Ashley and Jason both have strong ties to Parry Sound and Georgian Bay so when we were doing our walkabout a several weeks in advance of their July wedding they opted to use a truly awesome stretch of the Bay as the back drop for many of their wedding party, and alone as a married couple, for the first time images. I caught up with Ashley and the girls at Ashley’s father’s home on Oak Ridge Drive and worked with the girls in the later stages of getting ready and then we got some great “were ready” shots. The wedding was in one of the wonderful churches in Parry Sound and then we took a range of family shots at a scenic location in Parry Sound before heading north of town to get onto the Bay. The wedding party was great and made their way up and down some of the more rugged parts of the Georgian Bay shoreline, bare feet and all. After they headed back to the hall, Ashley, Jason and I stayed back and got some great shots of the two of them alone, for the first time, as a married couple, using the pines and rock of Georgian Bay as the backdrop. Then we headed north abit closer to where Ashley and Jason are building their new home in Carling Township and got some diffent types of shots of them alone, using some tall water reeds as well as some CP train cars as backdrops. A small selection of the images from Ashley and Jason’s special day follow.
Denise moved from Parry Sound to Glen Allan, north of St. Jacobs and Kitchener-Waterloo, this past year to marry Steve, the love of her life. The staff at West Parry Sound Health Center, where Denise worked as a registered Nurse, gave her a great send off. One of the gifts they gave Denise was a portrait package gift certificate from Bayshore Photography.
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting and working with Denise, Steve and many of their family at Denise and Steve’s wonderful home in Glen Allen, a short distance north of St. Jacobs and Kitchener-Waterloo. We did a range of images of Denise and Steve in their beautiful home and then moved out back to their huge back yard, which just happens to back onto the Conestoga River, for a number of family shots.
This area is in the heart of Southern Ontario’s farm country and has an interesting blend of farms and craft people making it an interesting part of Ontario to visit and explore.
I recently did a family portrait session with Lori, John, Emily and Abbey at their home a short distance from Parry Sound. I have done several portrait sessions with this family in the past, starting with Emily as a baby (she is now 4 years old!). The last time I had photographed the family it was just before Christmas a couple of years ago and we did a series of images in my studio, just north of Parry Sound. This time we opted for mostly outdoor images using the great grounds that surround their lovely home as a backdrop. We had a great time, and Emily and Abbey soon got into the swing of things, showing me the frogs in their back yard pond, their awesome playhouse, play set, and huge sandbox. I love working with Lori, John and their girls and being able to capture images of the girls as they have grown from babies to amazing young children with wonderful personalities.
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting and working with members of the Gunner-Orton Family. The photo session was part of a celebration of Neil and Jenny’s 50th wedding anniversary which will occur abit later this summer. Their daughter, Simone, had contacted me several weeks earlier about doing a portrait session for Neil and Jenny and their extended family. In this day of fast paced busy lives it is difficult to get entire families together and this family was no exception with some traveling from the northern USA, Barry’s Bay, and Oakville to Neil and Jenny’s Bracebridge home. Even though the weather had threatened heavy showers I felt that we would be lucky and we were! As I pulled into Bracebridge the showers shopped and gave us a wonderful 1.5 hour window to gather everyone at Bass Rock Park and do the shoot. I love this tiny park. It has a real Muskoka look and feel and is a real hidden gem with even some long time Bracebridge residents not knowing where it is. I have used it before to shoot bride and groom and wedding party shots for some of the weddings I have shot in Bracebridge and clients seem to love it’s mix of water, rock and pines. I have posted a few of the images from our session below.
Last year I was approached by some of the staff in the Obstetrics Unit at the West Parry Sound Health Centre to see if I would be interested in donating some baby and child prints to help brighten up the area. I selected three different types of images and had them enlarged and framed and then, after discussions with Lynne Atkinson, Executive Director of the Foundation for WPSHC, Bayshore Photography donated the three framed prints to the Foundation. The prints were strategically placed in the obstetrics unit and served to brighten the faces of the nurses, patients and visitors who passed them. Recently the OB unit was relocated and the prints are waiting to be rehung in the new OB unit. This should happen over the next few weeks. Shortly before the framed prints donation I was approached by a staff member in the physio department, whose wedding I shot in 2005, about them using one of my baby images on some of their physio print material. Again this seemed like a great opportunity to support the local hospital and to give back to the community, so I was happy to oblige and now one of my baby in mom’s hands shots if helping promote the physiotherapy department and the good work they do.
