What is Personality Inspired Wedding Photography? You + TLAW Photographer = your awesome, one-of-a-kind-make-everyone-else-jealous wedding photos. I bring out the best of who you truly are and together we'll create some amazing, unique and special images as a legacy to you. I am a boutique wedding photography studio that only accepts a limited number of commissions each year to ensure that my couples receive the best service and quality possible. This allows me to focus on producing custom art images and albums for each of the couple's I am lucky to work with.
I've spent years focusing my skills solely in photographing people in love. Weddings are my specialty and they are my passion.
I am a
I am a Love List Photographer with
and my work has been featured on
I am married to my love.
I am fun.
I love my Calgary Flames.
I was once shortlisted to be the body double for Jackie Chan
I travel the world.
I love food. Exotic unique foods.
I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. But the world is my playground.
I want to create images that make you smile.
I want to create images that make you laugh.
I want to create images that make you hold your breath.
I want to create images that make you wipe away tears.
At the heart of it all, I am a person who wants to make beautiful images of you and your love.
3rd time’s a charm! That’s how many times it took to finally get the weather to cooperate with us for the engagement session with Megan and Ryan. First attempt, completely snowed out. 2nd attempt we drove out to Canmore where it rained buckets so we took one photo and left! 3rd time we decided to stick a bit closer to Calgary and headed out to Bragg Creek. With the sun at our backs we created these beautiful images for 2 beautiful people. I’m looking forward to your wedding in June when we head back out to Canmore! PS. I’ll bring more of those delicious Jelly Modern doughnuts ;)
When I took this photo I‘ll I was secretly singing that Lady Gaga song in my head even though I don’t really enjoy her music all that much ha! I can’t wait to show everyone the amazing idea that’s going to stem from this session. I’m going to save the rest of the photos and show them off when Nicki and John’s vision is complete. I love when my couple’s inject their personality into all the little details.
So now that I’ve let enough time elapse between blog posts, its time to show off the rest of the Amanda and Chris’ engagement photos. They both live out in the 416 (Toronto-ish area code) for you old farts reading this blog post (just kidding you aren’t old. My parents asked me what I meant when I said “The 4-1-6″ so I had to explain it…and they’re “old”) and flew in to Calgary for their engagement session while visiting with family and doing some undoubtedly awesome wedding planning. We originally scheduled the session for a Friday afternoon but after we got a crazy dump of snow on that Friday we thought we’d hold off until “better” weather arrived and we re-scheduled for Sunday. And better weather DID arrive! However, better is also a relative term. Better doesn’t mean great.. it still snowed on us, and the wind howled and cheeks, ears and noses turned red (“Hey Chris, are you sure your ears won’t fall off? They’re awfully red!”) but we still captured some beautiful images of this beautiful and happy couple. I don’t need to put this in words as its clear the connection these two have. I can’t wait for your wedding as we’ll be hitting up some beautiful new locations for photos!
I felt compelled to do this post in black and white…don’t ask me why, but just to prove that there’s color in this set, here are two in living color!
Just one for now. More to come. More images. More love. More..snow?
I’ve been receiving a number of emails lately about my editing process and although I hold on secret weapons in my pocket I thought I’d quickly address that question with this particular image. One of the questions I’ve been asked is how I decide to process an image the way I do how do you know when to stop? And the simple answer is “because I like it”. And in this image, what’s not to like? She draws you in with her eyes. A look of contentment to let you know she’s comfortable with where she is. It’s a square image that I feel suits this type of portrait perfectly. It’s got that retro Polaroid film feel to it which I started creating by doing a simple square crop using Chris’ shoulder to help frame her beautiful face. The black and white conversion was done entirely in Lightroom with just a bit of Photoshop to help brighten her eyes and make them stand out the way they do in real life. I then added extra grain to the image to add to the notion that this image was meant to be a classic throwback to instant film days. That’s it that’s all. This image is my favorite right now.
My best picture is the one I’ll take tomorrow – Imogen Cunningham
This past week I was away in Las Vegas for the Annual Wedding and Portrait Photographers International conference (WPPI) at the MGM Grand. It’s a week for photographers to get together, learn, laugh, network and hopefully walk away with more skills than they came with. Every year I go there is always something that leaves me thinking “this is going to elevate my photography skills”. And this year was no different. The one class that interested me the most was my Plus Class with the incomparable Bambi Cantrell. She is a master photographer and is recognized around the globe for her couture and dramatic images. However, I was also introduced to something even more jaw-dropping than her beautiful portraits, and that was the Album “Legacy” by Dawn Shields. This album caused an amazing amount of controversy because of it’s content. It was an album designed by Dawn Shields that reflected her family’s history. Her dad. His sordid past. Her family legacy.
I have never ever seen an album that has made my heart thump so deep from within my chest. This album moved me, scared me, and thrilled me.
I invite you to watch this with an open heart but with caution. This isn’t about weddings, or engagements or rainbows and puppy dogs.
So why am I displaying this album on my blog – a blog that is meant to celebrate love, marriage, adoration and life? Because albums are meant to move, to remind, to draw emotion to the surface of a story from the past. It doesn’t matter what the story is, this is what the album serves to do. It’s been so long since I can recall seeing another album that has had this kind of impact on me that I couldn’t help but share.
To really get the full impact of this album watch it in HD and in full screen mode and please feel free to leave your thoughts below.
Because I don’t want you to feel only jaw-dropping and stunned disturbance, I wanted to include another video by Dawn Shields. This is a fusion video that incorporates both video and still images. This one is much more inspiring, but no less tear-jerking. What a breathtaking story! If this little girl doesn’t inspire you and give you hope, then you must be a rock.
Dawn Shields is easily one of my favourite story tellers. The above two examples are reasons why. She inspires me to push harder in my story telling. I want my couples to feel the type of powerful emotion that I feel. I want to tell your story of your day. If you’re interested please contact me and I would love to setup a time and talk more with you.
by tlaw
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