A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of photographing Parveen and Saj’s wedding in Vancouver. Their ceremony took place at the beautiful Lions Gate Jamatkhana Mosque. We took some pre-ceremony photos in a small hiking trail I found behind the mosque, lucky find actually. There wasn’t much around the mosque besides the upper levels highway. From there we went down to Gastown to take photos of the bridal party. It was close to where the couple lives plus within distance to the reception. The entire party was a joy to photograph and it shows in the photos below. Thanks Parveen sand Saj for letting me and Tom be a part of your special day.

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).

Going through last season’s photos gives me an idea of where I did well and where I have to improve. It also gets my head back into wedding mode, not that it’s hard to given the number of ones I’ve done over the last three years. I also like to look at other people’s portfolios and blogs for inspiration.

This year I’m probably going to focus a lot on using off camera lighting. Last year I started using more of it and getting comfortable using it in different situations. For example indoor as a main light, outdoor as a fill, or using it to add another dimension to the photo. I use to mainly only shoot in available light with light modifiers such as reflectors. Shooting with off camera flashes really gives you a lot more ability to shoot anywhere.

The below photo is a great example of off camera lighting. The venue also has to be lit well enough for the camera to track focus. If the place is pitch dark except for some strobes it’s hard to get a clear photo. This was shot in a one of the ballrooms in Richmond.

More to come…