To make it up to you, I’m going to drop a couple of beautiful sneak peeks from an awesomely fun engagement session I photographed yesterday, that not even the (hopefully) last gasp of winter could put an damper on.

~Jayson

For the 2013 season, I will be carrying a new line of albums to help you to share your memories with everyone you know, and enable you to have those memories preserved for the rest of your life. They are hand-made here in Canada, and each one can be customized to suit you and your personality perfectly. I could go on and on about the cover materials, the custom endpapers, and the just beauty of seeing photographs in print rather than always on screen the way we are so accustomed to seeing them these days, but I’d rather just share a few pictures with everyone.

They really need to be seen and held to be fully appreciated. So if you’re a past client who would love to get a new album, or a current or future client who must wants to see what their options are, drop me a line and let’s set-up a time to have coffee so you can get your hands on my sample album!

~Jayson 

I’m going to start the new year off with three quick updates from me!

1. If you’re catching this post via Facebook, Twitter, or your RSS reader (people still use those, right?), chances are good you haven’t dropped by my site itself lately. Well, now is the time! I’ve updated my three main galleries with some of the best stuff from this past season, as well as re-worked the best from prior years, to help get a more consistent look and flow. I also cleaned up my blog a bit; now it looks cleaner without some of the distracting navigation tools, and brings the focus back to where it belongs, beautiful pictures. I hope you’ll check the changes out and let me know what you think!

Here are a couple links to my updated wedding gallery, and my updated portrait gallery.

2. Some of my great wedding and portraiture colleagues from Edmonton were blessed with an opportunity to show some of our very best work at the Old Glenora Steeps Teahouse! I’m super excited to feature a picture from Tracy & Steve’s amazing fall wedding. If you’re in the neighbourhood of downtown, or just feel like something warm and awesome to sip on, I can’t recommend enough going down, having a tea, and enjoying some of the artwork me and my friends are featuring for the month of January!

3. This is one of my absolute favourite times of year right now. Why? Because it’s booking and inquiry season! January is typically one of the busiest months for a wedding photographer in terms of booking weddings and brides for the upcoming wedding season, and mine hasn’t been any different! My late summer and fall schedules are mostly full already, and 2013 is shaping up to be a banner year for me, full of firsts! I’m so energized by the couples I’ve been lucky enough to hear from so far, and can’t WAIT to see what other wonderful love stories pop up in my inbox. If you are planning a wedding, now is the time to act, and if you know someone who is, I would be eternally grateful (yes, forever and ever even from beyond the grave!) for your recommendation!

In the coming weeks and months I’ll have some fun stuff to share as we come up to spring time and engagement photo season. In the meanwhile, stay warm and go enjoy a chai latte.

~ Jayson

Thanks to the whole family for coming out and putting up with me posing and directing and generally being a fussy bossypants.

~Jayson

Here is the first lucky winner, Angela Kujat! Her boyfriend was in town and the three of us went for a little walk through my favourite little gem of a park and made a few beautiful pictures. This set is proof that you don’t necessarily NEED a huge photoshoot to make a few great images.

~Jayson

Steve, being more resourceful than I would have been in his place, had somehow found a beautifully white tarp to cover the ceremony location, and someone had found more than enough umbrellas for everyone. The ceremony itself was just a reflection of the two people getting married; simple, down to earth, full of humour and love and joy and laughter and family. The reception afterwards was in the barn, and was super laid back and easy going. There was a whole roast pig, potatoes, corn on the cob, and the whole barn was FULL of Tracy’s hand-picked and designed decorations. It was a DIY wedding planners delight! Plus, at the end of the day, just as the sun was setting, the clouds finally broke and we had a few (very brief!) moments of the most beautiful sunset imaginable.

I might sound like I’m going on a bit, but it was such a wonderful day to share and experience, and I’m so thankful Tracy & Steve asked me to be a part of their wedding.

I’m going to make a small detour into DIY detail land. As a photographer and admirer of a fine DIY project, all of this stuff was absolutely one of the highlights of this whole wedding.

Centerpieces. Each table had their own individual design.

The cups that everyone drank from, and what they drank.

The wedding favours, and then the rest of the decorations!

And now back to your regularly scheduled wedding reception….

They used some pictures you might recognize as their guest-book-of-sorts. 

And then, finally, I was granted a few final moments for some last portraits….

…. and lo did the sunset peek through the clouds and make some beautiful light.

~Jayson

Here’s a secret, though: Mom’s love to receive pictures of their kids. Especially if they haven’t had a decent picture of their children in years and years. Pictures are the kind of thing that Mom’s will cry over. The kind of thing that they will put up on display and tell absolutely EVERYONE how thoughtful of a gift it was.

So, what I’m saying was, once I mentioned this idea, it was an easy sell. Kristal & Kim brought their men along with them (Eric & Jason) and we made a morning of it, on what was absolutely the last “autumn” weekend here in Edmonton. We had so much fun wandering around Whyte Ave and Old Strathcona, and then headed down into the river valley to explore the colours that nature had provided to us. Kristal & Eric even brought their “girls” along for a little run in the park.

Thanks for allowing me the privilege of taking your pictures, guys! I know your Mom will love them.

~Jayson

It was truly a joy and a blessing to be able to spend some time with their family, and I totally look forward to spending time with them in the future, watching our four (!!) boys all grow up into little troublemakers like their fathers were/are.

~ Jayson

~ Jayson