{the eloquence of the everyday...}

“Hi…I’m Gabor!”

That’s how it happened. That’s how one of Canada’s great photographers introduced himself to me! He just walked up to the table that I was sitting at…reached his hand out and said “Hi…I’m Gabor!”

So humble. So modest. So friendly.

Gabor Szilasi, who has contributed over fifty years of photographic work, once said:

“Everything is constantly changing around us: what my camera captures at this moment is already of the past. That is why it is important to me to record the world as I see it today through photography. I am not interested in the past or the future: I am interested in the present. Through the photographic image, I can directly record the signs of the past and the future as they appear in this moment.”

Ahhh, a photographer after my own heart!

As I watched the media follow him around as he gave a guided tour of his new exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, I couldn’t help wonder what it must be like to have photography be your entire life’s work…to walk into an exhibition space one day and see 124 of your images outline the very essence of your career?

As a largely self-taught photographer himself, I wanted nothing more than to just steal him away and ask “how did you do it? Tell me your secret!” But I didn’t. I just watched as our invited guests stood around him completely fascinated as he passionately described the context behind some of his most well-known images and the quiet secrets behind some of his never before seen images.

After all this time, you can tell there is still quite the intimate love affair occurring between him and his camera!

I’ll admit, I was reluctant to leave the room and head back to my every day life…I mean, what fun is that when you can just stand next to brilliant photographers and hope to obtain their knowledge by osmosis?!?! That’s far more appealing if you ask me!

But at long last, everyone has to return from Neverland eventually! So sad, I know! But to keep the excitement and appreciation going, I encourage all of you to check out the amazing exhibition The Eloquence of the Everyday: Gabor Szilasi, on view at the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography from 9 October 2009 until 17 January 2010.

Anyone who just reaches out and says “Hi…I’m Gabor” certainly deserves our support!

{cynthia & dan: engagement...}

My husband proposed to me on a Wednesday! This came as a surprise to many people because apparently, nobody gets engaged on a Wednesday! Who knew?!?! It was perfect though because my husband is in no way conventional. In fact, he proposed at our apartment one day after work with flowers and dinner and it couldn’t have been more romantic…or more us.

Being engaged was such a fun time for us because for the thirteen months leading up to our wedding, we got to not only plan a really fun party, but we got to take the time to really decide what kind of style and ceremony best defines us as a couple. It’s not always as easy at it sounds! Being engaged is really the beginning of an amazing story…an amazing time in a couple’s life where they start being one even before the big day officially declares it. I think that’s why I love doing engagement pictures so much…they always tell so much about the couple getting married and their story up until that point!

Dan and Cynthia have the most incredible story of survival, commitment and devotion. It’s also a story best told by them. They’ve endured more in their time together than most of us will have to endure in a lifetime together and all the while…they do nothing but smile! It really is just the best love story!

They are getting married this coming weekend on Halloween night and I am honoured to be able to be there to capture the evening. Before the big party though, there is of course, the engagement! Cynthia works with animals all day long and wanted to have their pictures taken with some of her furry friends!

So without further ado…please meet Cynthia and Dan…and King, the oh so photogenic Clydesdale!

{trailing behind...}

Okay...I'm am BEYOND behind on my blogging! Where are the handcuffs?!?! But at least I'm not behind because I'm being a slacker! I am growing a tiny little boy after all!!

Aside from that though, I'm pleased to say that I've been rocking out with camera busy-ness lately and it's kept me happily bouncing from one photo shoot to another with a bunch of consultations in between! Hello gorgeous winter weddings!!!

So bear with me a bit longer if you can as I wrap up a few things before I find my back on the blogging track! Here's a little bit of what is yet to come...

Yeah...if only all days included gorgeous couples and gorgeous Clydesdales!

{baby steps...}

When I was growing up, I certainly didn’t always know that I wanted to have children. So many of the girls that I went to high school with had very long term plans that always included getting married and having a family. This often made me feel like I was missing the “maternal gene” because at sixteen, the thought of having children seemed like a lifetime away and at that time (and teenagers are notorious for lack of foresight!), I didn’t necessarily want to have children. I had a hard enough time taking care of myself none the less an entire other human being. I think that most of my family members wouldn’t hesitate to say that, while I may not have thought so at the time, I most definitely had plans for a family. What they never seemed to realize though was that liking children and wanting children are too very different things.

It really wasn’t until I met my husband that I started to feel like I might want a family of my own. There was just something about falling so desperately in love that made me want even more of him…another piece of him to bring into and share with the world. It was always really important to us though, as a couple, to ensure that we enjoyed some time together, being married, before we handed our lives over to a whole new responsibility. We wanted to travel, to have careers, to build roots, to get to know each other and get to know ourselves better. We wanted to get better at being married before we made the leap towards being parents.

So now we’ve done it! We’ve spent four years enjoying a life completely indulgent in each other; we’ve travelled to Hawaii, Australia and Europe. We’ve built our house. We’ve accepted jobs and turned down jobs. We’ve gotten exponentially better at being a team. And yesterday afternoon, we found out that we’re going to have a son!

In approximately four and half months, our little man is going to enter the world and nothing will ever be the same again! We will no longer just be “Gen and Steve” or “husband and wife” anymore…we will be parents and our identities will forever be intertwined in this little baby boy. And I couldn’t be more excited about it!

Of course, the thought did cross my mind that even now, after thirty years, men are still a total and complete mystery to me…so how the heck am I ever going to raise one?!?! But on the other hand, perhaps I just need to accept that it simply may be my lot in life to be surrounded by handsome men!!!

{brent & caroline...}

I remember the first time that I ever photographed a wedding how intimidated I felt by the intimacy of it all. I remember feeling as though I should be looking away and not pointing my camera at all of the very private and personal moments that were taking place; the smiles, the tears, the eternal gazes. Even while going through the pictures afterwards, I remember feeling somewhat as though I just intruded on something that I shouldn’t have been privy to, despite my invitation to be front and center during the entire moment.

I have to come to cherish these moments because that’s essentially what it is; a trusted invitation to bear witness to it all and to somehow capture the fleeting moments that pass us by all too quickly.

Anytime I leave a wedding, I realize just how much there is to learn about someone because of that single day; their style, their faith, their devotion, their relationships, their organizational skills!! So much gets said about a couple besides the words that are actually being spoken and frankly, it’s a gift to be there. It’s entirely a blessing to be there during any course of these moments; the engagement, the wedding, the anticipation of a child, the family pictures long after its grown or even the celebration of individuality between a single person and my camera. What a blessing it all is!

Below are some images of my latest bride…my newest friend…and one of my more recent blessings. I learned a lot over the course of preparing for Caroline and Brent’s wedding and most of all, I learned that it’s all the moments in between that are the most precious; it was sitting with her over lunch and discovering about her life outside of her wedding; it was giving her a hug outside of the church because I was so happy for my new friend’s amazing day; it was patiently waiting for her to come home from her honeymoon, not so I could give her all of her pictures, but so I could see the smile on her face from having spent two weeks relishing in her new life. It’s about being so wildly excited for her future and all that there is to come…and all because she needed a wedding photographer!

~~~

The lovely Caroline getting ready on her big day...

Brent and his men having a last single guy's drink...

Oh, the anticipation...

This is Caroline's parent's property where her and both of her sisters celebrated their wedding. It was a photographer's dream!

Ahh...yeah! Too cute for words!

To see Brent and Caroline's slideshow, click here.