The Road Not Taken {A little review of 2014}

I wish I knew how to write it all out, how to say everything I want to say, but I felt like I needed a bit of distance between myself and the last year before I even began to think about it.

You see, it was a year of personal loss and professional gain and in a way I feel like that’s always how it goes.  When one thing in your life is going well, something else suffers. 2014 was by far the best year for the biz with getting to shoot so many amazing weddings in so many gorgeous places both near and far, being asked to speak at the Canada Photo Convention, and getting named as one of Rangefinder’s Rising Stars of 2014, but we had a lot of loss in the family. My grandfather passing away being the biggest and it left a deep sorrow that I wasn’t sure quite how to process. I can deal with most any kind of physical pain without skipping a beat (for those that don’t know me so well, I broke a toe in the first hour of shooting a wedding and kept on going right through the other 11 hours), and yet this pain was different.

This last year has had me reliving some of my family moments, through the photos and little notes written on the backs of them. I remember my very teeny grandma telling my brother and I that she was “average height” for her generation and the two of us, who towered over her, laughing. We found some photos fairly recently of my grandma and her group of friends and sure enough, she was the same height as everyone else!

There are few things that I regret, but not taking more photos of my family is by far the biggest. I have so many photos of my family from when I was little, but in the hubbub of life, you forget to take photos of your family as they are now. Sometimes I feel like the builder with a half-finished house. My resolution for 2015, if you can call it that, is to take more photos of my own family, as it grows and changes. To document our lives as I get to document the lives of others.

I’m so very thankful that this job means that I get to do just that, document other people’s lives and tell their stories, viewing some of my family story has made me appreciate it even more. Most, if not all of my favourite images of last year were of family and friends enjoying a moment at their weddings. Candid little morsels of time. I look through the photos and they remind me of the joy, love, nervousness, and care that is this life.

I feel like I’ve written much too much, but my goodness, it felt good to write it. Before sharing some of my favourite photos from the last year, I wanted to share with you a poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. In the last year, I’ve questioned my path a lot, but this one, right here is where I’m supposed to be.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~ Robert Frost

A new addition to the I Love Wednesday family

I’ve been very fortunate over the last couple of months, flying to the US for WPPI and meeting so many wonderful photographers from all over the world has been one of the most eye-opening experiences for me. I haven’t really blogged about it yet because I think in a way, I was still in shock from it all. For those of you that don’t know, I entered the WPPI Print and Album competition this year. I had hoped to receive some epic feedback on my work, I’ve heard that just the feedback is well worth the entry fee…and look, to be perfectly honest, the competition is TOUGH, and while I had hoped to win something, I didn’t quite expect to win awards in three different categories; that was more of a dream than anything else, and after finding out, I sort of had to pinch myself to make sure that it was actually reality. Two of my photos won Accolades of Excellence in the Premier and Wedding Photojournalism categories and the album that I entered, from Felicity and Scott’s wedding, was also awarded an Accolade of Excellence.

Then … happy dances ensued.

On that note, I’d like to share with you the award winning album and the new addition to the I Love Wednesdays range, the flushmount album. For me, the wedding day is all about telling the story of the day, and with that, it all comes done to the book. These are award winning albums in their own right and made to last for generations. and that’s what it’s all about, passing on memories and savouring them.

xoxo

Rose & Diego // Manly Wine Suites wedding

I just got back from the US and am still feeling the jet lag and getting back into the swing of things, but I just had to share Rose & Diego’s wedding which was recently featured on Amour Amour. It was a day filled with so much laughter and love and even some Skyping involved. Diego’s family are based in Argentina and weren’t able to fly in, so the laptop that you see in the photos of the ceremony are his family and friends watching the wedding.

Rose and Diego, thank you so much for allowing me to capture the memories of your special day. I’m honoured that I could be there to document it.

xoxo Len