Alex Black Photography - Blog

Azul Sensatori Wedding in Mexico: Sonia and Kiran

Melinda and I flew to Mexico a few weeks ago for Sonia and Kiran's destination wedding in Mexico. What a whirlwind of a trip! The wedding was at the beautiful Azul Sensatori resort, just south of Cancun, and we photographed events throughout the week. Indian weddings are normally incredibly colorful, lively and traditional ceremonies to photograph, and this was no exception, especially with the incredible settings including the beautiful beaches, downtown Playa Del Carmen, and the reception down the coast at Marina Maroma. We had an absolute blast, and took more photos than we've ever taken before, we still have a lot of work to do before we deliver all the photos :)

I'm trying out a new blog post format here, posting WAY more photos than I normally do, and posting them higher resolution than I normally do.

Wedding: Joanne and Trevor

Joanne and Trevor's wedding was held at Joanne's parents place. The ceremony was open air in the back yard, underneath the hot August sun, luckily hand fans were provided for the guests! The reception took place under an elegantly lit and decorated tent. I think I spent the whole evening taking pictures non stop of all the fun. To get the couple to kiss, you either had to compose and read a limerick about Joanne and Trevor, or perform a song involving Love. Joanne and Trevor gave us some pretty impressive performances, each kiss different than the last. Later on, Joanne somehow managed to hit the pinata despite the best efforts of the organizers who would strategically lift it out of harms way as each blindfolded contestant swung their weapon. Congratulations you two!

Engagement Photos: Archna and Neeraj

Last week I photographed Archna and Neeraj's engagement session. Congratulations again guys. I photographed their engagement ceremony earlier this summer, and I'm looking forward to their wedding in 2011! We had a lot of fun wandering around Bayfront Park, exploring the trails, waterfront and not-quite-abandoned rail yard. I'm not sure how Archna managed walking through the rail yard in high heels, but it was worth it :)

- Alex

Engagement Ceremony: Archna and Neeraj

I had the honor of photography Archna and Neeraj's engagement ceremony last weekend. Archna is my good friend Maneesh's younger sister, and I'm looking forward to photographing their wedding next summer. You two make a gorgeous couple, you both looked incredibly happy all evening, just radiating!

- Alex

Wedding Photos: Virginia and Jim

Virginia and Jim got married this past Saturday just outside Port Elgin, it was a wonderful day. The ceremony was at a quaint church in nearbye South Hampton, followed by a reception at their cottage near the lake. The back yard was setup beautifully, I loved the lights on the tent as the evening progress. Congratulations you two!

- Alex

A Friend's Wedding: Michael and Zuzana

Back in June, Melinda and I attended the wedding of an old friend of mine Michael Ekers and his now wife Zuzanna. Here are a couple of shots! The ceremony and reception were both on Toronto Island, which was really nice. The church was small and quaint, and the reception near the lake was very elegant. Congratulations Michael and Zuzana!

- Alex

Cliff Mautner Workshop: Day 2

Day 2 of the workshop with Cliff Mautner. Really awesome stuff so far. Today we shot at the gorgeous La Hacienda Sarria, in Waterloo. (It doesn't seem to have a website). La Hacienda is a renovated old factory in an industrial part of Waterloo, and is an incredible place for photography. It has a large interior courtyard with a glass roof above it, and stone pillars all around it. The interior decoration is very lavish and spanish in style, full of wonderful stone and metal work, tiled floors etc. This would be a great place to get married!

Today Cliff was showing us how to find and use light for dramatic effect. The beautiful location along with some great models made it hard not to get some nice shots. But wow, Cliff really finds beautiful light, everyone was taking such incredible photos, I thought mine were nice until I saw the rest of the group's shots!

Cliff Mautner Workshop: Day 1

This week I'm attending a 2 day photography workshop with Cliff Mautner. Here are some photos from our first day. The main focus of the first day was shooting in harsh sunlight, something I would normally avoid at all costs!

Wedding: Andrea and Dean

Brrr... Here's a sneak preview of photos from Andrea & Dean's wedding yesterday in Ancaster. Andrea is a friend of my brother's from high school, so I was very excited to photograph her wedding. The church where they got married was just beautiful, it has huge ceilings, grand arches, and lots of room for photographers to move around in. The weather before the ceremony was cold but relatively nice for a canadian February, but as we left the church we got surprised by a light christmas-like snow fall! Luckily Andrea was up for some outdoor photographs despite the snow and cold.

The ceremony was followed by a reception at the Ancaster Old Mill. The mill is very pretty, both inside and out. The room we were in is right beside the waterfall that passes between the buildings of the mill. The whole night was full of fun, from the wedding party dancing in for their entrance, to Dean's father playing some beautiful music later on.

- Alex

Reception Photos: Shailesh and Shilpa

Last weekend I had the pleasure of photographing Shailesh and Shilpa's reception, it was a action packed evening full of entertaining speeches, intricately choreographed dances and performances, fantastic food, and a packed dance floor! This was just their reception since Shailesh and Shilpa were married this past summer in India. One day I have to find someone to fly me to India to photograph a wedding... Seriously. :)

I've known Shailesh for a number of years now - it was great to be able to photograph him and his new bride, and to get to meet some of his family, and hang out with some of his friends. I have to say though, Shailesh and Shilpa just radiated energy and happiness all night, what a great pair.