After being inspired by a competition on www.rocktheshotforum.com/ to post a self portrait, I thought it was a great idea! As some of you may know, that in addition to being a photographer, I’m also a volunteer firefighter. This is me with my son Tavis, who was 1 week old at the time.

Ivanette and I have had the agonizing time waiting to tell everybody our amazing news. We wanted to make sure we made the appropriate phone calls to family, and let all of our great couples know, who have all been amazingly supportive.

The time has come, and we are happy to announce that later this year, there will be an addition to the BH Photography family:

We are both thrilled with the thought of becoming parents, and will certainly share more of the journey to come!

Since I was a little girl, Valentine’s Day was all about the cards, chocolate, and cutesy stuffed toys…did I mention the chocolate?? Now that I’m older, Valentine’s Day means more than ever–since I’ve been blessed with finding my best friend and husband, it’s not so much about the goodies as it is about the good. As you all know, I am lover of love, and especially those couples that we meet who are so much in love. In finding out their stories, we learn how best to photograph their day, and it is so amazing to hear each amazing story. In the same manner, I started doing some research into the history of Valentine’s Day, and it’s even kind of romantic…

Historians trace the origin of Valentine’s Day to ancient Roman Empire. It is said that in the Rome of ancient times people observed a holiday on February 14th to honor Juno – the Queen of Roman Gods and Goddesses. The Romans also regarded Juno as the Goddess of Women and Marriage. On the following day, February 15th began the fertility festival called ‘Feast of Lupercalia’, which was celebrated to honor the Gods Lupercus and Faunus – the Roman God of Agriculture and the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus.
An interesting custom was followed in the Feast of Lupercalia to bring together young boys and girls who otherwise were strictly separated. On the eve of the festival (February 14th), the names of young Roman girls were written on a slip of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew out a girl’s name from the jar and was paired with the girl for the duration of Lupercalia. Sometime pairing lasted for a year until next year’s celebration. Quite often, the couple would fall in love with each other and later marry. Can you say “Awwwwwwww”?

Wishing you all a wonderful, Happy Valentine’s Day, and if you’ve decided to solidify your “pairing” with an engagement ring, a special congratulations from Brian and I!

In October I attended Cliff Mautner’s Lighting and Skill Set boot camp. Unlike most workshops, which concentrate on posing, flash photography, and the business of photography, Cliff concentrated on natural light, mainly full sun at high noon. His techniques baffled me, so I just had to go! I would highly recommend Cliff’s workshop for any expert photographer.

The first day of the workshop we photographed at Washington Square, Philadelphia, working with high noon light (when the sun came out). The second day I had a blast photographing at Eastern State Penitentiary , which used to be the home of Al Capone.

Here’s a look at some of my work (none of these images have been processed in photoshop, other than colour correction):

Only two of the following images used flash, can you pick the two?

Ceremony: St. Theresa Roman Catholic Church
Reception: The Courtyard Restaurant
Floral Designer: Michelle Vandenbosch

Last Saturday, we photographed the wedding of Pamela and Alex, who you may remember from their engagement session. Theirs was a lovely intimate ceremony at St. Theresa’s, a beautiful church hidden away from the downtown core. I have yet to come upon a groom more excited than Alex, and their wedding party was simply hilarious! We had great weather, great light, and even a great horse named Diamond…

P.S. If you ever have the chance to have a mashed potato bar as the midnight snack, don’t hestitate for a second–best dessert EVER!

On October 16, Brian and I had a really fun afternoon photographing an engagement session for Rebecca and Neal at the Governor General’s Residence. Rebecca and I worked together a long time ago in the Emergency Room at the Civic Hospital–what I know of Becky is that she is truly an exceptional person and RN–she is a constant patient advocate and is the type of person who does the right thing…purely because it’s the right thing to do. I’ve often heard her speak of Neal, and have always had an impression of a good, honest, gentleman, the kind that doesn’t come along everyday. When she contacted me about photographing their engagement photos, I was really happy that Brian and I would have a part to play in their lives leading up to their vintage inspired wedding in 2011.

Rebecca, Neal, and their adorable poodle made for amazing subjects, and their willingness to shoot in some pretty cool places has made for some images that we are really proud of. I hope you’ve enjoyed them as much as we did in making them, and I wish all the best for Rebecca and Neal!

