The Blog of Dean Oros Photography

New Blog!

2008-09-12T21:24:00.000-04:00

We’re switching our blog!

Read our new blog here http://deanorosphoto.bigfolioblog.com/

It was easy to make the switch, and it’s already up and running. This means there will be no more regular email subscriptions available. You can have the blog delivered by RSS which will forward the blog to your newsreader or into your email program, depending on the program you like to use. Apple’s Mail program has a built in RSS reader, for example. Third party RSS newsreaders include Google Newsreader and Newsgator.

You’ll see the RSS symbol in the top right hand corner of the new blog. See you there!

New Server and State of the Art Website!!..and perhaps a New Blog Platform.

2008-09-12T11:59:00.000-04:00

After a marathon of a few weeks, I’m excited to announce we’ve successfully migrated to new servers AND have designed and launched a shiny new website. It was a marathon because of increasingly complex technical issues from domain registrars to merging two sites into one, as well as a list of small, but nagging bugs and quirks that had to be addressed before the new site could go live, all the while ensuring the old sites did not go down during the process.

Whew - say that 10x times fast.

You can reach the new site via my usual urls:Dean Oros Photography deanorosphoto.com and Images of a Promise imagesofapromise.com.

Thanks go out to the awesome people at Big Folio and GoDaddy. I’ve worked tirelessly with them to help resolve tech issues with the design and launching the new site. Big Folio: high-fives to you for being communicative and offering great customer support to work out the bugs and quirks, even on weekends. GoDaddy offers 24/7 customer support and I find it’s 95% fantastic. As good as Netfirms had been up to a few months ago, when they showed no effort in resolving a major hosting issue we were experiencing with our Evrium web software, we were forced to switch web hosting companies. And though Evrium were unable to resolve the issue as well, they helped with the migration to GoDaddy at their expense which I thought was decent of them, as the problem could’ve been theirs or Netfirms. Evrium acknowledged their customer service had been lacking as of late as they’re busy working on the new release of their product. Netfirms, unfortunately, were not very helpful.

Why?
Anyway, why the new site? After a lot of thought and speaking with other photographers, I decided to merge deanorosphoto.com and imagesofapromise.com into one site. The reason being is that there was an increasing amount of overlap between the two. I also felt it was time to update the presentation of my work, and well as create more of an experience to visitors of my sites.

When deanorosphoto.com and imagesofapromise.com were initially launched (they were launched separately) it was a decision to keep my wedding photography and my commercial / lifestyle images separate, so as not to cause any confusion to the different markets I wanted to work in. “Experts” advise weddings should be kept separate because couples getting married only want to see wedding images, and aren’t interested in seeing other images. The same for business customers who could be busy photo editors who don’t have time to sift through lots of different image styles looking to see if a potential photographer can deliver what they need.

However, my approach to photography is about life and heritage. It’s about people and family, people and business; the world around us. When couples become newlyweds, whether they define it as such or not, they’ve started a new family. Their wedding day is the first day of their new family. So why not present images of families, children, maternity etc., on the same site? They’re all connected.

The majority of my commercial / corporate work is people, people using products or experiencing services in a lifestyle settings: whether revolving around life at home or life at work (aside from fine-art portraits).

So it was a struggle. Maintaining two sites was a lot of work.

Improvements
There are many improvements. The site loads very quickly; more quickly than the previous sites. There’s now bigger images. More galleries. More info. It has soothing music which you have the option of turning off and on. Tech geeks will love it. It can be viewed full screen. It can be viewed on Apple’s iphone. It has an html version for those with computers that can’t handle flash.

The new site is very well organized, and it isn’t intrusive to either market. I love shooting weddings / lifestyle. I love shooting commercial / corporate. The two compliment each other as I bring things from both to the other. It keeps me challenged and allows me to develop and evolve my photography, which in turn benefits my customers.

It’s amazing to me how important the internet is to my business and career these days. I can’t work without it. I remember back in the mid 90s when I first experienced the net. It was sssllloooowwwww dialup (something like 9600 baud rate), but boy did I get a kick at having immediate access to current info.

Blog
The next issue is switching our blog to Big Folio from Blogger. This would mean no more typical email subscribers. But you can subscribe by RSS feed, which is super easy to do.

