Congratulations Robin and Yoonjeong!

Karen, Erich and I had a crazy fun weekend up in Kamloops at the end of July. We had gone up there (along with my photographic assistant Danila) to do a wedding shoot and to attend Robin and Yoonjeong's wedding. For those of you that know Robin, you will know that this is a long time coming this was the event of a lifetime! :-)

Caption: Robin and Yoonjeong walk together across a crosswalk in traditional Korean wedding garments.

Congratulations to this beautiful new couple. We hope your new life together in Korea will bring wholeness to you and your family. May your marriage be holy - set apart for God's purpose. May you walk together in His truth and by His grace appreciating each other's differences, strengths and weaknesses.

I had a particularly fun time tagging along as the embedded photojournalist. Although this is not my first wedding I have done this, it is the first one for which I have spent so long preparing. We witnessed moments of joy, of anticipation, of frustration, of surprise, but most of all moments of memory making. Wait till I tell your grandkids about the mice! In all seriousness though, thanks for giving me and Danila this opportunity to document your wedding day.

I will be posting up more pictures but not until I have finished processing them and not until they have passed through the bride and groom's eyes.

Bartlett Family Photo Shoot

Late in July, I had the opportunity to take some photos for the Bartletts in preparation for my upcoming wedding shoot with the Brenners. Now weddings and kid photography aren't really the same. But, as it turned out it was nevertheless a great opportunity for me to practice on moving subjects (kids do move around *a lot* - so do brides). It was also the first time shooting with a dedicated assistant (Thanks Danila!). We had a lot of fun and learned lots too.

Here are some of my favorite shots from this session:

Emily receives a kiss from her mom. Canon EF 70-200 f4L on Canon 10D @ 145mm f/4.0 1/60 ISO 400 with [Strobist info] off-camera flash set at 1/4 power about 5 feet away adding some rim light to Tiffany's hair.

Rodney and the boys pose for a goofy shot underneath the Granville Street Bridge. Canon EF 50mm f1.4 on Canon 10D @ f/8.0 1/200 ISO 100 with [Strobist info] off-camera flash from camera bottom right set at 1/4 power about 5 feet away adding the scary light effect.

Title Photo: Family Portrait - Canon EF 70-200 f4L on Canon 10D @ f4.0 1/60 ISO 100. Ambient light only.

Guitar!

Twice a month, I serve our church by playing guitar in the worship band. It is loads of fun and Erich certainly enjoys seeing his dad up there strumming away. Some Sundays (when his mom isn't looking) he even manages to point at me and the guitar during service and yells "Daddy! Guitar!" much to the chagrin of Karen of course who usually ends up chasing him down the aisle and discreetly escorts him away.

Last Sunday was one of those weeks. Apparently I must have made quite an impression on him because when he came back, he decided he'd make his own guitar out of Lego! (well Duplo actually...)

Shown in the photo is his first prototype. As you can see, it has many colours and he did a little "code-reuse" from his previous Lego masterpieces - namely the "skyscraper". There were some problems though, it was all neck and no body and he soon discovered that it broke all too easily when he was trying to play it.

So with a little help from his dad, we came up with this, and of course a resulting world premiere music video. (Sorry about the crappy resolution and white balance - it was the best I could do under the circumstances. Little toddlers do not wait before the concert starts!) Enjoy!

My little lighting assistant

Karen had an after work meeting the other day so Erich and I got a chance to go on a real father-son date.

As some of you know, we are selling Karen's old 'beater' commuter car. We no longer need two cars and after having loaned the car to Kat and John for the past year, we are going to sell it. So while Karen was out Erich and I decided we would wash the car and take some photos of it. We drove it down to the boat launch area near Vanier Park for the photo shoot.

Although I think I must have been crazy to bring along Erich alone to photograph a car (complete with tripod, reflectors and flash) in a parking lot, Erich certainly didn't think so! He was elated I decided to bring him along and was determined to help as is evident in these photos of him.

Well got to get used to working with an assistant I suppose. I have a 'big' lighting assistant helping me out in a few weeks for Robin's wedding. Should be fun!

Photo Caption: Uh, what's next, boss?

Cousin!

I told Erich yesterday that tomorrow he was going to get a new cousin. To that he replied "Baby!" and made a cradling motion with his arms. I then asked "Whose baby is it?". And to that he replied, to our great astonishment, "Katherine!". I have no idea how he has managed to put all the facts together (we have never told him explicitly any of the above facts) but I guess he has managed nevertheless to figure them out.

Well, Katherine and John did have a beautiful healthy baby boy today. Born by Ceserian Section, Isaak Hans Ching Yin* Tso came into this world 8:56am at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver. He weighed 7lb, 13oz, measures just over 20 inches (53 cm) in length and is cute as a bunny. Both Kat and John are doing well.

(* Thanks to Claudia and Queenie Tsang for the chinese name! ;))

We went over briefly tonight to visit the newborn baby. As irony would have it, no sooner had we parked did the big red fire engines pull up to the hospital (see photo). Apparently, there had been yet another false alarm. We couldn't help but chuckle.

Big Adventure Day

We went vacationing in our own city this past weekend going on a tour of some of the Lower Mainland's lesser known parks. It was very refreshing and a fitting end to what was otherwise a rather gruelling and stress-laden week.

Horseshoe Bay and Whycliffe Park

After enjoying some tasty fish and chips at Horseshoe Bay, we drove to Whycliffe Park and let Erich play at for about an hour. Erich was so excited after playing in the playground, he kept wondering what it was that was going to be even more exciting. (We kept telling him we were going somewhere even better next...)

Lighthouse Park and Point Atkinson

Well the real treat came when we took him to Lighthouse Park where we all 'hiked' down the trail from the parking lot to the lighthouse and rock beach (about a 10 minute steep hill well-marked trail through the woods). Although Erich rode most of the way in our second-hand "SUV" jogger stroller*, there was a part of the trail leading from some of the cabins to the beach that was impassable with the stroller. So, we ditched the stroller temporarily and Erich hiked alongside with us. He really enjoyed that! Here's a video of him coming back up the hill with us on that part of the trail.

(* Thanks Joe and Sheryl for the stroller!)



Clam up on seashells

Down at the beach, we all enjoyed the beautiful pristine scenery as Erich played with the rocks and shells on the beach. Erich had a lot of fun doing this. Just before leaving the beach, Erich decided he wanted to keep one of the seashells. He carefully held onto it as he hiked up the hill. Even as we put him back in the stroller and pushed him back up the trail, he held onto it as if it were some souvenir for the day. We thought it was so cute we were even contemplating putting it in his momento box at home. But Erich had other plans...

At the top of the hill, there was a nice big old growth tree where I decided I'd take a quick photo of Karen. That's when we both heard a big "crunch!". The next thing we knew, Erich had the entire shell in his mouth! By the time we managed to pry open his mouth, the shell was in pieces.
Gross! I thought of course. There it was, a half-eaten clam shell. So funny what kids decide to put in their mouths!

Park Royal

In the end though, Erich did get to satisfy his hunger. We ended the day at Park Royal where we sipped Orange Julius and had a fantastic meal at Steamworks. Karen and I did some shopping while Erich slept in his stroller. He slept for a good 2.5 hours. He must have been exhausted from the hike because he almost never takes naps that long!

Canada Day at Kits Beach

Had lots of fun celebrating Canada Day with the kids this year.

First was a quick portrait session for the Bartletts to celebrate their 5th year in Canada, and then it was a picnic lunch with Mom, Hans and the kids.

Happy 140th Birthday Canada!