We love the recent reactions to our book design from all of our clients. Thank you.

It's gratifying for me on a professional and a personal level. When my clients are happy, I'm happy. 

Thalia and Trevor's Lifestyle / Engagement book layout is going to press in a couple of days. This is a miniature layout. The actual book is 8.5x11". Enjoy.

A relative of mine had, until recently, not really understood my approach to photography. He's the type of person who has lived long enough to be tired of being sold to when the product or service isn't worth getting excited about. While I had told him earlier, it was just one of those things where he didn't understand. And that was okay, I don't expect everyone to get it, or even expect a real interest in understanding. We all have our own lives and interests.

Anyway, I say "recently" because lately he's become a real fan. 

He asked me: "How do you look at something so ordinary and photograph it to make it look so awesome?" Aside from the indirect compliment, which I sincerely thanked him for, I explained it to him. 

And, because I'd been meaning to rewrite the "About Dean" section on my website, I rewrote it to tell you, my clients, friends and colleagues why I'm a photographer. Maybe I should say "compelled" to be a photographer....

Oh, if there are any writer / editors reading who feel compelled to edit this, please feel free to offer your comments. I don't claim to be a wordsmith. Yours is a talent I wish I had. Thanks. Maybe we can work out some type of quid pro quo.

Why I'm a Photographer

A few years ago I realized something. My professional life had never really been about what I was doing for a career, though I thought it was. It wasn't about being a respected TV executive or a creative producer. I had always worked towards TV shows that would both make people think and entertain.

As I was wrapping up a TV series, I had a nagging realization that most of the episodes I had worked such long hours to deliver on time, would be forgotten by most of its intended audience. We're living in a 1000+ TV channel world.

I was walking down a busy street, thinking about it from different angles, but was having a difficult time focusing. I couldn't help but notice everything around me. Out of the corner of my eye. And directly in front of me. Brief moments of people relating to one another, or the look of satisfaction on someone's face as they walked out of a store. I took note of how the light was affecting what I saw.

I kicked myself for not having my camera to document what I was witnessing. This wasn't the first time I kicked myself; I'd been doing it with increasing frequency for years. Now it was almost a daily occurrence. I told myself I was too busy with my career to do anything about photography.

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks:

To everyone around me, they were everyday happenings. But to me, all those ordinary moments were an accumulation of something extraordinary: life. Every detail I see tells me a story.

That was the day I left my TV career to become a photographer. There's an immediacy to the still image that I find captivating. And when I see how people react to my images, I know I'm on the right path.

The process of photography for me is one of discovery. It's a lot of fun for my clients, too. So if you notice how excited I am when I'm shooting, just go with it. I'm seeing things in an entirely new light.

We love the holiday season, and it'll be here before we know it. As our gift to you, receive a free archival-quality print enlargement for booking your holiday season portraits by the end of the month. If you'd like to use the image for holiday cards, let us know as we can make beautiful 5x7" cards for you.

Phone or email us to schedule a photo session at a location of your choice: 416 628 4312 / info@deanorosphoto.com.

Haha - nothing beats a good laugh. A very funny moment from a recent wedding.

Toronto is lucky to have not one, but two Amusement Parks. The oldest of course, is the Canadian National Exhibition. Marking the end of summer, the CNE (also known as "The Ex") runs for about two weeks from the last week in August to the 2nd week in September, just in time for kids to head back to school.

The CNE has been around for as long as I can remember. It's a kick for me to go, because not much has changed since I was in grade school, though my fav classic roller coaster, "The Flyer" no longer exists. I consider the Ex "old school". And when it comes to amusement parks, old school rocks.

Instant film, in the form of the polaroid camera, was invented in 1947. The Polaroid Corp, only this year, made the decision to stop manufacturing instant film. Fuji Film still manufactures instant film, for now. It's kinda sad, but technology is always evolving, which means old technology that we came to love will no longer exist, or at the least may be very hard to come by. Don't get me wrong; I embrace new technology. But I appreciate what came before the latest and greatest (or not, in some cases. like Apple opting out of Firewire in its new laptops).

For example, once the only way to go, 35mm film is now considered a specialty. The LP made way for the CD. There are aficionados / collectors who are fond of the Polaroid and LP's, and maybe even 8-track tape. Ok, maybe not the 8-track.

This summer Barbara and Michael's wish was to have a late night photo shoot, in their wedding attire, opening night of the CNE, which happened to be their wedding day, too.

What a blast! It was ol' school fun.

I'm designing a special album for them of the shoot, which we've named "Project Midway". I've been playing around with some polaroid post-production techniques to go with the old school theme.

The AGWPJA - Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association extended an invitation to me to become a member of their Association.

I truly appreciate the invitation because its members are selected not only for their photo journalism skills, but also for their post-production image enhancement and interpretation of a captured moment.

In their own words: The Artistic Guild of the Wedding Photojournalist Association [AG]WPJA is a group of international wedding photojournalists, who capture unscripted wedding moments as they happen, and excel in the art of post-production image processing. The [AG]WPJA is a division within the Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA); one which specifically promotes Fine Art Wedding Photojournalism.

