I peaked outside my window this morning, and it happened to be very foggy and I could only hope that it would remain that way for my pet photo session. Moffat, Ontario is pretty much farmville. Farms, farms and farms. On my way to my client’s house, I really wanted to stop on the side of the road to capture some photos of nature because it was very foggy and it looked absolutely eerie. Barely any sunlight, but it was absolutely gorgeous to look at, but not so safe to look at when driving at 80km/h+. You really don’t get to see that kind of stuffs in Brampton.

The pet picture session turned out awesome and I blog about it!

I crossed my fingers and could only hope that it would still be foggy by the time the pet session ended. Most of it had cleared out, but it was still good enough to take some shots.

I have been really busy lately with trying to get school projects done and getting my pet photography portfolio ready for Woofstock, all at the same time, and it has not been easy and most of the time those goals feel absolutely impossible to attain. But when I get to meet really awesome clients and their awesome pets, it just turns my day around and makes everything better.

Thank you for this amazing gift!

So I finally found a bit a free time to write this one. I finally got the chance to head back to Mauritius Island once again, for the 3rd time. I left Canada around mid-July and flew back on August 2nd. 3 weeks was definitely not enough, but as you probably already know, everytime you think that your vacation was not long enough it means that you definitely enjoyed every single minute of it!

My uncles took me out for a hiking at Black River Peak, 850m high which is also the highest point. I never been hiking before that and I was not sure what I was getting myself into but I was definitely ready to face what was to come. Once I reached the top, I felt a great sense of accomplishment  and the view from up there was absolutely mesmerizing! I always got to see motherland from street level, but getting to see it from up high was just mind blowing and it looks so different and so peaceful.

Hey! Don’t forget to click on the images to view a larger version! Enjoy!

Dodo birds! Lots of Dodo birds!

View at Cap Malheureux! I think I'm going to frame this one.

Definitely going to frame this one!

Bazar of Port Louis

Bazar of Port Louis

Black River Peak Trail

Every time I meet up with a future bride and groom, they always tell me, “We don’t need an album, only the disc. We will just print them ourselves.” But the truth is, most couple will not print their photos, or will keep on pushing it back…until it’s too late.

Now, brides and future brides, fast forward to 40-50years later. Your grand kids are playing hide-n-seek around the house, and they decided to hide in the attic, near some really old dusty boxes. Oh, look what they found, but they’re not sure what it could be! It’s something flat, shiny, and it has a hole in it. As curious as kids are, they decide to show it to their mom.

Kids: “What is that?”
Mom: “Oh, it’s a DVD. Back in the day, we used it to watch movies, pictures, and even listen to music.”
Kids: “What’s written on the DVD, mom?”
Mom: “That would be your grandma’s wedding photos! Wow! It’s been a really long time since I saw those. I don’t think grandma knows that she still has this DVD.”
Kids: “Can we see them? Can we? Can we?”
Mom: “I’m not sure, kids. I don’t think that it’s possible anymore.”
Kids: ” “
Mom: “We used to have a DVD player, but it doesn’t work anymore, and I don’t think that we will be able to find any. Computers used to have DVD readers too, but not anymore.”

Now, let’s take a look at another case scenario, but this time, you bought an album.

Kids: “Mom, look what we found! Who are they?! *Kids pointing at the bride and the groom in the album*”
Mom: “That’s actually your grandma and your grandma, on their wedding day!”
Kids: “Grandma looks so beautiful, and Grandpa looks so handsome!”
Mom: “Let’s show it to your grandparents! I’m sure it will bring back some great memories.”

In today’s digital world. Most of our photos never see the light of the day. We’re not talking about just wedding photos, but any photos for that matter, like family photos, pets, vacations, etc. All those photos will most likely end up on your computer, uploaded on Facebook (What if Facebook ‘died’ ?), and will never be looked at again. Technology changes so fast, and you never know when your DVD will become unaccessible.

So, will you rather

a) Get only a DVD, and save a few hundreds, or
b) Get an album, and save your memories forever?

See more of this album

This morning I received an email from one of my former clients, Neil Uppal, Sun Satellite‘s drummer, telling me to check out a link. To my surprise, my work had been published on Mississauga.com this morning! On August 24th, 2009. I did a photoshoot with Sun Satellite, somewhere in around Lakeshore: Photoshoot in Toronto with Sun Satellite.

