Lana & Chris: E-Session on the peak of Vancouver!

Grouse Mountain Engagement Session


A sunny day, a sweet couple and a short gondola ride to this chilly e-session with Lana & Chris.



Kat's first shot of the day, cutesy and fun. Yepp they went skating.



Lana is an awesome skater, Chris too. ;) They could do some really cool moves and Chris would even hold Lana up as they skated around. Us... not so much, we slipped and almost fell a few times. :S


Oh yes, and the hockey sticks came out too.


Some more spinning and fun, in front of the sun...

Wooooshhhhh!

Dan was covered in ice after this shot. His favorite lens needed a good cleaning too, but it's all good, we love the shot.

And inside for a few intimate shots. Not skates here, no worries of photographers slipping either!

And then outside for a few view shots. And more spinning too!

Thanks so much guys for letting us hang out with you. Props to you two for great ideas and suggesting we all head up to grouse. We had a blast with you two and can't wait till your big day.

Good vibes your way

DK

Dan & Kat: Behind the Lens

Whoa! What a year it was! 2009 holds nothing but fond memories for us, and hopefully for our awesome newly weds too! All throughout our blog and site, there is almost nothing but images of pretty people, white dresses, and perfectly pressed suits...I mean sure, we are wedding photographers. But we thought for the new year we would show a bunch of shots that have been accumulating on hard drives all year long, and we are dying to do something with them.

It's a bunch of "behind the lens" stuff. Either Kat shot something of Dan dangling from a ledge over an ocean risking life, limb and camera to get the perfect angle, or Dan shot something of Kat making a bunch of groomsmen do something completely embarrassing and hilarious to get that perfect...ridiculous...shot! Or maybe you'll see a shot or two of our FANTASTIC assistants, playing with kids to get them to smile, holding lights or mountains upon mountains of gear and just generally being awesome. Speaking of assistants, thank you so much to Brent, Matt and Ali for such an awesome year... You guys really do ROCK!

You will most definitely see the occasional groomsmen, bridesmaid or even GROOM holding the light for us, cuz in a pinch, everyone's a trooper ;)

Enjoy this "not-to-often" seen perspective on what we do... And how we have so much fun doing it! Yes there are a few goofy/geeky shots in here too ;) ;) ;)

Enjoy

Happy 2010 all,
Rock ON!

DK

Top 20

As photographers, we are very attached to many images we've shot. Here are some favorites from this year... they may not be everyone's favs, but we're very fond of the 20 images below. It was very difficult to narrow hundreds and hundreds of images down to 20! These are our favs....maybe it's because of awesome hair, retro airplanes, or cute animals, but for some reason we just LOVE these shots. And we thought we would re-visit them on the first day or two of the new year to remember how much FUN we had in 2009.

We look forward to 2010 and so many more superfantastic couples and images to be made!

Thanks for taking a gander,

And best wishes for 2010

Dan & Kat

Geek Moment: Featured on FlashFlavor.com...Happy Dance :D

Happy dance is exactly what we were doing on wednesday when we got the most wonderful e-mail from renowned photographer...and super duper flash guru... Matt Adcock. We are featured on his technique blog "FlashFlavor.com." Matt and his wife Sol are truly inspiring photographers with a gift for off-camera flash photography... Pioneers of off-camera flash, we are honoured to be guest posting on there blog.

Thanks guys ;)

Below is a Carbon Copy of our FlashFlavor Post for those geeks out there...you know who you are;

This location was a bit of a happy accident. We were shooting on location in The fabulous Summerland B.C. a holiday destination in the Oakanagan on a beautiful lake with lots of awesome mountains all around. But when Kat and I were scouting the day before we found this really wicked old church that totally inspired us to bring some Urban into this landscape rich destination. Ashley (our beautiful bride) is totally natural in front of the camera and needed very little direction. Cory (our super macho fireman groom) needed to do nothing more than gaze at his lovely bride to make the pose work.

The shot was lit with our trusty Norman 400B @ 400 w/s with the standard 2D reflector to turn the sun into a star. Kat held the Norman feather toward Ashley as she was a little further away. We had a bridesmaid hold an SB-28 @ full boogie & zoomed to 85mm for Cory's dark Jacket. Lighting gave an Exposure ISO 200 F/22 @ 1/250. We wanted to be one stop under "Sunny 16", so 1/200 (or 250) at ISO 200 at f/16 would be balanced with sunlight...and f/22 would be a stop under. We put a bit of a tilt on this one and shot at 24mm, we didn't want to totally warp the perspective. But the slight tilt and converging lines nicely puts emphasis on Ashley and, hopefully, the eye goes to her white dress first also.

The whole time we were just laughing a joking around with them too. We try never to take ourselves too seriously or act like lighting is a great science, getting technical in front of your clients is no way to help them relax.

Here is a case when our artistic vision was blessed with fantastic subject matter. We had been tossing around the idea of doing something fashiony with one of our brides as a creative in a downtown Urban Setting and maybe rent an insane or out there dress... you know something different. We love white...don't get us wrong. But who could pass up this opportunity. We showed up and saw our very own "Lady in Red" and had a blast for the rest of the day ;). This Image was largely inspired by the dress. I was just dying to make her float/fly....or jump in this thing and try to freeze the action with flash. And flash we did use....but jumping wasn't really an option in heels.

