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last fall, i met up with Gil & Kathy in Belle River, to discuss the possibility of traveling with them to Mexico in May, to document their destination wedding.
we hit it off, and i was thrilled that they asked me to join them, on what would be my very first destination wedding. of course, i was thrilled that Playa del Carmen just happens to be on the ocean ( the bestest thing EVER), but i was even more thrilled that i would get to have an adventure alongside two awesome people & their families!!
by the way..... going away to get married, next to the ocean and with just a handful of people, is a FABULOUS decision!!!
that's my public service announcement of the day.
oh, and if you're looking to get a dog, buy a hairless one. my house looks like a couple of dogs exploded all over it (not that this has anything to do with weddings, but it's on my mind and i just thought i'd share).
last Monday morning, i boarded a plane for Cancun, and started my journey to Mexico! did you know that shooting a wedding abroad requires quite a bit of advance planning and lots of gear!!
also, when you plan to go scuba diving as well as all the camera gear, it looked like i was MOVING to Mexico, not just staying for a few days.
(in my defense though, i was also heading to Tennessee on my way back from Mexico, to photograph my friend Arica's wedding).
i arrived in Cancun to the longest immigration line in the HISTORY of immigration lines, but after that it was much more relaxing.
the resort i stayed at, was The Royal Playa del Carmen and it was INSANE luxurious! i mean it when i say INSANE!!!
i was especially fond of the extra soft pillows that arrived in my 'magic box' (room service box) and the turn-down service every night. i think i need to pay my kids to turn down my bed for me at night, light a scented candle, and leave chocolates on my pillow. yep, that would be sweet!!
unfortunately, the weather wasn't quite as awesome as the people and the location, and it pretty much rained every day, all day, for most of the week. luckily, the rain stopped long enough for the ceremony to be outdoors, but quickly started up again and Kathy, Gil & i had to run for cover while we were doing some beach shots. oh well, it was hot, we were being spoiled, and i was near the ocean. who needs the sun anyways?
i want to take a moment to thank Gil & Kathy for your hospitality, for bringing me along to photograph your wedding, and for opening up your lives and your hearts to me. i loved having that fantastic meal with the both of you (we totally should have ordered more lamb chops) and
i was so happy that you were both so easy going and flexible with all the rain issues!!
Gil, i'm sorry that i didn't have time to give you more body surfing tips, but the waves kinda sucked that day!!
now, here are a few photos of our little adventure!
this was our first attempt at a beach session before the wedding. it started thunderstorming about 5 minutes after this photo was taken
we finally got a day without rain (my last day there) and i was able to get this awesome couple out for some day-after beach photos!!
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kathy & gil { playa del carmen wedding photography}
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152
i'm home!!!
i feel so horrible that this blog post is a week late, but i've been away for the last 9 days, shooting 2 destination weddings, and i arrived home late last night.
i did try to get some work done while i was in Mexico, but the internet at the resort was very slow and very sketchy, so my well intentioned blog post did not happen.
so, i'm home and i'm back to work!!
on May15th, i had the honour and the pleasure of photographing Andy & Laurie's beautiful wedding in Amherstburg at Pointe West Golf & Country Club (which is just outside on Windsor Ontario)
i met Andy & Laurie last fall, and we had a super fun engagement session this past February, in the snowy cold.
their wedding day was definitely one for the record books!! it was a day of adventure and laughs, broken gear and a fun trolley ride!
first off, when we arrived at Andy's parents house, we found that we had a wardrobe malfunction with one of the groomsmen. i'll tell you right now, that duct tape isn't really made to hem pants!! of course, duct tape is pretty awesome and you can do so many great things with it, but you can't use it to hem suit pants, and it doesn't stick to neoprene (well, that's another story for another day).
after my gallant offer to hem this poor guy's pants, i quickly realized that i was supposed to be taking the photographs!!! soooooooooooo..... my 2nd shooter took to the task and hemmed away!
it was pretty funny.
thank goodness we didn't have any wardrobe malfunctions at the bride's house.
(always a good thing)
the ceremony and reception went off without a hitch, and i even got a ride in a trolley car into Amherstburg to take some photos.
who doesn't like a trolley ride?
i do have to admit that there was one little hiccup during the day. my main camera body broke, and i am so very thankful that i not only had an assistant that could run back to the trolley to get my back-up camera, but i actually HAD a back-up camera!!!!
public service announcement~ if you are a wedding photographer, you should NEVER photograph a wedding without a back-up camera body!
