Photography Blog

Today is the 50th anniversary Earth Day.

What are you doing for Earth Day?

Did you learn about bees by clicking on Google’s Doodle today?

Here are a few fun facts about honey bees:
Honey bees fly at around 25KM per hour and flap their wings 200 times a minute!
The queen bee can live up to 5 years, whereas the worker bees only live an average of 5-6 weeks, during which she will produce 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey.
In some areas, up to 90% of colonies have disappeared. Nobody knows why, but they call it colony collapse disorder.
They are attracted to plants with lots of nectar, like lavender and bluebells, so plant those if you want to attract them. Also, buy local honey.

Source: National Geographic KidsToday, we are eating vegetarian meals all day.  Here are the environmental advantages of eating vegetarian:

Environment

Even if you don’t go veggie, cutting back on meat helps.  We are going to have Real Food for Real Kid‘s chickpea chowder for dinner.  We have been ordering from them throughout the pandemic. Ordering local and supporting small businesses is another great thing to do for the earth.  I also order my prints and albums from Fotobox, which is a local professional lab.

Also, check out my friend Jannis’ fashion design company  Olio Eco Clothing. My mom bought me one of her pieces about a decade ago and I still wear it regularly (along with other pieces I have purchased from her).

Of course, we are not planning on driving today either! The 5 of us are currently living in an 800 square foot condo, which is environmentally better than living in a large space (but not quite as practical). My mom sold her house, we sold ours and we are moving into one together, so that will reduce our combined emissions significantly too.

Here are some great Earth Day learning activities from the Toronto Conservation Authority.

At Home With Nature: TRCA e-Learning

Here is the official Earth Day website:

Homepage

Here is a composite photo of my daughter with the world in her eyes.

World Photo Credit:

Image by PIRO4D from Pixabay

Seeing the world

Courtney and Riley were married at the beautiful Westover Inn, in St. Mary’s, ON. Although they both live in Toronto, Riley grew up in St. Mary’s.

I met Courtney and Riley a few years ago at the home of our mutual friends.  Shortly after that, they offered to babysit our kids (!) and it was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Courtney and Riley met each other at karaoke and he was smitten when she sang a Rush song.

They have made for an incredible couple ever since, with Courtney constantly going for (and achieving) every goal she sets her mind to and Riley being inspired by her and going for his.  As you can see from the photos, they also make each other smile.

Riley is a percussionist who now often plays with the Chris Antonik band (as well as many others) and Courtney is a woman of so many talents I don’t even know where to start. She just completed her camera trainee program but has already worked as a best girl (in the film industry), artist, musician, etc.

I am so honoured they asked me to photograph their wedding. I know they were a bit unsure of what to do, because my husband I were also invited as guests, but I love being the photographer too because I get to be with the couple (in this case, already friends), for the whole day!  The best part of being a wedding photographer is being able to go behind the scenes with them on the most important day of their lives so far.

Courtney’s best man Stefan Kuchar, runs the Sudden Impulse Film Festival. It is happening again on the 21 of September (this Saturday), so grab your tickets now! Live music and short, local films.  I will be attending for the third time on Saturday.  Courtney and Riley have a short film in this year’s festival. I can’t wait to see it!

You can check out their band here: https://www.facebook.com/CRExtraordinaire/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Courtney and Riley were very glad they ordered the biggest tent with the largest dance floor, because as you can see, their friends love to dance!  Their friend Saiorse Morgan did a fantastic job DJing and keeping the party going until the very end. Courtney met her at karaoke and it was her first, but I am sure not last, time DJing a wedding.

Thanks again for having us at your incredible wedding, Courtney and Riley!  I can’t wait to hear what your next adventure will bring, but first we look forward to your film in the Sudden Impulse Film Festival!

 

 

 

 

 

 

King Riding Golf Club recommended me to Jade and Philip and I am so glad they did, because they are beautiful people both outside and in.  Every time Jade and I talked before the wedding, we talked about all kinds of things like traveling, Harry Potter, Disney and dogs.  They have dogs (of course), she works at two vet clinics and in the speeches there was talk of how when Philip was in high school, he saw a stray dog and pulled over to rescue it, managing to do so even though it was growling at him.  Jade and Philip met through mutual friends in high school and everyone was waiting for this day to happen!  My streak of only photographing couples in great weather continued for them as it poured rain before we went outside and was warm and beautiful for the rest of the day, thank goodness, because the ceremony was outdoors!

