Applehead Studio Photography | Halifax, Nova Scotia | Halifax Wedding Photographer » Very Different Wedding Photography

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Too doo doo too, too doo doo…

Three things happened all around the same time over the last week that had me inspired to both write this post and try new things. It’s mid wedding season and we’ve been pushing ourselves to try really hard not to just ‘dial it in’. There’s a formula that you can easily slip into when shooting weddings: shoot the dress, shoot the shoes, shoot the rings, shoot the kiss, shoot the couple. We do it every weekend for months at a time and the challenge is not getting the shot…the challenge is keep it fresh and fun and exciting.

Speaking of fresh, fun and exciting…over the past week Marse and I have celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary, Lola turned 4 and I watched Twenty for about the 100th time. Now Marse and I have been together for about 7 years and most of our days are the same. We go to work, we come home and wrangle the kids into some sort of bedtime and supper routine and we fall asleep talking about all the things we have to do. Within that repetition we always find ways to make us feel like we’re still living and having fun. We jump off cliffs, we drink too much wine and we have unannounced water fights in the backyard. We settle arguments with Rock Paper Scissors and never question the outcomes and yes, we even hide in closets late at night, waiting for the right moment to jump out and scare the living shit out of one another. Through all the repetition that is parenting, we still manage to have fun.

So then I’m watching Twenty and I got to thinking about how often Eddie Vedder has sung ‘Black’. Hundreds? Thousands? I wondered if he knew that I was standing (or some drunken resemblance of standing) as tall as I could, screaming with 25000 other people, “Too doo doo too, too doo doo Too doo doo too, too doo doo” with chills up my spine. He sings it every night. I’ve only ever been there for about 15 of them but each time it was perfect. It’s important to me that I shoot like he sings.

Mid season wedding photographer conversations are always hilarious. There’s a pursuit of images that you don’t often hear about on photography blogs. Monday morning conversations usually go something like this, “Oh man we had this awesome couple in this incredible light but the clouds rolled in and we just missed it.” OR…”oh we had this girl shooting tequila on a bar and just as I went to shoot it, she jumped down…I JUST missed it. If only I was 2 seconds quicker.” This is the stuff that will give me ulcers! I know I talk about Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk all the time but it could not ring more true for me…just show up every day and do your job and from time to time ‘genius’ comes to you. It’s these genius moments that make me want to shoot weddings forever. Its never usually anything you can control, you can go looking for it and you can’t plan it…it just happens.

Like Archimedes getting a bath, I was watching Breaking Bad when it hit me…Just stop looking at everything the same way. Be the shaving cream. Be the shoe. Be the DJ. I read a quote from my friend, Emma Rose, the other day on the ISPWP site and, in reference to shooting at the same locations all the time, she said she doesn’t even look at buildings and rooms the same way as she used to. That’s inspiring to me.

That’s a pretty friggin’ long build up to a couple of images but this is about more than the images. It’s reassurance to ourselves that we’re not getting stale. It’s getting between the crotch of a shaving groom just to try something you haven’t done before. It’s us, as wedding photographers, jumping out of the closet and scaring the shit out of ourselves.

It’s mid wedding season 2012 and we don’t ever want it to end.


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His name, in fine print.

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This is the greatest ‘how did you meet’ story ever!

Every time we ask couples, “how did you guys meet?” we often get the same kind of reaction. They both look at each other, smile like it was only yesterday and tell us how they met. Sometimes it’s online, other times its at work or through an introduction from friends…but this time Pegah and Shayan looked at each other and just started laughing to kill themselves.

A while back, Baton Rouge was opening in downtown Halifax and while I don’t know the details of the transaction, I do know that Shayan Safaei, from Toronto, was involved. The Chronicle Herald had written a story about the eventual opening and the who’s and what’s of the deal. Pegah, a real estate agent, read this story and noticed Shayan’s name. That’s all it was, a name, but it intrigued Pegah so…she took it upon herself to ‘creep’ him on Facebook. Shayan, being the handsome man that he is, was going to be at Baton Rouge for what I believe was the grand opening on one particular night and this date was also mentioned in the paper.

You know what’s coming next right?

Pegah called her friend and told her to get ready because they were going out on the town (Baton Rouge)…and the rest is history.

Are you kidding me? How awesome is this girl!? She sees a name in a paper, walks into a restaurant, introduces herself and BOOM. Engagement, wedding and some kind of cosmic chemistry like I’ve never seen between two kids. I mean I had to play chaperone half of the night…they were like two teeny boppers at a roller rink. I’m grinning like an idiot even as I write this thinking about how completely in love these two are.


