If there was one word to describe Jenn and AJ it’d be troopers. Two words: Super Troopers. In contrast to the nice sun filled fall morning that happened during the Torresan Family shoot; Jenn, AJ and myself experienced a multitude of Northern Ontario weather in a matter of hours.

The plan was to do the shoot out at Jenn’s family camp at Haviland Shores (that’s the nam I made up for it right now, it may be called something else) north of Sault Ste Marie. and with the morning we just had it seemed like great weather for it. While I waited for Jenn and AJ to come pick me up it started raining, no big deal, it looked clear to the north. After we drove for a bit the sky was clear and everything seemed like the shoot was going to be full as awesome. Then the rain came harder and harder and just for good measure a little bit harder. We found refuge at our first location inside a boat hangar – I’m pretty sure it is not called a boat hangar but if it is I’m a genius. After a few shots inside the sky was clear again so we decided to head back outside. By the time we collected our belongings it started to rain again. Off to Jenn’s camp.

If you are Jenn’s mom you probably want to just skip the next paragraph and just look at the next grouping of pictures.

As it turns out Jenn isn’t quite fond of all of the awesome retro furniture inside the camp which I’m sure would sell for millions of dollars to trendy hipsters who dig furniture from the 70s. I loved it. She just kept shaking her head. While we were seeking refuge in the ultimate time warp of cool the rain turned to hail and sleet and the sky just looked ominous. So outside we went! In the sleet, in the hail, in the cold. Super awesome. We would plan a shot and location indoors and then run to that spot outside – the rain/sleet/hail combo was so bad I couldn’t even see clearly inside my viewfinder but they just kept trekking on with my all of the crazy ideas I had.

After we warmed up it was time for home. But no trip is ever complete so I had them run outside some more in the rain to get even more great shots. Needless to say the heater was on full all the way back to the Sault. Thanks for the great afternoon guys and all the laughs we shared.

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It’s only fitting that on the eve of the US Thanksgiving I’m getting to some of the shoots shot on the weekend of our Canadian Thanksgiving. I had the pleasure of spending a gorgeous (if not just a bit chilly) October Saturday morning with the Torresan family consisting of Mike, Eva, Matteo and Damian. Once again the young ones had me on my toes for most of the morning – Matteo was definitely more interested in finding squirrels or playing with the rocket blaster and Damian just wanted to sleep and was probably wondering why we had him out in the chilly fall morning. I’m sure he was muttering baby swear words at me in his mind – you can see it in his eyes.

It was a great morning, the sun came out and started shining – which it definitely wasn’t doing in the afternoon (that will be the next post) – and I believe everyone had a great time. Thanks for the morning Mike and Eva.

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Fall colours! Where did they go? There was about a two week period where I was still in Sault Ste. Marie where the fall colours were very vibrant. All of the leaves around my house were still on the trees and in multiple shades of orange, yellow and red. Now I have multiple shades of orange, yellow and red on the ground in the backyard – anyone want to come over and clean them up?

Flashing back though to when the leaves were still up Heather, Clint and myself headed to Hiawatha Highlands / Kinsmen Park to rock out their engagement shoot. They brought their golden retrievers Chloe and Bailey along as well. The plan was to sneak the pups in for a couple of shots while they were clean and dry. The clean and dry part lasted for about 5 minutes as both of them were in the first puddle they saw and loved playing in the water every time we got close. It was a great afternoon to be out and the pups provided some entertainment, I think they were trying to knock me into the water with them part of the time as well.

Thanks for the great afternoon Heather and Clint and I’m looking forward to shooting your wedding next year.

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We’re not on the Big Island anymore! This is the final stretch of our adventure and probably the funnest. The downfall, no more honu, the upswing a whole lot of crazy. We’re now on Maui – I wish we were able to spend more time on Maui (and probably less time on the Big Island – but I do miss the honu). Below you will see me once again fighting with the sun – I think I have more sun fail pictures than anyone else who has ever gone to Hawaii. That’s okay though it was all about the adventure. This time I was trying to capture sunrise but instead all we got was the “cloud rise”. Those pesky clouds crept in and stole all the thunder from what was rumoured to be one of the most awesome of awesome sunrise locations. For this challenge try to guess where we are (the name of the place), what we are doing (not that hard) and if you can name the company we were with (it was a sweet cruise).

The Clues:
1. some clues are possibly in the paragraph above
2. 10,000 feet in Hawaii is still cold
3. the bikes had 1 gear and only needed 1 gear
4. pickup time, 2:45 AM
5. “It was the sublimest spectacle I ever witnessed, and I think the memory of it will remain with me always.” -Mark Twain

Be sure to check out and guess for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 and Part 8 (some of these do not have correct answers at the time of writing).

(correct answers will be listed at the end of the adventure)

Shot by our driver/spotter:

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Trying to get the last ones of these out in a bunch so they will be coming at you quick. Unfortunately this will be the last one featuring honu, I loved those little guys (okay some were huge) but I didn’t run into any on the next island plus Jes has said “enough with the honu already”. Did you know that the green sea turtles are called that not because their shell is green but because their body fat is green?

The clues:
1. it has a feature that China is known for (not pictured below)
2. a sacred place
3. How now now brown cow?

Be sure to check out and guess for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7 (some of these do not have correct answers at the time of writing).

(correct answers will be listed at the end of the adventure)

This is what happens when you try to take your own picture. Four straight shots. Jes said I looked like a beaver in the first, so she pretended to be me in the second and I debeaveared, the third speaks for itself, and the last was our “successful” one. Also known as we said “good enough”.

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