Chan-Ra Photography

happy new year!..

to all my chinese, korean & vietnemese friends and anyone else celebrating the lunar new year. my background is actually cambodian and we don't celebrate our new years until april. but it's still fun to participate in other people's traditions. i have alot of clients that are celebrating, so this is a shout out to them too.

it's been awhile since i've seen a lion dance. i've seen a few at traditional chinese weddings. i can say that if you're going to any chinese weddings this year, you're likely to see one. why? because it's the year of the dragon. both the lion dance and dragon dance are used to celebrate special occations. the dragon dance involves many more performers which doesn't work well within small spaces. so you'll likely see the lion dance - which is equally fun (shown below).

i had to dig these photos up from wendy & lamber's wedding, which is cool, i never get to show all the awesome photos. enjoy!

colin & jenn wedding...

... sometimes i get nervous in the morning, you know, thinking about my responsibilties, did i forget anything, etc... sometimes it can take away from me enjoying what i do. on this morning it all changed the moment i saw jenn. the girls let me into their hotel suite and the first thing jenn does is smile and call me over for a hug. she was sitting in the make-up chair so i walked over and hugged her. moments like these get me excited and pumped for the big day. it makes me feel appreciated when people are excited to see me. like i'm a person and not just hired help. i'm always honoured to be part of someone's special day. 

i don't think i laughed so hard with any other wedding party. the girls were great. jenn is so petite but her dress is so big. just watching her bridesmaids help her get into her dress was hilarious. when they were attaching the crinoline the girls went missing for days under there.

they had their wedding at a rockway glen golf course & winery so it was beautiful inside and out. the ceremony outside was gorgeous and probably the best ever conditions i ever had for photos. we rode around in golf carts to various places for photos (actually 2nd time this year that happened lol). when they told me where they were getting married, i googled the venue and checked out the gallery. my goal was to have colin & jenn on their website. and oddly enough on the wedding day the co-ordinator asked for my card and some photos. shout out to the staff since everyone was amazing. i appreciate anyone who takes care of me. like servers who offer me food when they see me working hard and look to busy to eat. good job fellas!

my favourite part of the day had to be the speaches. sometimes when you first meet someone - you put your best foot forward. usually i'm trying to sell myself as a mature & responsible professional. and clients typically do the same. so i do enjoy the speaches when people give more insight into just who the lovely couple are. like i found out colin was in gangsta rap and had a DJ name back in the day. i had a good laugh.

anyways, i think i rambled on enough. i have to work on photos for the venue. i'll give you an update if colin & jenn appear on their website.

varela-bryce family portraits...

just in time for the holidays... we did these portraits in late fall. romal & yeni do family holiday cards every year but this is the first time they hired a photographer. i love working and meeting different families. i learn so much about family dynamics. sometimes it makes me not want to have kids though... lol. aryana so smart & energtic. andrew is definitely a mama's boy. he didn't want to be in any photos so we had to get creative and find ways to sneak photos. 

i love it when clients show me what they do with the photos. i always encourage clients to do something... either prints, a book... or in this case cards. it's so much fun. and much better than looking at them on your computer. when you print a photo... it only gets better with age. when you look at photos on a screen, it doesn't have the same feel. yeni told me that she loves the photos even more everytime she looks at them. and why wouldn't she? she has a beautiful family. yeni does this every year so she was comfortable making these cards herself. but i always offer to help clients with products. it's my job.

(here is a scanned copy... it looks much better in real life)

Annie at the Beach...

looking back at these photos makes me miss the summer so much. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to enjoy the sun this year as much as I did. little portrait sessions like this just combines sun, beach & photography.

little annie is growing up so fast. everytime i shoot with her she shows me something new. this time, it was her many faces. she is such a cute little girl. every mom thinks their little girl should be a star - but I definitely believe Annie has the talent. she gave me sad, happy, 'not impressed', 'I see you but I'm not looking at the camera' look. kids are still very challenging to photograph but Annie made it worth the effort. i just tried to capture the family enjoying a day at the beach. there weren't too many posed ones.

i've known amber & mason & annie for a long time now and i'm so happy they called me up and wanted to do this. it's nice to catch up and take some amazing photos. thanks guys!

marc & amber wedding

i remember meeting them for the first time last year and we had such a blast just getting to know each other. i don't think we talked that much about the wedding but i remember getting excited because they were fun and the venue was amazing. they got married at the Royal Conservatory of Music which is basically concert hall and school of music. but the layout is just phenomenal. it combines the old historic buildings with the sharp new architechural steel. this was one wedding where we tried to use as much of the location as possible. i say this alot but i really wish we had more time.

i'm really happy for amber and marc. it was a very emotional wedding. the common message i got from everyone is that they were just happy to be one big family. i didn't think it was possibly to be so close with your partner's siblings & parents. but with their family it was so seamless. i guess that's what makes them so special.

we met up for brunch about a month or so after the wedding just to catch up. in the meantime i sent over a preview gallery to them and they really enjoyed it. amber told me she looked at it everyday which kinda made my day. i work really hard to make other people happy so when they appreciate your work, it's an amazing feeling. it's what keeps me going.