear voice.” Spencer is like my Seth Godin so this meant a lot but what struck me the most was that he didn’t use any adjectives.

In an industry so full of sharing, copying, trends and fads, workshops and actions its ironic that the one thing we have that sets us part from all the others is not something that can be bought or found online. Yes, some things we shoot are risqué but some are just completely over the top, ridiculously cute and adorable. Call it whatever you want, its just something we do and we hope you like it.

If you’re interested in risqué, check back tomorrow for a look at a few images from Susanne’s Burnside Honeymoon Suite photo shoot.

Meet Katie + Darren. More from their Las Vegas wedding in the next few days but for now, here’s a shoot we did in 90 degree heat after being lost for about 2 hours trying to find El Dorado Canyon. There’s a sign and a road on the left, we just missed it.

The result is a collection of images that we’ll probably never shoot again. It truly is an original collection and one that we’re still trying to decide how best to show it. So, until then, here’s a simple kiss.

It kind of freaks me out because the clocks never work and you never really know what time it is…so on wedding eve I sleep with one eye open, scared to death I’m going to slip into some vacation/kidless coma and wake up at 1pm. So on the eve of Jayne and Matt’s wedding I woke up around 2, 3, 4 and 5am. Around 5am I thought someone was in my room and showering and then at 6am it struck me that, not only was someone in my room, bu they had been showering for over an hour. I sprung out of bed and looked out the window to see black skies and pouring rain. Not just sprinkles…I’m talking, your neighbours beers cans floating by kind of torrential rains. Im used to this shit in Nova Scotia but in Jamaica is usually only rains for 20 minutes, passes and the sun comes out. Not this time my friends. The skies were black as far as the eye could see. I called the front desk and they said it was probably going to rain all day.

I know what you’re thinking…what terrible luck. Rain on a wedding day in Jamaica.

“They” say rain on your wedding day is a blessing and I’m pretty sure ‘they’ are photographers because rain just happens to bring the most incredible skies along with it. No squinting sun, no burning heat. It was 6am and I knew we had 7 hours before the ceremony. We were good.

The day before, Steph and I had scouted the ceremony locations and went for a swim as we waited for the light to be where it would as the ceremony was happening. As we hobbled over corral and seaweed we talked about how cool it would be to get a wide angle shot from in the water as Jayne walked the long aisle with her dad as the sun beat down above them. We discussed the factors involved. Getting wet during a ceremony, waves, cameras in the water, causing a spectacle during a ceremony and the possibility of falling in the water with a camera (its happened before!). So we talked about plan B. A shot from way, way, way back, on the sand and out of the water. We talked angles and perspective and timing and the importance of getting that one shot at the right time and how nothing could ruin that shot if we risked it. Screw it, 20 minutes before Jayne arrived at the aisle, Steph set off down the beach with one camera, one lens and one plan.

In my head this shot was sunny, bright and blue. I could have never imagined a dark, black sky threatening heavy rain but ‘they’re’ right. Rain on your wedding day IS a blessing!

Mary Jane and Justin’s wedding came to us from pure shit house luck. Marse works with a friend of ours, Heather, who lives in Newfoundland. Heather has a brother who went to school with Justin. Through the magic of Facebook, Justin saw a photo of Marse and Heather that I took a really long time ago. Its a rather saucy photo with the both of them giving me the finger. Justin sees that photo, one thing leads to another and he finds Applehead Studio. Time passes, Justin and Mary Jane get engaged and plan to get married in New Zealand but come home and have a wedding celebration in New Brunswick, where Mary Jane is from.

When Mary Jane contacted me to shoot for them, it was for the wedding party in New Brunswick and unfortunately I was already booked. She told me they were getting married in New Zealand and I jokingly said, “I’ll shoot for you in New Zealand.” A few phone calls, a Starbucks coffee, and a girly squeal later Marse and I are boarding a plane from LA to Aukland. (side note: when you book a wedding in New Zealand your wife pulls rank and bumps your assistant).

