On their first date, Alex was pooped on by a bird and had to change his jacket. While this did not happen during this engagement session (phew!), we did end up taking a photo of the two of them with a huge bird crap on a glass window that was next to them. To my surprise, they totally LOVED the photo and didn’t want the bird crap photoshopped out.
So it's taken me a while to blog this. Life became busier and wedding season went into full gear and I found myself with little time to edit my own personal work... but these last few months have been a great time for me to sit and look back at the year that was. As I sit here a week prior to the 2018 Chinese New Year Parade, I thought I'd share some of the major photo highlights from last year's 2017 Chinese New Year Parade.
In early 2016, a few friends, my wife and I went adventuring around Lighthouse Park and Horseshoe Bay area. Despite it being pouring rain, I took my Leica out and proceeded to take photographs of our hike. Thankfully the trees around us blocked most of the rain but it was still a bit slippery (wearing shoes with little grip = bad idea) and very moist. Through it all, I felt like I was able to get some neat photographs of an area that is normally not captured in black and white.
Right after the first look and a few formal photographs, the bride and groom pulled out some nerf guns and started pelting each other and the groomsmen and bridesmaids with soft and harmless foam projectiles (yet another hazard wedding photographers have to watch out for on a wedding day. Hah! I kid!.... It's green goop and shaving cream). All images taken while on seconding assignment for Jody Wiger Photography.
Just recently, I received a response to a questionnaire I sent out and this is what Jesse and Patricia had to say:
" Jonathan's photography is technically excellent and artistically inspired. He is a pleasure to interact with. Photography was a top priority for us and we shopped way way ahead. We had our pick of the best of Vancouver and met with several of the best-known, award-winningest wedding photographers in the city. In the end, Jonathan came out as our first choice…”
As a documentary wedding photographer, I approach a wedding with the mindset of a photojournalist and am on the lookout for amazing “candid” moments to build a story of an entire wedding day, giving brides and grooms and authentic retelling of their day. However, as I soon learned, we as wedding photographers usually have to wear many hats on a wedding day!
So I found out pretty quickly that my little Honda Fit car is able to fit a bride and two bridesmaids... and with room to spare. You see, the bride was about a 15-20 minute walk away from her venue but the day was hot and I didn't want the bride Dayna to sweat like crazy just before her ceremony at Brix! (We were at David Lam Park and it was warm that day). That's when it dawned on me: "Why don't *I* drive the bride up? I'm parking there anyway!" So there I was, with a client clad in her bridal gown and with her bridesmaids were in my car as we scooted up a few blocks in my little Honda Fit to Brix & Mortar. I've photographed in a lot of weddings and this was definitely an amazing first.
Whenever I get a chance to walk around Vancouver, I'm always amazed at all the little surprises we have. Continuing from my last post, here's a few more photographs from January 2014 of last year, when the sun was out but the heat was not (it was cold...). Ah well, that's Vancouver :)
March seemed like ages ago but I feel like we're feeling that cold Canadian weather now as we did then. I've taken a lot of images since that time but haven't really had a chance to share them with you all. My walks are usually around Downtown Vancouver but I like to explore other places too, including Chinatown and also areas by the Vancouver Public Library (which is where the sushi photo is from). Occasionally my wife and I get into our car and we make a bee-line for some unknown place... take an exit off the highway and see where it leads.
With the sun staying out from Summer time, September turned out to be a pretty awesome month in terms of light. I took advantage of this but taking my camera with me and walking around Downtown Vancouver.
I've been contemplating putting together a book of Downtown Vancouver and the various scenes and daily moments I've seen throughout the last few years but I'd like to maybe take a few more years of photos before creating a book.