Some big changes are coming!

2008-09-10T10:27:00.000-04:00

I’m excited about something we’re going to announce in the next few days. That’s all I’m saying.

In a word: Excited!

Barbara and Michael: Wedding Day Celebration

2008-08-19T08:40:00.000-04:00

With all the rain we’ve been blessed with this summer, nature is breaking its previous records for rainfall. With the Olympic Games now taking place, records are sure to be broken there as well.

This past weekend I broke a personal record, too, for wedding photography! ☺

Barbara and Michael’s wedding was a full-featured affair, complete with a dove release and a late night amusement park photo session. What an awesome day! As a photographer it was filled with challenges, which I enjoy!

Yes, we dealt with rain which moved the ceremony from the beautiful outdoor courtyard of the Liberty Grand to the indoors.

But you know the saying: “For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction”. While my gear may not be a fan of rainfall, I personally love the rain; it brings out the lushness of colour. So when the rain took a break I photographed formals and the bridal shoot in the courtyard.

Photographing a dove release is a challenge. These beautiful birds are trained homing pigeons. Once they’re released, it takes a blink of an eye for them to take flight in a flurry of action to return home. Then they’re gone. Capturing the best moment of their release is a combination of luck and technical know-how. I’m sure the doves were startled, too, what with over 100 people standing around watching them.

After dinner I snuck out with Barbara and Michael for a late night shoot at the CNE. And yes, they were both wearing their wedding attire. And yes, they attracted a lot of attention! And yes, it was a ton of fun!

Everything turned out exceptionally well.

Thanks to the staff of the Liberty Grand for their beautiful venue. Your staff were great and had the ceremony’s indoor venue set up in record time. And dinner was sumptuous, too.

Also, thanks to Jaye Marsh Graham and Laurie Anne Brennan of It’s Personal Occasions for their organizing the details for the day.

And of course great music makes such an affair even more enjoyable. Thanks to the Whitney Smith Band and DJ / MC Peter Pagliarulo of Dee Dee Jays.

Click here to view Barbara and Michael’s Sneak Peek Gallery of 25 images. Turn up your speakers, and enjoy!

If you’ve been invited to view all of Barbara and Michael’s wedding images on Pictage once they go online, click here. To view more of our photography, visit our main websites: imagesofapromise.com and deanorosphoto.com.

Michael and Barbara: Thank you for choosing me as your photographer. I loved how you really let yourself be in the moment once things got under way. Lots of love and happiness to you!

The Machines of Wonderland

2008-08-05T18:57:00.000-04:00

I took a much needed day off yesterday, and decided to visit Canada’s Wonderland, for two reasons. First, because I’m a kid at heart and love roller coasters! Second, I wanted to do a test shoot for an upcoming wedding where the couple have asked that I photograph them at night, in their wedding attire, at the Canadian National Exhibition. It’s going to be so much fun - I can’t wait.
As I was walking around Canada’s Wonderland, my focus changed from the children on the rides, to the rides themselves. I love working with kids, so I was a bit surprised when my attention kept being drawn to these machines. They bring so much enjoyment to kids and adults alike. They’re marvels of technology. And I’m a technology geek.

The g-force generated by these rides is incredible. Large groups of people are being hurtled and swung around, often at speeds over 100km per hour, day after day, week after week. Take into consideration how many rides are set up in a relatively small space, and the safety factor involved. It’s very impressive.

When night started to roll in, the rides began to look ominous. They reminded me of Transformers (the movie is such good fun, by the way). With such long tracks standing hundreds of feet above ground, they reminded me of long, mechanical tentacles. We put a lot of trust into these machines, hardly thinking about the technology behind them as we scream at the top of our lungs, hurtling towards the ground, strapped into the latest, and fastest roller coasters.

The only downside from yesterday, is that I got so caught up shooting, I only went on two rides! That’s okay though. I’ll go back before they’re closed for the season.

Wedfog in the USA takes Notice

2008-07-23T12:55:00.000-04:00

When I received an email from Wedfog USA letting me know they wanted to write a little something about the shoot I did for the Canadian Cancer Society / Brides’ Project, I thought it was rather cool of them to take notice.

That was then followed up with a note from the Society advising over $590,000 had been raised from the various Relay for Life events in Toronto. How cool is that!