As I look back now I feel terrible…I was more traveller than photographer! While I did manage to take a few photographs here and there, we all spent a lot of time drinking the finest of wines, eating incredible food and jet setting around New Zealand in helicopters and airplanes (and a sketchy van named El Cheapo!). We stayed up late and laughed the entire time. We hiked, we ate some more and Justin and I spent a lot of time talking canon vs nikon and chasing sunsets. It was a trip of a lifetime and Marse and I even looked into ways to move to Queenstown with the girls for a few years. Then we told our family sothey all wanted to come and of course we couldn’t leave Steph behind either but we just couldn’t find a house big enough for all of us…so we’re staying here in Canada. We’ve proposed a reunion tour with MJ and Justin every year and so far they haven’t said no.

Mary Jane and Justin, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for this incredible opportunity and trusting us enough to travel to the other side of the world to photograph your wedding for you. We considered you friends well before the first really, really expensive bottle of red! Marse and I look forward to seeing you again…and not just when we need medical or law advice!

The problem with following trends is that you’re always doing just that…following trends.The flip side is that by following trends you quickly find out what you like and don’t like and can evolve from there. Such is the case with boudoir photography for us. The term itself just seems to limit what really happens when a client comes into the studio and we shoot. Like our couples portraits and engagement shoots, the more we collaborate on ideas with clients, the more unique the shoot can be. Like say, for instance, you happen to be a flamenco dancer or happen to know a good friend who has a very large collection of wigs…we want to know that. We want to shoot that!

So we’ve decided to ditch the term ‘boudoir’ even if it has serious google search repercussions. While our shoots may vary there is one common theme that is broad enough to fit every shoot we’ve ever done related to boudoir. We shoot portraits, for women.

There’s a generous opportunity for some really awesome light in Point Pleasant Park but unfortunately there’s also a window of opportunity for complete afternoon harmony with Lola and Ruby. I opted for harmony vs good light.

We unloaded on Tower Road parking lot and thats pretty much where it started to go downhill. I ‘forgot’ Eegn’s leash and we were headed straight down the middle of the Park. So we’re lugging backpacks and light stands, a giant green wagon loaded with hilarity and songs as Marse looks at me and says, “And of course we’re the ones without the dog lease.”

A little behind the scenes story…we once did an engagement shoot out at Peggy’s Cove with some pyrotechnics and as soon as we set off the first firework, it scared the shit out of eegn and he took off. Gone. In the middle of a shoot my dog disappears. He eventually comes back but he was not pleased at all. Ever since that shoot eegn freaks out when he sees the lights come out. Its gotten so bad I just can’t take him with me anymore because he bolts.

So we get to the spot, unload, let the kids loose and start clicking for a decent backdrop. All of a sudden, Eegn is gone. Tail between his legs, head down and headed for Tower Road. We had no leash, so I took off my belt and tied him up to the giant green wagon we had rolled in with us. All was well and we found a spot but the sun was just not helping so we moved here and there all while the kids played on the hill and Eegn sat next to the wagon. Then we found a good spot and set up one flash, fired off a test shot and seconds later heard what sounded exactly like a dog dragging a giant green wagon behind it. Sure enough, eegn was leaving and he was taking the wagon with him. At this point we had not fired off a single shot of anyone and the wow factor of this play land was wearing off.

I drag the dog back and set him up nice and comfortable, next to the wagon and weighed down with gear and get back to shooting. At this point all I wanted was one shot of the four of us. The problem was that we needed some serious light and it had to be close. I brought a 5 foot PLM and profoto head. The umbrella clip on the profoto doesn’t hold much in a bit of wind (and no sandbags) so with the slightest breeze this thing was a parachute or harmful object. It’s tough for me to be in a family photo, light and shoot that same family photo and be a fun Dad at the same time. So we left it all up to Steph. She had to hold up a 5 foot umbrella 6 feet in the air and shoot the photo at the same time. It had to happen in seconds or the stand would tip. the kids were cold and Marse was a trooper but I know the “I love you, lets wrap this shit up” look so it had to happen in one take. The shutter clicked, the wind blew, we smiled and that was it.

