Continuing with the anniversary shoots, I had the privilege of taking some portraits of the Sveistrups and their family as they celebrated 50 years of marriage.  50 is truly an impressive number – having just passed 10 years myself, it’s amazing to think of people who have shared their lives together five times longer than we have!  A few pics from a sunny and windy day at Assiniboine Park:

–

You wouldn’t know it at first glance, but we live in the North End of Winnipeg – a very nice little pocket of it along the river, with big trees and old character houses. We’re surrounded by a number of really nice homes with pretty yards which puts our own place to relative shame (my apologies to the neighbours – it’s a very long work in progress!) Roman and Christina are one of the neighbours on the block who have a really put a lot of effort into their place, so I was professionally and neighbourly interested when they asked me to drop in and shoot some family pics during their parents’ 50th anniversary celebration.

Despite having hosted a big shindig the night before at their place, everything in their home looked in typically fabulous shape. The yard was decorated with funky art painted by one of Christina’s brother-in-laws – I quite liked the flowers and the rendition he did based on one of the Korbutiaks’ wedding photos 50 years ago. It was also interesting to see the resemblance and yet differences between Christina and her sisters, and again in the next generation of three little blonde nieces who were so bashfully cute in front of the camera. A few pics from the session:

–

Ah, the challenge of keeping a blog up to date during the busy season.  It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, but there should be lots of new pics forthcoming soon!

We’ll start things off with a few pics from Vickie and Bryan’s wedding.  Once again a rainy Saturday forced us to change our plans of doing all the shooting at the St-Boniface Country Club (I’ll say one thing about wedding photography – my adaptation skills have sure come a long way).  Although we were all looking forward to a sunnier day, I can’t say that I was entirely disappointed as we decided at the last minute to go downtown to the new Manitoba Hydro building.

Having been at this for awhile, it’s a real treat to shoot someplace new and different in town.  The Hydro building is definitely a nice photo backdrop as far as public places go – lots of cool lines, funky furniture, good light, and a waterfall to boot!  With the whole main floor nearly to ourselves, I was like a kid in a candy store, making the wedding party walk all over the place to satisfy my whimsy.  And then there was Vickie and Bryan’s little daughter Sarah (great name for a girl if I say so myself), who was cute as a button in her purple dress and so hard not to photograph the whole time as she pranced around the place.  We finally made our way to St-Boniface where Vickie and Bryan exchanged their vows and kicked off a very pleasant and relaxed evening under the warm and dry confines of the country club’s banquet hall.  With the rain tapering off as the evening wore on, we even managed to slip out and take a few pictures outside in the night.  Some of my faves from the day:

–

The weather didn’t cooperate, but that didn’t stop Nicole and John from having a fun and beautiful wedding day.  We were supposed to start the day taking pictures out on the farm, but with the wet and soggy weather, we had to “settle” for the backyard of one of John’s groomsmen.  This “backyard” just happened to be as big as a city block, landscaped like something out of Western Living, and included fountains, bridges, a pitch and putt golf green, and a fully loaded gazebo with a poker table.  As you can probably tell, it wasn’t really a disappointment having to shoot here!  Armed with umbrellas, golf clubs, a couple of bottles of bubbly, and Nicole and John’s happy-go-lucky bulldog, everyone was more than game for the pictures and it turned out to be quite the enjoyable photo shoot despite the occasional rain shower.

And though the rain also meant moving the ceremony from outside to inside, the St-Charles Country Club is blessed with a picturesque clubhouse and banquet hall.  With the help of a little extra lighting, everything looked great in there too.  Through it all, Nicole and John were all smiles and didn’t let the weatherman stop them from enjoying their day.  Congrats to the newlywed couple!  A few sneak peeks:

–