Archive for November, 2011
Sydney Wedding – Lauren & Allan
Nov 15th
Last night I was looking through some old CDs and found one I hadn’t listened to for ages and put it on while I worked on some of Lauren & Allan’s wedding images. When the last track started playing I had to smile. It was the song that played during the ceremony the day I married Penny. The song is “True Companion” by Marc Cohn. It is now such an old song, but it still describes how I feel about choosing someone to spend the rest of your life with. Looking through Lauren & Allan’s images with this song playing in the background just made me think how amazing it is that amongst all the people that we pass every day, two people who are obviously meant to be together, can find each other. Just like Lauren & Allan.
Lauren & Allan had a great wedding – elegant, glamorous, intimate and modern. Breaking from tradition, they met before the ceremony and had some photos together, just the two of them. Seeing each other for the first time without a crowd around them was such a private and special moment. It was a real privilege for me to witness a moment in their lives that I know they will always remember. It also gave them a chance to reflect on all the fun they have had leading up to the day while we took some snaps at one of their favourite places Zeta Bar in the Hilton, Sydney. The Hilton was also where Lauren got ready while Allan got ready just a little distance away at the Westin.
Despite crazy hot weather the day before, Sydney put on a cold & wet day. But Lauren and her butterfly-inspired bridesmaids shone through the rain and lit up the Sergeants Mess in Chowder Bay where they had their ceremony & reception. Brilliant place! Centrepiece by design added sparkle to the room with some beautiful reception decor and Veritas did a fantastic job of ensuring that Lauren & Allan had a perfect wedding day. Lauren’s gorgeous dress was by MXM and flowers by Lil Blossom. A band made up of friends of Lauren & Allan’s rocked the reception and then the couple themselves really shook things up with one of the best choreographed wedding dances I have ever seen. What a way to get the party started! And it didn’t stop until the wee hours with an after party at The Ivy. I loved this wedding because I got to see many sides of this couple – the couple that like to have fun & mix it up a bit and then the couple they are when alone – gentle & in love – true companions maybe?
A couple of weeks ago Penny & I celebrated 15 years of marriage, and it still feels like we have only known each other for a short time. Lauren & Allan, I wish that 15 years from now you one day hear a song that takes you back to this day, and realise happily, that it really seems no time at all.
Wedding guests are welcome to click on the link to view Lauren & Allan’s sneak peek slideshow.
Wedding guests are welcome to view all images on the online slideshow.
(Slideshow and Gallery are password protected. Please contact Lauren & Allan for access.)
Found Treasure
Nov 3rd
I woke up this morning and my weekend photography project had disappeared – loaded onto the back of a truck and taken to be recycled, dumped, buried, discarded. Little parts of people’s lives forming one large pile of rubble.
It had been council curbside collection week in our local area and as I carted our junk onto the footpath I couldn’t help but notice the buzz all this “junk” had created. People coming from everywhere to rummage through other people’s trash, marvelling at the treasures they discovered and carted away to serve a new life in someone else’s home. Amongst all this happening there was an underlying dimension that speaks volumes about people – it says much about who you are, who your neigbours are. What does what we throw away say about us? Couldn’t help myself, grabbed my camera & asked the questions.
Here are a few of the images, each one with a story to tell. You’ll find an old couch – how many stories would those chairs tell? What life did they bring to that family? The entire furnishings of a baby’s room – a new phase in the life of this family perhaps? A lone vacuum cleaner hose – what happened to the vaccuum that it belongs to? What of the image you will see of the disgarded beer and golfballs? The stories that could tell. Or maybe there is no story here. Just random pieces of various lives thrown on the sidewalk – a sad indictment to our disposable society.
For me curbside collection is like a cleanse – a fresh start, a change. So when I took these images I could not help but feel a sense of renewal in my neighboured, reinforced as I watched people load their new found treasures into the back of their car. Everything old is new again.
To view the complete gallery of “Found Treasure” click on the image.
