Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Suddenly I see

A wonderful good morning to everyone! I am feeling particularly great today! As some of you know I went in for Laser Eye Surgery yesterday with the good people at Lasik Pro Vision in Niagara Falls under the care of the amazing Dr. Andrew Taylor.

Dr. Taylor and his staff were fantastic to work with. I had the procedure done yesterday afternoon and Amanda drove me home (I got to wear super cool goggles on the way home but wasn't supposed to drive). Things were a little blurry at first but even with the blurriness I noticed that things were more in focus. Later in the evening I really noticed a difference. I was able to look out my window and see things clearly accross the street. After only a few hours!

Today I feel great! My eyes are comfortable and I am able to see! I can't explain what it is like after 18 years of needing glasses or contacts to be able to see with my very own eyes. What an amazing gift! I am totally recommending Dr. Taylor and everyone at Lasik Provision in Niagara falls to everyone I know with glasses. We are actually going to be doing some photography for them next week, so I will post all about it then so everyone can see their great location and learn a little more about how it all works.

When we were in the waiting room (just before the surgery) we had a chance to meet with some of the other people who were having their eyes done. One was a firefighter from Thorold. He is only working part time now because he has glasses, but once the surgery is done he will be able to go to full time. We also met some people who had travelled quite a distance. There was someone from New York state and even someone who flew in from California. We asked the people from New York if there was any other places they could have gone to closer to them. They said that there were but they wanted to come to Dr. Taylor because they had heard that he was the best. Isn't that incredible?

Thank you Dr. Taylor and his staff. I'm sure we will be talking about them more next week once we've done the photosession. In the meantime I wanted to give everyone a sense of the before and after experience from my point of view.

Here is a shot I took in Alberta a few years ago. This is roughly what I could see before without my glasses on. Notice that I could faintly see the rocks which were close (I was nearsighted) and the rest was a blur. I could tell that there was a mountain, trees and a lake but really had no idea about any of the details.


And here is what it would look like to me today - with no glasses!


If anyone has any questions about the procedure let me know. This is definitely the kind of thing that I need to pass on to those who are interested. Shoot me an email or post a comment if you have any questions.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Karen & Craig - a slideshow


As promised here is Karen and Craig's slideshow. Enjoy!

Post a comment if you want to congratulate the happy couple!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Karen & Craig

On May 19th we had the pleasure of photographing Karen and Craig's wedding in beautiful Niagara-on-the-Lake. We've known Karen and Craig for years (we all used to work at the Shaw Festival). Craig worked in the Information Services department and Karen was in Marketing. It's funny, Amanda actually remembers when Craig and Karen were about to go on their first date. Craig was telling Amanda that he was pretty excited and a little nervous at the same time. And now, years later they are married!

Congratulations you guys. It was a wonderful day and both your families and friends were wonderful. The speeches were all from the heart and I must confess even I was getting a little choked up too.

Here are some shots from the day. Come back soon for their slideshow.

Karen looks amazing don't you think?


I'm a sucker for flower girls. Isn't she adorable?


Karen and Craig at the alter.


I love it when I catch the bride glancing over at me.


The wedding party headed over to the Botanical Gardens in Niagara Falls for the formal pictures. The tulips were in full bloom!


Karen and Craig looking oh so incredible.


Sharing a moment.


I don't even know what to say about this one. They make our job so much fun!


I love the energy in this shot. She was being so good all day and I think she just needed to let loose for a minute. She actually was trying to hide from me here. She dove behind a chair and started giggling.


Another little cutie. Kids all dressed up make for great pictures.


This image was taken right before they went to the receiving line. Amanda had the great idea of covering them with Karen's veil (which was super long and beautiful!). We had the hotel staff at the Pillar and Post (who were amazing to work with) open a side room that wasn't being used and found this awesome window. What a great moment!


Speaking of great moments, no one told us that Elvis was on their guest list! This is George Biggar of Biggar Sound their DJ. He is an incredible singer! He also renewed their vows (as Elvis) at the end of the night to the lyrics of Elvis songs. The best DJs are entertainers who get people up and dancing while keeping the evening fun and George was awesome.


As you can see they were having a great time!


So that's it for the first bunch of images. Check back soon for their slideshow.

Congratulations Karen and Craig!