I'm amazed at the number of photography competitions out there. Here's one for a good cause. By participating, the organizers are contributing a portion of the entry fee to Thirst Relief. And you can win some nice goodies, too.

Visit WEDCOMP08 for full details and to enter!

We are offering a limited time, 14 day discount for 2009 off-season weddings.

Book your January - April 2009 wedding photography collection with us within the next 14 days and receive $250 off your wedding photography package, excluding other current promotions.

Wedding date must be secured with a signed agreement and deposit by October 31st, to receive this great deal!

Questions? Feel free to contact us at info@imagesofapromise.com

Enjoy your savings!

A great lifestyle engagement shoot with Thalia and Trevor yesterday. Late afternoon on the Toronto Islands. The sunset was lovely. 

Trevor, while you may have kicked Thalia's butt with the stone throwing, I have to say it looked like she edged past you in the sprint on the beach! 

Thanks for a fun afternoon. I'm looking forward to photographing your wedding next year.

For the photographers out there, yes it was a bit technical. Thal and Trevor are dark skinned, but with very different skin tones. Trevor with a bright shirt and occasional bright sun added to the fun. I made sure to keep my shadows and highlights in check on the fly.

Here are just a few of my selects. Enjoy.

Wedding Blogs are becoming popular. Usually written and maintained by the Bride (though there's no reason Grooms can't participate), it's an ideal way for couples to document details and thoughts about their on-going wedding plans. It also allows the couple to keep their friends and family up-to-date on how things are coming along. And because blogs are interactive, readers can write comments or suggestions for the couple.

But not only that, it can become a great document to keep. I'm all about documenting heritage. What an intimate account of a couple's wedding plans to pass on to future generations. Can you imagine how much a daughter would love to read her mom's personal account of her wedding preparations? It's priceless, especially in combination with mom and dad's story-telling wedding album.

And there are a few blogging services that are completely complimentary, including Google's Blogger.

A couple of Bride's that I'll be photographing next year have mentioned me in their blogs. I'd like to share. It's such an honour when my clients write how great they feel to have retained my services. Thank you!

Sokha:

SHOOTER.....FOUND!!!

We've found THE ONE!!!! YEA! 

Oh yeah, WHOM, WHAT, WHERE you may ask????

Only the one person who will be able to provide concrete memories of our special day! We've finally found a Photographer. If there is anyone out there still reading this blog of mine and is single and thinks that marriage might one day happen in the distant future, listen up! Venue, important. GOOD photographer, even more important! DON'T CHINTZ ON THE SHOOTER!! These pictures are supposed to last a lifetime, so they'd better be fantastic!

Dean Oros (www.imagesofapromise.com) has been so kind and patient with us and so LENIENT...I can't wait to work with him. It feels good to know that the most precious moments of our day will be captured by Dean. 

Thalia:

We've settled on a photographer. His name is Dean Oros and his company is called Images of a Promise. He is an extremely talented man and we're both so glad that we found him. Instead of me rambling on about his work, take a look for yourself:

Images of a Promise.

I'm hoping that Trevor will agree on an engagement shoot. That way, you'll get to see Dean's work with us firsthand before the wedding.

Autumn and its colours are a lovely time for lifestyle photography. Perfect for engagement sessions or couples & families who'd like something special for themselves.  

I love my neighbourhood. A few steps out my door, and there's the boardwalk, sandy beaches and even a heritage building. Early mornings are great. Mist often rises off the lake, people are running or going for their early morning stroll, coffee in hand. It's a little gem in contrast to busy city life, though I'm only a few minutes from downtown.

I made and sold television series before becoming a pro photographer, so I know a lot about putting them together. Sometimes I like to make Mini Movies for my clients. Here's a sample. The Bridal Party and I had so much fun during the day (and they had a great cake topper!), that I wanted to give them something a little different. Adding animation with music by Barry White provides for some fun. Enjoy!

 

 

For those not familiar with RSS, trust me, you're going to love it. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.

When most of my blog readers were subscribing via regular email, a few would tell me that I was sending them a lot of emails. Thing was, I was only blogging up to 3x a month! Blogging is much more advanced in the USA than in Canada, where many photographers blog almost daily. It's very interactive, with readers leaving comments daily and garnering a rapport with the photograher.

Wikipedia defines it very simply: RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video in a standardized format.

Instead of clogging up your email's inbox with more email than it already receives, RSS Readers keep all of the RSS feeds you subscribe to in one convenient place, either in a separate section of your email program, or via a third party desktop or web based application.

It's completely unobtrusive, and your feeds wait for you to read them. You can unsubscribe from a RSS feed at any time by simply deleting it from your list. So subscribe to as many feeds as you like. Your email address and info is anonymous, too. 

To help get you started, if you're new to the world of RSS, here's some useful links.

For Apple Mail, you're in luck, as it has a built-in RSS Reader.

For Windows users using Outlook, Newsgator integrates seamlessly.

And if you'd like to use a web-based RSS Reader, Google Newsreader does everything you'll need.

Subscribing via RSS is the best way to keep up to date on what we're up to.