ADVENTURE JOURNAL: JOSHUA TREE

Sometime last summer, over takeout on a warm evening in a Toronto backyard, Lindsay Duncan and I started talking about how rad it would be to go on a photo adventure - together. This might not sound revolutionary, but it felt like a big idea for two shooters who are used to working and travelling solo. We talked about learning from each other, exchanging techniques, working in different conditions and more but were both bogged down with client work, so we put a pin in it. Fast forward to 2023, I don’t know exactly when because it was that window of time where the winter months and blahs melt together in a long stretch of grey, a text from LD asking if I wanted to meet her in California shook the SADs right out of me. A couple of months later, my bags were packed and I took off from YHZ for LAX.

Landing in LAX was anticlimactic, so much so that I didn’t even take out my camera, ngl. The skies were grey and the temps were cooler than what I had left behind on the East Coast (shout out climate change). Picking up our rental car went from complete chaos to real-life movie vignette when the parking lot attendant gave us the keys to a convertible Jeep with a smile and a “You want a free upgrade? Go on, get outta here”. She didn’t have to tell us twice. A few stops later with an honourable mention to Shake Shack’s orange cramsicle shake, we were on the highway, headed to the desert. As we drove into the sunset, the heavy LA clouds started to lift.

The sun had long since set when we checked into our Airbnb located on Old Lady Springs Rd., somewhere between Pioneertown and Yucca Valley, so waking up felt like being teleported to the surface of another planet. Stepping outside brought Joshua Trees, tumbleweeds, lizards and the hot desert sun. Although the plans had initially been to jump right into hiking, we ended up spending a day on the Airbnb; drinking, snacking, napping and shooting at random. Off-roading in the desert was the perfect sunset session before going to bed early to catch sunrise at Joshua Tree National Park.

4:30AM. An alarm goes off. Hitting snooze is tempting but sunrise calls. Not entirely awake, no morning people on site, we stumbled around the Airbnb. Coffee? Check. Cameras? Check. Keys? Check. Maps? Check. More coffee? Check. Everything gets piled into the Jeep and I am thankful, not for the first or last time, about our upgrade because not having to play Tetris in a tight space with full camera bags in the dark of night is a blessing. The map shows an hour and a half drive. LD drove the day before so I’m in the driver’s seat and I appreciate it. It gives my brain a chance to warm up plus the Jeep handles like a dream. Arriving at blue hour, we’re the only car on the lot. Walking through silhouetted Joshua Trees and rocky outcrops is surreal. As the sun rises, the landscape only gets more alien, rocks glowing red with some desert equivalent of alpenglow, contrasted against the brightening blue sky. Somehow, the whole morning passes on what was listed as a 1-hour loop. We only see one other person, a rock climber, high above the formations I was scrambling on. Note to self, I write in my Moleskine, come back with more time to climb.

Back at the ranch, we share files while watching 90s films on VHS. Sunrise is no joke. Travelling with company makes me realize how much I overextend myself when I travel alone. It’s rare for me to miss a sunrise on the road, which means that a full night’s sleep is never on the table. I have a heavy bias towards morning light but instead of chasing a second sunrise, we play with harsher daylight outside of our place and capture some love letters to the Jeep in the form of windstorm portraits.

A day later and rested up, it’s back to Joshua Tree, this time for a sunset hike. A line of cars pulled over on the road signal something special and sure enough, a herd of desert bighorn sheep are visible in the distance. I scramble to switch over to my 70-200mm lens and manage to catch a few sheep butts before they tire of their captive human audience. From there, we’re only a few minutes away from Skull Rock trail. The skull rock is visible from the road but my brain hyper-fixates on the infinite number of bouldering options. No iconic skull rock photo makes it onto my SD card. Next time. As I start climbing the first, biggest boulder I see, LD worries outloud about safety while a family of hikers congratulates me on a little climb. Perched up high, I nab a shot of LD in the distance, framing up her own views. It’s one of my favourite shots of the trip for showing the scope and scale of the landscape.

