WHAT THE DUCK - a little photog humor this blustery friday night || vancouver photographer

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wearing the blue olive hat || vancouver wedding photographer

the last couple wedding seasons i've had the delight of working with blue olive photography.

reilly and miranda are not only fabulous to work with, but they have become some of our favorite friends. :)

last summer reilly and i shot a wedding...and i just noticed on their blog that it was in wedding bells magazine.. yay us! :)

thanks m&r for letting me wear a blue olive hat..i always enjoy it! :)

xoxo

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follow your heart...to ITALY || vancouver photographer

tuscania...orvieto...assisi...cortona...narni.. ah, yes..these are just a few of the many stop-overs that are on the FOLLOW YOUR HEART..TO ITALY photo tour i'm hosting in the fall.

i have been so blessed to get in touch with our tour/photog over in italy max brunelli.. he has been so amazing to get an INCREDIBLE itinerary for us.

if you haven't heard about the brief overview of the actual tour, here are the 7 full days of the tour:

- Day 1 - Roma airport ~ Orvieto We will be picked up by our host, Max Brunelli, a local expert of adventure and photographer, at the international airport of Roma. We will spend the day on the way to Orvieto and along the road we will visit a couple of wonderful locations: Tuscania & Civita di Bagnoregio. We'll spend the rest night in a 4-star hotel in Orvieto where we'll have an unforgettable dinner with local food.

-Day 2 - Orvieto ~ The second days is dedicated to Orvieto and its treasures, the Duomo, the Underground, the Pozzo di San Patrizio, the Torre del Moro and during the afternoon we will spend a couple of hours in the regional cellar of Umbria where we will taste a large selection of Umbrian wines. Dinner in a quaint restaurant located right in front of the impressive city of Civita di Bagnoregio.

-Day 3 - Orvieto ~ Spoleto Ready to leave from Orvieto early in the morning time to reach Spoleto and make a couple of stops along the road: -Narni & the Narni underground -The Marmore Falls Our group will be hosted in one of the oldest monasteries in Umbria, recently trasformed in a residenza dEpoca. The Eremo delle Grazie.

-Day 4 - Spoleto ~ Assisi Well spend the morning around Spoleto visiting the Duomo, the Tower Bridge, the narrow and characteristic streets of this medieval city. After lunch we will reach the home town of San Francesco, Assisi. A real jewel with an impressive basilica and the castle still on top of the city. Dinner in Spello in the biggest wine bar of Umbria.

-Day 5 - Spoleto ~Monteriggioni Time to say goodbye to Umbria and reach the Tuscan sun. First stop in Cortona and short tour of the city. Gelato all together in Max's favorite gelateria sitting on the square and doing the italian most important sport....people watching. We will drive up and down the Tuscan hills with frequent stops and Max will show us the hills with the cypresses and the original Tuscan Villas. For the last 2 nights we will sleep in Monteriggioni, a small castle still well preserved, surrounded by medieval walls and towers. The Hotel is located right in the center of Monteriggion and close to it we will have dinner in a fabulous trattoria ( a small restaurant run by a family )

-Day 6 - Monteriggioni ~ Siena ~ San Gimignano After breakfast we will reach the most famous monument of Siena Piazza del Campo and we will spend the morning around this unbelievable well preserved medieval city. In the afternoon time to reach San Gimignano and shoot lots of this medieval metropole famous for.....medieval skyscrapers. Dinner in San Gimignano ...trufe and wildboar!

-Day 7 - Monteriggioni ~ Roma Last day of tour, so, we will spend the whole day on the way back to Roma, but with surprises along the way! Time for a couple of quick stops. (a few secret places of Max's!) .. one being our last wine tasting. What a way to end a fabulous week!

like really?? sleeping in 5star hotels, monasteries and castles..
how about wine tasting in umbria's biggest wineries?
and some cooking lessons with an amazing tuscan chef?

ya, these are the NON photographer things we'll be doing (altho, you know there are TONS of photo opps, just in there!) the stop-overs that max has planned are mind-blowing and seriously i know i will need to buy more memory cards!! :)

for more info take a look at a website that i have built specifically for this tour: FOLLOW YOUR HEART..TO ITALY.

if you are photographer, then do consider coming on the tour.. only 15 will be taken..and 2 seats are already reserved. :)

viva italia!!


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vancouver wedding photographer || the [b]ecker hits vancity!

as some may know, i co-founded a group in the city here for wedding photographers and second shooters. this last week we brought in [b]ecker, a wedding photographer from southern california, to do his crash course in kicking a$$ workshop. :)

the months of planning and details really paid off - i would have to say that the photogs who attended had a great time. :) from the workshop content itself, to the food by my lover, the networking galore and all-around good hang out times, the last couple days proved to be a success..

of course, i took some shots throughout the two days.. :)

libby, my partner in crime and co-founder of the group, put together some pretty sweet swag bags for us with a few little goodies in there.. :)

 

the most amazing vegetarian lunch EVER!

