On May 29, 2010 I had the pleasure of working with Samantha, Curtis, their friends and family while shooting their wedding at Delta Rocky Crest Resort on beautiful Lake Joseph in the heart of Parry Sound/Muskoka. Sam and the girls got ready in one of Rocky Crest’s great suites. The ceremony was outdoors on the resort’s lake side dock and was followed by cocktails on the patio overlooking the lake. After doing the family shots, Sam, Curtis, the wedding party and I were whisked off on golf carts to the grounds surrounding the club house. We got a wide range of interesting shots and then let the wedding party return to the cocktails while Sam, Curtis and I had a blast getting some great, married couple, alone for the first time shots. We ended off the couple alone series at the far end of the small lake at the back of the resort and then headed over to the large tent for the reception. I got wide range of shots of the guests, head table and speeches and of course, Sam and Curtis’s reactions to all the festivities. Before leaving I got Sam and Curtis outside one last time for some muskoka chair shots in the evening light. Sam and Curtis are heading off to Italy for an amazing honey moon and I will have their images waiting for them on their return. I have posted a few of their images below so they can see them while traveling. Enjoy Italy guys!
While a great deal of my photography work is weddings and portraits, I frequently get calls from a wide assortment of folks images asking me to shoot for a diverse range of purposes, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise a two years ago to get a call from Elizabeth Steinebach, a stained glass artisan based in Orrville, Ontario. Elizabeth was looking for quailty images of some of her stained glass lamps to enter in the annual calendar contest held by the America Stained Glass Lamp Artists (ASGLA) and wondered if I could help her out. Due to the reflective characteristics of the stained glass when the lamps were lit she had been unable to find anyone who could get high quality images of the lamp she wanted to submit to the competition. I told Elizabeth that although I had done a range of commercial/product photography this would be a bit different but I was willing to give it a shot. I ended up getting Elizabeth to leave her lamps with me and after some experimenting with various lighting arrangements I was able to get some good shots of her lamps. I recently found out that one of the Maple Leaf design lamp images that I had taken for Elizabeth had been selected for the December page of the 2010 calendar put out by the American Stained Glass Lamp Artists. This is a great honor for Elizabeth and I was pleased to learn that my image had helped in the process!
A while after doing the lamp images for Elizabeth called again and had me take some images of a huge stained glass window with a rose design that she did for the church in Orrville. It was another challenging shoot. It was mid winter and the lighting through the clear parts of the glass showed some background from the building next to the church. We ended up using a tall ladder and some huge drop cloths I had brought with me and hanging them from the eves of the Church roof to block out the nearby buildings. I am sure passers by figured we we out of our mind.
Elizabeth recently held an exhibition at the Old Log Cabin Inn highlighting the endangered nature of some of the specialty stained glass she works with and I have included two of those pieces below (the wildlife pieces).
I met up with Elizabeth recently at her home and studio to look at the calendar and get a shot of her. I was absolutely blown away by one of the wonderful stained glass creations she showed me. Called “We Worship” the piece is over 23 inches across (0ver 31 in the oak frame) and it in addition to it’s striking design, it features pieces of glass with one and two inch bevels, flash, crackle and gold point glass. I have included a photo of Elizabeth with this amazing creation in the selection of images below.
You can see much more of Elizabeth’s work on her website at www.steinebach.ca Take a look at Elizabeth’s site, you won’t be disappointed!
Another highlight from 2009 weddings was Jason and Carrie-Lynn’s fabulous Muskoka wedding at Delta Rocky Crest Resort. This couple put a lot of thought and effort into their special day, starting off the night before the wedding with a mexican theme party that got things rolling. This was followed the next day with a the girls getting ready in one of the resort’s luxury condos. The wedding took place on the resort’s dock on Lake Joseph, with the guys coming in on a pontoon boat. We did a range of family and wedding party shots near the clubhouse and then the sky made it clear the weather was changing and it was about to get very wet! We regrouped over at the condo and got a wide range of shots before heading over to the reception area. The reception area was decorated in an amazing, classy style. After the dinner, speaches and first dances, Jason, Carrie-Lynn and I stole off for a bit to get some great outdoor night time images that captured some of the passion this couple share for each other.
