Wendy + Anthony, we’ve said it a million time, Thank You. “Fun” does not even begin to scratch the surface on this one!

Want more? Here’s the slideshow

Melinda and Ryan (and Henry, of course) came back to Nova Scotia for a visit and decided to get married right in the living room, with family and friends right there with them. I love shooting these small, intimate weddings. It really makes us realize that when it comes right down to it, the wedding is a celebration of a marriage. This marriage happens during a ceremony and emotions are at their highest during this point…regardless of where you’re standing and how many people you’re standing in front of.

I love me some huge wedding ballrooms with uplighting and the finest decor…but when you take all of that stuff away, the emotions still remain. It’s such a huge rush to be a part of and I want to do this more often. Melinda and Ryan, thank you!

Trevor’s great grandfather built the St. Croix damn in the 19030s. We had to see it!

We were supposed to go skiing. Just Marse and I. A little ski weekend getaway that we’ve been trying to plan for three years now and everything was booked…until the kids got sick. Kids being kids, they lick everything in sight which meant we all got sick. Ski trip cancelled.

The next thing I know Marse, Lola, Ruby and I are on a plane headed for Jamaica. 7 days and 7 litres of sunscreen.

I packed the minimal amount of camera gear. Our backup backup gear. 2 lenses and 16G of memory. I hadn’t planned on shooting a whole lot. I was going to be Daddy…but what was I to do when fate drops a bomb on you? As we’re checking into the resort, we’re standing next to a really nice couple and she happens to be holding her wedding dress. Not one to shy away from conversation, I ask, “Getting married…and do you have a photographer?” I feel a sharp pain and realize Marcia is jabbing the pen between my ribs with the force of a Mom who’s about to be left alone with two kids under four on a beach.

After a bit of chatting, I found out that Peter and Sarah, from Halifax, didn’t have a photographer so I said,”Listen, I’ve got very limited gear but I’d love to shoot for you guys for a few hours. Just let me hang out and grab a few shots for you.” I wasn’t doing this for money. I was doing this because I can’t help it…and because my wife loves me and lets me work, even on our vacation.

They agreed. I was stoked.

All I wanted to do was get them a few shots of the ceremony, some family pics and a few shots down on the beach…and then I saw the Infinity Pool with it’s tiny little ledge and 5 foot drop off. “So I have an idea” I said to Peter and Sarah. “I really want a shot of you guys up on the ledge of that infinity pool. Up to this point, I had been getting the lifeguard whistle tweets any time I even leaned on the edge of the pool so I had no idea how in the hell I was going to get a bride, in a wedding dress, up on that ledge in the middle of the afternoon.

Now, whenever there are kids around, they’re always great for photographs. They laugh, they jump and play, they cry and…they shit. Luckily for me, as we’re plotting, planning and about to bribe the lifeguard, someones kid shits in the pool and the whistle started blowing. “Everybody out of the pool!” Seriously? This could not have worked better. People were scattering (pun intended?) and everything I had hoped for was suddenly falling into place. We told the lifeguard what we wanted to do and he said we could do it if we were quick, like, 30 seconds quick.

So I stripped down to my shorts and jumped into the toilet pool. Peter and Sarah climbed up on the wall and I realized that what I saw in my head was not what was going to happen at all. I only had 35mm and could only get back so far. Also, as you would expect when someone gets IN a pool thats just been shat in, crowds will tend to gather and watch. They gathered along the ledge and I just crossed my fingers that when I got home, Steph would be able to photoshop them out. I had been planning this shot for 3 days and no little turds or tourist heads were going to stop me.

…and then I went back to being Daddy. It was the perfect trip.

There’s got to be some secret society of grandparents, an elite club you join when you become a grandparent. I’ve never seen it happen but, from what I can tell, it gives you license to stock your cupboards with cookies and calm the craziest chaos with a warm and simple hug. It’s a superpower I recall from all of my grandparents, one I see now in our kids’ grandparents and one I’m looking forward to many, many…many years from now.

Jamin and Jeff both lost their Moms to cancer but were watching over them on their wedding day a few weeks ago. Some would even say, and I would have to agree, that it was their Moms that brought them together.

When we showed up, it took no time at all to realize the bond between Jamin and her Nanny. From the rings passed down to Jamin and Sally, the cake topper and the meticulously detailed journaling she did, we knew Nanny was going to play a big role in the day. So much so that I really wanted to do this kind of a blog after I saw some of the final shots.

These hands have many stories. This is one of them.

1. we’re wedding photographers. no question.
2. chill out man, embrace the off season.
3. i don’t pose a soft hand on faces very well. stop doing it.
4. shoot way more personal work.
5. turn personal work into portraits?

This is the result of all five of those things.

Jimmy, thanks so much for letting me and my camera tag along on patrol in the wee hours of the night, thanks for the photo talk while we fought crime and thanks for playing along with us for this shoot!

Are you fucking kidding me? For the life of me I cannot understand why a creative industry is being driven by those telling us all to follow a formula. Did you ever notice who stands out at work or school or in a group? It’s the weirdos, man. The loud mouth, the funny guy, the sleeper, the jerks and the nose picker. Everyone else just sorta blends in.

It seems like everyone becomes a photographer so they can do their own thing but the message boards and Facebook posts are full of people asking for foolish advice, second guessing everything they do and looking for some kind of permission to do things. In the words of the wise and eloquent Spencer Lum, “Fuck Permission!”

You wanna know what I’m not very good at? Taking photos without reason. I find it REALLY hard to shoot for people ‘just because’. Engagement shoots in the park, for example, are so tough for me because I can’t find the Why. So, while it seems the entire industry is offering the standard engagement shoots with wedding collections, Steph and I decided we’re not doing our clients any good shooting for them ‘just because’. Photographing people is such a huge collaborative effort for us and ‘go stand over there and kiss’ is being done by, well, pretty much everyone. I quit my well paying job to do this…the least I can do is be honest w clients and myself about what we love to do.

Enter Jill and Tim (again). Our love for these two runs deep and not just because they bring 40s of Jagermeister to a photo shoot. Tim’s a man of the outdoors and Jill supports that in every way. Almost every story at their wedding was about hunting and fishing and how big a part that all played in their daily lives. So, after a few episodes of Duck Dynasty, it came to us…Jill was the Miss Kay to Tim’s Phil Robertson and ‘stand by your man’ was born.

When they pulled up to Sandy Lake in a huge truck w the 4 wheeler loaded on the back, Jill in her wedding dress, I realized the enormity of the shoot and how much they had to invest in just getting ready. We were trekking into the woods for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon for one shot. One single concept was all I had in mind and one single shot (ok maybe 2) was all I wanted. Of course there were variations in pose and looks and we may have even thrown in a few smokes as props for a few shots but the camera didn’t come off of the tripod and there are no other scenes from the shoot…and I love that.

“Put your foreheads together and close your eyes” just doesn’t work for me. I’d much rather shove my photographic finger right up my nose and hope the right people notice.