(you're welcome)
my camera is now in the shop, getting some lovin' and fixin' of the lens contacts.
because i was leaving the next day for 2 destination weddings, i had to go and buy another Nikon D700. fun stuff!
Andy & Laurie are away on their european honeymoon, but i'd publicly like to thank them for trusting me to document their wonderful day, allowing me to have a small glimpse into their lives, and for being such beautiful people that just adore each other to pieces.
nothing makes me love this job more, than witnessing true love between two special people.
i'm just a big softy for a good love story.
now, here are a few photos of the big day!!
awesome vendors~
cake~ The Cake Lady, Windsor
flowers~ Rainbow Flowers, Tecumseh
officiant~ Royal Wedding Gardens, Lasalle
venue ~ Pointe West Golf & Country Club, Amherstburg
wedding gown~ Becker's Bridals, Toronto
Amelia Thornton / Flirt Photography:
1. Your camera broke? OMG - worst nightmare come true!
2. I
3. F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C photos!!
Loni Oates:
All of your photos look gorgeous Michelle!! Looks like it was a super fun day, despite your camera issue, but you handled it like a pro!! =) Congrats to the new happy couple!!
(05.29.10)
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andy & laurie {windsor ontario wedding photographer}
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151
when you're underwater, you see such a great variety of creatures and fish, that it's actually mind boggling sometimes! God has created so many weird and unusual life forms, and sometimes it's hard to even see their purpose at all. i love the diversity under the ocean, and i crave finding the weird, the cool and the rare.
Darryl and i have been to Roatan five times, and we always stay at the same resort ,every time. we love the people, we love the resort, and we just feel like we've arrived at home every time we step off the boat.
the first year that we went to Cocoview Resort, i learned the skill of underwater photography, but at the same time, it was my very first on a reef and in the caribbean!! i was enthralled by all the fish, and i thought every one of them were cool, awesome, and photo worthy!! i took pictures of EVERYTHING!!!! it was actually quite ridiculous. i think i averaged about 1000+ photos a day, and i couldn't get enough of it.
unfortunately, i don't get quite as excited about parrot fish as i used to, and i don't even take photos of damsel fish anymore. i know, it's so sad.
i crave the small, i crave the unique, i crave the rare.
now, i do have to say that it's pushing it so show me MICROSCOPIC!!! please Kirk, put away your magnifying glass and stop finding stuff that makes my eyes cross just trying to see what the crap you're showing me!!!
a nudibranch is like a slug, and they are not very common along the reef. well, they're probably more common than i think, but they're nearly impossible to see because they blend into the reef so well.
Kirk (our awesome dive master) kept telling me that he was going to find me a lettuce leaf sea slug ( and i told him that was his goal for the week), but every we went to a dive site, we came up empty handed!! i didn't even know what to look for to find one of these things!!!
after a few days, i was ready to give up on finding one.
one afternoon, i was diving along Cocoview Wall with the hubby, and we were going so slowly along the reef that we were almost going backwards! in my head, i was talking to myself about the sea slug problem, and i was just REALLY wanting to find one!!!
all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, i see something fall from a coral head.
it was white, about 2 inches long, and it caught my attention.
i stopped, swam over to see what fell, and saw a little white thing. i thought it might be a piece of coral that had just fallen from a reef head down to another piece of coral.
well, slowly this little white thing moved, started righting itself, and KAPOW, it was a LETTUCE LEAF SEA SLUG (or nudibranch)!!
can you believe it?
God gave me a lettuce leaf sea slug at the very same second that i asked for it! LOL!
i should have asked to see a million dollars, since i've never seen that either.
ahhhhhhh.... the little miracles that make me smile.
here it is (oh, and you'll see why they're hard to find. they look like the reef!!)
there are fish in the caribbean, called 'blennies' . they are usually very small, and i seem to have an incurable addiction to photographing them. most of them are 1 inch long, teeny tiny, and super fast and hard to photograph. you'd think i'd give up on trying to get photos of them, but nope. the challenge just makes me want to photograph them even more!!! LOL!
my old underwater camera, couldn't really take photos of blennies, since they were too small. i wanted to beat my camera up.
