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Ok, so I don’t drink. But I have ALWAYS wanted to make it appear like I had been when I got out the snow blower to do the front walkway. After I took this picture though, the Mrs. made me go finish it properly so the neighbours wouldn’t talk. I mean come on, I might have been just plowing the sidewalk with surrealism!
Every once in a while, do something you would have done when you were a kid….please!       Oh Christmas time. The bells will be ringing, the snow will be falling, and there’s a palpable excitement you could feel-nay-TASTE in the air! Twas the month before Christmas, and all through the house, everyone was shopping, even the mouse. It seems that there’s something about the hustle and bustle of Christmas that makes everyone go a little crazy, and get a whole lot more jolly. And at the center of it all, there’s one time-honored tradition that stands above all…sitting on Santa’s lap and getting your picture taken! As many of you who know me personally might have realized, from Thanksgiving until Christmas, there was one place, and one place only to find me, and that was at the Somerset Collection Mall. You see, early in the fall, this photographer got a call to duty, a request from the Big Man In Red himself, Santa, asking me to be a part of his holly-jolly entourage at his Troy, Michigan headquarters, his castle at the Somerset Mall!
I jumped at the chance to be a part of something I’d only dreamt of when I was a kid! Not only was I going to get to meet Santa, but I was going to work alongside him! Of course I agreed! I being a portrait and wedding photographer would jump at the chance to work with children more, and learn how to work with them better! I figured if I could learn from the master at how to get a child to smile, then it would only help my photography in the long run!
I wish I could honestly show you the pictures here of all the kids (the legalities of showing other peoples children without permission is just not something I want to tangle with). There is something magical about all the hopes and dreams that are scrawled on a tiny list that they clutch as they run up to meet Santa, DETERMINED to make sure their wishes get heard by the most important man to tell them to! (The hottest ones this year seemed to be Nintendo Wii’s, Nintendo DS’s, Puppies, and American Girl Dolls, just in case you were wondering.) Of course, being children, rarely do things go as perfect as the parents want it to go, but isn’t that part of the fun? Of course, for every one child that sits wonderfully, smiles, and tells Santa what he hopes will be under the tree, there’s 5 or 6 others who are TERRIFIED by the “giant red monster with a white beard” whose lap Mom and Dad are forcing them to sit on! And ohhh the screaming did happen, the hyperventilating, the running away, the tears – And that’s just the parents waiting in line! but for every 5 kids who come up with the terror in their heart towards Santa, making it near impossible to take 6 beautiful pictures of (which we ALWAYS managed to do, with our magical ways), was I ever feeling down about it? Was I ever feeling like “what’s the point?” or down about the whole ritual? No way! This is Christmas and the show must go on…for the children! Things that brighten your day: for some pictures, we found it cute to capture the moment we ask the young one to “whisper a secret” to Santa, sometimes joking that it should be about Mom or Dad. Did you know that a majority of them whispered “I love you Santa” into his ear? Yeah, I bet you were looking for some dirt, but all you’re getting today is a bucket-full of warmth!! Anyways, I’m sure I could sit here all day and recount stories of what the kids asked for, or sweet things they’d do for each other, but I urge you, next year, when your little kid wants to meet Santa, remember, it’s not so much about the shopping, it’s not so much about the lines, or the photos of the family, it’s about the EXPERIENCE of meeting Santa! That’s what we’re there to capture, a wonderful moment in time, when your child meets Santa and it’s magical. Because, the visit doesn’t last forever, Christmas is only for a limited time each year, and the moment, like the click of a shutter in a camera, is gone before you know it. Enjoy it while it lasts!
As for me, like always, I’ll be looking forward to seeing the big guy next year. I hope he remembers me! Lets talk about weddings, shall we? Back in November, I shot possibly one of the most fun filled weddings of my photography career so far for Janarae and Stan. Not only was it my first wedding working with the extremely focused Agnes (another photographer in the local Detroit area) so the stress of shooting a wedding was cut in half, but it was my first chance to travel to Downtown Detroit and employ some of the city as a backdrop in the middle of the day!
I had always wanted to use the Fox Theatre as a backdrop, and now that I have, I can only recommend it for anyone thinking about it! Is is the glow of all the lights behind them, or could this wedding party just be THAT good looking as a whole? Then there’s the fact that I had my job made SO easy that day with the sheer radiance of the lovely Janarae. Here she is with Stan on the street, again in front of the Fox Theatre…
If you can find me a better million-dollar smile that can shine like that, you’ll be lucky! As the day wore on, her personality seemed to glow and lift the rest of us to keep the energy going, the moods lifted, and the atmosphere electric. Yes, I know I’m gushing, but I fall in love with all my brides, and she is no exception. There was also the guys….
Let me tell you, I have not met a grooms party yet who had more fun on the wedding day than this crew. It was very inspiring that they were so tight knit, and they truly felt like a brotherhood of life-long friends, and beyond their jokes and razzing each other, you can tell they all cared deeply for one another. Cheers guys, it was fun working alongside you!
Perhaps the highlight of the day was heading to a little watering hole across the street from the nearly torn-down Tiger Stadium, opened exclusively that day for the wedding party. The reception was later that evening, but the real party was here, with jukebox favourites belted out at top volume, cheers hoisted high, and a few moments stolen away such as this one above for a little romance that set the mood for the entire day. There truly was no doubt who was the queen on THIS chilly November afternoon!
The reception was a baseball themed one, with each table named instead after each professional team in the major league instead of the usual numbering scheme, and a great demonstration of a wedding that perfectly fit the personality and likes of the WEDDING COUPLE, rather than the wishes of others. It was very refreshing, and I encourage anyone thinking about their wedding to make it their own like Janarae and Stan. It was truly a party to enjoy!
