I love stories. My perfect Sunday afternoon would be sitting somewhere in the sun, a cup of tea, and a good book in hand. Here I share some of the stories from my life and loves.
It’s been a great year in so many ways! I had the opportunity to travel more this past year, visited some amazing places, both with loved ones and also by myself; I made a visit to China, the motherland, after having left 16 years ago. I photographed many couples, weddings, babies & families. One of the biggest differences for me this year was having the chance to photograph more destination weddings, in places like Tuscany, Channel Islands, and the Greek islands. While it was really great to photograph weddings in really beautiful locations, it’s never been just about the locations for me. It’s always been more about the people.
I guess really any single year is just a small slice of your life overall. There will always be ups and downs. But probably because of human nature, often times it’s much easier to remember, and to be affected by the “downs”. Sometimes we wish there would only be happy memories, but that’s simply not possible. A few weeks ago I watched the Pixar movie Inside Out and the message from the movie really struck a chord with me: we can’t go about life with only happy emotions and try to suppress anything deemed negative because the different emotions are the “spices” of life so to speak, and together they are what make our experiences multi-faceted. Only when you allow yourself to experience the negative emotions, will they help you appreciate the happy emotions even more.
And sometimes I have to remember that some things are like showers, you have to do it often to benefit from it. :)
Without further ado, here are some of my favourite moments from 2015. These images help remind me that the simplest pleasures in life really are the best ones.
I wrote the following 2 years ago and never quite finished it or published it. I think I was afraid to share it. Probably no one will read it or even care. Fuck it. I’m going to put it out there. Because, if you don’t, you’ll never know who might find it and connect with it right?
For years I had wondered if there was something wrong with me. Was I the only one who felt this way about the world? I always felt as though I feel too much. Too sentimental, and prone to be melancholic. I laugh at jokes or silly things that most might not find funny, I tear up or cry at movies, tv commercials (maybe just that one, but still), reading books etc.
I always thought maybe I’m just super empathetic and sensitive to emotions, and I wear my heart on my sleeve. And that’s that. But last night, I attended a seminar that quite possibly changed my life. Jesh de Rox is the founder of Beloved, which is a series of interaction techniques for photographers. When I first heard about Beloved, I was a little skeptical. Everything sounded really touchy-feely to me (I know, the irony is not lost on me). Then a friend sent me a set of them to check out, and I thought some of them were pretty neat, mainly the light hearted interaction invites or cues. I’ve been using them in my sessions this past year and they do help my couples get a little more comfortable in front of the camera and brings a sense of playfulness to a pretty unnatural situation, that is, having a virtual stranger take photos of you.
But I had not been able to go beyond the lighthearted, fun invites and get to the ones that would evoke deeper feelings. I now understand why. I’ve been afraid to go deeper, to even dare to evoke those feelings. I was afraid I would be judged, and that my couples would think I was weird. I couldn’t get pass the wall of social pressure, real or imagined.
In the short 4 hours or so we were at the seminar, Jesh had said so many things that resonated with me. One of them was that “To be human is to feel“. He also talked about art, and creativity, and yes photography even. But more importantly he delved into the why. Why are certain pieces of art considered great works of art, such as the Mona Lisa? Or The David by Michelangelo? That reason doesn’t even have to be universal, it’s probably different for everyone and it’s personal.
We consider a work of art to be great when it reaches out and touches us, moves us and affects us.
And boom! Suddenly everything made sense to me. I feel a lot, maybe because I’m more easily touched, moved and affected by the things, places, people I see, interact with, and experience. And what’s more, all those feelings, I now know have a deeper purpose; to help me be the photographer that I’m meant to be, to see, connect with and share others’ stories.
“Stories are the bridges that span the distance between people. Photographs that tell stories are the only ones that move us.” – Jesh de Rox.
He talked about seeing the light in our couples, the spark, that thing that someone fell in love with. It’s there, in everyone. And if we can’t see it, then we have no hope of photographing it. It reminded me of this amazing blog post I read from photographer Tamara Lackey.
Love and connections; time frozen still; a moment that disappears, never to return or happen again, but because you took a photo, becomes an “always”. These have always been why I’m driven to photograph.
Ah San Fran, you lovely city you. I can’t believe it was a year ago that I was there. But, I am going back in a week to photograph a secret wedding and I’m so excited!
Like most people who have been, I loved San Fran. It’s the only city in America I would ever move to. I just loved the vibe of the city. Without getting too political in a blog post, it is here (and in other parts of California) where I feel like the founding principles of America have been realized to the best of their potential: Democracy, Rights, Liberty, Opportunity and Equality. But I digress.
I also met up with the awesome and so lovely Patty Lagera, a fellow photographer who is from New Zealand, who was in town around the same time I was. <3
Here are some favourites from that trip.
Isn’t the San Fran city hall just gorgeous? A beautiful example of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture.
The cable car rides were so much fun! especially going up and down the hills. Try standing at edge for more thrill :)
Famous San Francisco Chinatown.
As a book lover, any time I visit another place, I always seek out a bookstore or two. In San Fran, it was City Lights.
You can just make out the Golden Gate Bridge from the top of Tower Hill.
Watching the sun set over the Golden Gate bridge from Chrissy Field.
Saturday market at the Ferry terminal was awesome! So much awesome food.
Up close and personal with that famous bridge!
