Then, it aged, was exposed to some rough conditions, became very dirty, cracked and faded. A year ago, it was taken to a consumer 1-hour photo shop and scanned into a 4×6″ print, complete with the dirt, cracks and fading.

We were then approached and asked if we could restore the print and make a new custom print enlargement. The owner now realized the image was priceless to her. Let’s face it, people change a lot over 45 years. Most likely a lot of you aren’t even 45 yet. And if you are, you’re enjoying the wisdom that comes with it!

I was happy we could restore this portrait. Here’s the original:

If you’ve a box of old prints or loose prints scattered around the home or office, don’t wait to have them restored. Maybe they’re in good shape and should be professionally framed or made into one of our exclusive story-telling coffee-table books. If they need to be restored, we’ll take a look at them free of charge to see how we can help restore them to their original condition.

Thanks for reading.

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So, the following are but a few highlights. If the happy couple have shared log-in details to their Gallery Collection, be sure to sign in soon! Click on an image to view a larger version.

The day started at the Le Meridian King Edward Hotel, where the mother of the bride, the bride’s aunt (who flew in from Egypt!), and the bridesmaids were getting ready for the special day. In the above picture Alexandra, who was a lovely flower girl by the way, watches Myriam and Dahlia chat in front of the mirror.

The University of Toronto’s Trinity College Chapel is a spectacular venue. I did a bit of research and can share the following: Built in the modified perpendicular Gothic style, the main chapel extends 100 feet to the reredos and is 47 feet high at the vault bosses. Using only stone, brick and cement, the architects employed Italian stonemasons using ancient building methods; the only steel in the construction is in the hidden girders supporting the slate roof. The exterior walls are of sandstone.

I have to say the day flew by for me. Part of the reason was the warmth and genuineness I experienced from everyone. Photographing for ten hours felt like ten minutes. In the above image, the matron of honour makes her way down the steps towards the aisle.

It did rain on and off for a good part of the afternoon and evening, but that didn’t deter us from capturing formal portraits and candid moments outdoors. We had pretty, white umbrellas on hand. I love how they complimented the colours of the day.

I love how this image turned out. There is a lot of meaning and symbolism behind a bride’s bouquet (just ask any bride!). So this image may have different meaning depending on who is viewing it. Did you know that even before flower bouquets were used by brides in weddings they were used in a different form of art? They appeared as early as the 17th century and possibly earlier. Flower bouquets were captured in paintings and on pottery as decorations. Myriam’s flowers were by Genius Loci Fine Flowers (another Beaches neighbourhood business, just like my studio).

The happy newlyweds share a quiet moment.

The next location was Toronto’s Distillery District. I’ve photographed here so often I feel like I know it like the back of my hand. It was a busy day there, and I noticed we were getting a lot of attention, especially because of the next image.

Sherine and Dahlia sittin’ under a tree. Don’t they look adorable?

Love how Myriam’s veil is caught in a gentle breeze in this image.

Cocktails, dinner and reception was held at Archeo. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. There was lots of tradition, including Egyptian bellydancing. Beautiful energy, colours and skill! Cory has a Scottish background, and when bagpiper Jack Jackson started playing along with the Egyptian music, it was amazing. I kid you not when I tell you it was beautiful to listen to and watch. Wow, such talent!

Myriam and Cory, it was a pleasure photographing your special day! Bye for now.

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The following images are a couple of favourites from a recent wedding. There is so much story!

The above image captures every one experiencing their own moment. The three people on the right (a best man, and two bridesmaids) are in thought while they walk as part of a large group. To the left is the bride chatting with her sister while she makes her way through grass after a rain shower. And, the other groomsman at front left is truly enjoying himself as he kicks up his feet and smiles to himself. The sunshine flaring through the top of the frame illuminates the scene while creating a beautiful backlight. And, just visible over the right shoulder of the best man is one of the flower girls.

The church pictured above is filled with many beautiful angles which makes it very unique. It’s lit entirely with carefully placed spotlights that create narrow streams of light against a variety of shadows and dark surfaces. The ceiling at its centre was quite high, and framing a shot of the interior without drawing attention to myself during the ceremony was challenging. At the bottom left of the frame are the bride and groom, intently listening to the sermon, whom I never let leave the corner of my eye.

The studio has been very busy this summer with some very cool projects, including a 45 year old photo restoration. That’s coming up in a future post.

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1. An Army of Brides: Giving Cancer the Boot in Downtown Toronto… a behind the scenes peek. Above: “The Brides’ Ballet”. After the shoot for The Canadian...

I was recently commissioned for such a shoot that took place at the very last minute. The super-models were present for another major event, and during a bit of downtime had only a few minutes to spare for some exclusive photo-ops. I didn’t have time to pre-shoot or even get a proper light-meter reading, and had to shoot quickly while getting the best performance out of the super-models. All in all, the shoot went well, and the client is very happy. It included high-fashion, succulent food, and super-models. Quite the combination! Below are some exclusive “behind-the-scenes” from the shoot.

Above: A super-model snacks as some lights are quickly set up.

Above: A super-model poses for a test shot. She’s still snacking. At least she’s eating, not like some other super-models I’ve seen.

Above: Three super-models take direction from the photographer.

Above: One of the boys is fascinated with the softness of a fellow super-model’s hair. She seems to enjoy the attention, though she would prefer to keep snacking.

Above: “Keep your hands to yourself”, says the star super-model to her colleague. “You’re messing up my hair”. The super-model to the right pretends not to notice what is going on.

Above: The male super-models want attention from their female counterpart, however she is more interested in her snack.

Above: The shoot is a wrap, and the star heads off the set to her dressing room.

