Took these test portraits in Vancouver at Sugar Studios of Tomasz while helping shoot the cd cover for the new Shy Brothers album. We only took a few photos but they were all pretty good. Is there a modeling future for Tom?

Back maybe a month ago I had the opportunity to photograph Tom and Betty in Vancouver. We decided to either shoot the photos at the Olympic Village or if it was rainy Granville Island. I like Granville Island because of the variety of photos us portrait photographers can achieve without having to move around a lot. I don’t like how there’s a lot of people there though. The day was a bit overcast so the couple opted for Granville Island.

Tom described themselves as weird or random. I’d say they were a bit quirky and cool. Right from the start Tom looked like he’d been in front of the camera before. Betty was a bit shy but as our session progressed she got much more comfortable and it seemed like Tom was getting stiffer. It was a great session and I tried some shots I hadn’t done before because of their quirky and weird factor. Btw, it’s not weird at all, it just shows how much fun they have with each other.

I asked if Betty could take some photos after she got them printed. I’m very happy with the way they turned out. Not sure where they printed them but the printer did a good job. I edit my photos on colour calibrated monitors for printing so people will see a bit of a difference when viewing the photos on the monitor vs. printed. The majority of people don’t have calibrated monitors. What I found interesting was that her favorite photos weren’t my favorite, rarely are they anyways. Her favorites didn’t have as much artistry in them as I would’ve liked.

Thanks to Brandon for coming out and helping as well. I got to test out his 5Dmk2 vs. my 5D. Can you tell the difference in the pics? Most likely not. Feel free to guess. The 5Dmk2 felt lighter than my 5D with the same lens attached. Love the LCD on that camera.

Aww matching outfits! Haha. Reminded me of all the couples I saw in China. 1/4 couples were wearing matching clothes .

One of my new favorite spots. Why? Cause it doesn’t look like Vancouver but some place in Europe.

I haven’t had a chance to upload or edit these photos yet but I thought I’d put up a teaser and the video that Steve Tan put together for Jimmy and Michelle’s wedding in Vancouver. This was another wedding I was shooting secondary for Vancouver wedding photographer Tomasz Wagner. The couple was awesome and so was the ceremony and reception (can’t go wrong when a big group of their friends are DJs).

I don’t often post something that’s related to me but I just had to post this. It’s been a busy month for me shooting almost every weekend. I still haven’t had chance to edit some event photos I shot for the Canadian Cancer Society earlier in the month as well as three weddings and two couple shoots. I’ve lost count! I’ll be getting on those this weekend.

So what is this post about? Well…I recently (late last year) picked up road cycling and absolutely love it. So much so I put more kms on the bike than I do the car. Who wants to pay for gas and parking anyways? One reason I’ve been putting off all the updating and editing of photos is due to me trying to fit in bicycle training in preparation for the Whistler Granfondo bicycle ride in September. It’s 120km ride up the Sea to Sky Highway with over 2000m of climbing with probably the same amount of descent. It’s going to be hard. With our awesome unpredictable weather I try to fit in rides 2-3 times a week.

This evening I received my new Shimano RS80 bicycle wheels and was ecstatic! I drove to my parent’s place to pick them up, threw them into the car, and headed over to Colman’s place (thanks Colman) to have him swap my dad’s 12-27 rear cassette onto the new wheels. After that I quickly drove home and attempted to install the new Michelin Pro 3 race tires and tubes onto my bike while I waited for Tom (my photographer buddy) to come over.

The tires were a royal b*tch to put on. Tom called me to say he was coming over and at that time I was just trying to stuff the first tire onto the front wheel. Brute force and a few roughed up fingers later I finally got it on. I was sweating bullets…yes laugh I guess I’m a newb. 25 minutes later Tom arrives while I’m yelling obscenities at my rear wheel. He comments, “what is taking you so long to get it on? This should be super easy.” I give him the “wth do you want to try?” look. Him all smiley he gives a go at it. HAH! He can’t get it either. He then goes on and says, “you sure you got the right size tires? The tire shouldn’t be this far down etc…” I told him I got the first one on after wrestling with the damn thing (wish I had photos of me trying to put it on). So I keep going at it while Tom suggests boiling water and putting it on the wheel (wtf seriously?!). It finally looks like it’s wanting to behave so Tom comes over and we both push and pull on the mofo piece of rubber till finally it was seated. Fun times!

Us both being Vancouver wedding photographers and portrait photographers we thought we’d go out and take some photos. If you’re a wedding photographer you’re pretty much also a lifestyle photographer, it’s all the same thing really. So below are a set of photos that tell a short mini story just after we got the tires on and installed, then out for a spin around Vancouver’s beautiful water front. We strolled out at 11pm in shorts and t-shirts since the weather was surprisingly warm. It happens maybe a handful of times during the year.

Photos were taken by both me and Tom. They have my name on them since I edited them . Our attempt to model is at the very end, gotta practice what we preach right?

Margarita is a colleague of Katrina and also wanted some headshots for promotional materials. We took a few photos in Vancouver’s coal harbour in downtown. I usually prefer clean backgrounds but this shot out of the set appealed to her since it had some color in the background which would help offset her marketing material. I’m happy it works for her and can’t wait to see what it looks like when printed. If you need a Vancouver head shot photo drop me a line!

Back in early June Tomasz Wagner from Mananetwork Wedding Photography in Vancouver asked if I was available to shoot a wedding with him. Looking at my schedule I had nothing booked for the day so I said sure why not! The couple were past co-workers of his so this made things a lot easier. They were all about the photos so anything we asked of them they were all for it. I was shooting secondary for the day so I was tasked with following the groom around as well as the photos of the bridal party.

The couple was East Indian and Italian, an incredible mix! They had two different ceremonies and the reception was awesome! East Indian and Italian food, need I say more? Catered at the Italian culture center. The reception was up there with some of the best receptions I’ve ever been to (and I’ve been to quite a number over the past three years). Suman and Mario, I loved your entire wedding day!

Have a look at some of the photos below shot for Mananetwork Photography. Photos were edited by him and the style is his own. His wedding packages cost  more but this is the type of photos you expect from him. They have been stylized and very well edited (lots more hours in post). You can see the rest of the photos here. If you like what you see contact one of our Vancouver wedding photographers today.

A big congrats goes out to Annie and Vincent for surviving their wedding day! The two seemed a bit stress throughout the day but they got through it. They had their ceremony at Hycroft Manor in Vancouver would provided a great back drop for some of the images. After the ceremony we took some time out to take some photos of the wedding party at the Vancouver convention center. The lighting was extremely harsh that day but us wedding photographers made due with what we had. It was also quite windy as well. We had attempted a shot at the top of one of Coal Harbour’s apartment buildings but that didn’t work so well as the girl’s dresses (and hair) were flying in all sorts of directions! The night ended off with a nice performance at a chinese dim sum restaurant in Richmond. The photos below were shot for Three Sixty Wedding Photography.

Images photographed by Vancouver Photographer Michael Lee.

Well I compromised and shot a nice portrait of her on the bridge. Not sure if this was what she had in mind but she liked it nonetheless! I shot another of her sister and sister’s husband in almost the same location (picked a different bridge). If there are particular shots you have in mind make sure you let your photographer know before the day of the shoot, it helps =). Sending a photo of something similar is great as well.