Darryl bought me a new underwater camera for Christmas, and it was the maiden voyage of my Canon G11 last week. i found out that it does a decent job on the macro stuff.
good times!!
ok, back to the blenny story.
Darryl and i were going along Cocoview Wall again, and i was photographing some little blenny on a sponge, and he summoned me over to photograph something else. i swam over, and found the weirdest looking fish staring back at me. it was about 3 inches long, brown, and it was butting it's head against the coral in front of it.
i took a bunch of photos of it, and then swam away.
up on land, we tried to figure out what the heck this fish was!
nobody knew.
NOBODY!!!!!
it wasn't until the next day, that we found a dive master that knew what the heck it was. Kirk told me that it was a 'Goatee Blenny', and that he's only ever seen ONE in his entire life! when a dive master says he's only seen something once, it's a big deal , since he does thousands of dives!!
when i say that i've only seen something once, it's not big deal, since we've only done just over 200 dives in the last few years, and some of those are fresh water dives when zebra mussels are the most exciting thing you ever see. i did dive in the Detroit River once , and that was just disgusting!!!
ok, so without further ado, here is the GOATEE BLENNY!
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a rare find and falling from the sky
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150
a couple of days ago, i met Melissa & Nick in Kingsville, for their engagement session. i live in Kingsville, and i love shooting here, so these two adventurers made the trek from Windsor and out to the county. they really wanted to get some photos in a flowering apple orchard, but no such luck. the apple trees were flowerless, but that didn't dampen the mood one little bit.
these two are quite the pair!! i know i say it all the time, but i think my clients are the best around, and these two are no exception.
they laugh, and laugh, and laugh together all the time. they make faces at each other, they tickle each other, and they just adore each other to pieces.
it's wonderful to see, and i told them how i could just tell how much they truly loved each other.
i am really looking forward to documenting their wedding in WIndsor, this coming fall, and i'm so very thankful that they have trusted me with such an important job.
Melissa & Nick...... thank you for allowing me to get to know you, and to have to opportunity to be a small part of your lives. i can't wait for your wedding, and your love is truly inspiring.
now, let's get on with a few photos!!
let's start with the sweet faces.
it wasn't 2 minutes into our session when the laughs started!! awesome :)
tickle fight! (Melissa lost)
we wanted to go into the candy shop, but it was closed. bummer.
there's nothing like finding a cool doorway and taking kissy photos of a couple in love.
just sayin'.
yep, more tickling and a bear hug all in one!
Melissa:
Love the pics Michele! Can't wait to see the rest of them! Quite the teaser!!
(05.12.10)
Terri Minoletti:
Great pictures...can't wait to see the rest of them.
(05.12.10)
Uncle Dave & Auntie Brenda:
Very cool pictures:)
(05.13.10)
Ken Teo:
Beautiful couple. I love how you got them so relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera.
(05.23.10)
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nick & melissa | windsor engagement photography
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149
things have been quiet around the blog, and for good reason.
i was away.
away away away.
there is a place that pulls my heartstrings, and those of my hubby. this place is secluded and beautiful, raw and poor.
Roatan Honduras is this special place.
our 5th trip to this unique island, now sits on the top of all the previous trips. we were spoiled with the most fabulous weather EVER, and stellar diving conditions. it was awesome, amazing and wickedly cool, all rolled into one OFF THE CHARTS trip!!!
Darryl and i are a super happy married couple. we are both business owners and the busy parents of 3 teens.
life doesn't lend itself to much free time these days, and it's our regular trips to Roatan that keep us sane. it's so important to spend some quality time with your hubby, and we have a unique way of doing just that.
Darryl and i are avid scuba divers. if we actually had a mass of disposable income, we'd be on live-aboards in the Galapagos, diving with hammerheads at Cocos Island, and scouring the South Pacific for the most remote and secluded dive destinations.
the more sharks the better.
just sayin'.
for now, we spend our vacation time and money, on a little off the charts dive resort called Cocoview, located on a private cay that can only be reached by boat. it's our home away from home.
last week, we packed up all our dive gear, and travelled to our little slice of heaven.
when you get off the Cocoview boat, and the dock staff see you, get all excited, and run over to hug you, then you know that you are staying at the the best place EVER!!!
we've been to Cocoview five times now, so the staff know us by name and hug us all week! it's awesome!!!