We all packed up, headed down the middle of Point Pleasant Park with our dog securely attached to his belt/leash, the girls were still singing, Marse was still smiling and Steph had said, “Yeah Im pretty sure we can do something with it.” Although chaotic, life was perfect.

I saw this photo and I stopped looking at it as a photographer and just looked at it as me. My kids just simply blow my mind. It’s crazy to me that Marse and I made these two little maniacs and we get to watch them grow up and become little women. Time is flying. The last thing I really, clearly remember is Marse going into labour with Lola. The last 3 and half years have been a blur. I’m developing a great appreciation for family portraits, even if they’re not technically perfect.

(The photographer side of me is totally taking them all back there again to do it right when its warmer, later, less windy a different location and with an assistant for Steph.)

Every time we pack for a destination wedding I ensure Marse that its just a lot of travel and a lot of work and in reality its not all that glamourous or fun. Between you and I, that’s a boldface lie and if she ever reads my blog, my career in destination weddings is over.

The truth is, destination weddings are a blast. It’s normally a small group of family and friends gathered for a week in a hot location with plenty of sweet, sweet light. We always tell our clients, “We’re here for 3 days, let’s shoot as much as we can.” So Matt and Erin took us with them to YS Falls and Rick’s Cafe the day before the wedding. You could say we worked in that we did take some photos but everyone treated us like we were part of the group. No one even laughed at me as I clung to a platform high up in a tree after zip lining. The wedding was no different. We partied as hard as everyone else and I’m pretty sure Steph was out with the wedding party until the sun came up.

Erin + Matt, thanks so much for having us. Your -16 snowy engagement shoot was a blast but we’ll take Jamaica anyway. Rose Hall is calling us all back for a fearless bridal session!

Click here for more of Matt + Erin’s wedding.

I don’t know if you know this or not but I was a biology major in university and then spent 7 years selling drugs for pretty much every condition know to man. So for about 11 years prior to taking photos my time consisted of counting wing shapes of fruit flies, collecting data from petri dish cultures, taking pre calculus class three times before passing, dissecting pigs and studying anything and everything related to cardiac medicine.

So I don’t know where this idea came from but I’m guessing it was somewhere on the long roads between Cape Breton and Dartmouth while I was handing out samples and thinking about taking photos. It was just one of those things I always wanted to shoot. I don’t know where it fits into the sub categories of wedding photography…but when we’re lucky enough to find clients like Amanda + Daniel who are up for outrageous ideas and getting way out of the comfort zone…we’re in. I was like a kid in a candy store for a week before this shoot. Grinning from ear to ear. It’s not meant to be taken seriously. I just don’t believe that picnics and couches in a grassy field are the only options for couples photography. thats already being done by better photographers than I.

Amanda + Daniel are both med students at Dal. Amanda is considering OB/GYN and Daniel is considering Urology. I know what you’re thinking…the heart has nothing to do with either of those specialities so this shoot doesn’t make any sense for them. Well, you may be right but its easier to find a heart in this city than it is to track down other organs. Besides, thats just sick! Amanda + Daniel, thanks so much for having fun with this. I’m looking forward to our second shoot out on the streets of Halifax for some photos that may be a bit more appropriate for the folks! You’re the coolest kids in med school. No question about it!

Huge thanks to our friend Alicia Melanson who came in, many months pregnant, to work with us on this shoot. I had o idea she had a second kit dedicated entirely to fake skin and blood. I hope we get to put that to use again soon!

It’s hard to say who had more fun so we shot some behind the scenes video with the help of our friend Ashley Delgadinho who offered to hang out with us for the day.