Steph and I had some plans for this shoot but we just bailed on it all, pointed the camera in whatever direction they were standing and they did the rest.

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Wait a minute, you’re not an old lady at all!

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When I was working for Novartis Pharmaceuticals, the first time, we used to go on quarterly trips to Toronto, Vegas, Montreal etc for meetings. Planning these meetings was a faceless office employee by the name of Natalie. Her email always had a skip and a quirk to them that made me laugh and while I had never met her, I knew I liked this woman. For months on end she would send me flight itineraries, hotel bookings, agendas etc and for months I always looked forward to meeting her. I assumed she was in her mid 50s, maybe married with a few kids and had been w the company for years.

A few months into my time at Novartis (the first time) I got to a meeting in Montreal, met a bunch of head office people, shook some hands, kissed some babies and went about my business. I think it was at some pre dinner mingle that I finally met Nat. “Oh hi Natalie, nice to meet y…..WAIT A MINUTE! You’re THE Natalie!?” I’m pretty sure I actually said the words, “You’re not an old lady at all”. Perhaps this explains why I was let go from Novartis, twice. Regardless, Nat and I hit it off immediately. Eventually she left her office job and became a sales rep as well and we’ve stayed in touch after all these years.

She was single for a while but I told her that when she got married, I was shooting her wedding, like it or not.

Then I saw the photo on Facebook. It was of her and her then boyfriend, Marco, at a wedding. Absolutely freaking adorable is the only way to describe these two. So when she called me and said they were getting married in Montreal I was stoked. It just so happened that I had the one weekend available that fit their schedule and that was it. It was done.

After flipping through the images from the wedding I’m telling you, I could friggin squeeze the cheeks off of both of these guys. I loved every single second of it. I don’t think there is anyone in this world that will love Natalie more than Marco. A true Italian gentleman with a heart and soul of gold is what he is. Not many dudes can pull off a white top hat…but Marco’s got moxy (and a kick ass, award winning mini cooper, Skeeter).

I could ramble and blather all day about these guys but if you ever happen to have the good fortune of meeting them, trust me when I tell you your life will be better for it.

Thanks so much for your hospitality in Montreal Nat + Marco. We miss you guys already and we looking forward to seeing you in Toronto sometime soon.

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Stand Still. Don’t Stop Dancing

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Bands are a common theme for us at weddings this year. We’ve seen a lot of them and it always brings a different dynamic to a wedding party than a DJ does. It can also be lots of fun to shoot when there’s a collective of musicians. Saturday nights wedding was no exception.

Grant + Nicole had hired Chess Club to play at their wedding and during the sound check everyone around just kind of stopped and listened. The sounds coming from the tent were out of this world. Now I don’t know the band, didn’t talk to them at all nor am I getting a cut on any booking they may have in the future but if you’re considering a band for your wedding…you’ve gotta book these guys. The hair literally stood up on the back of my neck during a few songs. Willie Nelson, Adele, Cee Lo…its all there and its all funky. The dance floor was full all night long and even the slow songs brought a crowd to the floor.

Luckily, Chess Club took a break between sets, we hunted down Grant and Nicole one last time, for one last shot and all they had to do was hold still for about 10 seconds. Sounds easy until you consider that it’s 11.30 at night and the bottles of wine are nearing the end and you’ve been partying for hours. Should be simple…just stand there…REALLY still until I come back and get you.

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More Fiddles. Different Wedding

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Grant + Nicole got married at Muir Murray on Saturday and it was the first time we had shot there. It was also the first time we had met Grant + Nicole. We had just come off a Friday wedding in Cape Breton. We left Sydney at 1am, drove to Windsor and slept for 4 hours before heading to Muir Murray. Having kids, I’m use to lack of sleep so while we did have our wits about us, Grant and Nicole made this shoot very easy. ‘Laid back’ would be an understatement.

As it turns out, the majority of weddings find couples and their guests enjoying a drink and a speech as the sun slowly sets over the city/winery/ocean etc. We’ll often try and take advantage of this light anytime we can but at this point we just couldnt find Grant and Nicole. So I crept away in the grass and took to shooting some smokers. A small group of 4 that I just could not get a good shot of. I got a good shot of someone lighting a smoke but another person’s head would be hidden. I got someone pointing but it didnt make sense. I realized I looked strange, camera stalking these guys, mentally begging with them to all move into some position that would work. It didn’t and I gave up. I walked away and was going to tell Steph how pissed I was that I had a cool shot lined up but nothing happened.

