As we welcome a new year, and look forward to all the engagements and weddings coming our way (our own included), it’s fun to look back at how eventful 2015 was for us! It was a year of firsts, as we shot our first Persian and Indian ceremonies, our very first and very special maternity shoot, and introduced our raucous PebbleBooth. We travelled north for weddings in Kitimat, west for weddings all over Vancouver Island, south to Portland for leisure, and east to Ontario for visiting loved ones. 2015 also marks a year where I got to flex more of my photography muscles as I took on my role as second shooter, after a couple years in a mostly assisting role.

In this post, I’ll write about a lot of the highlights for me this year as a wedding photographer, share some of my favourite shots, and talk about moments in wedding days that stood out for me. Narrowing this list to 15 highlights was a bit agonizing, because I can picture about 200 highlights I would love to blab about, from every single shoot we did this year! Thanks to all the amazing couples who trusted us so graciously with capturing their story, you were all so fantastic!

So, without further adieu:

^ “Soft light, in commanding spaces.”
This shot from Darlene and Rob’s second-day shoot has been one of my favourites. Landscape photography was my first love, and after being introduced to wedding photography, I get unimaginably excited when I am in a situation of combining the two of them. The light at this time of day was perfect for creating dimension in the mountainous background, and cascading a sliver of light across Darlene and Rob’s faces, softly highlighting a gentle moment between them.

^ “Let there be light!”
As a dynamic duo, Matt and I often split up to capture bride prep and groom prep separately – Matt goes to the girls, while I usually hang with the guys. It’s common at weddings for brides to have amazing prep space; tidy and spacious, and filled with natural light. These are the best conditions for doing hair and makeup well. Grooms don’t always get the same degree of luxury. I felt really treated walking into Kyle’s hotel room to be greeted by so much space and light. Light is a photographer’s best friend. Kyle’s groom prep photos ended up being some of my strongest this year because I was able to work the space, angles, and light to get some really creative shots. One of my favourites is this semi-silhouetted shot of him looking in the mirror, with only a sliver of light to highlight his eye.

^ “The moments between.”
I love this smiling shot of Halyna and Jason during their engagement session because it’s so natural. When we work with couples, it’s often their first time with a professional photographer. They almost always ask us, “You’re going to tell us how to pose, right?” One of my favourite things as a photographer is capturing that moment right after they break from a “pose” or a kiss, and have a connection, a laugh, or even just a glimpse at each other.

^ “Curious elements.”
I liked this photo because of its ambiguity and its subtle hint at the couple. It’s easy to spot love in a photo of the faces of a smiling happy couple, but I like to take less obvious photos, that may just include an element of the couple within their surroundings.

^ “Sometimes I’m just plain f**king lucky. Fact.”
I do most of the ring photos at our weddings because it’s something I really enjoy. It’s like shooting tiny landscapes to me. During Jimmy and Esther’s wedding at VanDusen, I wandered into the garden to capture their rings amongst these funky purple flowers. I got pretty excited when the bee landed in the frame as I was shooting. Then, I got a million more times excited when, during one brief flash of a second, the flower waved in the wind just enough to catch the sunlight just right, flashing a spectrum of light into my lens.

^ “Going with the flow..ing gown”.
2014 was a year of perfect wedding weather. No rain, mild sun, and comfortable temperature at all our weddings. 2015 was a wild card. We saw wind (Lindsay and Darren’s wedding), thunderstorms (Char and Josh’s engagement), and blazing heat (Tamara and Mike, Tarilyn and Joel, Heather and Kyle) we couldn’t have imagined. While these things weren’t planned for, we ended up very thankful as the dramatic weather created some of our most interesting photos to date. We always feel so fortunate to work with couples who are so willing to go with the flow and have a fantastic time together!

^ “Bringing the heat.”
As photographers we love to be story illustrators. We are always ecstatic when clients trust us enough to let us in on those intimate parts of their story, to capture it best. Kara and Kirby told us that it was important to them that their engagement photos capture their personalities and their passion. And oh baby, did they have passion! I walked away from their session really feeling like we captured exactly what they were hoping for, and it felt amazing! I loved a lot of the flirty silhouettes I captured, and of course, this up-close-and-personal shot of the two of them in an embrace. The sliver of light across Kara’s lips. The playful grin on Kirby’s face. His fingers tangled in her hair as he grabs her head to pull her in for a fiery kiss. Hot dang, you guys!

