This past Saturday was an 18.5hr wedding shoot… my longest ever by about 4hrs. Serena did a great job as my assistant and the day was absolutely gorgeous for Sydney and Joyce. You can see how much character each of them have and throughout the day I felt their joy and excitement. I put together a trailer summary and got so entangled in the preparation and ceremony clips that I forgot about the fun shots at Richmond Green park.

And this was the first time I used my 5DmkII for video. It took me a few days to find a workflow to convert the raw video into a format that Final Cut Pro uses natively. Now I just have to figure out how to mount the camera to my Steadicam Pilot. Enough geek talk… enjoy the video! Congrats Syd & Joyce!

Well, looks like we’ll be changing the date for the GAP… looks like it’ll be July 25th instead due to my poor use of iCal. The technology didn’t fail – it was me getting the wrong date for a previous engagement. Either way, I think this date will work out better for all of us.

In the next few days, I’m going to try posting some photographer bios and make it somewhat interesting. If anything, it’ll be funny and a good use of your few minutes on this part of the web. In the meantime, I took some photos of our good friends the Smyth family. I’m sorting through the photos now and I came across this one that I forgot that I took. That last sentence really ran on. Anyways, I thought the quote was interesting and reminded me of these hiragana flash cards my mom made for me when I was taking Japanese in university. I just downloaded a new app for my new iPhone to help me pick up some Japanese. Too bad there wasn’t an app like it for Chinese.

Volunteer photogenic people wanted!!

Are you free on Saturday, July 4th in the afternoon? Feel like having a handful of Asian photographers make you feel like you’re some superstar being chased by the paparazzi? We can only accommodate a handful of brave subjects… and who knows how it’ll turn out…

Do you have a group of friends that you’ve wanted to get some fun shots with? Are you getting married soon and can’t afford a photographer to take engagement shots of you? Are you finished school and wanting to mark this chapter of your life with photos?

Just think about it… you could be framed just like this pretty flower:

More comfortable behind the lens? Come on out and join us. Take photos with us and share your pearls of inspiration. Experiment, try different things… it’s just going to be a fun foto day. This is what I looked like taking the above shot. That could be YOU…

Let me know if you’re interested.

More updates to come… stay tuned.

This past weekend was another wedding in St. Thomas, Ontario. I kind of like that little town just south of London where the famous Rachel McAdams was born. Entertainment talk aside, I think there’s something really special when two people are brought together in an extraordinary way. I wish I could’ve put more of their story in this video because you’d hear and see how they bring out the best in each other… and that’s truly a God-thing. Enjoy!

I had to post Jonathan & Dawn’s dance routine from their wedding reception. It was really good and I have to admit that I’m impressed by their skillz. The beginning is a bit slow but I know there’s a good reason for that… it builds up and– fantastic! Enjoy.

Steve and Michelle’s wedding is on Saturday. I’m really looking forward to snapping away while Serena takes the role of the videographer. To be honest, I haven’t decided whether I like photos or video more. The key to keeping my interests moving forward is reminding myself that I have the potential to learn with each opportunity.

I’m really bad at action shots with the camera. Sure, there are some technical settings that you need to do but I think there’s a real skill in capturing movement in a still photograph. I had it really easy with Steve and Michelle. They just had a blast and their energy was contagious. This set of photos makes me smile and laugh each time I scroll through them.

Asians should not be contractors. There is something genetically missing from us that causes measuring to be incorrect and powertools to be rendered useless and dangerous. I’ve been blogging here and there about my adventures in slave labour in the basement of Sarah and Rodney. At first, I didn’t think there were any secret motives but on a recent trip I heard that there are in fact German roots in the Fokkens bloodline. Now I see what’s really going on…

I actually enjoy working in construction. A number of years ago I was in Cuba with our church destructing a part of the building. And I’m an avid fan of Holmes on Homes. It’s neat learning new things and discovering how inept I am at cutting drywall and using a drill. The best part is knowing that each hour spent brings the project closer to completion. I’m a results-oriented person, and progression gets my heart pumping.

With this newfound interest, do you think I’ll buy a house someday in the future that will be a project of passion? Nope. Never. It’s a genetic thing.

This past winter was the first at our new home and one day after being scared by Holmes on Homes (about leaking basements), I decided to clear the snow in the back away from the house. Since we didn’t clear things out at all, it was a pretty thick pile of snow. The layer closest to the ground was slushy and heavy. My back was feeling the strain and when I hit that last, slushy layer, I was thinking about just leaving it for the sun to melt away. 

That’s what often happens when we clean anything up in our lives. Looks can be deceiving. You think that to fix thing issue up, it won’t take that long or require much effort. Kind of like surface mold or those pimples that have a little white head and some major ammunition deep underneath. This is especially true when dealing with the wrongs we commit. But sooner or later, you’ve got to clean that stuff up.

As a result of numerous failed attempts at cleaning up the crap in my life, I’ve learned how valuable envisioning the end-state is to perseverance. So, in the little projects I take on around the house, I try to remember that it is well worth the time and energy, even if nobody notices. Didn’t see anybody else in the townhouse complex clear their backyards, but that shouldn’t matter, right?

I had a lot of fun at jonathan & dawn’s wedding. Not only did I know a bunch of people there, the entire day felt like it about really enjoying a wedding. The two of them are very different and from the video, you probably wouldn’t be able to figure out which one of them is the extrovert. 

I met Tim Chin, their photographer, many years ago and have heard about him every now and then. Now that he’s partnered with his wife, Angela, I think they are going to be even more widely sought after than they are now. I’ve been following their blog for a few months (since they went to the 5DmkII) and I found out that they use prime lenses a lot. Looking at the results, I can see why. I really like their photos from the wedding day. Seeing them in action doesn’t show how much effort they put into their shots.

I put together a short summary video of their wedding day and heard the soundtrack at their wedding. It took me a while on iTunes to track down the artist but I like her. Stay tuned in the near future for a video of their awesome dance routine!

Last week I got up to check my usual group of webpages and glanced at the time to make sure I wasn’t going to be late. At first I thought it was me reading it wrong but I saw over 5hrs of battery life left. I ignored it because sometimes that means the computer is trying to calculate the time and whatever. No laptop I’ve ever owned can get more than 3hrs of battery.

A couple days ago while on the can, I was having a difficult time with some burger I had earlier in the day and had the chance to checkout a bunch of movie trailers. If you’re wondering what I scan each day, look at the bookmark bar in the pic. So, after about 20mins of facebook and reading some spoilers for Smallville, I ended up on google looking for that file database site and checked the time: over 6hrs! (it’s in the upper right next to the time)

I snapped a screenshot to show this… and the only other apps that were running was mail and iCal. Screen brightness was full and I had watched about 10 trailers (GI Joe looks so cool!!). Well, all I can do is applaud the Macbook’s power management software because that’s just amazing how much the battery is stretched. My work IBM laptop doesn’t even get an hour. Get a Mac. Period.