The images used in the framed prints donated to the Foundation and in the physio brochure are included below.
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of doing a series of business portraits for Dr. Lori Lahti and the associates and staff of Dentistry on the Bay, a modern, professional dental clinic located in Parry Sound Ontario. Dr. Lahti recently had an ultra modern clinic built to house her growing business and she was after a range of images of her associates and staff. As Dr. Lahti wanted white background for the images I took my portable back drop stands, a 12 foot roll of white backdrop paper, my Alien Bee studio lights , and other gear, into her clinic and we set up a portable studio in the front of the office and did the shoot during an extended lunch and business meeting that Dr. Lahti had scheduled. I opted to go for a white high key look and had a blast working with Dr. Lahti, and her team. These gals are high energy and high on life! We got some great images and I am sure that you will see many of them over time on the Dentistry on the Bay website and in Dr. Lahti’s print material. Below are a few of the images we captured. Thanks Lori, it was a fun shoot!
Continuing on with our 2009 wedding highlights was Sally and Jakub’s late November wedding in Parry Sound. Sally and her family have strong roots in the Parry Sound area so when she and Jakub fell in love they chose to have their wedding and start their married life together in Parry Sound. Sally and the girls got ready at Sally’s mother’s home in Parry Sound, and the ceremony took place in one of Parry Sound’s wonderful churches. Following the ceremony and receiving line we headed off to the Georgian Bay shoreline for some family, wedding party and couple alone shots. Several months earlier Sally and I had talked about how unpredictable the weather can be in late November. As it turned out we were very blessed as the day of the wedding was sunny, warm and very September like. Sally’s mother and father were married on exactly the same day several years before and they too had enjoyed almost identical amazing weather for their late November wedding day. Apparently good luck runs in the family! A small selection of images from Sally and Jakub’s day follow.
I do a lot of family portraits always have some favourites from each session. With Fathers day fast approaching I thought it would a good time to post a few of my favourite father and son and father and daughter images. Wishing a happy Fathers Day to all those fathers out there.
It’s always great to have repeat clients. Recently Barb Kerr, a popular financial consultant with Investors Group Financial Services Inc. in Parry Sound, called to say she wanted to get together to do an update of her business photographs. I had done some business images of Barb a few years earlier so I was happy to have the opportunity to work with her again. We found a date and time that worked for Barb’s busy schedule and did a range of in studio, head and shoulder style shots that would met the criteria set out by Investors Group head office. I often like to incorporate the outdoors and a range of poses in my photography, even in business shots, but in many situations, such as this one, businesses, have strict criteria regarding the type of shots that are used on their business site and publications e.g. (indoors, plain, solid color background, specific size, etc…). If you, your family or your friends would like to talk to some with a strong track record of helping people meet their financial goals give Barb a call at (705) 746-8753 or Toll Free 1-888-746- 1500, to arrange a no fee, no obligation consultation.
With the FIFA World Cup of THE GAME being held in South Africa this month it seemed like a good time to post a few travel photography shots I took during a working holiday in Cape Town, South Africa in 2009. Cape Town is an amazing city and it’s best known geographic feature is Table Mountain. The mountain’s table top like profile provides a striking backdrop to the city. One of the images below shows the mountain partly shrouded in cloud. This shot was taken across the bay from downtown Cape Town. Another image, taken just after the sun had set, shows the massive Cape Town stadium where many of the World Cup games will be played. At the time I was there the stadium was about 50% completed and workers were working 24/7 to ensure it would be finished in time for the big event.
Cape Town is a large, modern city with a real cosmopolitan vibe to it… but like many other parts of Africa I have explored it is a place of strong contrasts with many examples of both great wealth and extreme poverty. I wish it well as the World Cup focuses attention on this incredible part of the world.
Other examples of travel and wildlife photography from different parts of Africa as well as South America, can be found in the “Our World” galleries portfoilio section of the Bayshore Photography website. If you haven’t already done so please take a few minutes to check it out by following the link.
Images of Cape Town, South Africa_0077rswm
