A while ago, I had the opportunity to work with Yinger at Yinger Fotokrafie as a secondary shooter and also a Behind The Scenes photographer. This photoshoot was entirely orchestrated by Yinger but I was able to capture and document some of the going-ons behind the scenes that made the photoshoot amazing for this couple. Huge thank to Yinger Forokrafiefor having me on! All of the photographs here (I believe) were shot on beautiful 35mm film, my favorite photographic medium…
I’ve started to make it a habit to post up these Chinatown Parade photos a year later… whoops! Life does get busy and now even more so with my daughter’s arrival. However, this has allowed for a strange benefit: After having faced a Chinatown Parade in the freezing cold and then in a blizzard (literally moments ago… and the snow is still falling as I type), I now look back at the photos from last year’s parade and am able to enjoy them more after having let them sit and marinate for a year rather than if I had simply posted them straight away. There’s something about the passage of time that really matures a documentary photograph.
A few years ago, I penned a letter to brides and grooms expressing my thoughts on what matters on a wedding day. Having been married for 7 years, photographing dozens and dozens of weddings over the years and having recently become a father, I’ve revised my original letter to reflect some of my most recent experiences. I’d like to share it with you all as a little note to remember what the wedding day is all about.
How do you even begin to encapsulate a year? It’s 365 days of living and being and breathing and it all goes by so fast. As a photographer, the photos I take are not only momentos of the little moments that went by but also memory place holders that let me look back and recall a time in my life: the smells, the sights and even the sounds.
A while ago, I had the opportunity to take photographs for this amazing event. I’m a huge fan of vintage things (especially vintage cameras!) and I really love the style of the past century so when I was offered the opportunity to be the photographer at this event, I jumped at the chance.
The event took place at Mount Lehman Barn, which is also where I had photographed part of Kevin and Julie’s wedding and it was decorated to the theme of the 1920s classic Great Gatsby. As part of my own preparation, I watched scenes from the newer version of the movie “The Great Gatsby” featuring Leonardo Dicaprio as Mr. Gatsby and was instantly inspired. Seeing everyone dress up and the entire venue decorated “to the nines” really created an amazing atmosphere that I felt had captured the essence of what I would think would be the 1920s… but we did have some smartphones so….
First, huge thanks to Ryan Flynn Photography, who took me on as a seconding photographer for this assignment of his. Ryan is a great guy!
As I am based close to the city of Vancouver on the British Columbia mainland, heading to Vancouver Island and the city of Victoria is always a treat. I love the feel and sense of adventure and travel when I make my way out there. In order to make the ferry to get to the wedding on time, I had to wake up at a very early hour (i.e. it was still dark and it was Summer time) and make my way through some winding roads. Eventually, I managed to get to the Tsawwassen ferry terminal and soon relaxed once my car and I were on the ferry and on our way across the water.
It’s been a while since I blogged about Chinatown… or blogged at all for that matter. Life keeps getting busy and taking the time to sit down and write stuff to a general internet audience sometimes (in all honesty) ranks a little lower on my list of priorities. Lately, I’ve taken to exercise more and stay in shape, I’ve attempted to learn to dance a bit, I’ve been catching up on personal film work from the last year and a bit and I’m trying to finally put together that Chinatown book I’ve been meaning to do.
I wrote this post originally in 2010 and don't recall if I ever published it. I'm putting it up here on my blog as a reminder of her and her impact on my life BUT also to recollect a time when I used to write without photographs. It also serves as a personal reminder for me that there are bigger things in life than all the minutiae and Angry Bird high scores and other distractions in our lives. Sometimes we just have to sit, reflect and be still… and write.
Recently I was telling a group of photographers at the ARC Conference that “you are not a ‘photographer’, you are more than that.” I really believe this to be true. While we are passionate about our photography work (weddings, family photographs, long-term projects), we are so much more than just a camera person who takes these photos. We are human beings: artists who create with our cameras. And sometimes, this creating leads us to explore other areas other than those that we would normally do in our line of work.
When Mandy from “Eventful by Mandy” and I came together to brainstorm an idea for a styled shoot, I knew from the get-go that I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do a styled shoot that was more along my style: unposed and more authentic. Mandy brought in the idea of doing an Asian-Fusion themed wedding.