All of a sudden two fiddlers emerged from behind the tent, walking toward me, headed for the driveway for one last tune. It was one of those moments Elizabeth Gilbert talks about. They just happen. Perfect timing and shit house luck. So while this may not seem like an ‘epic’ shot…when you’re there, wishing something would happen without any meddling…its a rush.

I’ve been pushing Steph to do more of her own shooting if she sees something. While she can sometimes be quite as a mouse, she’ll often have big ideas. This time she wanted to try something with the sun setting behind the trees and we just happened to find Grant and Nicole. She directed. I lit. Grant and Nicole muckled. This was what she got…

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Hey, that’s my little sister throwing cake!

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I had lost sleep over how we were going to shoot ‘the Fiddle’. I mean, it’s a 50 friggin foot fiddle thats been shot a million times. We wanted to approach it from a different perspective and the shot had eluded us until about midnight when everyone was outside for some ‘fresh air’. Steph wanders off into the darkness, comes back and says, ‘Just put them in the light’. Brilliant. She took her spot, I took mine, Fats + Brandy muckled onto one another and this is was what we came up with.

But what would a blog post be without a story?

There are a lot of pros and cons to having a studio downtown on Market St. It’s not out of the ordinary to be sitting here at night and hear the crowds of intoxicated youth wandering by, dropping pizza plates and beer cans on our doorstep and jumping up to try and peek in the windows. Then there’s that extra special time when we too enjoy a drink or two, open the doors and spin the black circle.

On one such night, we happened to have a small crowd of three wander into the studio. 2 lovely ladies, followed by one intoxicated asshole who had been following them since they left the bar. Everyone ignores the drunk guy, we all get to chatting with our new visitors and one girl says, “I’ll put on a wedding dress and take pictures. Do you have one?”

One thing leads to another and the next think you know we’re all outside taking photographs of this new friend we made, in a wedding dress, throwing cake. It all made sense at the time but the next morning we realized we didn’t know this girl’s name or where she was from. It was just one of those things that happened and then they were gone.

Gone until a few months later when out of the blue I get a text from my buddy, Fats. He’s getting married and Brandy, his fiance had been checking out our site, when she came along this photograph of ‘girl throwing cake‘

The text from Fats read something like this: “Holy shit, that girl throwing cake on your blog is Brandy’s sister!”

This world could not be any smaller sometimes. We shot Fats and Brandy’s wedding in Cape Breton last Friday and were finally reunited with ‘girl throwing cake’, Holly. We scrolled through many iphone and blackberry pics they had taken that night and I just shook my head at the irony of it all.

It’s always a bit of a treat to get to go home to Cape Breton to shoot a wedding but I realized that it also usually means a lot of my friends are there, watching me. It reminds me of the days at Dairy Queen when they’d all come in after the movies and get some ice cream and make me say it. Go on, say it. “Ok, ok…Upside down thick and delicious. Now beat it”

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The Turning Point

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I don’t know what it is about Pictou Lodge weddings but here I am again posting a story about a turning point in a wedding. The last time something like this happened it was Emily and Chris and some torrential rain that caused a ceremony to happen inside instead of outside. Emily put that minor detail behind her and they threw down one of the greatest wedding parties I’ve ever seen at the Lodge. From a photographer’s point of view, its amazing to watch this happen. To see the disappointment creep in, only to be kicked in the ass and sent packing. There will always be logistical pains in the ass at every wedding…it’s how you deal with them that can really make or break the wedding.

Enter Miriam and Chris.

We knew these guys from a previous wedding so in our heads, this was going to be one of those late nights with everyone dancing on the ceiling. We arrived in New Glasgow to shoot the girls and everything was going smoothly. Miriam, a self confessed control freak (and I mean freak in the most loving way) was frantically peck, peck, pecking away at her blackberry about the logistics of the day ahead for a few hours and when the girls arrived at the lodge to get ready someone made the comment that, “this was the most sober they had all been at this point in any wedding they’d ever been a part of”. This was about to change.

Everything went off as planned and there was very little stress but you could tell that in the back of Miriam’s mind she just wanted to have everything unroll as it should and get to the party. The ceremony was beautiful and the sun beat down on about 150 guests on the cliff overlooking the Northumberland Straight. Photos were fun, dinner and drinks were broken up by hilarious speeches and tears, lots of tears. The bottles of wine on the head table were nearing the bottom as the dinner wrapped up and we stole Miriam and Chris away for 20 minutes for a few sunset photos.