We had the idea to prop Faye up on the bench and then we though we aught to throw Greg (the groom) in there too. I mean duhhh, she ended up resting her feet on the bench and greg's knee. Heals got tossed (by Dan) and then cleverly put back in the shot (by Kat). We used a few people to help with this one. We knew we wanted two points of dramatic side light and thought is would be cool if the kicker could throw long shadows on the rather plain looking concrete floor, so we threw our Quantum T5D-r (with assistant) @ 1/2 power behind the Groom on Camera Left. To light everyone/thing from the front we gave a groomsmen an sb-28 zoomed wide to 24mm and set @ full power. To finish everything off Kat fluffed the dress and jumped out of frame in time for 1 shot. We shot 4 or 6 frames in total. Final Exposure was ISO 200 F/8 @ 1/250, shot at 35mm.

We just love manipulating our environment and create something remarkable. And we love to have fun! ;) :P

End Quote.... "dork" -said Kat.

Thanks Matt & Sol... you guys Rock! And thanks for letting us drop in on your blog ;)

Best,

DK

Urban Wedding Gala: Whooopeeeee

Over the weekend we were part of the Urban Wedding Gala at the roundhouse in Yaletown. Thanks to everyone who came by to say "hi." Everyone was so nice and fun to chat with. Thanks everyone for the comments on our tower of vintage cameras too ;). We had everything from 1930's era Leicas to folding cameras to an old Hasselblad....which really isn't THAT old.....



Once again thanks to all, and hey check out Eric and the gang from Urban Wedding, they worked super hard and put on a great show.

Best

DK

Tara & Jarrett: e-session Airforce style

Just a hop, skip and a jump over from Vancouver to Vancouver Island to the Comox Military base where Jarrett flies these massive search and rescue helicopters. We think he said it was a Merlin (correction, the heli is actually a "Cormorant," Thanks Tara).... Anyhow, it's like 74 feet long and made for a pretty sweet prop/backdrop for these two love birds.

Oh yes but we went to the beach first ;)

And then to the base.





We were really lucky to have the maintenance guy on site to move the big helicopter around for us...you know cause even turning the engine on this thing is a little pricey.

At the HUGE doors of the hanger

Last shot inside the hanger. Look at these two, so wicked. We had a blast on this engagement shoot and it was great getting to know Tara and Jarrett. Can't wait to see you two in July!

Best,

DK

Ashley & Cory: Summerland, Fire Fighters and Mohawk!

Intoducing Ashley & Cory! Both from Edmonton, Alberta, Cory is a fireman and Ashley is a volunteer firewoman (her dad is also a fireman chief!). They had their wedding in Summerland, BC at the Waterfront Oakanagan Resort, on a beautiful September day. Ashley has the most amazing personality and Cory has the greatest sense of humor. They are a perfect fit! This was such a fun wedding, we hurried back to our hotel room to look at our images right away!

Ashley had such a great dress for the day. She was willing to hike in it too!

Her train was hemmed to the side of her dress! It looks so great!

Best hairdo ever! Ashley's bother and his mohawk and Dan's favorite person of the day.....

Ashley and Cory asked the firehall in Summerland to lend a firetruck for some photos, and they did! We shot all the family and group shots with the truck in the background. Ashley and Cory also brought their gear with them: hats and boots!

We had so much fun with these two and the fire truck!

Pit stop on the side of a highway...she sure did hike in that dress!

Being that we were in Summerland, where there are orchards upon orchards, we had to stop by one and shoot. The apples were tasty!

A church we found in the city center of Summerland....great stone walls, and great pose! Thank you to Ashley's maid of honor for helping with the lighting!

We found this awesome cliff that looked over a vineyard.

Dan was hanging off another cliff to get this shot.....we all held our breath for him!

The ceremony was absolutely beautiful. With a small intimate group, the background of the mountains and water, and beautiful singing by friend and super vocalist Lisa Hewitt...this was the perfect ceremony!


Ashley is so gorgeous! And we were visited by a little duck!

Mohawk and all, everyone was teary-eyed.

After a delicious meal, dancing was enjoyed by all!

Snuck Ashley out of the party for some creatives around the dock and the Resort!

Ashley danced with all the firemen there during one song! It was a blast!

Oh the photobooth. It was a HIT!!! Everyone came and took shots at least twice!

He's so photogenic....

The hats and boots Ashley and Cory brought provided great props!! But boy did they smell smoky!

Cutest little flower girl....her bouquet was a single calla lily! It was adorable!

This couple was hilarious! They are getting married in Edmonton in March 2010! Congrats to you Sara and Steve!

Oh dear! Fire fighters are lots of fun! Very very sexy too! Ashley and Cory, we thought we saw it all until your photobooth!

You guys are the best. We had SUCH a great time with you and your friends and family. We loved every single thing about your wedding! We didn't want it to end!! You are both amazing people and we hope you had an amazing day. Thank you for such great images!

All the best to you in Edmonton!

K+D