Remembrance Day - Montreal 2010

I'm keeping up with my tradition of heading down to the Remembrance Day memorial downtown Montreal and make some images. I see the same faces every year. Some I don't see anymore. Some who were standing are now in wheelchairs.

I like to stand back and take these images, I don't want to get in the way of their day. Some photographers and videographers don't really seem to care about the people, they just care about the shot. I hope I never become that way.

We all need to take some time, whether it be on November 11th or not, to remember those who have fought for our freedom.

Here are a few captures from the day, more up on my flickr (link to the right)

This veteran was nice enough to pose for me.


Always nice to see old friends meeting up








It gets cold fast..

Marybel and Stephen's wedding

I finally got around to finishing up the images for my blog of this really fun wedding. It has been a very hectic last few months, sorry for being a bit late.

Marybel and Stephen were married in early September in the Old Port of Montreal at an amazing restaurant called Version. Great food, highly recommended. Anyways...they have a little boy named Logan, who is just a bundle of happiness. Seems that the more people are around him, the happier he is. From the first meeting I had with them, all through the wedding day itself, it was amazing to see the care and love they have for their son, and for each other.

And do they know how to throw a party! The restaurant was pack full of people dancing and having a good time. It got a little crazy trying to make my way around the dance floor with my camera in hand.

I uploaded a few images up on my flickr (about 40 or so) here are a select few that I really like.

Thanks for checking them out!












Here Steve, have a drink!



Ah hell, have it all!























You know you have great party hosts when they get behind the bar and starting giving out the shots!!

Jack, Annette, Isabella

I'm sensing a trend here... 2 weekends in a row with a family shoot. Interesting.

Seriously though, I'm loving it. I just love people, what can I say. Meet Jack, Annette and their little cutie Isabella. We were originally scheduled for the shoot back in late September but we had to cancel at the last minute and rescheduled to this past weekend.

Every shoot has something about it that will stick with you for a while. This one was no different. It was damn cold, even for late October. I met them at their house and we headed to the nearby park. I think we lasted about 20 minutes before we headed back, frozen faces and all. Isabella was the only one who wanted to stay, surprise surprise.

They are a really sweet family and they both love their little one. Made it really easy for this photographer to capture some nice moments. Isabella is normally pretty laid back and relaxed. But man, get her outside, she turns on the spunk. Her boyfriends are going to have their hands full (yes Jack, she WILL have boyfriends whether you like it or not).

Here are a few images from the session



Mr with the camera, please make her stop!




Kids doing what kids do best...being kids








Is this not just an amazing smile?

Roger, Melissa and Elias

Had a fun family shoot on Saturday with an ultra energetic 2 year old. Hats off to all you child photographers in trying to keep up with these kids. I was diving, jumping, stetching, rolling, running all day long.

Roger and Melissa are friends of mine. Actually, we used to be neighbors (they moved a few years ago). Great people, very down to earth, fun to just hang and chat with. They went to a big box style studio for some portraits not too long ago and while the results were ok, they didn't like the experience. So they asked me if I could do some family shots of them.

They decided on a nearby apple orchard. Reason 1 is that they can provide some fun backdrops to shoot with and the other is that Melissa makes awesome deserts with apples, so hey, why not get more out of your photoshoot, right? They were saying cloudy with some isolated showers, so I was hoping for some clouds. We got what most would call a gorgeous day, but is a photographer's bane...bright bright sun with no clouds.

Elias is a really fun kid. As with alot of kids, he is full of energy - the fact he had some candy before we left didn't help. We tried turning the photoshoot into a game so that he would stop and look at me once and a while. It worked pretty well! At least until he raced off in another direction or chased another bug. Ah, to be a kid again.

I was thinking that the biggest challenge was to get him to look at the camera. But actually, kids will look at the camera. The thing I learned is that they won't look at the camera when you want them to. So forget about posing and taking your time. You need to be ready for when they turn their head and the angle is just right. It's similar to shooting wildlife. You find a spot, a setting, an idea and you sit and wait for the kid to run by. Make a noise for him to look at you and SNAP! You got the image.

So here are some images from Saturday:

While not technically a perfect image, I love it as it really captures how much fun we were all having with the shoot










The back light on this one is just great.




I got some half decent Rembrandt lighting going on here. =)
He actually wanted to go IN the boxes (which were full of apples), but we settled on sitting on them


My favorite image of the day, definatly going into my portfolio