Click here to read the Wedfog article.

Click here to visit Wedfog.

Cali and Jesse: Wedding Day Celebration

2008-07-14T09:45:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago Cali and Jesse contacted me.

They’d recently had a disappointing experience with another photographer regarding their engagement shoot, but were hopeful they could find a photographer they could trust. The three of us immediately hit it off, and I’m happy to say their wedding this past weekend was simply lovely. It’s weekends like this when I can’t imagine doing anything else for a career. I love being able to create images and memories that people will cherish for a lifetime.

Cali and Jesse, you are too sweet for words! I wish you much happiness in your life together. It was a pleasure being your photographer. Meeting your family and friends was such a treat. They’ve all been captured in images - hundreds of images. They’ll be available on Pictage soon.

In the meantime, I’d like to present you with a teaser gallery of images. I’m so excited that you’ll be able to view these photographs while on your Paris honeymoon, only 48 hours after your wedding in Toronto. Gotta love technology!

Click here to enter Cali and Jesse’s Wedding Celebration Teaser Gallery. Turn up your speakers, and enjoy!

If you’ve been invited to view all of their images on Pictage once they go online, click here.

Also, thank you to the staff of Glenerin Inn for being gracious and accommodating. Your location is beautiful.

As Promised! The Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life images.

2008-07-09T16:55:00.000-04:00

As promised in an earlier post, images from the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life are now online. This amazing fund-raising event for cancer research took place June 20-21 in central Toronto. There are approximately 185 images edited to music, so turn up your speakers!

Click here to view the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life Slide-Story.

If you have an event that needs to be documented and photographed, feel free to contact me.

Enjoy!

New Look for Images of a Promise

2008-07-04T15:38:00.021-04:00

Late into the wee hours of a few nights, I've been working on a redesign of my wedding photography website, Images of a Promise.

Today is the launch! I hope you like it.

I worked towards a simple and elegant design. The site won't automatically resize your browser window to fill your entire screen. I've never been a fan of flash websites that do this. I find it evasive. Do others feel this way or is it just one of my pet peeves?

Happy 4th of July to our American neighbours!

Have a great weekend.

Happy Birthday, Canada!

2008-07-01T11:59:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday, Canada!
Originally uploaded by DOP Toronto

Throw yourself into the wind and celebrate the Canadian Flag at full mast.

Enjoy Canada Day!

Relay for Life - The Brides' Project

2008-06-29T10:25:00.030-04:00

Shooting for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life last weekend was a touching experience. There’s an intangible quality surrounding the event.

Picture the scene: an outdoor field, much like that of a school’s outdoor field, with a quarter mile track around the circumference for track & field competition. Bleachers off to one side. A stage at the foot of the track. Several big-top tents scattered around the track, housing such things as a place to register for the relay, food, cancer survivors, massage therapy and more.

In the middle of the track participants of the relay have set up their own tents. They’ll need them because they’re camping overnight as team members take their turns walking and running around the track ALL NIGHT LONG.

On the entire inside circumference of the track are luminaries: specially designed paper bags with a lit candle inside. Each luminary is a tribute to the lives of loved ones who have been touched by cancer. The track can barely hold all of them.

On the bleachers the word “Hope” has been written with even more luminaries. Seventy-five luminaries for four letters. And indeed, there are many elements of Hope this evening. As well as another four-letter word: Love.

Now imagine pitch darkness. “Hope” can be seen from every corner of the field. It can be seen from overhead as well, as many residents watch from their apartment balconies.

Hundreds of people are here. Most, if not all, are volunteers, both young and old, freely giving of their time and expertise to help raise funds for cancer research. Many are cancer survivors.

As I spend time documenting the event with my camera, I speak with many of the volunteers and survivors. This is where that intangible quality I mentioned earlier starts hitting me. A few ask me to take a photograph of their luminary, so they can send it to loved ones: those still living, those still fighting and those whose lives have been touched by cancer. They start telling me their stories. I provide my business card and ask them to follow up with me, so I know where to send the prints.