Wow, that’s one awesome Christmas Eve gift! Thanks for sending me the link Neil!

You can find more of my work here: http://jeffreychantin.com/blog

When I first started, I was shooting with a Canon Rebel XT. With it, I was slowly building up my portfolio, and at the same time, I was working fulltime as a web designer and used some of my savings to get myself some new gears. After shooting 11 weddings, beginning with my cousin’s wedding in June 2008, I must say that it was finally time for me to invest into even better equipment, but without the help of my clients and them referring their friends, I would have never been able to make it where I currently am; however, I still have a long way to go. 11 weddings isn’t much compared to others, but to me it’s a lot, and I am very greatful for having amazing clients and looking forward to booking more couples in the near future.

When the Canon 5D MarkII came out, I was not really into it, until I tried a friend’s and totally fell in love iwth it! I’ve been debating for over a year whether to get myself one or not. Eventually, I got to the point where I just couldn’t take it anymore and had to get myself spanking new 5D markII! I don’t recommend anybody to do what you’re about to read next. If you have never used eBay or you’re just an ebay-newbie, I strongly recommend you to not do what I did…

I literally got myself into, what hardcore eBay users would call, ‘bidding wars’! It’s  pretty much bidding non-stop! I had about fifteen Canon 5D MarkII saved in my ‘Watch’ list, and I was on ebay every single night making sure that no one would be able to beat me, for 3 weeks. Long story short, after 2 weeks, I managed to ‘win’ a ‘used’ 5D MarkII for way less than it would actually have cost me, in store. By ‘used’ I mean, it’s practically new because *NERD ATTACK* it had only 2 actuations!

When I got it, it was like Christmas for me, but 10x better! OH, the joy! Well, I really can’t wait to start using it on my next shoot and my future weddings!!!

Uh oh, weird face!

Just checked my email, and to my surprise, Kat from RocknRollBride sent me an email to let me know that Jeannette & Will’s wedding have been featured on her site! woohoo!!

Click here to view!

Yup! My parents got married on May 10! Which happens to be also Mother’s Day this year!

Well, this post is about the cake. Kristin, from cakeordeath.ca, made a beautiful cake for my parents. It was a surprise of course, but my mom knew I was up to something on Saturday, because she knows that I don’t randomly take the car and go for long drives, but couldn’t figure out what I was up to. (Hi mom!)

Since it was a surprise, I couldn’t ask my mom anything, otherwise she would have figured everything out. But I knew that they loved dancing, and red signifies activity, strength, movement, passionate desire, which I why I went with it, and the black stripe to give it a modern look. Kristin also added her personal touches to it ( Hey, she’s the cake designer! Not me!), like the flowers, the silhouette of ballroom dancers, and the dots on the black stripes, and I think that everything looked absolutely fantastic! She definitely did a great job!

The cake was absolutely delicious! Unfortunately we couldn’t keep the bottom part, but we got to keep the top part. Hello daily dessert!

Thank you Kristin! You did a fantastic job! By the way, Kristin is married and is a mother of 2, and yet she finds the time to make gorgeous art pieces.

Follow her on twitter: @CakeorDeathCA

GEEZ! I really need to keep this website up to date. Whether you care or not, I’m still gonna tell you what I have been up to lately

I’ve ordered a sample album -  which should be here this week! Also ordered a sample guestbook. Not much to say about that one, but I sure hope so that the images look great.

I’ve also ordered samples canvas last night around 4am..or should I say early, this morning! I really can’t wait to see them. Yea, you probably already figured that I couldn’t sleep :\

2009 is going to be quite interesting for me. So far I have booked 3 weddings, which I’m very happy with since I only recently started out. Aneetha & Elankum actually referred the John & Stephanie to me, who happens to also be their friends. Referrals is one of those things that makes a photographer’s day, and I’m really thankful for having such great clients   And the funniest thing is that they are getting married just a week apart. I hope I will get to see John & Stephanie there , and I can’t wait to shoot John & Stephanie’s engagement session!

Anyway, I went back to Aneetha & Elankum’s photos, and I’m still wondering how on earth those photos didn’t catch my attention before. I really need to spend more time scrutinizing each and every single photo next time.

The first one is definitely my favourite from the entire set. I just love the look on Elankum’s face and the way Aneetha is leaning is just gorgeous! You guys were amazing that day!