Year One – in the beginning we wanted it to be awesome and I believe it was.

This post is actually coming a little later than it should but it still needs to be made. This big photography thing known as Curt O’Neil Photographer has now officially ran for just over a year. It has been an incredible journey to get to this point where I had the opportunity to meet and work with amazing couples, families and friends. The acceptance to what I have been doing and what I want to do has been more than what I could hope for and I want to thank all of you for that.

This was a big year for me which included launching this business, getting married and visiting Hawaii. Jes and I love the idea of travel and seeing the world and experiencing what it has to offer. As we move forward with this business the opportunities are starting to present themselves for us to be able to do it along with others and share in their special moments with them. The first of such adventures being Italy this summer.

I wouldn’t be able to complete a recap post without thanking some of those involved in getting me to where I am. The first person being my wife Jes – always keeping me grounded and having a goal in sight. From there I have to name a few photo friends who have helped me along the way whether they know it or not Allison, Gareth, Mike, Jordan and Mark. Thanks for your insights, your friendship and your ideas on the random things I’d ask. Also to the crew at WFF thanks for being there and being that tight knit community.

I’m looking forward to the challenges ahead and to hope to keep bringing the awesome. To stay in contact with what we are doing here you can follow us three ways:
Subscribe to the RSS feed for the blog: http://www.curtoneil.com/feed/
Join my brand new Facebook page (I’m moving from a group to a page): http://www.facebook.com/curtoneilphotographer
Follow my ramblings on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/curtoneil/

Below are some of my favourite shots for the year. Some won’t mean anything to you but they the moment, the shot, the people all mean something to me. It was hard just narrowing it down to this. I left out anything that was fairly recent and anything that was far back. It’s a snapshot. I also still have shoots from 2009 to finish up and get on here as well.

Thanks again to all of you and don’t be afraid to leave a comment below.

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Local funk band Big Wheel and the Spokes were preparing their latest CD and needed a new set of promo shots done so we spent an early September afternoon doing just that. Fast forward to today (Dec 27) and Big Wheel will be hosting their CD release party tonight at Loplops starting at 9:45PM.

In honour of the release of Spin Big Wheel and myself have arranged to give away 2 of the CDs here on the site. To enter all you have to do is leave a meaningful comment below (so simply saying “hi” doesn’t count). I’ll draw two names at random on Wednesday (Dec 30) and get the CD off to you as soon as I can (door to door delivery in the Sault and through the mail if you live elsewhere). The contest is open to anyone who loves some good funk. To get a glimpse of some of the songs on the new release check out Big Wheel on MySpace. Their new website should also be up and running shortly as well.

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Here comes the snow, here comes the snow, here comes the snow. Yeah! Here comes the snow!

Clearly that line up there should be sung and to the beat of “We Got the Beat” by the Go-Gos.

Moving forward. Jenn wanted a snow shoot but the Sault rolling into the start of December was pretty limited in the snow department. Then BAM the night before the shoot we get snow. So if you’re wanting it to rain chocolate chips or typhoon pudding just ask Jenn as I think she has supreme weather powers. Jenn and Steve are two local entrepreneurs who own Loplops and Dish Espresso Bar and Cafe. I’ve been frequenting Loplops for the local music (and touring acts) for about four years now; they also have an art gallery for local artists up front. During the day you may see Jenn working hard behind the window at Dish Espresso Bar and Cafe where they have daily lunch specials that Jenn laughs at me about because I won’t eat 95% of them. It is not because they are bad, I’m just a very picky eater – meat, cheese, bread and I’m good. You may also at any point in time also see their kids Jaxon and Jaelyn at one of these establishments giving a helping hand or the best helping hand that they can.

For their shoot we headed to Bellevue Park with a quick stop inside the green house which I’ve never been inside before. By the time we made it to the greenhouse Jaelyn had enough of me and was giving me the best “I so hate you” faces. Kids, you got to love them! From there we headed to the playground for some slide and snowball action. A word of caution: freshly snowed on slides become extremely quick.

Thanks for the great afternoon guys!

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The Katagis family just recently increased by one – something about birds and bees and other logistics that seems quite confusing in baby manufacturing. With the new addition to the family they decided to do the next best thing and invited me into their home to photograph baby Macy as well as them (Megan and Tom). I’ve actually known Megan and Tom for quite some time. Once again, writing this sentence makes me say “wow” but 15-20 years ago Tom and I met playing soccer, I was the star player and Tom would get me my water. It was a good relationship, it may also be a lie. Megan and I went to high school together and acted in the play Noises Off!; if memory serves correctly I was the star and Megan would bring me my water… There are actual VHS copies of this play around somewhere (okay, at my house as my mom found them all and gave them to me in a box).

My favourite part about babies (and young kids) are the funny random faces they make and Macy was no exception to this. Macy was a trooper for most of the shoot until she became tired and hungry and hated my guts. The blue (light blue, teal) M you see behind Macy was made by Megan – now how cool is that?

Thanks for the great afternoon Megan and Tom and of course little Macy, it was a fun time and I didn’t even get puked on!

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With all the snow out there currently we’re going to flash back to a warmer time and one of my last fall shoots featuring the Assiginack family. I woke that morning with some crazy vertigo (I think that’s what it was anyway) happening and still had the lingering affects of it when we started the shoot but who needs to be seeings straight and not wobbling side to side to take a good photo? I met up with Nikki, Vince, Felicia, Clarence, Curtis, Melissa, Landon, Ellie, Sharron, Bruce, Michelle, Pat, David and Lexy the dog at the Soo Canal to rock their family shoot. We were a little slow starting due to my above condition but it didn’t take long for everyone to get into the swing of things and make the shoot awesome.

As an added bonus Bruce has inspired me to add a new rule to all of my shoots. From now on, for any shoot, wedding, engagement, family, baby, pet, etc there must be a pipe – no questions asked. Bruce and his pipe made for some of my favourite portraits that I have taken (two of them below!). So thank you Bruce for bringing it along and thank you to your wife and daughters for letting us keep it for the shots.

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