Toronto Wedding and Portrait Photographer

Toronto Portrait Photographer: Portrait Session at High Park in Toronto

Juan — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 13:36:54 +0000

This past Thursday, I had the privilege of photographing Amber a for private portrait session. What seemed like a doomed photo shoot due to an impending thunderstorm warning, turned into a great session with quite a few great images. Best of all, the weather held off until we left the park. The part that was not so much fun was dragging around Kata Bag with two studio strobes, a battery, and enough accessories to setup a mini studio on location. Was it worth it? Oh yeah!

Toronto Portrait Photographer: Portrait Session at High Park in Toronto

Bookmark It

Toronto Wedding Photographer: Michael and Sabrina’s Engagement Session

Juan — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 01:18:41 +0000

Last night I had the pleasure of photographing Sabrina and Michael’s engagement session. In reality, it was more of a very long walk with photography thrown in for fun. I’m still a bit tired and sore from carrying my backpack to full capacity, but the real trooper of the night was Sabrina, who despite the high heels she was wearing she walked all the way from the Distillery District to the Harbourfront near Rogers Centre and still managed to show a great smile for the camera. I should also point out that my lucky streak avoiding security guards came to an end yesterday, as we were kicked out of the Distillery, as well as Union Station even though we hadn’t even gone in and we also had a security guard follow us around the Skywalk. Michael, Sabrina, it was a pleasure working with you both and I hope you like the collection you’ll see displayed here. I’m really looking forward to your wedding day!

Bookmark It

Toronto Wedding Photographer: Arowhon Pines as a Wedding Venue

Juan — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:05:44 +0000

On the weekend of July 10, my wife and I went up north to Arowhon Pines to celebrate our first wedding anniversary. We came to know about this resort because last year we had come up with my wife’s parents and brother in-law to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Located inside Algonquin Park, the resort offers peace and serenity that you just can’t find in a Caribbean destination. Don’t get me wrong, I love an all-inclusive resort close to the beach as much as the next person but if you want something different, then Arowhon Pines is pretty much it. Enjoy some pictures from our stress-free weekend there, and let me know if you want me to cover your big day at that beautiful location.

Bookmark It

Toronto Street Photography: Cultura at Mel Lastman Square – Week 3

Juan — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 18:11:37 +0000

Last night I missed the 4th installment of Cultura at Mel Lastman Square so I thought I’d post images from last Friday’s event. The entertainment was plentiful again and so was the food. Have a great weekend!

Toronto Street Photography: Toshi The Magician at Cultura

Toronto Street Photography: Mary, Jayne and Taivi at Cultura

Toronto Street Photography: Hoza at Cultura

Toronto Street Photography: Councillor John Filion at Cultura

Toronto Street Photography: Ron Westray Trio at Cultura

Toronto Street Photography: North York at Yonge and Empress

Bookmark It

Toronto Wedding Photographer: Jack and Helen’s Engagement Session

Juan — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:19:12 +0000

What a great way to finish the weekend, an engagement session for Jack and Helen around some great spots in the downtown core. The Pride Parade had just finished, and tourists were still walking down Yonge street taking in the sights. At around 6:30pm, our afternoon was just getting started and we began our journey at Jack and Helen’s old hang out, Brookfield place. Lady luck was with us, as we were able to get quite a few shots done before security showed up and asked me put away my “professional” equipment. Apparently, you can take pictures inside Brookfield Place, as long as you are not using professional equipment for commercial purposes. Here are some images from our trip around some very recognizable spots near the waterfront. Enjoy!

Bookmark It

Toronto Street Photography: Cultura at Mel Lastman Square – Week 2

Juan — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 12:31:51 +0000

Well, I reprised my role as official photographer for an event called Cultura, taking place at Mel Lastman Square every Friday, from June 25th to August 6th. Once again, I had a great time photographing all the performers, and the food was great. Last time, I posted so many pictures that I really didn’t have time to name the performers I photographed. This time I’m cutting down on the number of images in order to put names to the faces.

Toronto Street Photography: Dylan Studebaker at Cultura

Toronto Street Photography: Toshi (Magician) at Cultura

Toronto Street Photography: Song of Songs at Cultura

Toronto Street Photography: The Magical Bunch at Cultura

Toronto Street Photography: Natalie Di Liluccio at Cultura

Toronto Street Photography: Replay at Cultura

Bookmark It

Toronto Street Photography: Cultura at Mel Lastman Square

Juan — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:41:32 +0000

This summer, on every Friday night from June 25th – August 6th, Mel Lastman Square in North York will be hosting the Cultura International Street Festival. The festival features great international food, dance, musical performances, buskers and artists displaying their visual artwork, and outdoor movies.