That’s when it all happened.

“Let’s go in the canoe” said Miriam with a giggle. “Oh hell yes” I replied.

We wandered over to the dock, swatting away the copious amount of flies that were sure to cut this shoot short. Miriam leaned over to get into the canoe in the dark and Chris followed with a swagger infused with a small bit of hesitation.

“Fuuuuuuuck!”. splash.

It happened that fast. Miriam was in the water between two canoes and for a split second I thought, “Help her”. That’s when the photographer in both Steph and I kicked in and Steph flung the flash from her side like she was in a 10 man gunfight. I threw up the camera and pressed the botton and hoped, prayed, begged and pleaded that this exposure was right because there was no time for adjustments. This was a moment. This was the turning point.

So while most brides would probably lose their minds over falling into 4 feet of mud and water, Miriam did not. So…we kept shooting and poor Chris bent over to help her out, saying something along the lines of, “Oh no. Oh no, Oh no”. All we could see was Miriam from the waist up. the rest of her very expensive gown was hidden below the surface of mud and water but what shocked us the most was the contagious laughter echoing over the lake. “It’s ok. It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. I’m ok” she kept telling Chris as he plucked her from the water. (we kept shooting)

As we walked up the stairs that lead away from the lake and headed back to the Lodge for the first dance, I heard the greatest words ever spoken by a bride. Slopping her way up the stairs in what was probably a 50 pound dress at this point, Miriam says, “Fuck it. I’ve been stressed out all day long and I want to have fun. I’m not going to let this ruin our day. Let’s go party.”

And party they did. They danced on tables, they removed articles of clothing, they broke bottles and danced and sang all night long. At 4am that morning I put myself to bed on a pullout couch in Meaghan and Justin’s cabin as they played guitar, ate pizza and made puppets w over mitts around me.

This, my friends, is how you celebrate a wedding. The little details are just that. Little. Weddings are a gathering of friends and family and when these little details fall out of place the best thing you can do is heed the words of Miriam Denise Watts and just say “Fuck it”.

(dear parents and grandparents, I’m sorry for the cussing!)
(dear staff of the Pictou Lodge, you are incredible! thank you for opening the pool at 2am and your high level of tolerance for chaos and good times)

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No Cameras Allowed?

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I saw a recent post on facebook yesterday where a wedding couple had come up with a really nice way to politely ask their guests to refrain from taking photos during certain parts of the wedding. The ceremony, portrait session etc were all times they wanted guests to enjoy, to be a part of and be in the moment with them. I loved it and as a photographer and part of me agrees that ‘unplugged’ weddings could be a great way to go.

The gun slinging, slow ass iphone 3 photographer-parent-event taker in-er in me says, ‘Hell No’. I want a piece of this. I want to capture but a small part of what I’m experiencing. I want to show people what is happening right here, right now. I think if you’ve got wedding guests texting or facebooking as a bride walks down they aisle they ought to be asked to go wait in the car but if you’ve got 150 people standing at attention, climbing over one another (and me) to grab a shot…why not? Could they be any more engaged in what’s happening? I think not.

It takes me weeks/months to get a full wedding collection back to clients but their friends can get a few shots up on facebook before I even get home. Go nuts I say! Part of me thinks we, as photographers, need to just chill out. I love nothing more than talking shop with an Uncle Bob who’s got more kit than we do. I love getting email a few days after a wedding with shots some crazy wedding guests grabbed of me hiding behind a bush at a wedding.

I’ve never once, not one single time, come home from a wedding and said, “God damn that wedding sucked because everyone was taking pictures”. Never.  One of my favourite things to do to wedding guests taking photos is tap them on the shoulder with authority and say, “Uh, you can’t take photos here while Im shooting.” The next 1.5 seconds of panic/rage/embarrassment on their face is trumped only by the belly aching laugh we have when I slap them on the back them tell them I’m just kidding.

I’m just a kid from Cape Breton who’s trying to eek out a living shooting weddings. Far be it from me to tell your friends and family they can’t take photos at your wedding. If you’re a wedding guest at a wedding we’re shooting, I challenge you to get a better photo than I do…it’ll keep me sharp. We are far from some hoity toity snot faced photographer who wants everyone to stay out of the way while we work so if you see us, relax, be you and take all the photos you want. If you do happen to get in our way during a really important shot, well, rest assured that when you sit down to eat we’re gonna getcha cramming that buttered roll into your mouth!

 

 

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Chaz + Asmita. Photography, Phobias and some Menage a Trois

“I really don’t like bugs, dirt, heights and the outdoors.”