 

 

 

 

C

 

Joan and Rob’s wedding took place at the beautiful Glenerin Inn, in Mississauga and once again, we lucked out with perfect weather.

I had a great time photographing Joan and Rob for their engagement photos at James Gardens and I knew their wedding would be awesome too.

They included their nieces and nephews in the bridal party and their ceremony was extra special because Joan’s sister and her husband sang before it began.  The keyboard player started working as an organist in the UK shortly after this event!

Rob and Joan both had huge smiles throughout the day and as you can see from the photos, they laughed at regular intervals.

During the speeches, we learned that Joan managed to keep her initial dates with Rob a secret, but that didn’t last too long.  We also learned of Rob’s Google-like memory.

Every time I see these two, they are smiling at each other and they definitely bring out each other’s inner child.  They even went to Disney World for their honeymoon!

 

 

 

 

Stephanie and John had their wedding at The Albany Club in downtown Toronto.

Stephanie got ready in the bridal suite before the ceremony began and it mostly went off without incident, at least until she was pinning the boutonniere on her grandpa and we heard a “BEEEEEEP.”  Nobody could figure out where the alarm was coming from and then finally, her grandpa said, “Oh, that’s my defibrillator.”  I was worried Stephanie was going to have a heart attack when she worried about her grandpa, but they put it on the other side (it had a magnet) and all was well. Phew!

I went outside, where John’s brother was serenading all the guests and people on King St. with his bagpipes. He is 1/2 of 416 Pipes. They can often be seen outside Blue Jays games and play many songs that would not be considered traditional piping material (like the Flinstones theme song, for instance).|

Stephanie’s youngest sister walked her down the aisle, where she and John laughed and smiled throughout the ceremony and continued upstairs during the cocktail reception and when we went outside to the St. James Cathedral gardens for photos of the happy couple and bridal party.

There were many pigeons outside with us and you can spot them in a few of the outdoor photos, so have a close look!

At the reception, tenor Nathan Martin came to sing many songs for them, including a very heartfelt and lovely song Elizabeth (John’s mom) wrote to the tune of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” that was specifically about John and Stephanie.

After lunch, speeches and music, we went upstairs and took formal portraits of the whole family before everyone parted ways, delighted for Stephanie and John.

 

 

I won’t use their full names to protect them, but R and O were sponsored by Royal York United Church to come over as refugees, because in Jamaica, it is still unfortunately very dangerous to love someone who is the same gender as you are.  Just a couple of months after they came over, they were ready to get married and their wedding came together very quickly.  This never could have happened in Jamaica, but in Canada, everyone was happy to help their wedding dream come true.

Here is O making sure his hair is perfect for the big day.

 

 

 

A couple of weeks ago, I did a day of Easter photo sessions. This was my second time in 18 years of business, doing themed photo sessions and it went extremely well, so I think I will do it again! Is this something you would be interested in doing?
These kids were super adorable and amazingly, we didn’t need to do any retakes, even though each session was just 20 minutes long.
I loved seeing and photographing so many adorable kids in one day and I am happy their parents will be able to enjoy these photos of them forever, and of course, the kids will love them too. Are your kids favourite photos the ones of themselves?  I remember flipping through my parents photo albums when I was little and I think all those memories are what prompted me to want to be a photographer.
I hope you have a fantastic Easter (or Passover if you are Jewish), weekend this year!

I first met Rachel over 15 years ago at a dance because she made a comment about my hair, which is the same colour and texture as hers.  We became fast friends and she even introduced me to Janette, who was her Maid of Honour and my photography associate for many years.  Rachel dated extensively, but it wasn’t until she met Jay that she was ready to make that final commitment.

She was single for awhile, and some friends joked with her that she should go downstairs to the barber shop (which she lived above) and meet a man there.  That was how she met Jay.

We were all thrilled for Rachel when Jay proposed.

He is quiet most of the time, but when the party starts, he is in the middle of it. Rachel needs someone who can listen well and keep up with her and she found that in Jay.

Congratulations, Jay and Rachel!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rob and Joan were hoping for fall colours for their engagement session at James Gardens. It was only 2 degrees celsius, but we definitely had fall colours. I made sure they cuddled lots for the photos to stay warm and of course, cuddling looks good in romantic photos. They took me to parts of James Gardens I hadn’t been to in awhile and the colours and their chemistry were incredible. I first went there over a decade ago and this was the first time I learned that it was sold to the city by the James family and that the house they lived in is still there and is now used as a recreational facility.

Thanks for choosing such a lovely spot and time of year for your photos, Rob and Joan!