I was very excited to see that Melissa had chosen an infrared image as her favourite:

“So, we are more than happy to help!!!! But it is completely unfair that we have to pick just one!!!!!!!

We have to pick the infrared photo of us walking on the hill with the light reflection in the left hand corner. We absolutely love the this photo. At first it appears to be a simple photo that captures your interest with the vast land­scape and rich texture of the trees and the clouds.

But then looking closer you happen to notice the people in the photo. It is just the two of us taking the time to slow down and enjoy a quiet moment together. While this is a great photo that stands on its own, to us it means so much more, and symbolizes all the memories that we have from that great day.

We really can’t thank you enough for capturing our thoughts and feelings as well as the little things that we would have forgot about.”

Interestingly, my favourite image from their wedding was taken about 3 minutes before this one, as they wound up the path towards Champlain Point:

I have a thing for panoramic images, and this one works so well with the magical light and the cool geometry.

…Mike

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George wrote back to let me know of his favourite image:

““My favorite photo is this one of Gillian and I, with the great bokeh. Dark, romantic and intense. A private moment amongst 30 of our favorite people. This is how I remember our wedding night. With all eyes upon us, our nervousness at it’s peak, we shared a private moment, and Mike was there to capture it perfectly. You can feel the intensity of the moment with this photo.”

Gillian and George had an intimate wedding in a small location, and it was chal­lenging to create candid imagery in such close quarters. But I did capture this image, and it is my fave from their wedding:

…Mike

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ps. George gets extra points for using the word “Bokeh” correctly in a sentence

The next entry in the Favourite Image project is Pete, who wrote back to tell me about this image of his wife Emma shortly after their ceremony:

“This is a favourite photo from our wedding. Not only is it a beau­ti­fully composed photo­graph, but it also captures an excellent candid moment during the day. The juxta­po­sition between the formality of the wedding dress, the casu­alness of the outdoor setting and the bottle of Stella I think perfectly sums up Emma, us and our day. Not only that, but the photo creates a connection to Emma’s youth as she grew up in Belgium right next to the town that produces Stella Artois!”

This is one of my top images from their wedding as well, but for me, the #1 image has no competition:

I try to capture person­al­ities, and with Emma and Pete this was easy…they are a lot of fun and very outdoorsy, so when we saw a field with a horse, they grabbed a crabapple from teh ground, went right over and made a new friend! I remember it all happening very quickly, and I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time!

…Mike

Kelly + Trevor

I did a newborn session with Kelly and Trevor shortly after the arrival of their son Finn. Here is what Kelly wrote wrote:

“That?s a difficult request…to pick one single favourite picture! But after much thought, I?d have to say that the photo of Trevor, Finn & I on our bed is my favourite. It really captures the first few months of parenthood: all you do is stare at your new little baby with a big smile on your face. Definitely my favourite shot.”

When I photo­graph a family, I feel that the purpose of the session is to document a moment in their life, not just what they looked like on the day I showed up. This is why I only do on-location sessions, why I take photos in many rooms in their home, and why I always include pets in the session.

And in fact, my favourite image from this session is of their cat, losing interest in me:

Kelly told me that this photo is very indicative. Having cats of my own, I know they can be fickle to photo­graph and get their person­ality, and I’m very proud of this one.

My favourite photo that has actual people in it is this one, as Kelly shares a quite moment feeding her son in his room:

Part of the reason I love location shooting so much is that I can include aspects of life in the images I create. In this case, it’s the room, the light coming through the window, the crib, the rocking chair…all the things that make this Finn’s room at this point in time. Children grow so fast, and it’s nice to remember what it used to be like.

…Mike

Next up to offer her comments on her favourite image is Tanya, who picked this image:

She writes:

“Of all the pictures from our session, my favorite image is the one of our youngest daughter Tessa, resting on my shoulder. I love it because it captures just how alert she’s always been even at 12 days old. I love looking into her big eyes where I swear I can see a reflection of her little baby soul.

I love the effect of the black and white, the sharpness of the image revealing flawless new skin pores and fine hairs, and the use of natural light. To me it repre­sents her purity and inno­cence and I don’t ever want to forget that time in her life.”

My choice was actually a sleeper image: it didn’t seem like it would be my fave, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.

For some reason, little girls are initially really shy around me, but then they crack and we have a great time together during the shoot. Anika was like this, and I took a great picture that, to me, illus­trates what it’s like to be a bashful little girl:

Great light, simple compo­sition, but the real story is Anika’s expression and her fidgety bashful posture. Priceless

…Mike

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