*Cans for Comments Update: It’s been a week of C4C and we are up to 31 comments, meaning 31 cans collect for the London Food Bank. I really want to say cheers to you all, I’m absolutely lovin’ this!*

Yesterday I jumped in the car and headed to Toronto to meet up with Aleen and Luke for their engagement session. Although The Weather Network lied to me the night before, promising me “Partially Cloudy” when in fact we got “Partially Sunny”…Hell, make that down right dark over cast…It still turned out to be a great session.

I am liking the FujiFilm Instax for my sneak peaks so I thought I would continue and make it a regular thing. So stay tuned for the full post.

Real quick….Cans for Comments is going amazingly well and I want to thank everyone for showing the love and helping out by leaving their kind words. It is only day 4 and at last count we are looking at 18 comments…Don’t forget to check out the Cans for Comments post and help out all the other great shooters taking part in C4C

I have actually teased you a few time with pictures of Kaily and TJ. First it was with some fun iPhone shots and then with their Instax Sneak Peek. This time it’s for real people!

I was REALLY looking forward to shooting with Kaily and TJ. Like I have mentioned before, I work with Kaily’s dad at the dreaded day job and TJ use to work their as well. These two are a classic couple, both extremely cool and with a real style all their own. Have you ever meet one of those couples that just seem like they have been together for like 50 years and are still in total love? Well that’s TJ and Kaily. Watching them during the shoot as well as at a few of Kaily’s old man’s parties, I have seen the love in their eyes. The way Kaily gives TJ the “LOOK” when he does something especially goofy…..or the “What did I do?” expression TJ gets after seeing that “LOOK”. They are a great couple, I had a killer time with them on this shoot and I’m super psyched about their wedding day.

There is one thing about hiring a wedding photographer that you will not experience any where else (that I know of) and that is you never really get what you pay for….Well, let me rephrase that, you never get what you pay for at the time of actually hiring the photographer. Ummm that doesn’t sound good either, let me explain.

Just imagine you go to your local Ford dealership and buy a Focus, but when you show up to pick up your new wheels the salesperson hands you the keys to a Mustang Shelby GT500 (Sorry ladies, I am a guy you know…so car analogies it is). Well that is what you get when you hire a wedding photographer.

You see, you are hiring your photographer a good year in advance. You are seeing the work they are producing TODAY, but what you will get is what they will be producing a year from now. That’s 12 months to practice and refine their technique and style. How much can 12 months do? Well look at California based wedding photographer Bonnie Tsang

Ms Tsang is at the top of my list of favorite photographers, I just adore pretty much every picture she makes, but it hasn’t always been like that. A few months ago I was talking with a few fellow photographers who belong to an online community with myself and Bonnie. The topic of Bonnie happened to come up and a link to Bonnie’s very first blog was mentioned. I was curious so I clicked it. I wasn’t really surprised with what I saw, the images looked about how I would have expected from a beginner. But what did completely floor me was how old the blog was. Considering the difference in the quality of the images, I figured this work had to be at least 3 years old….They weren’t 3 years old, they were only 12 months old!
It has only been 18 months now since Bonnie joined the ranks of wedding photographers, already she is being featured in magazines and the most popular wedding blogs on the net, not to mention being hired to do wedding from New York to Hawaii. Can you image what she will be doing in 5 years?!

So how much of a difference does 12 months make? A whole hell of a lot if you have hired the right photographer.

Side Note: Bonnie also does an amazing little food blog, so if you are interested in seeing pictures of saliva inducing food and hip little eateries, head on over and check it out.

Nothing feels better then when you go out of your way to help your fellow man….Nothing make me happier the hearing from my readers…..This got me thinking, why not mash up the two and get a double whammy!

In 2008 Chris+Lynn, an amazing Vancouver duo, started the Cans for Comments campaign raising 221 cans. On top of that tons of photographers from around the world joined in helping out their local food banks. This year I have decided to join in on the fun.

Here’s how it works. For every comment you leave on any of my blog posts from today to December 15, I will donate one canned product to the London Food Bank.

Now trust me, the food bank needs all the help it can get! Doing a little research I found out that this year with all the financial problems and job losses, the food bank is getting hit extra hard. More and more people are turning to the food bank to get meals on the table. In March roughly 800,000 people visited their local food banks (Yep….5 ZERO people!), that is an increase of 120,000 compared to 2008.

As this thing gathers steam, I will be adding a list of fellow photographers from around the world who are showing the love and taking part in Cans for Comments. So why not be a pal and head on over, check out their awesome work and leave some love of your own. This may not heal the world, but putting one meal in front of even one kid this year makes it all worth it to me.

List of kick ass, love showing photographers:
Kristel Wyman
Think Photographics
Andrea Murphy Photography
Tracey L Heppner
Mike Murrow
Rowell Photography
Erica May Short
White Album Weddings
Crystal Genes
Amy Karp
Shandro Photo
Smiles From Mel

If you are a photographer doing Cans for Comments as well, just make sure to pipe up in the comments of this post and I will add you to the list.

Now to get the comments rolling, here is my favorite shot from David and Ashley’s wedding that for some reason never made it to the blog…..I promise, I wasn’t holding out on you!

I like to believe when I first met Katie and Deryk, we just clicked…..I would say that they would agree seeing that they signed me on the spot! Katie completely won me over when she announced that besides the wedding dress the photography was number 2 on her list of priorities at the wedding. I would have liked being number one, but hey, EVERYTHING comes second to the dress!

A few Sundays ago I got together with Katie and Deryk to take a little tour around the country side. Katie had all the locations lined up and to tell you the truth, I couldn’t have picked better locations myself. It would also appear that my luck with weather also extends to peoples health. Katie emailed me about a week before our session saying that they may have to reschedule because she was fighting a nasty bug. I really don’t know if it was my luck or if Katie is just that tough, but come our shoot date Katie was good to go. Either way, were cranked out some great shots in my opinion and with Katie and Deryk’s wedding in June, it’s looking like 2010 is going to be an amazing year!

Last week I picked up a little addition to my equipment arsenal, a Fujifilm Instax 200 (think modern Polaroid). I’ve never been a huge instant photography fan, but after seeing what the Instax turns out I became very interested.

Earlier today I was in Cambridge to shoot Kaily and TJ’s engagement session and the new member of the family tagged along to play. I absolutely love the results and thought they would be perfect for Kaily and TJ’s sneak peek post.

Stay tuned for the rest of the session coming soon.

Last Sunday I got to spend the afternoon with Katie & Deryk…..I’m enjoying being a tease with these sneak peeks so I thought I would continue the trend with Katie and Deryk’s engagement.

Stay tuned for the rest.

I’d really like to know what goes through my head sometimes. For some reason i always find myself sitting at the computer till 3 in the morning doing up a post. I had every intention of just editing and going to bed like any other sane, rational person would if they had to wake at 5:30 am.

This time though, I do have an excuse…

Last month I headed out to Grand Bend to photograph Chantal and Josh’s engagement session. I was really looking forward to working with these guys, they are such a laid back, super cool couple.

We did a little tour around the Grand Bend area hitting the beach, a farmers field, the local drive-in and ending the trip at Chantal’s parents house in the country. Both the ceremony and the reception are to be held here (have I said how much I love outdoor weddings yet?) and I am super excited for their wedding day after seeing this amazing chunk of land. Fake outhouses, rusted old Ford pickups and paths through a huge garden all add up to photo nirvana.

It was a complete pleasure to hang out with the both of them and if you enjoy the pictures even a quarter as much as I did taking them then I did my job……..

Cheers!

Here’s a little teaser for Chantal and Josh’s engagement session……Keep you eye’s peeled for the full post.