During all of this, I’m thinking of how I can do something special for The Brides’ Project. I want to photograph them. They’re why I’m here in the first place. These girls rock. How small a world it is that the wedding industry has brought me here. Wedding officiant Roben Goodfellow is participating as a team member of The Brides’ Project. Operated by the lovely Helen Sweet, TBP is set up to raise money for cancer charities. It provides an opportunity for brides to make a contribution via the purchase of their wedding gown. And I have to tell you, the selection Helen offers is impressive.

Before the relay, via six degrees of separation I was introduced to volunteer Lucy Chan who organizes the Relay for Life. A conversation later, I was scheduled to photograph the relay for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Here’s are some images from The Brides’ Project shoot. I photographed just before midnight (though I’ve included a couple shots from earlier in the day). The idea of something angelic came to me after speaking with so many of the volunteers and participants. They’re all angels. And I’m sure we were surrounded by the angels of those who lost their life to cancer. I thought it was fitting. I shot using a combination of candle light and long exposures.

For those touched by cancer, I’d like to refer you to an excellent book entitled “Cancer is a word, not a sentence”. It demystifies the first few weeks after being diagnosed, and is written for those just diagnosed and their families. I read it while my dad was fighting the disease. Written by oncologist Dr. Robert Buckman of Toronto.

The 280 page book is available via Amazon Canada for only $17. Additional info on the book can be found on this page of the Women’s College Hospital: Women’s Health Matters website.

New Blogging Software

2008-06-29T08:58:00.001-04:00

There are many different manufacturers of blogging software on the market. I’ve been testing out a few, using their trial versions. So if you’ve been receiving two versions of recent blog entries, my apologies as I figure out what works best for me. Right now I’m using MacJournal, which I’ve used for keeping a personal journal in the past. It does have the feature to upload to an online blog, and so this may be the way to go. We’ll see.

Don't trash your wedding dress. Use it to fight cancer!

2008-06-15T12:20:00.005-04:00

On June 20th I'll be photographing at the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life: an overnight non-competitive relay to celebrate cancer survivors and pay tribute to the lives of loved ones.

I'll be there on behalf of The Bride's Project. How's this for fun: all the brides will be wearing wedding gowns and tiaras! If this isn't a better use of a wedding gown vs. the trend of trashing your dress I don't know what is.

Who knows? Maybe husbands will arrive in tuxedoes!

In Canada, Relay for Life first started via Ottawa in 1999, came to Toronto in 2001, and is now a national event. But it's bigger than just Canada. It's international.

The relay starts at 7pm, June 20, in central Toronto. For more info visit: Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life and The Brides Project.

Cancer took my father's life very quickly at the age of 65. Diagnosed the end of September; he died 4 months later. I hope he's in a peaceful place.

A little photography adventure.

2008-06-12T21:16:00.016-04:00

Ever had one of those days when a zillion things go wrong... on what should be a simple day? We all are blessed to experience such days. I, along with friend and photographer, Matt Green, on a day trip a few weeks back, had such an experience. We were doing a location scout in Sandhills Park, which, if memory serves me well, is about a 2.5 hour drive from Toronto.

We jumped into my trusty AWD Subaru Impreza, and off we went. Sunshine filled the sky. We were looking forward to a relaxing drive and time to shoot the breeze.

About half way into our trip, what seemed to be my rear right wheel starting squealing. Not a mild squeal, such as a squeal of joy, but rather a squeal that threatened to leave us stranded on a 2 lane country road in the middle of nowhere. Not very relaxing!

So we took a detour, and crept into a Subaru dealership in beautiful Hamilton. "Better safe than sorry", I said.

I'm informed by the very helpful staff that I've a lot of rust on my brake rotors which is causing the squealing, but otherwise my Su-bee is safe to drive. "Oh", advised the mechanic, "but you should also get new tires soon, and new rotors sooner than later."

Hmmm.

So we hop back in the car, and squeal away (sorry - couldn't resist), almost two hours behind schedule. Upon arriving at Sandhills Park, we were treated to a serious workout - those sand hills are unforgiving! All the time spent editing in front of a computer and not in the gym had caught up with me. Boy - was I out of shape! I couldn't believe I was living in the same body that had run marathons and triathlons until just a short 4 years ago.

When we had pretty much wrapped, I decided to take a trip up one more hill. Matt was happy to watch as he wisely sat comfortably below. Gasping as I reached the top, the wind had whipped up into some serious hurricane-like gusts, and it was all I could do to stand upright, hold my camera and capture some images.

