2009 December | Avant Documentary Photography

Archive for December, 2009

Baby Portraits for Harratt | Dec 13, 2009

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Before I even start this post, I wish everyone had a great Christmas break and wishing everyone have a Happy New Year!

I’ve known Harratt’s parents half my life and they were probably the third couple I shot a bridal session for and a wedding session for. All those were done with my Nikon FE 9 yeas ago. Fast forward to Harratt, let me being to introduce him as my god son. Harratt was born in Scarborough General Hospital 2 years ago on Victoria’s day and I was the third person in the world to holding him after he was born. As much as I love taking photos, this session is really the only second time I took for him since the first day he was released from the hospital.

Two and a half years since that day, I can conclude that Harratt has grown quite some what, being very energetic, running all over the place all the time. When he is not moving, he is on “his” Apple iPhone 3GS playing games. The crazy thing is, he seems to know what he’s doing and I probably don’t!

This photo session was held in an empty apartment with all the room for him to run around. This was quite a challenging task as he never stood still for any photos. It really reminded of my wedding work when I’m running around to chase down moments, emotion and angles. This was quite an easy setup, one speedlite on a shoot through umbrella on the left and another speedlite bouncing off a silver reflector on the right. Of course, the reflector I had seemed to stir up some funny topic to be better off remained in the silence.

Here’s a few of my favourite images from this session

Natural High

Being Himself

Being Cute

Starting to get even more energetic

Playing with the balloon

Running into the kitchen

Playing with the iPhone

Concentrating playing games

Tags: Baby, Family Portraits, Kids, Portraits
Posted in Family Portraits | No Comments »

Wedding | Fiona and Michael – Oct 3, 2009

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Chilly weather, rainy weather, road blocks, that sums up the day. However, all these unexpected events did not keep the bride and groom from being down. Instead the whole wedding day of Fiona and Michael turned out to be romantic, loving and full of fun.

Location: Markham City Hall
Location: Edwards Garden, Toronto Botanical Garden
Location: Yeung Ming Restaurant

Here are a few of my favourite photos from their wedding.

Picking up the bride

Pre Ceremony Detail

Traditional Chinese game playing

Bride and Groom after bride pickup

Carrying the bride

Bride in the car

Bride during makeup

Traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony

During the ceremony

Detailed shot of bride's ring

Passionate moment of bride and groom in Edwards Garden

The whole bridal party having fun

Bride and groom at Edwards Garden

Opening toast to all guests at the banquet

Traditional Chinese table to table toasting during the ceremony

First dance

Bouquet Toss

Winner of the garter toss

Thank you speech

Tags: Wedding
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Violet and Viruses Band Promo Shoot | Nov 15, 2009

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

As many people know, I love working with bands and people who are into music. Violet and Viruses is a rock band based in Toronto, ON that started back in September of 2008 and I have been working with these guys on photoshoots, covering live events and being part of the roadie crew (or the only one) back then. As it turns out, this is the second photo shoot I have done with Violet and Viruses. The first time was done in U of T where we were shooting in the cold at midnight with only available light. This time around, I shot the entire shoot with one speedlite on manual settings with a 1/8 grid invented by David Honl. Good thing that day was not overly windy or too cold, even though my light stand got blown and knocked to the ground a couple of times, but we managed to get some good photos out of the shoot. It’s always fun working with local talented musicians.

This was such a last minute thing and we really did not scout for a place till the very last minute. Originally we were going to do it in some woods in Richmond Hill, but the safety did not occur to us. Then we thought about someone’s party room in their condo but that plan also back fired. We finally arrived in some swamp area in Markham, ON. I am going to be honest about this. I got inspiration from Slipknot’s “All Hope is Gone” album cover as soon as I saw our environment. Here are a few photos I like

Violets and Viruses Band Promo Shoot 2009

Violets and Viruses Band Promo Shoot 2009 - Vocal

Violets and Viruses Band Promo Shoot 2009 - Drummer

Violets and Viruses Band Promo Shoot 2009 - Guitarist

Violets and Viruses Band Promo Shoot 2009 - Bassist/Guitarist

Finally, here’s a quick 30 seconds video that I made with Animoto.

Tags: Bands, Music
Posted in Music | 4 Comments »

Family Portraits, Danica and Henry | Dec 7, 2009

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

I can’t believe it has already been 10 years since I shot my first engagement and wedding, and it was for Danica and Henry. It was on a Nikon FE, relying on 50mm f/1.4 and a 105mm f/2.0 and around 8 rolls of Kodak 35mm color film and 4 rolls of Kodak 35mm B/W film. A decade later, I was taking family portraits for their family with 2 kids over the past 5 years with my Canon 5D. Yes I have made the switch over as most of you know and a ton of equipment later…

Caron, the 5 year old sister was especially enthusiastic in front of the camera. I am convinced all female babies and girls are especially responsive to my camera and lenses. She was jumping around and just posing for me like what a professional model would do. I didn’t even have to think about how to guide her. The younger brother, Caleb just woke up before we started taking photo so he was not as enthusiastic about it. Nonetheless, the photos turned out really well and from this set, you can tell a strong bond in their family.

Time flies, I still remember the times when I held them when they were little babies. It’s no wonder this time, legitimately they can call me Uncle Chris.

P.S. the white bear that I bought for Caleb when he was born is still very white!

Location: Richmond Hill, ON

Here are a few of my favourite photos from the day: