Baby Rylie

Testing Light Tests Friendships

Okay they don't really test friendships...well actually maybe after all the pics I'm posting of him, they might test the friendship, but I got together with my friend Mike to basically fool around with lighting and grip gear and shoot a pile of lighting tests. I had a Profoto 7a pack for the weekend and two heads (lighting heads that is) to play with and pooled that with Mike's Elinchromm Ranger and a whack of Pocketwizards. Did I mention that Mike is a griphead? Dude has more stands, booms, arms, and clamps than anyone I know (he doesn't have a Justin Clamp yet, so I have him beat there!).



So we filled a good chunk of one of the patios at his place with our assorted kits, cameras, lights and gear and just fired away. (I forgot to grab a shot of all the stuff lying out everywhere. It looked like a studio had thrown up on the patio).


Really we're not going for award winning cover shot material in anything, and we're not TOO worried about composition or "getting it right," it's basically just a time to exercise our photoing muscles and see what we come up with, or how to solve a problem.



Then the fun part comes when I take the pictures home and I get to test out different editing looks. Exhibit A: Mike's nice guy edit. Exhibit B: Mike's "Not With My Daughter You Don't" edit


If you're of the photography group who follows/reads this bog, try a deconstruct of this picture below. I'd like to see what everyone comes up with. Sorry no prizes or any added incenvtives, just some fun reverse engineering a shot.




This one took me a bit to figure out setup wise. Wanted to pick up some of the texture and the conture of the bench behind Mike. I'm fairly happy with it.



Of course, after a long session like that, you need some reward...nothing like some dinner, beer, and of course my Starbucks.

Anna and Adeeb's Wedding!

Anna and Adeeb's wedding day was pretty much the hottest, most humid summer day Toronto has had this year. At 12:30pm, when I arrived at the Old Mill Inn to take pictures of Anna and her girls getting ready, it was already too hot to move, which meant it was even hotter out when Adeeb, Anna and I went outside to do their portraits.


Anna looked gorgeous in her stunning red dress and it was so much fun hanging out with her and her girls while they got ready.









It was so good to see both a couple and a family that lived their faith, and loved each other. Thanks Anna and Adeeb for having me be part of your day! It brings me great joy to know both of you!

Partnership: Bella's Bon Bons

It is with a lot of excitement that I announce the partnership of Photography by Kat with Bella's Bon Bons.

A Brampton, ON based company offering trendy and ready-made bonbonnieres, scrumptious and intricately detailed edible goodies and gifts and accessories for every occasion.

Carolynn T. Gomez, the owner of Bella's Bon Bons, named the company after her daughter Ava Isabella and started it after she recognized a need to work from home, reduce the stress brought on by her job as the owner of DejaVu Events. Bella's Bon Bons allows her to combine her love for special events, her background and education in business management and her creative talents.

So how does this parternship benefit you?

Customer's of Photography by Kat qualify for a 10% discount on their orders with Carolynn and Bella's Bon Bons! Pretty yummy isn't it!?

Anna and Adeeb's Mehndi

On Friday night, I was honoured to photograph Anna & Adeeb's Mehndi ceremony in Mississauga, a ceremony that was full of time honoured traditions, wonderfully scented jasmine, delicious food, beautiful colours, deep-rooted faith, and loving family. The above picture is what I assumed happened at a Mehndi ceremony. A bunch of ladies having their hands and feet hennaed. Yup, definitely not, but I'll let the pictures do the talking.
















Adeeb's face glowed when he caught sight of Anna. In that moment, he was the happiest man on earth. It was difficult to not get caught up in the excitement and joy of this night!


One thing that I wish I could share with you is how intoxicating the jasmine were that Anna wore. Everywhere she went, the scent filled the room, and Anna was blown away that her groom's family had brought her real jasmine to wear.




This family is deeply religious. You could see that they lived their faith. It was visible in how they treated me, how they interacted with each other, how they spoke and how they conducted their day. I must admit that I'm ignorant to a lot of things outside of my Christian faith, but I enjoyed seeing how prayertime was incorporated with the evening's events.

Moncton

I'm in Moncton, New Brunswick tonight and had an interesting moment visiting an indoor amusement park after I grabbed a bit to eat. The park was practically empty save for a few kids and adults enjoying the rainless indoor fun.

Vintage carousels, and swings were mostly empty and the garish fun of such a place was the perfect setting for me to wander with my camera....myyyyy camera.....???? ohhhhh Crap... left it in the hotel room when I decided I was going to leave my shoulder bag there for the evening since we were "Just going out for dinner"... sigh. PERFECT and I MEAN perfect photo opportunity GONE. I was annoyed with myself. Still am.

One thing I SHOULD know by now having spent many a day/evening hanging with my friend Mike and having him TELL me the same thing is: "NEVER GO OUT WITHOUT YOUR CAMERA!!!" yeahhhh...fine. You win.. Lesson learned... stupid me.

Now I DID however get some really great pictures of the world's longest covered bridge in Hartland, New Brunswick. Plus some really fantastic portraits of my sister, and my parents...and the obligatory "WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE WE NOW!" Christmas portrait. This year we've decided to shoot several of these on the trip and then we'll all pick the best one (can you tell my family is obsessed by design, details and good imagery?... we must all work in a magazine or something.)

Hoping to get some great scenary shots tomorrow as we cross from New Brunswick into Prince Edward Island on Confederation Bridge. We're definitely stopping to snap some pics there!

More soon...

I'm off again!

It's been a summer of never being home...which I'm not complaining about, but I've been on and off the road since early June. Makes for exciting, adventurous times! But I'm having a little trouble getting my bags packed tonight.

Early tomorrow morning I'm heading off on a roadtrip to PEI for a day job related trade show. This time my camera is coming along (so I hope to have some cool pictures from the road to share with you all) and a massive stack of magazines and books that I've been meaning to read.

The very same day I'm back from PEI I've got a crazy schedule full of photo shoots starting with a Mehndi ceremony for Ana and Adeeb's Wedding!

By then I'm hoping to also have some albums, and cards ready to share with ya'll AND some announcements about some fall photography incentives...just in time for the Christmas season. Yes, I said it CHRISTMAS season! I know...kids aren't even back in school yet.

But, enjoy the summerish weather while we've still got it, and I promise a more photographers related post in the next little bit, haven't really done one of those in a while.

More soon...

Photography by Kat on Mississippi Photographers Showcase!

A few days ago I was contacted by Tanya Grossie of Mississippi Photographers Showcase to see if I'd let her feature my work on their blog. Of course I said "YES!" any chance for free promotion and networking with others in the industry through the web I'm going to jump at. Besides good mojo always comes back around to you.

Take a look at Tanya's post here

Thanks so much Tanya for supporting Photography by Kat and for the link love!

More soon...