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Joy & Chris

As promised here are some of our favourite shots from Joy and Christopher's wedding this weekend. They're a fantastic couple and you can feel the love they share. It was such a pleasure being a part of their wedding and meeting their fantastic family and friends. We had a great time at the Botanical Gardens with their wedding party. Thanks guys for helping to make it a fun afternoon for Joy and Chris.

Here's a link to a slideshow with some of their images. The online gallery to view the rest of the images and order prints will be ready soon so check back for updates.

A special thanks to Joy and Chris for making this so rewarding for us. We hope you're having an unforgettable honeymoon.

Joy's gown was stunning and I love this shot taken at her mom's house.




Here's Joy getting ready with her Matron of Honour Chrysta. She was fantastic and it's obvious how close they are.


Their gorgeous flowers were from BB Blooms in St. Catharines. They always do an amazing job!


We spent some time with Chris and his handsome Groomsmen. Here's a favourite shot of Chris.


This is Joy seconds before she gets to the church. She has a great look of anticipation doesn't she?






A romantic moment in the gazebo in Niagara-on-the-Lake. A special thanks to their driver from Premier Limousine for his patience as we made an impromptu stop for these great shots!




This is Chris' (my Chris not the groom Chris) favourite shot of the day and I'd have to agree.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Simply stunning!


We are working on editing Chris and Joy's wedding from the weekend and we just had to post this image. They are truly an amazing couple. Visit us later more images and a slideshow. We just couldn't wait to share at least one shot from this amazing wedding.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

40 Under 40 Awards night!

On Wednesday we had the pleasure of covering the 4th annual 40 Under Forty Business Achievement Awards, and as a bonus we were one of the award winners. The event is put on by the great team at The Business Link. Special thanks should go out to Adam and Jim Shields and all their staff for putting on such a spectacular event.

We had a really great time. My parents came too and Amanda said that when I went up for the award my mom leaned over to Amanda and whispered "That's our boy". Aww shucks! Thanks mom!

As always here is a slideshow of the event.. For anyone looking to order pictures, on the bottom right of the slideshow is a shopping cart icon. Click on that and you will be taken to our online print supplier.

Congratulations to all of this years winners!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Melissa & Gerry's wedding slideshow


As promised here is the slideshow of Melissa and Gerry's wedding from this past weekend. We went down to the Garden at the end of Clifton hill for our first wedding formal shots. We had a little extra time afterwards, so Amanda pulled a few strings (and even though it was very last minute) got the entire wedding party into the Niagara Falls Bird Kingdom. They have the worlds largest, indoor free flying aviary - and some great architecture too! Thanks to everyone at the Bird Kingdom for being so accommodating.

The reception was hosted at Club Italia who did an amazing job and the food was outstanding. The music and MC duties were handled by Spirit of Sound. It's always nice to have outgoing DJs who can get everyone up on the dance floor. And a special thanks to Kevin Gibson and Ben of Electric Dreams Video. Kevin had some lighting set up for the video cameras and we used them to get some super lighting flare effects on the dance photos. Thanks Kevin!

Once again a big thank you to Melissa and Gerry for allowing us the pleasure of photographing their wedding. We wish you all the best in your lives together. Click here for Melissa and Gerry's wedding slideshow.

And for everyone interested the wedding images will be online at Pictage on Friday. Click here to preregister and receive an email when the photos go live. We are also pleased to announce that for a limited time anyone who orders will receive two for one prints!

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Happy Birthday Lauren!


This week we had an awesome time in Port Dalhousie with Lauren, her daddy Luca and her mommy Lisa. We've worked with Luca on many projects for his graphic design firm Pure Marketing (they're very, very good!) and we were honoured to capture portraits of his daughter.

Lauren's turning two on May 14 and her parents asked us for some special portraits of her. Isn't she absolutely adorable?

We love our outdoor portrait sessions. It allows everyone to relax, enjoy themselves, and it always results in great images. Lauren had a chance to play on the beach, do a little fishing with daddy using her Barbie fishing rod, play on the playground and run around with her favourite bunny. As she played Chris and I were busy snapping away, capturing the moments that unfolded in front of us.

We hope that when this wonderful family looks at these images, both now and as she grows, they'll remember who Lauren was at two years old. Check out the images below and click here for her slideshow.