For the rest of the afternoon, I’m focused on climbing. It feels like rock scrambling as a kid back home but on steroids. Used to relying on my tripod, I get comfy with passing my camera off to LD. Although I have a bit of lingering fomo about not shooting more landscapes, the images of me climbing are more of the moment than any self-portrait I could capture and I’m grateful to have visual evidence of those memories. Letting go of ego and learning to be a subject, not always a shooter, was a huge lesson for me this trip. LD put it best when she described our week as “a special push-pull of two people who are used to going it alone”. With only a few moments of daylight left, we packed up to make an impulse stop at Jumbo Rocks Campground which didn’t disappoint on a naming basis. After capturing LD in her yogi element on an extra jumbo rock, we agree to put our cameras away. The last few moments of our last desert sunset together are spent being present instead of pushing to get one more frame. We stop for drinks on our way back to the Airbnb. I’m already dreaming about coming back.

Pro-tip: If you ‘re shooting for experience but aren’t sure where to start, having branded product to capture can be a helpful jumping-off point. We were kindly gifted clothing from Struck Apparel and 18 Waits. Whenever the light was hitting but we didn’t know exactly what to capture, we went back to capturing the pieces in the landscape. Some of my favourite frames of mine and LD’s are detail shots of the product we brought with us.

A note on images: Lindsay and I were working collaboratively on this trip, constantly swapping cameras, direction and ideas. All images in this post are edited by me. Right-click on an image to open it in a new tab and you’ll see file names either starting with _F1A or ACP. For the most part, F1A files were captured by LD, while ACP files were captured by me.

Love Journal: L+J's Modern Farmhouse Wedding

If you think boho vibes when I say farmhouse wedding, I won’t blame you, but L+J’s modern wedding proved that rustic isn’t the only option when it comes to a rural wedding venue. Arriving at the Farm at South Cove on a beautiful October day, I knew that this day would be a special one. I could tell you all about how perfect the crisp October weather was, how the minimal details were just *chef’s kiss*, how every bride needs a dress with a floating train, how moving the emotions were and how epic the dancefloor got thanks to DJ Skratch Bastid but instead, I’ll stop here and let the photos do the talking.

Love Journal: A+B's Coastal Engagement Sesh

One thing about me, I’m always going to pressure my wedding & elopement couples to make time for an engagement session. You might be thinking that engagement sessions are not for you but I’m here to ask you to think again and to break down some of the benefits of scheduling an engagement sesh, let’s go!

Reason 1 is the most important in my opinion; an engagement session is a perfect way to break the ice with your photographer. Your wedding day is one of the biggest days of your life and your photos are an investment. Breaking the ice with an engagement session means that on the day of the wedding, your photographer can show up and get right to work, rather than spending time making introductions and getting the lay of the land. Beyond that, chances are your photographer is going to be around for some intimate moments: getting dressed, practicing vows, first looks and more. These are moments where you want to already know the people around you, especially the person third-wheeling with a couple of cameras in hand.

Every couple has their own vibe, which brings us to reason 2, letting your photographer get a sense of your on-camera chemistry. When I began capturing weddings in 2015, I swore by shot lists. Before every wedding, I spent hours on Insta, Pinterest and Facebook, looking for one thing: couple poses. It didn’t take me long to realize that this was, to put it bluntly, a complete waste of time (at least for couples who I hadn’t met prior to their wedding day). The fact is, not every pose will work for every couple because every couple has their own unique chemistry. During an engagement session, your photographer will figure out your vibe which can be anything from sweet to spicy to silly to shy and anywhere in between. With that info in their back pocket, your wedding photographer will be able to make a loose shot list that is tailored to your energy for your wedding day portrait sesh, while also having a better sense of what to expect during the candid moments of your ceremony and reception.

Reason 3 to book in for an engagement sesh? The images you use and share will let your wedding photographer know which images resonate the most with you. Taste is subjective and there’s no right way or wrong way to capture someone but everyone is entitled to their preferences. You engagement gallery will give you a good idea of what to expect from the portrait component of your wedding photos and is the perfect opportunity to ask your photographer to do more (or less) or a certain type of shot. Even if you love your engagement gallery and don’t have any feedback, an experienced wedding photographer will take note of which shots you share the most and make a point of capturing similar moments on the big day.