^ “It’s in the details.”
Lindsay and Darren were a couple who evidently put a lot of thought into how they wanted to style their day, and tried to make each detail personal – for them, and for their guests. What topped it off was how much effort they made to use local vendors. That really stood out to me. This shot of Darren perfectly and carefully tying his shoes is one of my favourite groom prep photos because, for me, it shows a lot of the head to toe details, and emulates the care and tediousness they put into planning the entire day.

^ “The wanderer.”
As the second shooter, I get the opportunity to look at situations from a lot of different angles. While Matt is working on a shot with a couple, I often sneak around to find different vantage points. I loved shooting a lot of silhouettes this year, and particularly liked this photo of a moment between Tarilyn and Joel. I got to tie in a lot of my favourite elements of photography to create a real setting – the soft light, silhouettes, mountainous and ocean backgrounds, an ambiguous and not-so-obvious subject, and a little bit of luck as a bird flew through the shot.

^ “Framed by nature.”
This photo of Kaylee and Travis stands out for me this year because I got to shoot it embraces my style of shooting, in one of my most absolute favourite places – the deep, dark woods. Shooting through the lush foliage on a wet day brought the greenery to life, which seemed to create the perfect contrast against Kaylee’s white gown, and the purple in her hair and Travis’s suit to make them pop out of the frame.

^ “Smiling eyes.”
This photo is one of my favourites because every time I see it I wonder, “What is Pegah thinking right this very second?” I am infatuated by people who smile so greatly that it reaches their eyes. It’s the most genuine way people express their happiness. If you saw Pegah and Kyle’s wedding photos, you’ll know that they did not take their eyes off of each other the entire day, and that they seemed to speak to each other just with looks. Even in this very rare instance where Pegah is glancing away, her smiling eyes never faded.

^”Love is colourful thing.”
Ramiza and Aaron’s dual wedding ceremony was a huge highlight for me. Their Indian ceremony was rich with every colour in the spectrum, alive with dancing, and rich with blessing. It looked the way a heart feels when it’s exclaiming love. This simple shot of Ramiza aligning her rings during her Indian ceremony, really highlighted the vibrantly contrasting colours of her gown, gold embroidered accents, and her intricate mehndi.

^ “We did it!”
It’s easy to tell you that the endless amount of candid moments at weddings are the most amazing. Darlene and Rob had an eventful day, which postponed their wedding ceremony by a number of hours. However when it came down to it, their ceremony had perfect light, happy guests, and an elated bride and groom. I absolutely love this shot of Darlene skipping giddily, and Rob happily charging down the aisle holding hands. It really shows that no matter what else happens that day, you’ve got each other, and that’s why you’re there.

^ “Dreamy scenes.”
As a second shooter I am always consciously aware of the space I occupy. I try to find unique angles while not becoming a huge obstruction to guests, Matt, and videographers. In doing this, I’ve inadvertently developed one of my favourite aspects of my shooting style. At weddings I’m often the shadowy figure ducking behind a table of glasses, squatting between the legs of guests, or lying belly on the ground to get some of my shots. At Tamara and Mike’s engagement shoot, lying belly on the ground allowed me to silhouette the couple while turning the foreground into a dreamscape of dandelion puffs. It also allowed me to stretch out my body past the limits of my shirt seams…effectively rendering my dress sleeveless. But you know how it goes – “do anything to get the shot!”

^ “Finishing on a (up-) high note.”
Tanya and John were arguably our most goofy couple. In lieu of cuddly and kissy photos, they wanted a fun-loving carnival engagement session that really highlighted their love of laughter. We were totally on board for the ride(s). As Matt climbed on the octo-whirl with Tanya and John, I stood on firm ground to try to get a lucky shot of the couples faces as they spun around. I was lucky to get this single, unobstructed, clear shot of both their beaming smiles before Tanya’s bursts of laughter turned to whimpers of queasiness, and it is one of my favourite shots from the entire day. Thanks for making the sacrifice, Tanya!

BONUS Highlight!!
I get a bonus because I said so. Since this isn’t a wedding or engagement photo, it doesn’t count as a “Fave 15 Wedding and Engagement Highlights” and therefore is it’s own category and is being included. This is a shot from our maternity session with Andrea and Eddie, my soon-to-be in-laws. This session was definitely a highlight for the year for a few reasons. If you’re from Vancouver you probably will recognize this area as Whytecliff Park. It’s called Whytecliff a reason. Yes, that’s right, a then-8-month-pregnant Andrea poised herself gracefully on the edge of the cliff for us to capture this semi-silhouetted photo of her, with the setting sun softly highlighting her baby bump. The low light, her gentle smile, and the smooth ocean, to me, seem to just set a very peaceful mood in this image.

Thanks for having a look at a few of my favourite highlights! I’m really looking forward to all the memories to be made in 2016!

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