i know that i am a wedding photographer, but deep down inside, i wish that i could be a full-time underwater photographer for National Geographic or something like that. i have the patience of a saint, and i can out-wait any fish, and my love of all things aquatic just keep me wanting more. my friends and family know this about me, but my leap into wedding photography was spurred by my adoration and addiction to underwater photography and because i bought a DSLR with the hopes of taking the ocean by storm! well, i didn't quite take the ocean by storm, but i quickly fell in love with documenting weddings and other than being a world-renown underwater photographer, i can't imagine doing anything else.
we live in the Windsor area, which is not really known for its oceans and spectacular reefs, but more for its murky lake and the Detroit river. when i get the chance to see all of God's awesomeness and get to visit the turquoise waters of the caribbean, then i'm like a kid in a candy store!!!
i would like to share a few photos with you, so that maybe you can get a sense of the beauty that i got to participate in. i am truly blessed .
(oh, and i got to use my new Canon G11 for the first time, and after a few rough days of figuring out how to use it, i quickly started loving it)
one more thing....
the majority of the photos that i took, are of creatures that are teeny tiny (under 1 inch long). i love to find all the macro life, and my Canon camera rose to the challenge and i was able to capture quite a few blennies (which a adorable little fish). anyone can get a photo of a damsel or parrot fish, since they are ALL over the reef and easy to see. i crave finding the small, the unique, and the rare. i was lucky enough to find lots of rare creatures. i guess i get caught up in the thrill of the hunt or something.
this photo is of some shrimp and a cryptic teardrop crab in a sponge along Cocoview Wall. this crab looks brown underwater, since you lose colour under the sea, and it's only about 1 inch in diameter.
this is a Sailfin Blenny. he's about 1.5 inches long, and this is his fighting stance. he saw his reflection in my camera and thought it was another male blenny. he came out of his hole to fight!
this little guy is a Flamingo Tongue, which is like a slug/snail thing. he's about 1 inch long, and they are almost always found on these types of coral/gorgonias.
this is a decorator crab. they are pretty small, and they are camouflaged like a growth that normally grows on this type of coral.
this is a lionfish. i had always wanted to see one, but not here. these guys are uninvited visitors and they are not welcome in the caribbean. they are native to the south pacific, and here they don't have any predators! they are now being hunted and killed by all dive masters.
we also ate some lionfish one day, and it was YUMMY!
this is a lettuce leaf sea slug (or nudibranch). i had never seen one before, and i was blessed to find two of them this week!! they are about 2 inches long, and move slowly along the reef. i LOVE them!
this is a green moray eel. i found it along Cocoview Wall, and it was about 4 feet long. people think that eels are scary and fierce, but they really aren't. they look fierce because they have to open their mouths to breathe, not because they are attacking or anything. i love finding eels!
here's another eel. he's just a little guy. i love finding this eel, because they are just so sweet looking !! i think they're called Goldentail Eels, but i might be mistaken.
this little brown seahorse was found on the wreck (the Prince Albert) which is located right outside the resort that we stay at. i was pretty happy with my find, since seahorses are actually pretty hard to find.
here's a little juvenile blenny that i found on a sponge. i am always happy to find a blenny!
this is a Christmas Tree worm. they are about 1 inch tall, and they are found all over coral heads, and in every colour imaginable. i just like photographing these little guys, since they are a pretty and they are all unique. lovely little things.
can you believe this cutie? this guy is like a box that floats around with his cute little fins. i am in LOVE with his colouring!!! he's a Cow Fish, just in case you were wondering.
this is my hubby, and the bestest diving buddy ever!!! i love scuba diving with the man i love.
this is a tiny find, called an Arrow Blenny. he's about 1.5 inches long, and it's only a few millimeters thick. they float in the water and have weird, jerky movements. strange fish.
ok, that's enough for the today. i'll post a few more tomorrow, and tell you the miracle of the sea slog find, and our rarest upon rare fish find!! exciting stuff!
amy:
you got some amazing shots!! that flamingo tongue one is my fav i think. glad you had a good time!!
(05.11.10)
Carmen Hess:
Thanks for sharing! My family and I leave for CCV in 10 days and we will be coconuts this time as well. We will be staying for 2 weeks again....It's just too hard to leave after one week. Several of our dive buddies from Timmons Ontario will also be there.
(05.12.10)
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my little adventure ~ we're not in Windsor anymore!
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Love the pictures!!!
(05.30.10)