When Frances and Shaun began telling us about their wedding, we had never been to Port Hope.  To get ourselves prepared, we did some research on Penryn Mansion, built in 1859, which sits on the picturesque Port Hope Golf and Country Club, and were instantly excited!  We were even more pleased when we arrived in Port Hope, as everything is so much more beautiful than we had imagined.

Frances got ready for the ceremony on site, and it gave us plenty of photo opportunities…

Shaun and his guys got ready at the condo of Frances’ brother, which was a super cool converted historic school!

Shaun wore his grandfather’s railway watch, which had been carefully restored for their wedding day.

Frances wore a beautiful chiffon dress from Sinders Bridal House, which was perfect!

One of the major highlights of our day was photographing the groom’s ride…a stunning liquid blue Lotus Evora!

Taking a peak of the beautiful ceremony site…

All 3 of Frances’ attendants travelled far distances to be with her on her wedding day, and the stories of their long standing friendships were pretty inspiring.

Seriously, these two looked at each other like this all day–it was really amazing to see how they got lost in each other’s eyes so quickly…

Port Hope Golf and Country Club has so many little spots for great photos!  This old barn on the property was one of our favorite spots.

The bouquets were made by Holton Flowers and had fresh cut lavender from a farm in the county–the scent of lavendar literally filled the mansion!

Shaun’s custom made suit and hand-tied bow tie made for a dapper look!

I am seriously in love with this one…

There are some amazing old growth trees still on the property and they seem to filter light just to make photographers swoon…

The pool at the Golf and Country Club was perfect for the cocktail hour and some interesting photos!

What can I say about their cake?  It was unique, it was delicious, it was cheese!  If you take a closer look, their “topper” was handmade to totally represent them–even with Charlie Brown the dog and Gregory Peck the bird!

This was one of the last photos we took that night, and the pool looked gorgeous…even the falling leaves of September made for some spectacular ambiance…

This past Sunday, we had the pleasure of being a part of the baptism of baby Claire, which was held At the School House, just west of Ottawa.  Claire’s parents, Sarah and Dave, decided on an intimate outdoor ceremony for family and friends, and the weather was absolute perfection for the occasion!

The venue is an ideal location for small gatherings, and the potluck lunch afterward was enjoyed by everyone inside the converted one room schoolhouse.

Huge thanks to Sarah, Dave, and Claire for having us capture such a momumental day in a little girl’s life–we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!  As an aside, Grandma’s oatmeal bread was the yummiest I’ve ever tasted, and the homemade jam was an awesome addition

Photography by Brian & Ivanette

Yesterday, we travelled to the village of Cobden in the Ottawa Valley for the wedding of Penny and Aaron.  Well, to be more exact, the wedding was at Penny’s family farm on the outskirts of Cobden and the with the weather cooperating beautifully, we witnessed (and captured) one of the most heartfelt weddings…you see, Penny and Aaron sort of go against the grain.  Upon meeting them, you’re struck that Aaron is very tall and Penny, well Penny is petite in stature-after seeing them together though, I can only say that the size of their love for each other is only amplified by the difference in height!  These two absolutely adore each other;  it was obvious in their pre ceremony nerves, the bashful glances at each other while Penny was walking towards her soon to be husband, and most of all by the way they gazed at each other throughout their ceremony.

Life and the fate of health has thrown them a fast hardball over the last year, and the speeches made during dinner made for many happy, thankful tears and more than one toast to a long and happy, healthy life together. 

If you ever get a chance to attend an Ottawa Valley wedding, jump at it!  The people are generous, funloving, and they sure know how to host a great party!  The dancefloor was full all night, and at some points, even spilled out onto the grass…we even jumped on the floor for a couple after our equipment was packed for the night!  After Aaron’s grandfather busted up the dancefloor to “YMCA”, we had to join in on the fun!

The farm gave us loads of material to work with, and we love the shots we captured as the evening wore on…

Last Saturday we got together with Sylvain and Caroline of Reno Video Productions to put together a little clip to show how we work. We love Sylvain’s style and creativity. Most of all, we love how in 2 minutes you get the chance to get to know us before visiting our studio.