The Brides Project Toronto has two very important purposes: to provide every bride with the things she needs for a beautiful wedding within her budget, and to support cancer charities by donating all their profits.

Fighting Cancer, One Dress at a Time

I came across the Brides Project Toronto on a blog of some-sort while I was in China. I remember clicking through their website thinking to myself what a genius idea and how somehow I need to be involve. I bookmarked their website and archived it away with all the other surfing I do until I was back a few weeks ago. I sent out an email, crossed my fingers and last week I was invited to spend a day with the bride’s project. I ended up photographing an average day of donations, and dress appointments. Girls walked out with their dream dress and the volunteers raised money for cancer research. It was perfect. Thanks so much for having me girls!

If you want to be involved, donate a dress, or read more about The Bride’s Project click here.

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I sat in a cafe in Vancouver and tried to plan my next move. Where to? Traveling without a plan opens the doors to adventure. I could go anywhere and I was on the west coast of Canada – what a dilemma to have. And I thought about Matt a friend of mine working in Jasper. I knew it was a good ten hour bus ride away but completely worth it.

I arrived at 5:00am the greyhound dropped me off in the middle of the small mountain town and it was too early to call Matt and his girlfriend Cory, so I headed to the local Tim Hortons the only place in town open this early, I sat with a retired truck driver we talked about life, and love. He was waiting for his wife to arrive in Jasper. They were married only a week before and hoping to honeymoon in the mountains. He had travelled on the greyhound with me for hours but this was our first conversation. It is amazing the people you can get to know early in the morning over a cup of coffee.

At seven I decided to head towards Matt’s house and I waved goodbye to Don – it was time for a hike:

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Navy first emailed me while I was in Asia, and from our first email I was excited about working with her and Darren. They gave me free range on their engagement session and for a photographer Free Range= Christmas! My family recently moved to Aurora, Ontario and I have been driving the back roads to and from my new house to my parents for a few weeks so when I got to choose the location I knew that the rainbow fence you see in the some of the final shots would have to be a part of it. This is true aurora engagement photography; on the back roads, real awesome light, and a great couple. Thanks so much for having me guys!

Only a little taste of what’s coming tomorrow…

Way back at the beginning of March (I really can’t believe how long it has been now!) I was lucky enough to stop in Vancouver to learn and shoot at a one-on-one workshop with Nordica Photography. Cole and Jakob are an awesome team I’d been admiring from the far reaches of Toronto for a while. So when the opportunity came up to stop in Vancouver on my way home from Shanghai I couldn’t say no. It got me right back into the swing of shooting couples, and gave me a taste of some real vancouver engagement photography.

We shot two engagement sessions one at sunrise (which jet lag makes incredibly easy to wake up for) and one at sunset. It was great to see how other photographers work and I really learned a lot about scouting before hand and what they look for in a location. I would completely recommend a workshop with Nordica if you are out over on the west coast. So if you have the chance check out their workshop website here. Here are a few of my favourite images from out sunset shoot. Thanks so much for having me guys!