Usually early April is spent mucking about in mittens & rubber boots, stomping on puddles that froze overnight and form that thin covering of ice that’s so much fun to stomp, and wondering just how high the river is going to get. Not the case at all this year, as I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the warmest, driest, and nicest spring that I can recall since moving to Winnipeg.  It’s also afforded some much earlier opportunities to shoot portraits outdoors.

It had been a few years since I’d last been to King’s Park so I was looking forward to meeting Christel and Tony there for their engagement session. The weather certainly cooperated and it was almost surreal – bright sun & blue skies like summer, but with all the foliage still hidden away making it look quite like late autumn.  Made for some very nice combos of blue and yellow/orange.

And what a fun-loving couple to shoot!  Whether they were sitting patiently as I fiddled with my gear, or sending text messages to each other, or trying to strike a serious pose in front of the camera, it seemed hardly a moment went by without one or the other bursting out into laughter.  I must have spent half of the time either waiting for them to stop laughing or waiting for myself to stop cracking up. It’s always a pleasure to photograph couples who clearly enjoy each others’ company, and Christel and Tony exuded it in spades that day.  With this much fun on the engagement shoot, I can’t wait to see what their wedding day is like…

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This seems to happen every year: the so-called “quiet” early spring season somehow slips by and boom!… back into the mad wedding season!  We took the week off for spring break and headed back to Edmonton.  Other than at Christmas, the kids don’t often get to see the Au side of the family so they were super pumped to get a bonus chance to hang out with their cousins.  For me, I enjoyed dropping everything for a few days, getting to eat a lot of home cooking, and reading a lot of the local coverage about how bad the Oilers stink this year (at least they won the lottery pick!).

My schedule is otherwise filled with teaching these days – both at Prairieview and on my own through the studio.  Unfortunately, the updating of the blog has suffered, but I’m hoping to get some pics from Edmonton as well as from a few recent shoots up over the next while. To start things off, here’s one of my favorite pics from a headshot series I did for local columnist/writer Melvin Durai.  I was intrigued by Melvin’s diverse background – born in India, raised in Zambia, and now living and writing in exotic Winnipeg.  The wife is an avid reader of East Indian authors so hopefully his book, which is slated to be published in India later this summer, will find its way over to shelves here in North America. As a portrait, I liked how the contrast turned out in this particular black & white.