More highlights from 2009 weddings… Carissa and Matt share a strong love for each other as well as a passion for the outdoors. They live and work in the Parry Sound area where Matt is a Park Warden at Massasauga Provincial Park and Carissa helps keep things under control at the local office of the Ministry of the Natural Resources. Carissa grew up on a lake just south of Parry Sound and has strong family ties to the Parry Sound area. When selecting a setting for their special wedding day photos it was important to both of them that the locations reflected the importance of the outdoors in their lives. The Georgian Bay shoreline fit the bill as you will see below in a few of the images I have selected from their wedding day.
Here’s a wee change of pace from the wedding, portrait work. Sunday evening, May 23, 2010 I have some free time, my wife Grace had headed off to do a night shift in OB at our local hospital and Georgian Bay was calling me. I grabbed one of my DSLRs, my 24-105 L, F 4, IS lens, and hoped on the seadoo. Less than a minute later I was surrounded still waters, a waining sun and some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Sometimes we take for granted what we have in our own backyard! If you’d like to see some of my travel/people/scenery images from some of the other amazing places around the world follow this link to the portfolio gallery on my website. There are three “Our World” galleries with a selecton of images from a few of the wonderful places I have visited and worked in. Georgian Bay doesn’t take a back seat to any of them. ENJOY!
Angela and Shawn got married on May 8, 2010 at the Stockey Centre in Parry Sound. They had planned on an outdoor ceremony on the back deck, overlooking the Big Sound of Georgian Bay but the weather Grinch had other ideas. When the wind came up and the snow made it clear that it was going to pelt down for some time, they opted for an inside ceremony. After the ceremony the snow and wind was still not co-operating so we opted to play on the upper balcony level and got some great images. Because Angela and Shawn had their hearts set on some great outdoor shots I met up with them the next morning and we get some couple alone shots using the great rocks and water that dominate the local landscape as a backdrop. A selection of images from Angela and Shawn’s day follow.
Another highlight from 2009 weddings was Cynthia and Fred’s wedding in the heart of Muskoka at The Rosseau – AJW Marriott Resort and Spa. I first met Cynthia and Fred in 2008 when they had me do their engagement shoot at Killbear Provincial Park. We had a great time and got some wonderful shots of them and their two dogs. In 2009 I worked with Cynthia and Fred again shooting their wedding at the Marriott on Lake Rosseau. Cynthia spent all her summers growing up on the Muskoka Lakes so getting married overlooking Lake Rosseau was a natural for her and Fred. A small selection of shots from Cynthia and Fred’s wedding day follow.
Yesterday I did a post about Sandy MacIntryre and the celtic group “Steeped in Tradition”. Today I want to profile the great corporate event planning and production company – Flip Event and Meeting Planning Inc. that designed the evening. I shoot a fair number of corporate events and this one was one of the nicest I have seen, everything was done in a Celtic theme with even the resort staff servicing the event wearing celtic garb. Below are a few more images from the event, including one of Joan, one of Flip Event’s key people and the piper, both in full celtic dress. Flip Events is based in both the GTA and Muskoka and provides a wide range of services, including event planning and production, event design, entertainment and team building.
Recently I was photographing a special event for a corporate client and I had the pleasure of hearing, seeing and photographing Sandy MacIntrye and the group “Steeped in Tradition”. Sandy and the group are orginally from Cape Breton and they play a stirring brand of traditional Cape Breton fiddle music. Sandy has been playing stiring Celtic music for over forty years and is a well know player and teacher of Cape Breton fiddling having performed and conducted workshops throughout the USA, Canada and abroad. As the evening got started the magical celtic sounds filled the hall we were in and had everyone moving to the music. In keeping with the celtic theme of the event there were three great stepdancers an awesome piper and a full assortment of celtic decorations. A few images from the evening follow. Kate Felsman assisted me with the shoot and took some of the room decor shots I have posted below.
Continuing with highlights from 2009 weddings…. Jenn grew up near Parry Sound and she and Ryan both love the rugged beauty of the area so they selected Stockey Center as the venue for their wedding. I connected with Jenn and her gals in the later stages of them getting ready at her Mother’s home close to Killbear Provincial Park and we got some great shots of the gals getting ready and then all done up. Then with the weather co-operating Jenn and Ryan had a great ceremony on the back deck of the Stockey Center, overlooking the Big Sound portion of Georgian Bay. Following the ceremony and family shots we headed off to an area we had selected for shots of the wedding party and of the newly married couple. Everyone had a blast as we rambled over the rocky outcrops with the Bay shimmering in the background. Jenn and Ryan had their reception in the main hall at the Stockey center and in keeping with the northern theme had their wedding cake designed in the shape of an inukshuk. A selection of shots from their day follow.
