Next in the Favourite Image project is Helen, who sent me a quick note tell me which of her wedding images is her favourite:

“Do we really have to pick only one?? If you haven’t noticed, it’s not easy for us to narrow down our favorites But, this time, we did it:”

“This is our favorite picture, because it was our first real private time throughout the whole day, when we could kick our feet up, relax, smile at each other, let all the craziness and excitement really sink in and realize that wow, we did it!

It also makes us smile, because we know that just after this, we scarfed down the Best Chicken McNuggets Ever, silently giving a million thanks to our thoughtful MOH for leaving it in the limo for us. Who would have thought cham­pagne would pair well with chicken nuggets? ”

The nuggets in question:

My favourite image was just a bit later, as we pulled up in front of the Yangtse restaurant and the rain started. I always have a couple of white umbrellas with me, so I handed one to Helen and Binh as they sat in the car, hoping it would stop. They finally decided to make a run for it, and I got this image as Helen sprinted for the door:

I like this one the best because even though it’s raining, Helen still has a smile She had a great day and a little bit of rain would not change anything for her. As it happens, the rain stopped about an hour later and we were able to play around outside after all

…Mike

More about the Favourite Image project

The 2009 Ottawa Gala was yesterday and as always it was the place to be. This is a semi-formal charity ball bene­fiting the Fund for a New Generation. This year’s theme was the Golden Age of Glamour.

The evening started out with some live enter­tainment including both ballroom and swing dancing…

…and some jazz in the VIP room.

A little later, a fashion show featuring clothing inspired by the Hollywood classics:

Then the Conference Center was trans­formed into the biggest dance club in Ottawa:

There were tons of candids taken throughout the night; the full set of images is here if you want to find yourself See you next year!

Monica had her baby almost a week ago, and I was happy to spend time with little Samantha and her new family.

…Mike

Holly wrote in recently to tell me which image is her favourite:

“Well, we have been trying to decide which one of our gorgeous wedding shots that you took was our favourite, and it was really hard choosing just one. We have about 8 or 9 absolute favourites…and getting it down to one was tough! But here it is: the one you snapped just before the ceremony took place, as? I was peeking out the window with my nieces watching all of the guests find their seats.

I remember this moment really clearly, the excitement, the butterflies…it’s a beau­tiful picture!!

I’m going to cheat a little and give two of my picks, for different reasons.

The first is an unusual pick for me, because it’s a family group shot…but once you see it you’ll know why I like it:

The second is an example of some­thing that I tell all my couples: some­times, you’re not going to know what I’m doing, or what I see. That’s normal…I tend to see things a bit differ­ently than most people do (no surprises there). Anyway, Holly and Jordan were married at the beach, and close by there was? a play structure for little kids, including a big red wavy slide. When I asked Holly to sit on it, I knew she wasn’t really sure what I was doing. But (and this is the most important part) she trusted me, and what resulted was a neat-o shot of her in the late afternoon sun:

The most important thing you can give your photog­rapher is trust; without that, some of the more inter­esting stuff just isn’t possible. Thanks for trusting me Holly!

…Mike

More about the Favourite Image project