Odd Numbers

I don’t like many odd numbers. I don't know why but I’ve always been that way. In sports when I would get stuck with an odd numbered jersey I would be bummed all season (stupid 21 – I wanted 8!). So when this past year of 2013 rolled around I thought, “well, better power through and make the best of this gross ‘13’ year.” So how surprised was I when this year turned out to be my favorite one ever! Firstly, work this year has been the best. Every single couple we’ve worked with we have loved so so much. THANK YOU EVERY COUPLE WE’VE WORKED WITH THIS PAST YEAR! We have been so honored and blessed to tell your stories and get to know you. One of the weddings we shot even won us the “Best Cinematographer” award from the BC Wedding Awards – whaaaa?! Check it out below! (Thank you Jackie and Darrin! Hope you’re doing well and loving married life. How is your dog?)

Besides all of this, we’ve gotten to do a fair bit of travel – some for work and some for fun. For work, we ended up all the way in Perth Australia where we were able to film the torch-and-teepee wedding (this is what I call it now) of our friends Honni and Matt, while touring the beautiful city and meeting so many wonderful people who we miss so much… (you know who you are). About a month later Mac and I went on our Christmas dream trip for 2 days only… to DISNEYLAND! Oh good grief was this the best time. I will say though, our insane excitement for Christmas and our equally insane love of Disneyland didn’t mesh as well as I had thought. My emotions didn't know what to do – they were so confused! I felt like I should be driving to Palm Desert for vacation afterwards not going home to cold… WELL – now we know! (still crazy fun)

When we did return for Christmas we got to film our dear friend's engagement, went to Tim Hortons a lot (that place makes us so patriotic and their Christmas cups are the best!), had a couple of the best Christmases yet (we oddly both really love our in-laws) and my cousin got engaged to Maclean’s best buddy from childhood – who woulda thought?!

All in all, I have no idea how 2014 is gonna top 2013, but I’m certain it will – 14 is a great number! We have really big plans for this year and lots of changes and we can't wait to share them with you! (No mom, we're not pregnant) AND we're planning to get our health on and utilize my beloved Vitamix a little more. We hope you all have your best new years yet - come on even numbers!

-Erin

jackie + darrin || like a fun princess from Hello Tomorrow on Vimeo.

Jamie + Randy

OK so remember our friend Jamie? Wedding photographer extraordinaire? Well she's engaged!!! As you've read before, we go way back with Jamie. Not too long ago we started hearing about this Randy guy she's been hanging out with. We were able to meet and hang out with him briefly while shooting Jamie's recent promo film and he seemed like an awesome guy. Not long after we heard that things could be getting serious between these two. Our hopes were up.

A few weeks ago Randy got in touch with us and revealed that he was indeed planning on proposing to Jamie soon and wanted us there to capture it. We flipped! Our pal Jamie was getting engaged to this awesome guy AND we get to be there to watch it happen! We felt so honoured. So this past weekend it all went down. Randy had been planning for weeks to surprise Jamie and it paid off. She had no idea it was coming! The rest is pretty amazing and rather than share it in our own words, we suggest you watch the film. ALso be sure to check out Jamie's blog for their entire story!

Congrats again Jamie + Randy! We are SO excited for you both and cannot wait for the wedding!

Honni + Matt

Meet the Storey's. We've been blessed to know these two for a while now and the more we've gotten to know them, the richer our lives have become. Matt came over to Canada a few years ago for an adventure. Our good friend Jon* knew Matt when he lived in Perth, so when Matt landed in Vancouver, he quickly joined our crew. While exploring the Great White North he was torn about a love that was forming with a girl back home. Enter Honni. These two have been friends for quite some time, they were always together, friends and family always thought they'd be a good match but they weren't quite ready to start dating. A little while later Matt knew he had to return down under. He knew that Honni was the one and he couldn't be away from her any longer. (Awwwww!)

*fun fact: Jon is the husband of our dear friend and graphic designer the incredible Heather Hastings! Check out their wedding film here!

This was a once in a lifetime trip that we'll never forget for two reasons:

Reason #1: The Wedding During the months leading up to the wedding, we heard murmurings from Matt and Honni of what to expect and each day it seemed to be getting more and more epic (I usually don't like using the word epic, but it truly is warranted in this case). From the breathetaking location of Yallingup (a few hours south of Perth), to the reception Tee Pee's, and even a magical forest, we knew this was going to be unforgettable. I don't want to spoil too much so please take a look at their film. You HAVE to watch it. I won't take no for an answer :)

Reason #2: The People We were (and still are) absolutely blown away by the amazing warmth and love that came from both the bride and grooms' close friends and family. We have never felt so welcomed into a group of people so quickly. As cliche as it sounds, the second we landed in Perth we felt like we'd known everyone for years. They welcomed us into their homes, moved out of their bedrooms for us and drove us around town to see all the sites and all their favorite places. If you follow me on instagram then you caught a glimpse into the amazing fun we had. We have a lot more we want to say about the trip and these people but we'll save that for our next blog post :)

We want to say thank you - thank you - thank you to Matt and Honni once again. You two were a dream to film and we truly love you both. Puh-lease come back to Canada soon!

 

Jamie Delaine Photography

We'd like to talk about a friend of ours named Jamie. We go waaaay back with Jamie. I think it was about 8 or so years ago when I met her at Southgate Church shortly before Erin and I started dating. Erin however, goes back even further as she and Jamie went to school together. To be fair, they were 4 grades apart but still. Wow. It wasn't too long after I met Jamie that she started up her photography business and Erin and I quickly became blog stalkers. It was incredible to follow along on her journey to success and watch her work progress so quickly. When we started filming weddings she was always extremely helpful with tips/advice and we were even fortunate enough to film her first promo. A few years later Erin and I got engaged and it was an absolute no brainer to have Jamie photograph our day. (Check out our engagement shoot and wedding on Jamie's blog!) Over the years we've been lucky enough to work with Jamie on a bunch or weddings/projects, including her 2nd promo which you can watch here. But recently we decided it was time for an update. A couple months ago we started working on Jamie's new promo. Jamie had the idea to try a different approach to showing her personality, and we thought we might try slowing it down a bit. Jamie is super laid back and easy going and it felt right to portray that side of her this time. Let us know what you think of the result!

-Mac

TECHY STUFF When Erin and I talked about how we wanted the visuals to look for this project, we initially thought of heavily using completely static shots. But as we talked about it, we realized that Jamie's laid back, yet bubbly personality couldn't be portrayed without a little movement. This brought up the idea of using handheld. We're always very wary of using handheld in our films. The story/project really has to lend itself to handheld and we never want to use it just because it's quick or convenient. Also since we shot on DSLRs for so long, shooting handheld was a more complicated option because of the need for a rig. But now with the C100 it wasn't a problem. The ergonomics and weight of the camera really allow for beautiful handheld without a rig. However if we were planning on shooting anything with a 50mm or higher we would definitely need a rig, but for this project we wanted to keep things pretty intimate so we shot almost entirely on the 24mm and 35mm.