Didn’t get to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge this time, but did drive across it :)
Alcatraz! aka. The Rock. We did the night tour, which was awesome, but a bit creepy, but still awesome.
The best part was probably the locking of the cells demonstration.
Sutro Bath is such a unique place. It’s hard to imagine that less than 100 years ago, how magnificent this bath by the sea would have looked.
Three. That’s the number of times I’ve been to Iceland now. But no matter how many times I’ve been there, it just doesn’t seem to be enough. The more I go, the more I want to go back. I also feel like I can never quite capture in photographs the Iceland that I see in my mind’s eye.
For this trip, I photographed a very lovely fellow Canadian couple in and around south Iceland for their anniversary session. Then Mike and I picked up a rental car and drove up to the Snaefellsness peninsula and then on to the Westfjords, which is this stunningly beautiful and remote landscape. And very isolated. If you are looking for edge-of-the-world beautiful landscape, this is definitely one of those places.
I think I’ve gushed enough about this beautiful place here, and here. Below are some favourites from this past trip.
Starting from Reykjavik, 3 hours later we were winding to the “top” part of the Snaefellsness peninsula.
The town of Stykkisholmur.
From Stykkisholmur, it was nearly 4 hours on a stretch of route 54 that was badly potholed to get to Holmavik on Strandir coast of the Westfjords.
Looking out onto the Holmavik Harbour from our guesthouse. This was one of the creepiest place I’ve ever stayed in.
Not because of the Museum of Witchcraft across the street, or the fact that we hardly saw anyone around town.
It was a very old house and as soon as I saw it, I had a funny feeling about it.
It didn’t help that we were the only ones staying there haha.
The next day we took a road trip along the Strandir coast. It was 104 km of coastal gravel road pitted with potholes the size of giant watermelons.
The journey took about 3 hors each way since we didn’t have a 4×4 so we drove slowly. At the end of that was a geothermal pool at the edge
of the universe.
“Breathtaking” seems like an overused word, but I can’t think of anything else to describe the drive.
A little seal colony in one of the fjords.
Seeing the Northern lights dance was definitely one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had.
We stayed at a farm in Heydalur for our last 2 nights and the resident dog followed us the whole way on a 4-hour hike…we played fetch with him!
His name is Loki :) (the Nordic god of mischief)
There was also an Arctic Fox that lived on the farm!
There is no doubt that California is an iconic place when you think about travelling in America. But to each of us, California means something different. If you asked me what comes to mind when I think of beautiful landscape, it’s the rocky shoreline dotted with ethereal coastal Cypress trees with the Pacific Coast Highway winding through, and the ever blue Pacific ocean lapping at the foot of the cliffs. It’s fog that dissipates by mid-morning and rolls back in in the afternoon, it’s the towering giant redwood forests, and the fur seals with their unique calls. It’s a place, like any other magical place, where you both feel at one with nature but also feel so small against it. You feel at peace here.
We started in San Jose and drove through Point Montara, Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, Carmel, Big Sur, and San Simeon. In particular, Big Sur was our favourite.
Like Henry Miller said: This is the California that men dreamed of years ago, this is the Pacific that Balboa looked out on from the Peak of Darien, this is the face of the earth as the Creator intended it to look.
As I write this post, I’m currently sitting on a beach in Hervey Bay, Australia, which is about 3.5 hours north of Brisbane. I’m on a 3-month trip that will take me to a few more places in Australia, New Zealand, Bali and China. But first, back to the Caribbean.
I had the opportunity to visit a few Caribbean islands in October 2013 when I photographed a destination wedding on the tiny island of Nevis. On this trip, we gained a true appreciation of “island time” and learned how to “lime”. Everything slows down in the hot and sticky climate. We visited St Maarten, St Kitts & Nevis and the teeny, tiny island of Saba. Of the three, Saba was definitely our favourite.
Why did we visit Saba of all the islands there are? Well, one, we were short on time and two, I was flipping through the Lonely Planet guidebook and the descriptions of Saba were simply too charming and hilarious. I mean, why wouldn’t you want to visit an island where there is only one road and is called “The Road”, with a village called “The Bottom” and an old sea port which can only be accessed with a series of stairs called “The Stairs”? :) You see my point.
Unlike most Caribbean islands, Saba is a mountainous island that actually doesn’t have a natural beach. But what it lacks in beaches, it more than makes up for in the stunning scenery with lush tropical plants, magnificent Mount Scenery, and sea views from almost anywhere on the island.
Getting there: Winair connects you from the St Maarten airport; the flight only takes about 20 minutes over azure Caribbean waters. Having flown with a small aircraft, I can finally see why some love to fly. You will land on one of the shortest commercial runways in the world, after thinking that you are about to fly into the side of the mountain. That experience alone is well worth the visit.
Sleeping: We stayed at The Cottage Club in the village of Windwardside (so named because it’s very windy there) and loved it. Ask for cottage #1 or #2 for the best views in my opinion.
Eating: There are quite a few amazing restaurants on such a tiny island. We had dinner one night at The Brigadoon and the meal was both delicious and did not break the bank. Killer martinis here are a plus.
Activities: Hikers will love a number of stunning hikes available and if you like water activities, the diving here is supposed to be amazing as well. Or you can just relax by your hotel pool, taking in the gorgeous views and ocean breeze.
Instead of a more traditional destination in the Caribbean, consider unspoiled and tranquil Saba! :)
