As part of the workshop this past weekend at Casa Loma, we invited our photographers to submit their best 3 images… Charlotte and I spent a long time deliberating, and in the end we were pressed to select just three winners!
We’d like to congratulate you all on the very high level of skill and creativity. You all produced some amazing images.
So, without further ado, we’re pleased to announce the following winners….
Drumroll please……
Congratulations Ken, Dana & Luis. We’re pleased to be able to give you each a $100 credit towards a future workshop! We can’t wait to have you all back soon.
The next workshop is going to be out of this world… Charlotte’s always outdoing herslef!
We’d also like to give a huge honourable mention to Miho. We loved this image but there can be only 3 winners! Ken came through with the goods again - check out this killer shot.
Great work all!
This past Sunday was our wedding photography workshop. Charlotte spent most of the past two weeks putting this workshop together… from sourcing two amazing models, finding the designer wedding gown, sourcing our hair and makeup, getting the right bling, and of course confirming all the details on our location, the grande and wonderful Casa Loma.
We kicked off the shoot in the conservatory (you may recognize it in films such as X-Men, Chicago and countless wedding flicks!) It’s a gorgeous room with very high ceilings, great soft light and marble throughout. Charlotte decided to grab one of the fans and create a fashion look with the cathedral veil Kirsten was wearing. Check it out:
A main goal of our workshops is to teach photographers the importance of seeing where the light is and harnessing that… as well as enhancing what’s already there with careful use of reflectors.
In Peacock Alley we did some very sexy shots of our bride and groom - Kirsten really showed off her fashion background with this amazing shot of her rockin’ out this dress.
We also put our cameras on ai servo / continuous and did several walk throughs of our couple coming toward and away from the camera in very low light… it’s a challenging shot to get and is essential to have the skill for it every time a bride walks down the aisle… Especially backlit in a dark church.
This next photo shows the only time we had the class put flashes on. The exercise here was to play with bouncing flashing off different objects and analyze the results.
Next we scooted into the library for a quick shoot with Josh and some cool stuff with Kirsten playing with her veil (a favourite tool Charlotte uses to get some really cool images at weddings).
To finish up the shoot we headed outside and played on the rampart, then heading into the gardens and finished up with Kirsten taking off her shoes and splashing her feet in the fountain! It did make for some very cool shots.
A huge thanks to Kirsten & Josh - you guys did awesome; Lisa our make up artist; Casa Loma for being so helpful throughout the lead and and during the shoot. Also a special thanks for Laura & little Frankie at Poppies for making the floral consultation such and enjoyable experience. We purchased our gorgeous gown at The Brides Project , a great company/charitable organization helping people with cancer one wedding gown at a time.
After wrapping at Casa Loma we headed to a pub over the road from our studio and all grabbed a hearty lunch and in some cases - ahem - a pint. We chatted for a couple of hours and had an informal q & a time. After lunch we spent about an hour in the studio and headed out for an casual shoot of Charlotte and I to get more practical with lighting, posing, exposure, focusing and all that good stuff.
To our awesome crew: We loved having you all join us for the workshop and have been totally impressed by the quality of your shots! Can’t wait to see you all again at future workshops. We will be posting the 3 competition winners tomorrow night around 9pm… Stay tuned!
As part of the workshop , we ran our favourite "7 Minute Challenge"… Essentially, the photographers have 15 minutes to scout their locations, then each of them have 7 minutes alone with the two models. They were charged with producing 3 killer images: The couple together as well as individual portraits.
The competition was fierce and judging the winners was very very tough. James, Charlotte and I debated for about 10 minutes which images should take the cake, and in the end, we had to award 4 images because the combined shots were SO good.
Congratulations Maegan Michel , Ryan Brual (X2!) and Ken Chiba. Each of you win a $100 coupon to attend a future workshop.
Lights, Cameras, Action!
