These are just a few of my favourites from Jaspreet + Sukhvinder’s wedding last weekend in Richmond.  I told you we’d see Jaspreet’s infectious smile again!  There are plenty more where these came from, so stay tuned for a full blog post in a few weeks.  Enjoy!

We caught some amazing light after Ishita + Deepak’s Punjabi wedding ceremony for this quick portrait session in the freezing cold.  Big thanks to Amish for helping me out with this session (and the wedding).  Plenty more to come from Ishita + Deepak’s week of wedding festivities at New Years!

Jaspreet + Sukhvinder are getting married in a few weeks, so we headed out to Steveston for their engagement session on Monday.  As you can see, Jaspreet has one infectious smile, and I’m sure we’ll see a lot of it at their wedding!

I’m really excited about this new option I’ll be offering starting this season.  Now you can display your wedding images and wedding albums on your very own custom iPad.  Talk about a unique way to show off your photos!

Each iPad is fully customized for you with a custom skin and wallpaper image.  All of your wedding photos are pre-loaded into the tablet, and you can flip through them in a gallery or use the iPad as a digital picture frame.

Plus, you get an iPad.  Which is awesome.

I’ll be running a Facebook contest shortly to hopefully give one of these custom iPads away, so make sure you like my Facebook page to stay in the loop!

As you may have seen in my contact page, I offer a simple experience focused on you (which I call ‘Simply You.’)  So from time to time, I’ll explain a bit about how ‘Simply You.’ works.  This is the first one, and it’s all about pricing.

Many photographers (especially wedding photographers) don’t publish their detailed pricing.  Sometimes they’ll share a “starting at…” number to give you a ball park, but to get more details you generally have to contact them.  If you contact them, they’ll probably ask you lots of questions about your wedding, your budget, what you’re looking for in your wedding photography, etc.  Sometimes you get a sales pitch.  Then you get their detailed pricing.  Maybe.

Doesn’t that seem a bit complicated? 

I publish my detailed pricing right here on my website (you can download it here).  Here’s three reasons why: 

1.  It Saves You Time and Effort.

When you visit my website, you can check out my photography, learn what it’ll be like to work with me, and figure out roughly how much you can expect to pay when you hire me.  This way, you get all the info you need without the extra hassle of having to ask for more details or answer questions.  Pretty simple, right?

2.  Sharing is Good.

I believe that when you hire a wedding photographer, you need to build a relationship to allow them to capture your connection as a couple.  Being totally open about my pricing and my business is a big part of how I build that relationship with my clients.

3.  I’m Comfortable With My Pricing.

There are wedding photographers in Vancouver with lower prices than me.  There always will be, and there’s nothing I can do about it.  But if my ‘Simply You.’ approach is what you’re looking for, and it’s within your budget (everyone has a budget), you’ll hire me.  My pricing is right for what I offer, so I’m happy to share it.  After all, if I’m not willing to pay what I charge, how can I expect you to be?

So there you have it; three reasons why I publish my detailed pricing.  If this sounds good to you, feel free to download my 2012 Details guide.  It’s a handy PDF, so you can view it easily on pretty much any electronic device.  It’s also formatted for standard letter-sized paper, so you can print it out on any printer if you prefer a hard copy.

Pretty simple, right?

You see, I’d love to photograph a gay wedding in Vancouver.  Equal rights in our society are extremely important to me, and I’m proud to support the rights of same-sex couples to get married just like anybody else.  As a gay couple, you should be proud to be in love, and you should work with a photographer who respects and cares about that.  After all, what better way is there to support and grow acceptance of same-sex marriage than to photograph and display same-sex weddings?

I’m not gay, but that doesn’t matter.  I can still appreciate and capture your connection and the love you feel.  So if you’re gay and in love with your partner, I’d love to photograph you and your wedding in Vancouver (or anywhere, really).  And if you’ve found this post, I hope you’ll love my work and hire me as your photographer for your Vancouver gay wedding.

I’d love to hear from you.  Connect here or on Facebook.

Thanks!

Andrew

And of course, not to forget the other member of the family, Kona!

“Yes.” 

It’s really simple, but I’m sure you’ve had experiences where it just hasn’t happened.  You’ve heard about how what you want isn’t allowed under ‘company policy’, or that what you’ve asked someone to do isn’t that person’s job, or that what you’re looking for doesn’t exist.  Even if you eventually end up getting what you were after in the first place, the whole experience was probably pretty frustrating.

But what about those glorious occasions when things just work?  When someone tells you that not only is what you want possible, but that they’ll help you get there?  Or when even if exactly what you’ve asked for isn’t possible, someone finds another solution that works for you?  These are the best experiences, the ones you remember and tell your friends about.

This is how I try to run my business.  When you hire me to photograph you, you’re paying for more than just images.  It’s my job to take care of your photography, plain and simple.  Your whole experience is simple, straightforward, and focused on giving you what you’re looking for.  Sure, there might be some things I can’t do, but there’s nothing I won’t do.  There’s a big difference, and I’ll always find a solution that works for you.

How does this sound?

But that’s really not the point of this story. This story is about a $6 can of tomatoes.

Angie taught our group how to make the most amazing tomato soup I’ve ever eaten. The recipe called for a large can of plum tomatoes, and Angie used a brand she imports from Italy (which Well Seasoned of course sells in its retail store). They taste unbelievable, but each can costs $6.

Now $6 is pretty steep for a can of tomatoes, compared to the $1.49 bargains at most of the major grocery chains in Vancouver. They’re just tomatoes, after all. I mean, what kind of sucker would be crazy enough to buy tomatoes that expensive?

Me.

See, for me, buying a $6 can of tomatoes wasn’t about paying $6 for a can of tomatoes. I’d built a connection with a local business, who taught me how to use these tomatoes in my own cooking? I value that.

By buying these tomatoes at this local business, I’m supporting my community and a business that’s willing to sell a can of tomatoes for $6 because it’s the best! And Well Seasoned cares about that. I value that.

Sure, the tomatoes themselves aren’t local; they’re imported (from Italy), but Angie knows everything she needs to about where those tomatoes come from to know that they’re some of the best you can buy. I value that too.

You know what’s in that can of tomatoes? Tomatoes. That’s it. No chemicals, no preservatives, no artificial colour, no added sugar. So much cleaner than a $1.49 can of tomatoes, and the kind of food I want to put in my body. I value that.

Of course, not everybody is willing or able to spend $6 for a can of tomatoes. If I was on a tight tomato budget and didn’t have $6, I wouldn’t have bought them. I can go just about anywhere and find cheaper tomatoes. But it’s about more than just the price. It’s about the value, and I do my best to purchase goods and services from businesses that care about what I care about.

What do you value?

Kate and Scott are big into the outdoors, and spend a lot of their time hiking and camping, so Scott’s plan to propose to Kate in the middle of nowhere made perfect sense.  Turns out that ‘the middle of nowhere’ was actually Widgeon Lake, which is only 10 minutes by float plane from downtown Vancouver!

I flew up first and waited at the lake for Scott + Kate to fly in, then captured Scott popping the question from my cleverly-hidden position in the bushes.

All the bug bites were totally worth it; this was one seriously awesome day, and definitely a highlight of 2011.