The Knot

This was a good old family wedding at the Mt. Norquay Ski Lodge. Those are ALWAYS my favourite kinds of weddings. The ones with kids running around while the adults are just doing their thang. I have had such luck with my weddings lately--always with the threat of rain--and, this one was no exception. But, the rain held out until we were safe indoors for the reception. Then, the heavens blessed them with a downpour. I love that we were able to get blue sky photographs while the dark clouds sat there just out of frame. Truly such a beautiful day.

Big thanks to the wonderful make up by Jenna from Canmore Banff Makeup Artistry and hair by JK Hair Designs. 

Enjoy!

Dana

PS--make sure to enter my contest to win a free session :) just saying.

This is Happiness

Weddings are tough for me to blog. How do I narrow down roughly 2000 images into something I can share with everyone? What do you show? Have I said this before? I'm sure that I have said this before. ha.

So, for this wedding...I decided to just try and show you how the day felt to me. More than a little bit emotional with a dash of quirkiness and a giant belly laugh. I decided that is the perfect combination to describe 'happiness'. This bride had a couple of moment of nervousness, but, mostly, she radiated. She glowed. Especially during the ceremony. And, the groom, who was very concerned that things were perfect for her, would periodically look up at the crowd and beam. So...happiness. This is happiness.

Flowers by Blue Hydrangea(just saying...cause they did a gorgeous job).

Details

Sometimes I think people wonder what I am taking a photograph of. Family photographs are, of course, supposed to be a certain way. Even those people who know me and my crazy ways...who are used to sitting in front of my camera...sometimes wonder. The thing is, and many people don't understand this, to get the truly great photographs, there has to be a certain level of trust on both sides. My subjects have to trust me to capture things in a way that they find artistically pleasing, as well as, authentic to their own story. And, I have to trust them to show up. To come to a session not ready to behave, but ready to be themselves. It is a heavy demand on both sides the first time around. Lucky for me that most of my clients nowadays have been in front of my camera more than once. A lot of people think that photographers are all the same. That all they do is click a button and, for that, why should they be compensated much--especially enough to make a career out of it. It is so simple after all. Clicking that button. We all do it all the time with our phones. Heck, there are literally thousands of people begging you to hire them right now. A worldwide lovefest of photography has literally exploded across the world thanks to the latest and greatest technology. I got in early...I've been doing this clicking for almost 10 years(professionally for over 7). I am not going to beg you to hire me. What I am going to do is tell you that your family deserves more than photographs that tell you what you look like in your Sunday best. Even if you are sitting in a beautiful park setting or some propped up studio. There are so many photographers out there now that I think, should you decide to invest in family portraiture, you should, in fact, invest in photographs that speak to your heart. There are no rules anymore. And, there certainly is no reason for you to have mediocre memories created with a simple click. No matter how little they cost you.

Well...who knew that's what I was going to blog about on this early winter day? But, there you have it.

I wanted to show you these two lovely photographs. I love when a viewer can see that I was having an unspoken conversation with this little girl. She gave me 'the look'...the look like 'hey, I'm pretty gosh darn lucky here'. That look. I'm sure her parents were wondering what look she was giving me to cause me to quickly jump down and take this shot. I bet they wondered even more when I took the next shot. You see, as a storyteller, I know that sometimes the story can be seen in the details. And, in their handholding, you can see that there is love and peace in that family. Two beautiful things that deserve to be captured with a click.

~ Dana

Wake Me Up

When I was trying to think of a quote for this wonderful couple, I thought of this song. So, I thought I'd share the whole thing here...And, soon, I'll post their story. Cause it is worth seeing :)

Wake Me Up by Ed Sheeran

I should ink my skin with your name And take my passport out again And just replace it See I could do without a tan On my left hand, Where my fourth finger meets my knuckle And I should run you a hot bath And fill it up with bubbles

'Cause maybe you're loveable And maybe you're my snowflake And your eyes turn from green to gray In the winter I'll hold you in a cold place And you should never cut your hair 'Cause I love the way you flick it off your shoulder

And you will never know Just how beautiful you are to me But maybe I'm just in love When you wake me up

And would you ever feel guilty if you did the same to me? Could you make me a cup of tea to open my eyes in the right way? And I know you love Shrek ‘Cause we've watched it 12 times But maybe you're hoping for a fairy tale too And if your DVD breaks today You should've got a VCR Because I've never owned a Blue ray, true say

And now I always been shit at computer games And your brother always beats me And if I lost, I’d go across and chuck all the controllers at the TV And then you’d laugh at me And be asking me If I'm gonna be home next week And then you'd lie with me 'til I fall asleep And flutter eye lash on my cheek between the sheets

And you will never know Just how beautiful you are to me But maybe I'm just in love When you wake me up

And I think you hate the smell of smoke You always try to get me to stop But you drink as much as me And I get drunk a lot So I'll take you to the beach And walk along the sand And I'll make you a heart pendant With a pebble held in my hand And I'll carve it like a necklace So the heart falls where your chest is And now a piece of me is a piece of the beach And it falls just where it needs to be And rests peacefully So you just need to breathe To feel my heart against yours now, against yours now

‘Cause maybe I'm just in love when you wake me up Or maybe I'm just in love when you wake me up Maybe I fell in love when you woke me up

~ Dana