Of all things, the day was a great example of exactly what a wedding should be…one of the best experiences of your life. After being honoured to be a part of Janarae and Stan’s special day, I thank them, and wish them only the best of luck in their life together!
One last one, I just loved this picture, and wanted to share it with you. Can you think of a better picture for a photographer to enjoy??
You will probably notice a big jump from the last post to now. No, I hadn’t disappeared from the planet, a big fat man in a red suit was my main subject for the entire month of December! I’ll talk more of my adventures in shooting for Santa in a future post, but I really just wanted to get a chance to say Happy New Year to (both) readers of this blog and that regular updates will resume now! I plan on sharing most of my current and recent projects, and thank anyone who takes the time to read through them, hoping that you get even one ounce out of my ramblings that I got out of the incredibly experiences I had shooting the subjects! I know it’s a little late, but a toast for 2009: Champagne for your real friends, and Real Pain for your Sham Friends! (Yeah, I heard it in a movie once…hehe) Ok, so I’m sensing a “B” theme here…on my Blog, I’ve talked about Babies, Bellies, and now….Bands! Thankfully there’s lots of things to talk about that DON’T start in B (until I talk about bWeddings!), but today I decided my long overdue new post on here would be about my fun night of shooting a great party band out of Windsor Ontario, Last Minute!
Now, I’m not biased because I used to be roomates with the guitarist, Elvis, but rather objective as a music lover, it was nice to have a running fun-and-not-tired-songlist throughout the night as a soundtrack to my shooting. Usually when I am with a client, I use music to create a mood to follow through the shoot, as it can make everyone more at ease. In my studio, I will choose from my ipod songlist leaning towards mellow and calming songs, or I’m at a wedding where I have no control over the songlist, but they usually are predictably wedding faves (Lady in Red! Chicken Dance! Brown Eyed Girl!). This time though, Last Minute played favourites culled from Tom Petty, Queen, The Cranberries, and Fleetwood Mack to surprise and delight, without venturing into the realm of “been there, heard that” that many bar-bands fall into. But this isn’t a review on their songlist, just my praise to them for being a great band to see, regardless of whether it was for work or for having a great time with friends!
Certainly there are obvious challenges to shooting with such low light, but being a lover of existing light, I didn’t even bring along a flash that night, wanting to force myself to become creative to the light that I could find. It’s nice to hear people repeatedly asking “How come your flash isn’t going off?” throughout the night, and hopefully these pictures show the success of it to others! I find that with bands, it is best to use the light that exists already to create an atmosphere of what it’s like to actually be there, to see the show, to be IN the show. Sure, a flash could freeze the action better, and less of the shots taken would be as blurry, but it would also overpower the stage lighting and make flat pictures that look like the lights are on. And that’s not what you saw when you were there, was it? Image Stabilization helps, and this was my first time bringing out my new Baby, the Canon 70-200 2.8 IS as a trial, and I think it proved it’s worthin flying colours that night. But the star of the night was by far the 50 mm F1.4 and 85mm F1.8 that I used more than anything, proving that fast lenses trump image stabilization anyday! And if you understood this paragraph, then you’re drooling for some large apertures as well now! I wish all the best to Last Minute, and hope to shoot them many times in the future as well! If you’re at all curious to know more of their goings on, they can be found on myspace at http://www.myspace.com/lastminutewindsor
Ok, I will be the first to admit, when I embarked on my photographic career, I never thought I would be interested in shooting women while they are pregnant. The general stereotype is that women, while pregnant, are not feeling their most “beautiful” while their body is being stretched this way and that, and the “dreaded” weight gain (however temporary) can tend to make many people not interested in having a camera exposing them for long lasting memories. My fear was that it would be an uphill battle trying to show someone how beautiful they could be, while their body was going through worse changes than puberty. How scary is THAT? Then I met Cassandra.
How wonderful to have the stereotypes I’d heard about smashed into tiny pieces! What I experienced on my first “proper” maternity shoot has probably changed my life forever! Not only did she open my eyes to how wonderful it could be to shoot someone who has had modelling experience in the past, but I discovered that maternity is, in this humble photographers eyes, one of the MOST beautiful times a woman goes through! Bellies are to be celebrated, flaunted, and proudly displayed for all to see! I didn’t meet someone that day who was thinking low of herself, I met a confident, radiant woman absolutely glowing with the bundle of joy inside her. It didn’t hurt that she had made my job so much easier by getting a henna design done on her belly beforehand; what a wonderful surprise that I would have never thought of!
Now anyone who knows me, knows that my wife designs and sells maternity shirts online (http://www.jellybeanapparel.com if you’re interested), so I have been around maternity a LOT, but for the most part I’ve only encountered the bellies covered by clothing. Since this experience with Cassandra and her talented musician husband Will, I have had my eyes opened. I feel lucky to have had this experience with them, and look forward to sharing it with other bellies in the future. From now on, I will forever look towards seeing how much more we can explore the beauty of the belly, in all it’s natural and uncovered form! Viva La Bellies!
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Chris Bondy - LOL! I like your sense of humour but I love your pictures too (and I’m not just saying that because you gave my site a plug). I love the one with the groom kissing the bride’s shoulder, great background there and great surroundings too. I especially love the one with the tree that has the autumn coloured leaves (on your homepage) My wife and I went to Niagara on the lake the first week of November and the drive between there and downtown Niagara Falls was breathtaking! You may want to check it out this fall…..lots of great pictures waiting to be taken.