Yesterday Ivanette and I decided that since we had a day off on a Sunday, that we’d head off to the Canadian War Museum. Of course I took my camera along just to play around a little bit. I thought I’d share some of my favorites from yesterday. Instead of taking snapshots like everybody else, I took more of an artistic approach to photographing at the War Museum.

Cliff’s seminar was 5 hours in length and focused on how to capture the best images in the difficult conditions wedding photographers are faced with most often–dark, dramatic, moody, romantic reception venues that look gorgeous to the guests but can make it hard to truly highlight the best of the evening’s celebration. We got to play the bride and groom, complete with convention ID badges, but the knowledge we gained was invaluable!

Some of the takeaway messages of the seminar were key:
-how to turn bad light into good light
-gaining a better understanding of light quality vs light quantity
-using light to create texture, dimension, and mood
-being able to see three dimensionally to improve composition

We are truly excited and inspired to use the skills that Cliff taught at the seminar for our upcoming wedding commissions, and can’t wait to see the images we’ll create!

A big thumbs up to our buddy Aaron of Aaron Spicer Photography in Virginia for taking these photos while we were at the seminar!

We had a great night out last night with Ivanette’s old friend Jon and his girlfriend Melanie.  Ivanette and Jon both grew up in Nova Scotia, but with life taking them to different schools and paths, they haven’t seen each other for over 10 years!  Both Jon and Melanie are music artists living in town, and we were thrilled to head to a cool little dive for one of their shows.

The club was on the outskirts of Nashville, and like any good out of the way club, it had a great vibe perfect for up and coming artists.

Melanie was up first and rocked three original songs

Jon then jumped onstage and performed some of his own music.  Ivanette was thrilled because this was the first time she’s ever seen Jon play live–how lucky that it was in a club in Nashville???

After all that, we figured on trying some of the Rusty Nail’s “famous big ass slices” and were not disappointed.  We ordered the Bucking Broncho and it has absolutely everything on it!

Nothing left of that pie at the end of the night!

To top off a great night, we headed back to Jon’s place to see his amazing home studio.  Jon built the studio, and hand picked each and every piece of equipment he added.  The microphone was built in Germany, and is arguably one of the best…I won’t even begin to tell you the cost!

I fell in love with the mixing board as soon as I saw it–it is totally computerized and is capable of mixing 32 separate channels, which is more instruments than he can fit musicians in the space!

This amazing 60′s Fender amplifier has a great story–it was rescued from New Orleans during the Katrina disaster by it’s previous owner.   He was carrying his guitar and the amp out of the city and while hiking up the highway, figured out that while he loved it, he couldn’t carry it the whole way.   We love antique furniture, especially when it comes with a great history, so this was right up our alley.

And now, a live performance:

We had such a great night!  Up next?  Music City Row tomorrow!