It might be your wedding day but chances are you’re not the only one invested in your wedding photos. Reason 4 to get engagement photos is less about you and more about your parents, bridal party, wedding planner and anyone else who is counting on some good pics to let them relive those wedding day mems over and over again. In my experience, parents are often even more invested in photos than the soon-to-be married couple, and wedding photography has probably changed just a little bit since your folks’ day. For anyone who is invested in your wedding gallery, having a beautiful engagement gallery to share is the perfect way to give them confidence in your photographer, which means your guests won’t be stressing on the day of.

Reason 5 is last but certainly not least; you can put your engagement photos to use. Whether you need images for your save-the-dates, for your online wedding guide, or holiday presents for your future in-laws, engagement photos will be there for you.

Pro-tip: Direct sunlight is something a lot of photographers fear but it doesn’t have to be the enemy. There are a lot of different approaches to working with direct sun but one of the simplest is to backlight your portrait subject. To backlight a subject do exactly what it sounds like and place your subject so that the sun is directly behind them. To nail this technique, I expose for my subject rather than the sky or the background, some of your highlights will probably get blown out and that’s okay. I like to open my f-stop to at least f2.8 which lets in the most possible light. To soften the high contrast edges between subject and background, I use a filter like a 1/4 or 1/8 black pro-mist filter. Next time you’re caught between a rock and a sunny place, try it out for yourself

Work Journal: Waterfall Beauty Editorial

When creativity calls, answering is the only option, which is why I leave space in my shooting schedule every month for a totally creative shoot. We’re talking no strings attached, creative chaos - just me, my camera, some amazing collaborators and so much fun.

Creative shoots aren’t only about having fun. Sessions like these are the perfect time to explore new approaches to directing your subjects, experiment with new gear and scope out how to use potential locations for client shoots. Who says work and play can’t exist together?

Pro-tip: One of the questions I get asked most often about posing is “what the sweet heck do I do with my awkward hands?”. The truth is, our hands carry a lot of tension and although you may have mastered your angles, learning to relax your digits when posing is a whole other thing. Here are three tips I always share with my portrait subjects:

• Touch yourself: I’m not kidding. Touch your hair, your face, your clothes, whatever you can comfortably reach, just start touching. It might feel weird to be touching your face and playing with your hair in photos but it’s one of the most normal things you could do. Studies show people touch their faces alone on average of 23 times an hour, so when in doubt, just start touching.

• Perform an action: Think of things you do with your hands and start doing them while holding the rest of your pose as is. Pick up your phone and pretend to text. Pick up a camera and pretend to shoot. Zip up your coat. If all else fails, pick up some sand and glitter and throw it to the wind.

• Play with your jewelry: Next time you’re having your portraits taken, wear a few rings or bracelets to your session. If you ever feel like your hands are stiff or carrying tension, just start gently adjusting your jewelry, that tension will melt away and you’ll add some natural movement to your portrait.

Talent: Diana Jean Lewis

Makeup: Jennifer Murphy Beauty

Wardrobe: Bloom and Wander

Love Journal: J + L's Winter Waterfall Elopement

If there’s one thing you need to know about me, it’s that I am always down for a waterfall adventure, even when it’s below -20°C like it was on L + J’s elopement day. Expertly organized by Sarah of East Coast Pop Up Weddings, the ceremony was perfection, in spite of the cold.

As soon as the vows were done and paperwork was signed, the guests went back to the Wolfville Wedding Chapel to warm up while the happy couple and I managed to brave it in the cold for a few extra moments to capture some portraits at the ceremony site. On our drive back to the wedding chapel, the most beautiful golden hour light blessed us, so stopping at Acadia University for a few more portraits was a must.

As the grooms and their guests began celebrating at the chapel, it was time for me to head out, but not before getting a few photos of an fabulous, elopement wardrobe change, complete with sequins because duh!

Pro-tip: Working outdoors in the cold? Don’t forget to pack for it! I bring so many spare batteries, fingerless gloves, two camera bodies (to keep from having to change lenses as often), a portable charger, and silica gel packs for my camera bag - in case of residual moisture on gear

Love Journal: E+C's Romantic Vineyard Wedding

There’s nothing like an October wedding in Nova Scotia, right? Right! So when my talented friend, Rebecca Frank, asked me to second shoot a romantic fall wedding that would take us all over the province you already know I was in. While Becky captured the bride’s getting ready photos, I spent the morning with the groom and his family.

