Even though they moved away shortly after their wedding several years ago, it hasn’t felt like I’ve been all that removed from Deepak and Michelle.  Whether it’s working with their extended families for portraits, or seeing them again at Deepak’s cousin’s wedding, or bumping into their families at weddings because the East Indian community in Winnipeg is so tightly knit, it just seems like I’m never more than a few degrees of separation away.  This time when they came back to town, there were no degrees of separation at all as I took them down to the studio for a shoot of their new little boy Rayan.

Like most babies his age, Rayan was extremely tactile.  It was fun just watching his extreme fascination with the red wicker stools and the fuzzy orange chairs that we have in the studio.  I’m sure they look better than they taste, but he didn’t seem to mind their flavors either way.  Between the furniture and his chewy giraffe, he couldn’t be bothered with the green stuffed animal/monster that his parents have been using as the unofficial “reference chart” for his size.  Another thing I thoroughly enjoyed was this little lick of his hair that would casually flip up during the shoot (I still find it hard to believe that Rayan was apparently one of the “balder” babies in the family).

It was great working with Michelle and Deepak again, and if they stay true to the patterns in their families, I can’t help but wonder if Rayan will soon have a sibling in the family portraits…?    But before we jump ahead of ourselves, let’s share some pictures from this session:

–

I’ll admit to a certain nervous anticipation before Anjali and Arun’s wedding.  I’ve photographed quite a number of Sikh and Hindu weddings now, but this was the first time photographing both ceremonies… one after the other… on the same day!  To my pleasant surprise, the day just flew by and the constant rush of events made for lots of fun and eventful shooting.

We started Saturday bright and early at the Fairmont (though not as early as Anjali who was up with the sun at 4am!).  Under a light sprinkle of rain, the groom’s procession with Arun on his horse made its way to the hotel, where first the Sikh and then the Hindu ceremonies went off without a hitch (other than a brief moment when I wondered if the ominous buzzing of the fire alarm – caused by the smoke from the ceremonial fire – was going to be followed by a cold shower from the sprinklers). Then we had a nice long portrait session, ending Saturday at the Legislative Building and starting Sunday at Red River College.  Just as they were on their engagement session, Anjali and Arun were wonderfully patient and so friendly and easy to work with during the shoots.  We got a ton of nice shots through both days – it’s going to take me awhile to go through so many!  But here is a sneak peek at some of my faves from the weekend.

–

As I walked out to the car today, it was hard to believe that it was the middle of March and that full-on winter was only a few weeks ago.  With the fields poking their heads out from under the snow and the evenings suddenly one hour longer thanks to daylight savings, it’s as if someone fast-forwarded us into spring…

But before we leave the cold weather behind completely, here’s a wintry engagement session with Anjali and Arun.  We pretty much closed our eyes and picked the date of the shoot a month in advance, and much to our luck and delight, we managed to pick out the first weekend that kicked off our current warm spell.  There was still plenty of snow on the ground at the time and the Forks was packed with snowboarders, skaters, and people out and about enjoying the sunshine.

We started the session outside and Anjali and Arun were kind enough to appease my whimsy and muck through drifts of snow for me – there were some nice wintry blues to be had!  And though it was a nice enough day, 45 minutes of standing around in the snow is enough to chill anyone, so we wandered inside to warm up.  I don’t often get to sit down and chat with my subjects in the middle of a shoot, but we sat down in a patch of sun with our hot chocolates and got a chance to talk about the Olympics, traveling in Europe, and East Indian food.  Even though I’ve shot my fair share of Indian weddings, I definitely learned a thing or two with the inside scoop from Anjali and Arun.  An informative coffee break!

We finished up the shoot inside the building, playing with patches of light from the setting sun.  All in all, a great way to kick off the engagement sessions this year.  Here are a few of my faves:

–

Chris and Cassandra were just in front of my camera a few weeks back for their engagement photos, so it was an easy transition to start shooting their wedding.  It was the third East Indian wedding I had shot this summer, but this one (like the others) definitely had its own unique feel and it was an interesting to observe and capture the subtle differences in the customs and details.  The ceremony took place under a canopy that Cassandra’s father had built himself, and offered a lot of great moments: Chris gamely making his way through the traditions for the first time… the parents clearly enjoying and feeling the moment… what I thought was an unreal amount of rice they poured on each other’s heads…

Once again Cassandra and Chris gamely followed me around in my whimsical hunt for pictures, and though the day started with a few nerves, the photo session went smoothly and by the time the ceremony and reception had rolled around, everyone was right into the swing of things.  Congratulations you guys!  A few sneak peeks:

I’ve gotten to experience the full gamut of East Indian weddings lately, as I transitioned from a Sikh wedding two weeks ago to Manisha & Ace’s wedding which was a Hindu ceremony.  The wedding was unique in that it also incorporated elements of Ace’s Filipino heritage – even though the two families came from such distinct backgrounds, I was impressed at how seamlessly the traditions blended together and how readily each family embraced one another.

Like their families, Manisha and Ace have an easy and real interaction with each other, which made it fun and easy to photograph them together. Having shot Manisha’s cousin’s wedding several years ago, I once again had the pleasure of seeing and working with a whole bunch of familiar faces. Between the two families, there were so many animated characters that it was hard to ever put the camera down that night.  Congrats Manisha & Ace!  Hopefully the images are able to capture the energy of your day!