Heheh. To view more exclusive pictures from this shoot, log-in to Katarina and Ryan’s Wedding Gallery Collection.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

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And to make it even easier, you may sign-in via Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo. This is becoming the popular thing to do so I decided the studio should offer it.

Let me illustrate in pictures (I know, I know, how surprising is it that I’d use pictures!):

You can log in here:

Above: The main Blog login page

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And here:

Above: Sign-in here from the Blog SIDEBAR

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Once you’re signed in, you’ll be taken to your Profile where you can choose your fav options:

Above: Dean Oros Photo Blog Profile Screen for Email Updates

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That’s it for today’s blog post. It’s Saturday morning, so hopefully you can spend some time outdoors today and enjoy some sunshine.

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I’m excited to share Katie and Brad’s lovely wedding with you. Friend and fellow photographer Matt Green introduced me to Katie and Brad, asking if I’d be interested in photographing their wedding. He was part of the wedding party and wouldn’t be able to photograph it. And, he wanted to celebrate the day instead of working. Understandable. I wasn’t booked that day, so I was happy to say “Yes!”.

You may have noticed that I wrote “lovely” in italics above. That’s because there’s a story to it. After the ceremony, which was held at Fairvew United Church in Brantford, we stayed to do formal portraits. I often tell people how lovely they look. Before I knew it everyone was telling each other how lovely they looked. Haha. For the rest of the day everything was “lovely”. The entire wedding day was “lovely”. And, I’d have to agree!

Above: Katie’s sisters listen intently to the sermon.

I always enjoy photographing a couple’s special day. This wedding was no exception. You can see the sense of humour Katie and Brad have. Just look at their wedding cake. How original is that! I had a small audience watching while I photographed it. It took me a few minutes because it’s an elaborate cake with a story to tell. Those cake toppers are rather small and difficult to photograph in low light. But I got what I wanted. You can even see the fishing line on the bride’s fishing rod.

Afterward we headed to Glenhyrst Art Gallery. For newlyweds-to-be, if you reside in the area you may want to consider this location for your bridal party pictures and bride / groom portraits. It’s very pretty. By this time we were greeted with afternoon showers. We were prepared with umbrellas. It made for some nice photography and didn’t put a damper on anyone’s spirits. We did some pretty funny setups in the park (if Katie and Brad give you log-in details to their Gallery Collection you can see them there).

In the image below the girls are hamming it up for the camera. Katie’s sister doesn’t quite know what to do with her. I think they look lovely!

Before we knew it time was running out, so we rushed back to the hotel for the dinner reception. There were great speeches. The lovely MC’s recited Katie’s self-proclaimed corny (and funny!) jokes. Dinner was sumptuous, the staff were lovely (oops!), and the night ended with music and dance.

Above: The flower girls make their way down the hotel hallway to the wedding reception.

To view Katie and Brad’s complete Wedding Gallery Collection, visit the Client Area and log-in. You’ll be able to view all the galleries, order prints and more.

If you’d like to view the above pictures and more in a slideshow, please click the arrow button below:

Enjoy!

By the way, if you’d like to become a friend of the studio, feel free to join our friends list:

Until next time…

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One thing I’d been meaning to do was to have a consistent brand across our sites. I’ve been so busy it’s been a challenge to make the time, but I’ve been fitting it in where I could, and relying on the fantastic back-end designers to do their coding poetry.

It’s important that the Blog is a good resource for our loyal visitors, too (if you’re not yet a subscriber, you can sign up via any blog post). We spent a good amount of time creating more than just a place to showcase recent images. We’ve created an online magazine that now has over two years of content which continues to grow.

I’m happy to say the re-branding is now done. For now. For a little long while. It’s been a lot of fun. Woohoo!

This meant a new logo for Images of a Promise to more closely match the Dean Oros Photography logo, and a colour scheme that not only works across our sites, but also is complimentary to the different types of imagery we create. And, it needed to match our Client Area, too.

The technology behind all of this is state of the art. Okay, I admit I’m a tech-geek.

That being said, I think it all works nicely. I hope you do, too.

Above: Dean Oros Photography + Design Website

Above: Dean Oros Photography + Design Client Area

Above: Images of a Promise Splash Page

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Katarina and Ryan’s wedding at Queen of Peace Church was simply beautiful. Incredible amounts of natural light and high ceilings. From Kat’s flowers to her stunning wedding gown to Ryan’s being a sharp dressed man; the day was exceptional.

Above: A beautiful church ~ Queen of Peace

We survived the heat as we hung out at Belfountain Conservation Area in Norval to create some candids and formals. The cave was amazing and a great place to sneak away for portraits, not to mention it was the place to keep cool!

Then we were off to Pearson Convention Centre for the lovely reception and dinner. Congrats to Katarina and Ryan! I’m so happy for you!

If the newlyweds have provided you with login details to their Gallery Collection, click here to enjoy all their pictures once they go online.

Above: Ryan awaits his wife-to-be. In a few minutes she will walk down the aisle.

Above: Katarina, a beautiful and happy bride

Above: Kat and Ryan share a newlywed kiss

Above: Katarina fans herself to keep cool while getting ready

Above: Slipping on the garter

Above: Ryan spends some time with his closest friends

Above: Katarina with her girls

Above: Portrait of the lovely newlyweds

Above: Boys with a cutie!

Above: The bride's beautiful bouquet

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We’re having a contest. Tell me which version you like best and why, by posting a comment below.

One lucky winner will receive a complimentary print of your preferred version OR you can choose 1 of 50 images from our Hawaii Collection. See them here.

The image will be printed as a satin photographic paper print (approx 8×12″), and will include free delivery.

The winner will be announced July 4th and will be chosen via a random draw. Good luck!

Here are the two versions:

Profits from print sales are donated to cancer research!

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