Avant Documentary Photography » Family Portraits

Baby Portraits for Tyson | Jan 9, 2010

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:58:13 +0000

This past weekend was cold, but I was able to observe a lot of warmth in Carman and Trung’s family. Tyson was born in late November of 2009 and by now, he’s over one month old! Here’s a sneak peek of a few of my favourite photos from the day.

Location: Stoufville, ON

Mom and Dad playing with the newly born, Tyson

Mom holding the newly born son, Tyson

Baby Tyson posing in a AC/DC rocker tshirt

Baby Tyson looking tired

Dad playing with baby son, Tyson

Baby Tyson staring right into the camera

Baby Portraits for Harratt | Dec 13, 2009

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:19:14 +0000

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

Family Portraits, Danica and Henry | Dec 7, 2009

admin — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:48:04 +0000

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:

Here’s a slideshow from the day

Baby Portraits for Abby | Nov 8, 2009

admin — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:59:05 +0000

So far I’ve blogged about music photography and cars, models. This time, I’m going to do something a little different, it’s a post of one of my friend’s daughter, Abby. Abby was born earlier this year and since my wedding work won’t start again till early next year, I decided to take some cute photos for Abby.

This is the first time I’ve taken photos of baby portraits on a more serious note (not including the times where I took photos of my god son or during full moon dinner) so I decided to get to their place early, play with her and let her be a little more familiar with me. It was very fun when Abby was just shaking her hips to her favourite music just before the shoot.

When it was time to shoot some photos, she just lit up to basically stardom in front of the camera. Coming from a 7 months old, she really knew how to pose for me and really smile in front of the lens.

Here’s a couple of my favourite photos from the shoot. Simple setup, one off camera flash light on a stand with an umbrella and a giant reflector.

Location: Richmond Hill, ON

Baby Abby | Baby Portraits

Lastly, here’s a 30 seconds slideshow,