they like to break stuff...

when i was a wee lad, probably 10 or so, I would hop on my bike and walk about 2 blocks to the playground near my house every single monday - friday in the summers. 

i don't think they offer the same thing to kids these days, but back then they had 'big kids' looking after us little kids. we would play games, swing on swings, teeter on teeter totters, have great snacks...it was a great way to spend the summer.

i don't remember the teetering or the tottering, the games of tag or purple kool-aid. i was there for one reason and one reason only.

Donna.

She was the playground leader and the only reason I never missed at day at that playground on Alexander St in Sydney. I got "King of the Playground" that year...not for sharing or sports or winning. it was because i never missed a second at that playground. if it was pouring rain and freezing I'd peer down the winding sidewalk of Alexander St to see if Donna was coming to work.

no wonder i was never really that good at team sports. i was a skirt chaser at 10.

why am I telling you this? because i hadn't thought about that time until 25 years later, Donna's brother, Darryl, calls me up to get some pics of his three boys as a surprise birthday present for their Mom. 

I asked him what they were into and he said, "What are they into? They love to break stuff!"

these 3 dudes came into the studio and were the most well behaved, polite, charismatic little fellas I've ever seen. Darryl told me that after the shoot one of the boys said, "Dad, Liam's more teenager than adult isn't he?". Success!

here's a few from the shoot.

thanks Erika

here's a quick post. i'm pretty sure Marse slipped me sleeping pills to lure me away from the office.

finished up our second nite of shooting for MaMe Maternity jeans and grabbed a quick last minute shot for Erika....it was very close to the sushi table.

asleep before midnite. some kinda miracle!

wanna role play?

in my old job, i used to role play in an attempt to be prepared for circumstances that could potentially arise in 'real' life. 

i'd be the sales rep and a colleague/manager/suitable filler would be the buyer. this, of course, is at 8am after 2-3 hrs sleep in your business casual clothes face down on the bed w shoes on. (now don't go gasping in disbelief at me. c'mon, if you've travelled for work, stayed in a hotel....you've slept in your business casual clothes and saved the maid from making your bed the next day.)

anyway, there was always a suggested retort for almost any (5-10) possible situations, always with the purpose of selling product. i was never any good at the rehearsed stuff...i'm the guy that would always get possible situation 11-100. 

as i type this, i do actually have to sit back and laugh at some of the very fun times i had role playing. my first ever real, videotaped role play happened mere seconds after i picked myself up off the bathroom floor of the Hilton in Montreal and i killed it. i have the tape to prove it. 

but i digress.

so new reps would come in to the industry and they would be sick at the thought of the dreaded role play. repeating things over and over and over and over and over and over and then when it came time to role play.....your tongue sets a pace your mind can't keep up with and you get notes taken about you that you can't read because it's upside down and you're hung over.

my point here....

today i set up to meet w Sarah and Sean for an engagement shoot. I knew they were lawyers so i just asked them to bring some law books and meet me at the Rebecca Cohn. thats it. no more preparing.

there's something to be said for just letting it all hang out and going with whatever is in front of you and around you. i really enjoyed this shoot today after hours of editing.

 

this ain't no picnic in the park...

so today was my only Saturday off until November. The sun was shining, it was super warm and the plan was to meet some friends at Point Pleasant for a picnic with all the kids and brown bag beer for the adults. Marse packed up a bad ass picnic w sandwiches, boccaccini cheese, fresh cookies...and beer. Lola was dolled up in her little yellow dress that one of her grandmothers probably bought for her (thanks Nanna and Gam!)...and we headed out.

Here's where it gets weird...

I said, "If we sold the house today what would be buy?". We've been keeping our eye on 2 very different places. So we talked about it for a second and then the phone rang. it was my Mom saying a real estate agent was trying to reach us and that they had a couple who were leaving on a jet plane later this afternoon but really wanted to see our house before they left. my first reaction was Hellll No. I'm taking my baby(s) for a picnic and no one is gonna stop us....

and so we turned around in Point Pleasant Park (40 minutes from home) and headed back home to clean the house and cut the lawn (by hand...because the mower broke 5 minutes in).

so we get all ready, clean the house, pretty it up and split. we went for coffee down at the Bike & Bean and my phone rings again...its our agent saying the couple were at the house but the their agent didnt have a key to the lock box. So I head back home AGAIN to open the door to let them in.

An hour passes.

An hour and a half passes

The phone rings.

Its our agent/marse's mom - she said they LOVED the place and were headed back TO.

My one Sat off went from picnic w the kids to hand clipping the dandelions and raking leaves while being eaten alive by black flies.

Wanna know how it all ended?

Me too....

here's some fun stuff from a shoot w last nite w Matt & Katie.

be nice Friday's

i was up at 6.27am this morning because thats when Lola told me to get up. we had coffee and conversation and i think she's falling for me...still no kisses but she hugs better than ever before.

i checked a few blogs, tweets, facebooks etc and everyone...i mean EVERYONE had positive things to say. everyone was in a great mood and its obviously contagious. its a cool way to start a friday.

so since everyone is in such a good mood i figured it would be a great time to tell you something nice about someone you may or may not know. maybe i'll do it every friday...maybe

so here's something nice about: YOU

its very nice of you to come here and read these ramblings and take in the sites. i appreciate it very much. i haven't the foggiest of idea how many of you are here or who you are but even if its just you and only you...it's nice of you stop stop in.  we should have lunch sometime.

here's some pics from last nites shoot w Lavern & Robin. 

 

this is for you Cheryl MacKenzie...

i know this girl...well, I internet know this girl who sent me some buttons in the mail. a real, mailbag carrying, letter dropping, always bringing me nuthing but junk mail mail man delivered the package to me. in return, i was supposed to send her a photo with the buttons somehow in the photo.

i think i posted some lame attempt a few months back just to get bad karma off my back...but this is what i had in mind. i wanted it to be spur of the moment and random.

so i headed out the door tonight to meet Laverne & Robin for a pre wedding shoot and grabbed 2 buttons. i picked "sunshine" and "+ lolipops"

i hadn't met w Laverne and Robin prior to tonight so I had no idea what they would think of me stickin em with pins. lucky for me they were in. yes, it could be more perfect and placed and posed and photoshopped but i like it like this.

more of L and R in the next few days but until then...this is me keeping my word. thanks for the buttons Cheryl!

so hard done by...

i'm sitting here tweaking a few images for the website...time to update some images and drop in a few images from this years weddings. in the background is gord downie singing, 'one day you'll just up and quit and that'll be it...'

it's times like these that i ponder destiny and fate and patience. i don't pretend to have the answer but from the moment i woke up today i knew we, as a family, were headed in the right direction. Marse took Mom in for her second last chemo appt today and I hung out w Lola and the dawgs all morning, throwing tennis balls, riding rocking horses and drinking coffee w baby formula. it all just felt right. i did just 'up and quit' and that is it...

i want to be around to watch my family grow. i want to change shitty diapers, bandage scraped knees and watch my wife try on all the things she bought on her shopping trips and then take them all back. i also plan to watch my Mom spoil Lola for many many years to come.

i also want to create amazing wedding images for you...and like my family, I feel like it's all just beginning. i can't wait till my wedding images take off the training wheels and glide down the street, quickly glancing over their shoulder to flash me that "Look at me" smile.

but i digress.

here's Mike & Amy. i'll avoid the cliche's and not tell you they were so much fun to work with and what a great couple they were. I haven't worked with a couple yet who ISN'T fun to work with. I will tell you this...it's fun to be in a room of 100 people and have the hair stand up on your arms because you can feel the love that all of these people had for each other.

Felicity's Sexy Little Wedding Dress

i love doing photo shoots w Felicity Bridal. the best part is, i think we're just getting warmed up. each shoots seems to evolve a little bit and yet we manage to keep it really simple.

this is one hell of a sexy little wedding dress. i'm a big fan! chelsea & martin were fantastic. she's all class and he'll wear someone else's suit for heineken and guiness. it was the perfect yin and yang for this shoot.

sexy red lipstick & make up courtesy of Mickey LeBlanc

killer hair courtesy of Brian Fader

someone else's suit courtesy of Moore's in Dartmouth (thanks Erin & Danielle)

he's just one of so many good shots...

my dingle shoot

easy. get  your mind out of the gutter.

met up with Julie and Mark while they were in town for a few days and took a quick walk around the Dingle. mark used to engage in extracurriculars there and julie pulled swimmers out of the water years ago.

it was a fun shoot because we just met at the Dingle and in the end it wasn't all about the Dingle. there are some really cool textures there and we shot some cool stuff. looking forward to more w them in July.

bloggers cramp

seems I'm always in a hurry when i get to this point. i'll be somewhere at some random place and think about something brilliant to blog about...and then i get here and have to rush off to shoot something or edit something or change a bum.

looking forward to a night shoot w Felicity Bridal tomorrow night. we have a beautiful bride in a very sexy and chic wedding dress and marty mac as the brooding and mysterious groom.  should be interesting and if the cops showed up i wouldnt be suprised.

stay tuned.

a psychologist, a nurse and a dental technician walked in a studio...

I got a call out of the blue from Chelsea and she needed some grad photos done. She told me she didn't want the average run of the mill grad photos and started her web search to find something a little 'left of center' for her grad shots.

She also brought along Danielle and Devon since they were all graduating from Dal and we just figured we'd shoot em all together.

So these 3 beautiful girls walk into the studio all quiet and shy...and I wasn't having any of that! It took about 5 minutes to get them to start giggling and laughing and being themselves. I wished we had more time to shoot but hot tropical beaches and airport deadlines pulled them away!

here's a couple form the shoot. thanks ladies!

BRIDES 2009

I've worked many a trade show booth in my myriad of jobs over the last few years. I've brought fire to the people w the Prometheus pellet fuel basket (google it), drugs to the hypertensive and wood stoves to the cold and frigid...but nothing was more fun than our own little 8x10 booth at the BRIDES 09 show yesterday at the WTCC.

It was my first time in the show so I wasn't sure what to expect and now that it's over I wish it was a few days longer.

Marcia and I met some amazing and adventurous brides (and grooms) and I'm looking forward to some great shoots....in 2010!

One of my favorites was Melinda & Earl, who asked me if I would do a wedding shoot for them in their new Jeep YJ. WILL I!? September, 2010 can't come quick enough Melinda.

It's always fun to hang out and talk about wedding photography all day long both with brides and grooms and other local photographers. I had a chance to catch up with Alex & Kate (and Sophie of course) and my old friend Emma Rose who was always wayyyy smarter than me in high school.

Christa, from Felicity Bridal put on an amazing fashion show with some of her latest bridal gowns. I'm always a sucker for a wedding dress...here's a few shots from the show as well as the only photo i took of the applehead studio booth.