This is what Chaz told told us over dinner after we had just spent two hours shooting with them…outside, with bugs and dirt, up on really high cliffs. Asmita, on the other hand, has no fear. She’ll scale a wall, climb out on a questionable branch and trek through mud trails supported only by a filthy rope.

I had heard a rumor that, while on their trip to India, Chaz did not smile very often in any photos. Well, he made up for it last night. This was one of those shoots where Steph and I just pushed the button and things seemed to work out. Perhaps Chaz’s willingness to trek through the woods was due in part to our pit stop at their house to ‘change’. Personally, I think it was a marvelous attempt to get us to stop in and drink with them.  I had no idea what we were in for when they asked if we wanted some Menage a Trois….but hell, we’re adventurous photographers so I took my pants off on the back deck and waited for them to return. Was I ever embarrassed when Chaz come out and handed me a glass of red wine called Menage a Trois.

Chaz + Asmita, thanks for a hilarious night. We’re beyond excited to shoot your wedding. The Bollywood meets Director shoot will get played out somehow!Enjoy Ottawa and Chaz, happy birthday buddy!

 

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Katie + Darren – Las Vegas

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I almost let Katie and Darren get away. In an ironic ‘romantic comedy climax’ kind of twist, I was urged to go back and get them. I think the advice went something like this, “Do you want them? Well then go get them man.”

Im glad I did. Katie + Darren, we love you guys. You know that! Thanks for everything. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

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Smoking can kill you. Crossfit will not.

“I want to do a shoot with you but you can do anything you want. I trust you.”

One of the many great things I took away from being pharmaceutical rep was a lot of great friends. Susanne and I met a long time ago pushing pills and this small world has us living in the same neighbourhood, going to the same crossfit box (clearly she goes much more religiously than I do these days) and her sister just happens to be the girl Marse backpacked around Europe with back when she was a wild woman.

Susanne is the one who, after a 5 minute discussion on her patio, convinced me to try crossfit. I tried to listen to what she was saying but all I could see were abs and muscle striations every time she moved. So when she said she wanted to do a shoot as a surprise gift and we could do anything we wanted I immediately thought, “No way in hell am I doing a glammed up fitness shot.” That was the obvious direction…so we went the other way. We booked the ‘honeymoon suite’ at the Burnside Motel, brought in a pack of Parliament menthol cigarettes, a bottle of cheap champagne, lots of hand sanitizer and some cheap and dirty strobes. Susanne brought her BFF and stylist/art director in disguise, Steph Brake.

Its important that you know Susanne does not smoke. She’s a well respected and highly successful talent in the pharmaceutical industry and the fact that we still get to post these images makes me extremely happy.

This is for fun. This is like those old time photographs where you get to dress up and be a gunslinger…this is just a bit more ‘risqué’. I love that, on any given day, we may be shooting the raw and real emotion of a wedding and the next day we’re playing dress up in a dirty hotel room. This truly is the best job in the world and its only that because we have clients who take us on these adventures. Thanks Susanne (and Steph B.)

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Style. Its just something you do.

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We were recently described as very risqué wedding photographers and it made me chuckle. I’ve been asked on numerous occasions to describe the Applehead ‘style’. My reply is always the same…its just what we do. The second I attach some adjective to what we do we’re doomed. If we’re edgy can we be whimsical? If we’re romantic can we then be salacious?

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.

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What happens in Vegas…should happen much more often!

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I was born to shoot in Las Vegas. With the exception of $100 on black, I don’t gamble and I don’t even have the fancy clothes that would get me into the VIP clubs there but I’ll tell ya…I’d shoot a wedding there every single day.

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.

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Couples Boudoir. Explicit content…if we decide to do a full post.

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I net with Dan + elizabeth in 2010 about this shoot. At the time, I just wasn’t ready to shoot couples boudoir. I didn’t see it and I wasn’t sure how to shoot it. Time passed and we stayed in touch here and there and then I saw Elizabeth at the Brides 2012 show in Halifax where Elizabeth show showing off her new business, Mist Mobile Spray Tan. That was it, we scheduled the shoot and it was on. Our good friend Penny from the Prince George hooked us up with a suite for the night, Elizabeth brought her own team of hair (Katie Hart) and makeup (Elise Comeau) artists we did the rest.

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.

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Who the hell is in the shower? The evolution of one single wedding photograph.

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When you travel to Jamaica you quickly learn that they’re laid back. REALLY laid back. Its always all good man. No problem. No worries.

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!

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