With everyone dressed and ready to go, we headed to the church to see some babes get married. Usually, I’m more of an outdoors ceremony kind of woman, but the Our Lady of Lebanon Parish was beautiful and offered so many interesting frames that we ended up hanging around to shoot some portraits on-site after the ceremony!

We probably could have played around in those arches all day, but other plans had already been made. With sunset’s warm glow leading the way, we hit the road for the Tangled Garden. For anyone who hasn’t been, it’s impossible to go wrong at The Tangled Garden; whether you’re there for a ceremony, portraits or just some locally made ice cream (priorities) and this visit was no exception to the rules. I could talk forever about the quality of light, the beautiful foliage and all the pampas/zebra/ornamental grass but uhmmm, there’s picture proof that will do it all way more justice.

And just like that, it was time to head to E + C’s reception at Benjamin Bridges vineyard, complete with local wine, some incredible tablescapes and a dancy party that brought me back to simpler days.

Today’s pro-photographer tip: Always say yes to working with other photographers! You might know that I’m a huge believer in community over competition, so even though I’m well established in both my community and my aesthetic style, I always jump at the chance to work alongside other photographers. Life-long learning is something that I’m committed to, both in my career and personal life, and there’s no better way to learn than to watch another pro at work. Whenever I work with other women in my industry, I walk away with new knowledge whether we’re talking about how to direct a subject, working with different light sources than your usual, or file management at the end of the shoot, there is always something to be picked up on!

Work Journal: Bloom + Wander Boutique

Fun fact; before I started art school, I was convinced I was going to become a fashion designer. Don’t believe me? Keep reading!

Although photography has always been my truest creative love, it wasn’t initially something I imagined as a career. Fashion design, on the other hand, seemed like a more viable career option with a multitude of possible jobs; designer, merchandiser, buyer or seamstress. So, what happened? After a lifetime of shooting on instant cameras and crappy digital point & shoots, the moment I stepped into NSCAD’s darkroom for the first time, I fell in love. There’s also the fact that industrial sewing machines are terrifying, but that’s a story for another time. These days, I love working with clients in the apparel industry, so you know good times were had at Bloom & Wander Boutique’s branding session. Over the course of a month, we captured interiors, lifestyle and product photography - these are just a few of my faves!

Pro-tip: Capturing portraits indoors? Whether you’re working with continuous lighting, strobes or natural window light, make sure you turn off any ambient lights to achieve consistent and natural lighting.

Adventure Journal: Go With the Flo Retreat

Picture this, it’s a summer heat wave and you and your besties are camping out in scenic Margaree for a weekend of meditation, movement and more. That’s how I spent a weekend capturing the Flo Meditation Go With the Flo retreat at Live Life In Tents and it didn’t disappoint.

After getting to know each other around a beautiful fresh veggie meal and opening circle on night 1, the whole group was ready for a big day. Although I’m not usually a morning person, even I was happy to be awake for a morning mediation, overlooking Margaree as the sun rose. From there the group got a serious sweet on, led by Meech, before afternoon journaling and tubing.

After a full day in the sun, we relocated to a nearby beach for sunset swimming, a dinner by fire and a DJ set plus dance party in the sand. Island dreams are made of nights like these.

I might be biased but the best part of the weekend was saved for last. On the morning of day 3, everyone headed to an incredible waterfall trail. The hike in was hot and buggy but more than worth it once the falls came into view. After a closing circle and a lot of splashing, it was time to head back to the city but with pictures like these, I hope everyone will be reliving the experience for years to come.

Pro-tip: Next time you’re photographing an intimate event, try taking part in what your subjects are doing, even for a few moments at a time. It’ll give you new ideas of how to capture things and it’ll let your subjects feel more at ease.

Adventure Journal: Summertime Ranchland

Lush green grass and rolling hills might not be the first thing to come to mind when you think Alberta but a trip to the coulees of Southern AB will change that in a flash. Although I’m always a sucker for a winter adventure, summer south of the mountains has its own charm, especially when your home base is chez KVS Sport Horses and your company is a herd of curious, friendly foals.

Pro-tip: If you’re working outdoors with harsh light, try backlighting your subject for a softer result, like I did with the close-up horse portraits. To make the most of this technique, work with a lens with an f-stop of 1.8 or lower to let in all the light and focus on keeping detail in your shadows.