Love…one frame at a time

It’s easy to spot me at a wedding. I’m usually the one peaking through mid-century movie cameras quietly moving behind the scenes seeking out authentic moments and pretty details. But a very special couple asked if I would instead photograph their wedding, entrusting me to capture their big day through a different lense…my SLR. It’s really rare that I’ll shoot stills for a couple on their wedding day, but photographing this sweet duo last month really was an honour. Congratulations Andre & Karilee!

xo Bridget

1920’s Edmonton wedding Part 1

As you know, { First Kiss Films } specializes in creating fine art films. But very occasionally a request will come along from some extra special people that we just can’t resist. So along with creating a vintage film for T&L, we were honoured to also be selected as their wedding photographer.

Time for you to see just how sweet and charming this historic Edmonton wedding was. More wedding day details and sweet moments from their unique day will be shared when the super 8 film is released next month!

1,000 words

Over the last week and a half I’ve been living out of a suitcase with trips to New York, Montreal and most recently Edmonton. All this time away has left me little time to blog! So instead of words this week I’d like to share with you an image from last weekend’s 1920’s inspired wedding. Congratulations you two!!

Photo exhibit one year in the making

Some of you might not realize that after completing my studies in film I went back to school to study photography. So while most of my energy today is focused on creating short films, I do enjoy shooting still images and occasionally putting together an art show.

Tomorrow is the opening of my latest collection of new works – a three-week solo photography exhibit at arts&architecture titled Beyond Buja: A Return to East Africa. The fine people of this Old Ottawa South gallery awarded me this opportunity last year when one of my photographs came in first place in a photo competition. All of the exhibited photographs will be reasonably priced and 100% of artist’s profits will go directly to the Burundi Film Center. With Christmas just around the corner these framed prints are a unique gift idea that you can feel good about.

I’ll be on-site during the vernissage Thursday, November 4th from 7-9 pm so I invite you to join us for some nibbles and mingling. If you can’t make it to the opening, you can view the show Wednesdays 11 – 5, Thursdays & Fridays 11 – 7 or Saturday & Sundays 11 – 5. The gallery will also stay open a bit later (until 7 pm) on Wednesday, November 17th as part of the gala premiere of the films produced through our East African film center at the Mayfair Theatre (just two blocks down from the gallery). More info to come on this special event but for those already planning on coming to the screening, consider dropping by the gallery and checking out the exhibit first.

Special thanks to Ken at GPC Labworks for the printing.

{ b }

NEXT WEEK: a sweet apple orchard vintage engagement film!

Burundi-bound

Navigating the sandy streets without shoes.

After some careful planning and schedule wrangling around my wedding film commitments I was able to squeeze in a return trip to Africa this summer and volunteer with the Burundi Film Center (BFC). You might remember the blog post this past May talking about donating a percentage of sales to this film-related cause. Well, I also enjoy donating my time too.

Subject and photographer are equally curious of each other.

The Burundi Film Center does not currently have project funding and runs solely on private donations from some truly generous people. Last week we wrapped a very successful funding drive and with the help of the Canada-World Cinema Project matching all donations we reached our goal of raising $5,000!  A big thank you to everyone who contributed including some friends in the wedding industry: AMBphoto, Amna Hakim Photography and Permanent Petals!

A common sight: A ball made of recycled plastic bags.

As I’ll be away for about a month I will be taking a break from my weekly updates but back blogging by the end of August. If you’d like to peak into our experiences overseas I invite you to checkout the BFC twitter account. Or if you are interested in following the 2010 training session check out my husband’s blog. He’s a wonderful writer and storyteller and I’ll also be helping to share our experience with some more images like the ones you see here.

School boys in uniform.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer and I promise to bring back some great images. Until then, here are a few more photographs I took last time I was there.

♥ Bridget

A crowd quickly forms while the students shoot a scene for one of the short films.

When the sun sets at 6:00pm the streets become very dark.

Sara & Matt’s delicious engagement

We have great neighbours and they are getting married this Saturday! Sara & Matt are an adorable, brilliant and super fun couple (killer combo, eh?) and last month they asked me to take a few pre-wedding photographs before they headed out to tie the knot in an outdoor ceremony in Banff, Alberta. With their celebration just around the corner, I thought I would share a few of my favorite images from the shoot.

It wasn’t hard coming up with a theme for this engagement session. Last fall, Matt surprised Sara by proposing during a romantic picnic. And check this out – turns out their very first date was a picnic as well! To round out this theme, Sara and Matt will be spending two weeks of their month-long honeymoon on an organic farm.

Congratulations you two – and best wishes this weekend!!

Engagement photos are so fun, aren’t they? If you liked these images then check back next Tuesday to sample a { First Kiss Films } engagement film!

{b}

1st place for my naked eye

Image courtesy of Peter Simpson, Ottawa Citizen

Isn’t it great when something exceeds your expectations?

Earlier this year, I was invited to participate in a photography competition called Naked in The Capital. It sounded as though the contest would be tons of fun, very different from anything else I have done as well as being an opportunity to create some new work alongside other local photographers. I’m in!

The challenge, based on Toronto’s Naked In the House series, was to photograph a nude model using only one camera, one lense, available light and one roll of film. All ten photographers met at an undisclosed location (a beautiful house in Gatnieau) where we were each given 30 minutes to work with one model in an attempt to produce the best shot. That’s about 1 photo every 2.5 minutes and as I was shooting on film using a camera with no automatic features that meant I had to be super quick on my feet.

I ran into a few snags during my 30 minutes. First of all, I discovered during the shoot that my focusing plate kept popping out of place and re-adjusting it took up precious shooting seconds. Plus, it ended up being an overcast day and I had to shoot at a very slow shutterspeed to make the most of the medium speed roll of film that I had brought – no time for a tripod! All this and we changed locations four times. I wanted to make sure that my images were all quite different so I moved the model from the entrance, to the dining room, to the bathroom and then the livingroom. I totally worked up a sweat. The shoot ended up flying by much faster than I expected and in the end I actually ran out of time!

Following the shoot, we selected our three best images and with little to no image enhancement printed and framed the photographs for display at arts & architecture. An extra element of mystery was added by exhibiting everyone’s prints without the photographer’s names attached to them so no one really knew whose was whose. On opening night each photographer voted on which three images they felt were best (obviously not being able to vote for our own). This was actually very tough for me because the work was all suprisingly very different!

Well, on November 5th at the show’s vernissage, they annouced the winners: 3rd place went to Ralph Nevins, 2nd place went to Brittany Veinot and I was thrilled to hear that 1st place was awarded to…me! It was such an honour to be selected by my peers – especially since the competition was steep!

If you are in Ottawa and want to check out the photographs, the exhibit will remain on display until November 19th. All images are available for purchase with 100% of proceeds going to the Ottawa Snowsuit Fund so if there is something you like, buy it. You’ll feel good about it.

Oh, ATV did a nice piece on the actual photo shoot giving a detailed explanation of the process and contest. The news clip can be viewed here.

Overall the whole experience with “Naked in the Capital” was fantastic – I met some great people and had a lot of fun. Plus, this event is sure to spill into some more fun next year as part of my prize is a solo exhibit at art & achitechture in 2010! So stay tuned for information regarding this special upcoming show!