 

some networkin'!! :)

 

  

 

 

and then the walk-about watching [b]ecker shoot.. here's day 1:

 

 

  

 

 

thanks geoff and naomi for being wednesday's models!! :)

 

  

and of course for me, a photowander wouldn't be a photowander without some of my fave kinda shots:

 

 

then day two.. :)

thanks to  jason and lena for being our models!

  

 

[b]ecker even took every single person's headshots too.. :) good fun!

yes..it was a good few days.. a big huge thanks to reilly & miranda of blue olive for letting us invade not only their studio but home for 2 days! and to my partner - in - crime, libby, for all the swag and keeping me sane. :)

and to all the AMAZING vanphotogs who came - you guys are the best!! :) xoxo
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christmas party time! || vancouver wedding photographers & second shooters || vancouver photographer

on the weekend we hosted the vancouver wedding photogs & second shooters group christmas office party at our place.. GOOD TIMES.

lots of yummy goodies..plenty of spirits (lover made mulled wine too!)..and a ridiculously funny $1 christmas gift exchange!

it twas a ball.. :)






getting ready for gift xchange time!!


for more photos check out the album

"we're all in this together" || vancouver wedding photographer

"We're all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We're all stars
And we see that
We're all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come true"

sound familiar? its the lyrics to one of my favorite movies (thanks to my 8yr old daughter!), High School Musical. not gonna lie...this movies brings me to tears EVERY time. :)

truly amazing lyrics. about a class. who are all friends. who have misunderstandings. who sometimes fight. who know how to have fun. who are all going in different directions but are all chasing their dreams.

this post is something i have been chewing on for a while..and really, i am "putting myself" out there, if you will, by being honest and sharing my own personal thoughts on a subject so great and huge.

the song...it kinda of reminded me of me and my collegues, vancouver wedding photogs.

each of us has our own business in this industry..we work hard..we create..we love..we throw ourselves into what we do..we want to make a difference..we love people.. we all have the potential to be so incredibly successful. what our business ends up doing is completely up to us.

and whether we like to admit it or not, we need each other.

what!? photogs need other photogs? heck ya we do!
but we're each other's competition. heck ya we are!
but can we really be friends then? heck ya we can.

but why, you ask? um, read that song at the top again and continue reading on.. :)

but how can i be friends with my competion?
well let's do the math for a second..

let's say there are 500 "official" photogs in metro vancouver..as in people who make wedding photography their business. i think there are a lot less, but hey.. :)

i found out "the number" of weddings in bc in 2008 - 22,955
let's divide that number by the 500 photogs in the city.
that would equal almost 46 local weddings a year for each photog.

who in the HECK is doing 46 weddings in and out of this city? riiiiiiiiiiiiight.

that's a lot of people gettin married.

bottom line... there's enough work for all of us. really. no really, there is. ;)

so why is it, i wonder, that as photogs in metro van, is there still angst and tension between some photogs? why is collaborating and networking such a foreign and scary thing for some photogs?

michelle libby of studio 32 and i started vancouver wedding photographers and second shooters in august 2008. why? because we need each other. we need to collaborate. we need to be in relationship with people of like minds. we need to have input from others better than us. we need to have mentors, encouragers and teachers. we need collegues who can fill in for us when an emergency comes. we need other photogs to refer other work to if we're already busy or have a project that isn't our niche. and...we need friends. (we all know we each spend a good part of our time alone in front of our digital darkrooms! :) )

and thus started the group. the group members speak for themselves. over 140 members? really? that's crazy.

is it another club? is it something "else" to be a part of? all i know is that it was birthed out of longing to belong to a group of photogs who are a community. and i truly believe it has become that.

then how come not everyone gets along and thinks its not a good thing? am i just a dreamer? maybe..chuckle..

well for one, it's that age old thing called relationship and the fact that everyone is DIFFERENT.

let's be real: we will NEVER be friends with EVERYONE. i know, some of you REALLY wish you could be, but let it rest..it ain't gonna happen. :) but you will be friends with some. and some of those people will be so vital to your growth and well-being of your business. and some of these people will become more important to you than you ever thought they would.

i have watched over the last year+ how photogs interact with other photogs in a number of different venues and circumstances. some times it brings a smile to my face. and sometimes i can't actually believe what i see. back to the "not everyone is gonna like everyone part".. :)

but really, if we are who we say we are, and who we tell our clients we are, shouldn't we be able to, at the very least, co-exist with each other in the same city? :)

all i know is this: there will ALWAYS be someone better than me. ALWAYS. and that's ok. in fact that is MORE than ok..that's inspiring! because there will always be someone i can look up to, strive to acheive my own success.

the point of this post? i'm not entirely certain. maybe some late evening ramblings. maybe something you will never read. maybe a rant. maybe a hope or dream of something that could or couldn't exist. maybe just my heart.

whatever it is, i know that i am extremely thankful for you all.

whether we barely know each other or have had some heart to hearts, have worked together a little or have worked together lots..i am thankful.

that i know that there IS a community in our city that all have a common vision to be a community within our industry that we can all be a part of.

we are all in this together and we need each other. :)

tracey
xo