My favourite hiking shoes were now soaked and filled with a combo pack of water, clay and sand. When I got back to where Matt was, I took my shoes and socks off to dry my feet, and decided to drive barefoot for the trip back - which I'm not even sure is legal? When we squealed back into Toronto, we decided to grab a bite, when I realized I had left my shoes and socks back in Sandhills Park!!

Anyway, at the end of it all we accomplished what we had set out to do. And I've now four new Bridgestone tires. My Toronto car mechanic advised my brakes are still good, and the squealing will come and go. With all the driving I do for the weddings I photograph out of the GTA, I'll be replacing my brakes in no time.

Here are some pics. I captured them as jpegs with a small Olympus point and shoot. I like the juxtaposition of windmills and nature.

Documentary Editing

2008-05-25T17:30:00.005-04:00

One of the challenges of being a photographer is editing your images: choosing those photographs that satisfy your eye as an artist and tell the story of what it was that you were documenting. It can be tough when you've captured over 1000 images of a wedding, for example.

That being said, it's a challenge I love. I'm able to relive the wedding celebration and also the experience of photographing the affair itself - what was going on in my head and around me when I captured a certain moment.

Colleen and Tom's beautiful wedding was held at Toronto's Windsor Arms Hotel, which I photographed with friend and colleague, Andrew Adams. Here are some of my favourite images. I hope you enjoy them. Click on image to view the Showcase.

Less than 24 hours

2008-05-18T18:59:00.012-04:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of photographing Anna Maria and Edward - Congratulations! It's always lovely to witness such a special day. We were graced with sunshine for the entire day, even though the weather forecast had called for rain. We photographed in Burlington, Hamilton and had the reception at the Oakville Conference and Banquet Centre.

Less than 24 hours had passed when we posted an online showcase for them. We retouched the images, too. We never make our newlyweds wait days or weeks to see images.

Click on the image to view their Showcase. Enjoy.

Our Partnership with Pictage

2008-05-16T20:30:00.004-04:00

For our Wedding clients, Dean Oros Photography is pleased to provide a complete image management system, including online proofing and print ordering, through a partnership with Pictage.

1. Click on this link.

2. If this is the first time you've visited the Pictage site, register as a new user to create a username and password.

3. If you already have a Pictage account login, use your existing username and password.

4. Enter the event name Dean Oros Photography or the Bride / Groom have provided to you. Alternatively, you can search for the event by the first and last names of the Bride & Groom.

5. If your photos are not yet online, choose to have Pictage notify you when the event has been been made available.

6. Weddings post online 2-3 weeks after the wedding.

7. Enjoy!

Beyond Normal

2008-05-14T22:56:00.014-04:00

I was testing out a wide angle lens a couple of weekends ago, and captured this image. I use a wide angle sparingly, but I love the angle of view it provides, much beyond the normal range of the human eye.

For the photo-enthusiasts out there, I was using a Canon EF-S 10-22mm on a Canon 40D (which has a cropped sensor of 1.6x). I shot at ISO 200, f/5, 11.0mm, 1/5000, at sunset (and I was shooting into the sun). I enhanced the image in post to bring out what had caught my eye when I pressed the shutter.

Can you guess where I captured this image? (My friend Laurie was with me, so "Laurie, shhhsh, don't tell anyone").

Welcome

2008-05-11T12:57:00.007-04:00

Hello! Between building a business, shooting wedding and commercial assignments, writing a personal journal, and trying to enjoy life outside of my career, I wasn't sure I'd be able to make enough time to keep up a blog.

But I have so much fun and feel I'm one of the luckiest people on the planet to do what I do. A few of my friends and colleagues have been advising me that "Dean you should have a blog!", or they ask "Hey Dean, why don't you have a blog?" or "I did a google search for your blog and couldn't find it - where is it?".

Okay, okay. Here it is. I capture thousands of images during a year. They all have a story behind them. I'll share some of them. It'll be fun.

I'll do my best to blog regularly. And, of course, I'm always happy to hear from you, my friends and colleagues.

So, let the blogs begin! : )

And, last but definitely not the least, to all the moms out there: Happy Mother's Day.