Count to 30 - #23 - Photo session

Maybe you're getting sick of lists now.  I am.  Lol.  Now that I have to come up with 20+ things in a list it is rough. Must finish!

Here are 23 photos of A & M, which I took last week in an engagement session at Guildwood Park.  Aren't they cute? They'll be using some of these to send save-the-dates as well.  I'm so thankful that the rain held off for about an hour so we could snap these.
Enjoy and Happy Sunday!

 

It was great how much fun they have with each other.  Giggles all day. 

It was cold!

The falling leaf shot definitely required an extra person to be glamourous.  Haha still love it.

 Congrats lovebirds!

Count to 30 - #14.

I'm turning 30 soon, and am writing 30 lists.  Here's #14. 

My favourite photos not taken by me.
(I wish!)

David Lachapelle photographs Katy Perry for ghd

by Rodney Smith

by Paul Malon

Photo of George Clooney by Sam Jones

Fa ca Shion by afvoetomath on DeviantART

Pepper #30 by Edward Weston. 
Seriously, he makes a vegetable look amazing.

 Amos Chapple photographs a couple in the Tunnel of Love in Ukraine.  I really want to go here!

 Ellen Page by Eric Ogden

 By Tim Walker

 I can't find the credit for this one... Apologies to the photographer!

By Rosie Hardy

By Max Wanger for Rue Magazine, styled by Catherine Sheppard
(I mostly aspire to have a party filled with great friends and colourful decorations!)

By Tejal Patni

By Jessica Claire.  It makes me want to buy fireworks and find a field in the country.  So awesome.

There you have it, now I really want to go take some pictures...

Count to 30 - #10.

I'm about to turn 30, so I'm making 30 lists.  Here is #10.

My 10 Favourite Photos I've Taken. 
For the moment and in no particular order. 

Seeing the tulips in the Netherlands for the first time.

The kiss.  They have a slight height difference ;)

Our feet, as we eat gelato along the Grand Canal in Venice.

My cousin's family.  Little mini jeans!

At the Spadina House in Toronto.

In my etsy shop too.  Love vintage buttons.

My sister.

Love the swoosh of hair, it took so long to get it perfect.

The tortured writer.

Totally worth the prep work.

Thanks for taking a look!
I do have some prints for sale in my Etsy shop if you'd like.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/melaniegodecki

Summer vacation 2 - Splash Shoot

This might be one of the oddest photos that you'll see on this blog.  Let me explain.

My friend J, in the grey shirt, is opening a mens clothing  store in our hometown.  He'll also be selling a line of mens skincare and grooming products. 

For that section of his store, he wanted a poster of a guy getting hit in the face with water.   I got to photograph it.  

Now, I don't live in this city anymore and had to put our set together in my mom's backyard, with what I could find.  Hence: black fabric, garbage bags, pool floatation device, lawn furniture and my brother's girlfriend as my assistant. 
It was a lot of fun.

The black fabric gave a nice dark background.  I needed light to still shine on the water as it flew, but not too much on Jon, so S held the pool lounger in the right position to block the light on him but not the water. 

Then we had to get the water thrown just right...

It took about 150 tries.  Either that or we were having too much fun torturing Jon...

We varied the splashes by throwing it from cups, pitchers, buckets, water pistols and straight from the garden hose.  At least he was having fun too.

Here's the final shot that will be put up in the store.

And our team photo :)

Have a great weekend! 

Summer Vacation 2012 - 1

My week away was lovely. 
It was busy and jam-packed with activities.  First stop though, was to see my Mama. (grandma)
For about 6-7 years now I've visited her in the summer and taken pictures of her garden. 
This time, when I stopped over at her house she was actually in the backyard trying to take a photo of a bee on one of the flowers. 

The tiger lilies are my favourite.  

Spending time with her in her garden is one of the best things about going to my hometown.
Have you gotten to hang out with your grandma lately?

p.s.  Even though the flowers are similar, you can see last year's garden pics here.

Fashion Photography School - Part 2

The first half of my assignments are here.

For the next assignment, each group had to style and photograph a look together.
I don't know if you've ever had to have 3 stylists/photographers agree on one look, but it's not great.  Our group was going for an actress backstage kind of look.  I brought the hat (I'm no stylist) and we tried to put something together based on that.  In the end, I think it wasn't something that 2 out of 3 of us were happy with, and the set too. Oh well.

I've put my before and after shots together.   One out of the camera and one after I edited, smoothing hair and getting some of the black back that was stolen by the lens flare. 

I was frustrated with the clutter in the shot, and eventually changed the light and direction and shot this. 

I was much happier with this look.  Again, the shot out of camera and the one after I got rid of the fuzzball behind her head. 

The other groups made their own looks and shot them around the studio too, the rest of the class could snap a few frames if they wanted.  I loved this 'dress' from Zara that one group used. 

And the last group had everyone crammed into the ladies room. 

This was my fave one to sneak shot of, I liked the vibe they had. 

And after the group was done, I stole the model for a second because they didn't use the great light near the mirrors.  

There you have it! My short semester shortened into 2 posts.
Have a great weekend!