Dave and I are thrilled to say that our June 1st Photography Workshop was a HUGE success!! We had an awesome class of amazing photographers from a variety of skill levels . We had along a great friend and fellow photographer Jaymz as a guest speaker. Jaymz is so great we love working with him whenever we get a chance so we were totally stoked to have him along. And last but not least Lyz Plant our Make-up Artist. We just love love love her work. Lyz works on Loreal Fashion week, was voted one of Canada’s most influential women (Mille Feme) and she’s doing Luminato downtown Toronto that runs to now till June 16th! We are so happy to have her on board!
The class was great, Dave taught them a little bit about the business side of photography, Jaymz taught them how to "see good light" and I taught them how to pose and posing models for photography. Oh! that reminds me, did I mention the MODELS?! Alex and Amanda were the best models we could have ever asked for. They both were experienced, had a great look and as you can see photograph very well!
After Lyz had finished their make-up we took the models and class out for a modern, urban engagement shoot. We couldn’t wait to get out there and start shooting!
Check out the shot Dave got of Jaymz below…what a great teacher!
Alex and Amanda really know how to work it…and they’re both super gorgeous so the workshop photos looked straight out of a magazine.
We brought the class back inside for refreshments to keep the creative juices flowing… and on to our next assignment…The 7 Minute Challenge! What’s that you ask? The participants individually take their camera, knowledge of the day’s class and the models, anywhere in the building. They have exactly 7 minutes to produce 3 "winning images" one of Alex, one of Amanda and one of both models together. Photographers in the "real world" are often under pressure to create amazing images in a limited time. We created a sense of urgency for the class to see what they’d come back with…stay tuned to the blog as we announce the winners of the challenge…I think you’ll be extremely impressed with everyone’s images!
We ended the day with a creative shoot with Alex and Amanda. Lyz and I styled the shoot. Amanda had such beautiful jet black hair and Alex had a 6… oops, I mean 8 pack (sorry Alex lol!) that Hercules would die for. Lyz and I thought hmmm.. how about a Cleopatra themed creative shoot! Dave set up the Ring Flash and backdrops, I grabbed the wardrobe, Jaymz chatted with the class and Lyz started working on the make-up!
Ya know, there comes a time in every make-up artists life when you have to go above and beyond in the call of duty. Lyz had the tedious task of being in charge of Alex’s oil application. Good job Lyz!
At the end of the day we all were tired but had a great feeling of success because everything went so well! We couldn’t have asked for a better group of people. Thanks to everyone and keep checking back to the blog the winning images will be posted soon!!!
I got a call from Tif on Tuesday asking us to cover a class for a workshop they run at Mooredale (in Rosedale, Toronto). Since we love teaching our own Photography Workshops , of course we were happy to help out. We had a great time with the class and it was a lot of fun teaching the ladies some lighting, exposure and posing tricks.
Teaching the class prompted me to share some of the very basics of photography with you that a couple of ladies seemed to really appreciate.
Firstly, understanding what the variable’s are which you control with your camera to create an exposure…
These are:
- Aperture (the width of the diaphragm inside the lens - see diagram of f1 and f22 to the right)
- Shutter Speed (the length that the camera is open to allow light to hit the sensor or film
- ISO / ASA (the sensitivity of the sensor or film to light)
After wrapping on Sunday, Charlotte and I jumped in front of the ring flash and Kevin Chan grabbed these 6 frames in a record breaking 12 seconds…. I think it’s such a cute story telling! We’re going to have it stretched on a canvas for the studio!
Yesterday, Charlotte attended a workshop run By James Van Hees at his amazing photography studio in Waterdown, Ontario. I was on board as a guest speaker/photographer for what turned out to be a very successful day!
We had a fantastic day - I had a great time doing some of the teaching to assist James. Meanwhile Charlotte was participating with the class and doing some behind the scenes photography. She styled and photographed some of the shots… the following are her images… check out the Holt’s setup!
We wrapped up shooting with a ring flash and had a great time playing around with Jen. She’s a blast to have as a model and was really into doing the wackier stuff. Check out this shot of me, James and a few of the other photographers!
Here’s a quick shot of the gang who attended…