About 2-3 performances will be showcased each night during the allocated time. Free space will be provided at the square for emerging artists to display and sell their work. Cultura International Street Festival is a non-profit event and we will be affiliating each Friday night event with a local charity group with all proceeds going to the designated charity.

Dates: June 25th – August 6th, Friday night Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Location: Mel Lastman Square (5100 Yonge St.)

Bookmark It

Toronto Street Photography: A Photographer’s Journey in Downtown Toronto

Juan — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:11:42 +0000

There’s much to love about Toronto, and if you are a Torontonian like myself you know what I’m talking about. Summer is almost here, and we are all happy to be coming out of hibernation, ready to enjoy everything that the city has to offer. This past weekend (on Saturday) I decided to embark on a photographic journey, a journey that could showcase what you can expect when you truly open your eyes and let the whole experience soak in. Follow me, as I start describing the route with images. I hope I can inspire a few of you to view our beloved city in a new light.

My photographic trip started at Union Station, the first point of entrance to the city if you are coming by train. Union Station terminal connects to the Yonge-University line of our subway system (Toronto Transit Commission – TTC).

Toronto Street Photography: Union Station

The architectural detail, and the way the light falls through the windows makes Union Station by itself a very interesting photographic subject. I didn’t stay there very long though, as with the upcoming G20 summit, a guy with a large camera taking a whole bunch of images makes for a suspicious individual.

Toronto Street Photography: Union Station

From Union Station I proceeded onto Skywalk, which is a connecting path between the station and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Rogers Centre (formerly known as Skydome, home of the Blue Jays baseball team), and other attractions such as the CN Tower. Once again, the light falling through the windowed ceiling of the path was magical.

Toronto Street Photography: Skywalk and outside section of Union Station

Toronto Street Photography: Skywalk

You don’t have to walk too far outside Union Station to find a street performer during the summer, and this guy was working hard for the money.

Toronto Street Photography: Street Performer at Union Station

After enjoying the drum beats outside Union Station, I proceeded to walk East towards Yonge Street with my mind set on revisiting Dundas Square. Little did I know that I was in for a myriad of photography opportunities. It all started with a drummer:

Toronto Street Photography: Drum on!

Just when I thought that the performance of the drummer was good enough for a single photographic study, out of the corner of my left eye I saw someone standing a few feet over everyone else. As I turned around to see what was going on, I saw a juggler propped up on a unicycle, tossing some swords around. Like I kid who just found a cooler toy at Toys R’ Us, I ran over to the crowd that had gathered around him and captured a few frames of the last minutes of his performance.

Toronto Street Photography: The Juggler

It doesn’t hurt when a couple of cute girls smile for the camera for no apparent reason, other than the fact that they are being photographed.

Toronto Street Photography: Cruising in Downtown Toronto

At this point, I could’ve stopped taking pictures and being content with the fact that I had grabbed a few good images, but my luck had not run out yet, and right across from the Street at Dundas Square there were the guys from Planet Earth performing live!

Toronto Street Photography: Planet Earth Performing Live

The guys were performing for a cause though, a spinning event called Race for Dignity, so I took a few frames of the people participating as well.

Toronto Street Photography: Race for Dignity

At that point I truly thought I was done for the day, and just stayed there for a couple of minutes listening to Planet Earth’s funky sound. However, just to make sure that I wasn’t missing anything, I turned around towards the Eaton Centre, and much to my surprise I saw a caravan of vintage Volkswagen beetles. How cool is that?! I made my way across the street at the intersection, where I caught this frame:

Toronto Street Photography: Bikers

On my way back to photograph the Beetles I saw this guy. Do you remember him? If he looks familiar is because he was the subject of my Clocking Out image a few weeks back. This time I caught him right at work.

Toronto Street Photography: The Clown

Now, how often do you see a caravan of vintage Volkswagen beetles stopping in the middle of a city? They were also there for a reason, raising funds for Sick Kids Hospital. These were the last images of my photographic journey this past Saturday, I hope you enjoyed watching as much as I enjoyed taking them. Have a great week!

Toronto Street Photography: Das Auto

Bookmark It

Toronto Street Photography: Fluid Movement at Yonge and Dundas

Juan — Thu, 06 May 2010 11:50:15 +0000

For me, street photography is all about capturing people interacting and or moving around their environment. After all, we give the city its character, its architecture, and everything else that defines it. This is fluid movement of people at its best, at Yonge and Dundas in downtown Toronto.

Toronto Street Photography: Fluid Movement at Yonge and Dundas

Bookmark It

Toronto Street Photography: Too Lazy to Walk the Mall?

Juan — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:46:19 +0000

There’s a Mini for that.

Toronto Street Photography: Too Lazy to Walk the Mall?

Bookmark It